Everyone who has visited the United States has probably been struck by just how big everything seems. And Microsoft’s annual World Partners Conference, held last week in Orlando, was no different. With over 15,000 attendees from across the world in a convention centre covering more than 100,000 square metres, this was a superb opportunity to network with our partner peers and the Microsoft partner team.
WPC also provided Microsoft with an opportunity to showcase their ambitious vision for the future – a very exciting future. Microsoft’s mission statement is “to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more.”
Stellar has always been a strong Microsoft partner but never before have our core principles been so strongly aligned. Both Stellar and Microsoft are focused on one single outcome – enabling customer success. Microsofts CEO Satya Nadella has been in the position only 15 months, but the impact from his leadership has been enormous. He’s taken Microsoft from an entity struggling to stay relevant in the cloud and device era, to a leader that is shaping the future of the world we live in.
Satya expanded on Microsoft’s vision in the opening keynote, describing how Microsoft is positioning itself to not only reinvent productivity but entire business processes. With exciting offerings and prospects like Office 365, Azure, Skype for Business, Windows 10, Hololens, Surface Hub and Cortana, Microsoft is bringing people and technology together in ways that haven’t been seen before.
Another strong theme during WPC 2015 was the continuing focus on Microsoft’s cloud and mobile-first strategy. It was impressive to realise that Azure runs on a worldwide network of Microsoft-managed datacentres across 19 regions – more countries and regions than Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud combined.
Satya also clarified that mobile-first doesn’t necessarily mean just devices. Instead its focus is mobility, where customer experience across desktop, tablet, phone and watch is seamless, intuitive and engaging. References to big data, analytics and business intelligence were consistent throughout the keynotes and presentations. The single biggest takeaway from WPC 2015 is that data will be “the new oil.” The companies and businesses that embrace and leverage data will be the ones that prosper in the future.
