Ah, Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Bright lights, big city and close to 40,000 tech professionals baking in the desert sun.<\/p>\n
I\u2019d been to Vegas dozens of times for various conferences however this was my first time with Microsoft. First time also that they\u2019d run the partner (Inspire) and internal (Ready) events side-by-side and so I was looking forward to seeing how Sin City was going to cope with the influx of IT folks from around the world.<\/p>\n
In a nutshell?<\/p>\n
It was by far the best Microsoft global partner event that I\u2019ve been to (and that includes the 2006 version back in Boston where I was THIS close to Bill Gates!). Microsoft\u2019s <\/span>wrap-up and recording of the all the sessions is here<\/a><\/strong> <\/span>and so what follows will be my top 5 reasons why I think this was the best one yet, including some guidance for regular readers around how to make the most of the momentum.<\/p>\n Much has been written about how Microsoft has effectively been reinvented under Satya Nadella\u2019s tenure and the impact of this is seen in their FY18 results (operating income up a staggering 34% in Q4) and record share price. What is harder to quantify is the more humanistic impact of his leadership and this was on full display during his Corenote. He was humble, caring, openly encouraged competition and chose to showcase stories that highlighted how technology can (and needs to) have a positive impact on each and every one of us. I emerged from his presentation feeling pumped and actively engaged, excited at being a part of something special.<\/p>\n There were close to 400 Australian attendees at Inspire this year representing over 180 different partners. We\u2019ve got a great network at Insentra and have delivered work for or have a relationship with around half of these companies \u2013 so it\u2019s amazing to see how many new organisations are continually popping up. What\u2019s even better is how warmly these partners are being embraced by Microsoft and by extension, their channel ecosystem. No longer do you need to be a massive reseller or huge mover of licenses to get attention \u2013 now it\u2019s all about how you can make a difference, showcase new technology and help tell the story. We had some great conversations with partners that didn\u2019t exist two years ago, looking to leverage our experience in Azure and Office 365 as they expand into new areas such as AI and IOT.<\/p>\n Speaking of new areas, there was a massive focus on the next generation of technology with AI, IOT, machine learning and even a preview of holographic meetings via Microsoft Teams (think Princess Leia saying \u201chelp me Obi-Wan, I need those sales forecasts and you\u2019re my only hope\u201d). There\u2019s still a big opportunity with Office 365, Azure and Dynamics365, however I\u2019d recommend any partner at least dipping a toe into the water of something new before the world passes them by.<\/p>\n What struck me perhaps more than anything at this event was how effectively Microsoft used customer stories to showcase technology. Every Corenote was flavoured with real-life examples (many from Australia), and in every case, the partner was highlighted right there alongside the customer case-study. Such great exposure for Aussie partners like Mexia, Mailguard and Velrada and another example of how smaller players can compete with the big boys.<\/p>\n One common question following a conference like Inspire is \u201chow on earth do we take all of this in?\u201d. My answer is simple \u2013 you don\u2019t need to. There\u2019s simply too many areas of technology for any one company to focus on them all, with new branches popping up all the time. What you do need to do is choose a path where you feel there\u2019s going to be growth and then potentially partner with someone like Insentra to help with the adjacent or supporting technologies. I met with many partners in Vegas who felt that the time was right to get into Azure, or wanted to explore Office 365 in more depth, but weren\u2019t sure where to start. This is where we can assist, by providing you with the support and guidance you need to help design, deliver and manage projects for your customers.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it from me. There\u2019s a lot going on and if you weren\u2019t able to make it to Inspire, I would recommend either checking out the Corenote recordings or potentially getting along to one of the upcoming <\/span>Microsoft Partner briefings in<\/strong><\/a> <\/span>most capital cities.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s to a successful FY19 for all.<\/p>\n Robbie<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Ah, Las Vegas. Bright lights, big city and close to 40,000 tech professionals baking in the desert sun. I\u2019d been to Vegas dozens of times for various conferences however this was my first time with Microsoft. First time also that they\u2019d run the partner (Inspire) and internal (Ready) events side-by-side and so I was looking… Continue reading My notes from Inspire 2018<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":6627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6628,"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/387\/revisions\/6628"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.insentragroup.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}1\/ Microsoft has turned the corner<\/span><\/h3>\n
2\/ They partner with a capital P<\/span><\/h3>\n
3\/ Lots of whitespace<\/span><\/h3>\n
4\/ The global gets local<\/span><\/h3>\n
5\/ Insentra can help you get there<\/span><\/h3>\n