The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Toronto has just finished and we can’t wait to do it all over again! As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said in his Vision Keynote address on Day 1, "Microsoft has always been a partner-led company, and will always be a partner-led company." And this couldn’t be better said. With over 15,000 attendees and 17,000+ Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) partners, WPC is the biggest Microsoft event for partners for networking and learning—all with the goal of increasing partner profitability and accelerating business growth.
We met loads of our current partners and new attendees (and also signed an important partnership which we’ll announce soon – stay tuned!) at our booth 222 where we demonstrated how Dashworks has helped migrate over 5 million assets across major IT transformation projects like Windows 10, Office 365 and desktop virtualization. If you missed it, you can find some pictures below or request a personalized demo.
Now on to the biggest announcements which are worth mentioning, they are quite a few so we have selected the ones we think you shouldn’t miss, especially regarding cloud and future technologies.
- More details on the Windows 10 Anniversary Update Due August 2nd were announced. For enterprise customers there were demonstrations of the new security features like an enhanced Windows Hello for secure authentication, and enhanced Windows Defender and some new functionality to help stop data being transferred from the office to the home via email. These features will further the drive towards enterprise adoption of the new operating system.
- WPC Women was announced, a project that seeks to connect the important conversations about women in business and technology with the top priorities of Microsoft’s partner channel: building strong networks, inspiring innovation, and leading with purpose.
- Satya Nadella also spoke about last week's announcement of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Microsoft AppSource. Microsoft Dynamics 365 will be available this fall and it will unify the current Microsoft CRM and ERP cloud solutions into one cloud service with new purpose-built apps to help manage specific business functions. Microsoft AppSource will be Microsoft's new destination for business users to find and try out line-of-business SaaS apps from Microsoft and Microsoft partners.
- Lasly, It has also been announced that Windows 10 Enterprise E3 for CSP will enable businesses to get enterprise-grade security and management at just US$7 a seat per month for the first time through the Cloud Solution Provider channel. For partners selling through CSP this means that they will now be able to offer their customers Microsoft’s full stack of services and subscriptions, including Windows 10, Office 365, Microsoft Azure, and CRM subscriptions through a single partner with one user account, one point of contact for support and one simplified bill. As Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud and Enterprise Group, said there is "a generational shift" of organizations seeking to move their business to the cloud so it seems quite clear that the Microsoft cloud represents the best choice to satisfy that demand, with more trusted-cloud certifications than any other provider, unique hybrid capability, and the opportunity for partners to own the cloud journey for their customers end-to-end through the Cloud Solution Provider program.
There were also some other great announcements and quite a few great sessions, it’s basically impossible to sum them up all here. Luckily, you can watch the Vision Keynotes on-demand and catch up on any session you might have missed here. After such a great experience we couldn’t help but registering for WPC 2017, taking place in Washington D.C. from the 9th to the 13th of July next year, we hope to see you there!