VIRTUAL Business as Usual
First and foremost, the complete transition to a virtual of a traditionally large and popular in-person event, was a strong testimonial to how Microsoft from an organization and tooling perspective, is enabling customers and the community to stay connected and effective from afar. With some 1:1 and social networking options available to ease transition for those more accustomed to face-to-face discussions, the biggest impact was demonstrating how far Microsoft technologies have come in enabling virtual delivery of all types and size of content during a time of unanticipated demand for remote work. While the true impact of COVID-19 on business is still unknown, most business leaders and industry experts agree digital workplace tools and virtualization of legacy application will only become more relevant in the future.
Dynamics & Power Platform
The kick-off and keynotes were great in getting attendees engaged in the art of what’s possible with the Dynamics and Power Platform. James Phillips and Alysa Taylor shared insight into the great work Microsoft is doing to help businesses leverage the "digital feedback loop" with compelling stories from Chipotle, IKEA and Ste. Michelle Wine Estates (my favorite!), demonstrating the true power of the platform. They even revealed an impressive 97% + of Fortune 500 companies are now using Power Platform for some type of work, creating tremendous opportunity for everyone to take advantage of the investments made. If you haven't already joined the Power Platform User Group community, do yourself a favor, go NOW and register! I can't wait to get my "powerful alone, better together" t-shirt!
Power BI
The Power BI Vision and Roadmap session gave some great insight into what's next with exciting updates from Arun Ulag and Amir Netz. A quick list of key features to expect soon that were covered in their session:
- Three circle framework to engage individuals with amazing data experiences, modern enterprise BI and insights, at the point of decision.
- AI-infused experiences including visual zooming and decomposition tree visual GA, smart narratives, and anomaly detection.
- Enterprise semantic models leveraging composite model and access to 3rd party tools with XMLA read/write.
- Deployment pipelines for continuous development across distributed teams and data lineage.
- Data stack integration with Azure Synapse, Common Data Service and Power Platform.
- And much, much more! Watch the full session and follow through with recommended sessions to get more details.
Emergency Response
One of the most impressive sessions for me was on Power Platform emergency response solutions and the commitment Microsoft is making to support organizations during the early stages of the global pandemic. I strongly encourage you to take the time to hear Sangya Singh, Chief Experience Officer at Microsoft, share details on the tangible impacts made with Tech Intensity. If you want to know more about the emergency response solutions introduced, reach out to us at marketing@valorem.com.
There's still much more to get from the sessions and more virtual connections to be made. Don't miss out on all the great content available and reach out to me directly on LinkedIn or at devans@valorem.com if you want to connect!
