So let's take a peek:
If you don't have a chance to watch - here are some of my takeaways - check for Alan's on his blog here:
- Office365 becomes secure and analytical - It looks like Microsoft is (finally) bringing together its Skype, Lync, Analytics, Cortana, Machine Learning capabilities to the benefit of the Office 365, a good development.
- MSFT Dynamics CRM now GA - Good to see Microsoft extending its CRM capabilities, bringing together its Machine Learning and Analytics capabilities for the benefit of CRM users, also good to see.
- PowerApps now enable business users - Good to see empowerment of end users - there will be a steep learning curve for business users building apps. But they are now in charge of their 'App Destiny' and are likely to step up to the task over time. IT leaders should not stop the ability - but find scalable ways of enabling business users to build their next generation Apps with e.g. Microsoft PowerApps.
MyPOV
It's good to see Microsoft executing faster and bringing together new capabilities. Of course it helps to have a scalable and successful underlying infrastructure with Azure. And Azure innovations trickle through to Microsoft offerings higher in the technology stack - like Office 365 and Dynamics. Also good to see brand new offerings leveraging this infrastructure, like PowerApps (who re-use capabilities announced to developers at the Build conference in spring) which is key for the future of many established vendors.
End user programming is likely to disrupt the enterprise software landscape, so it is key for the established vendors like Microsoft to have an offering in place. What will help Microsoft is that it has a strong 'higher ground' in its ecosystem - with millions of Office users. And again can leverage industry partnerships it has put in place before with a large diversity of vendors - like SAP, Oracle and Salesforce.com - which allows richer end user applications than other similar platforms.
Exciting time at Microsoft - we will be watching.
