Could not make Microsoft Ignite 2016? Here are three things we learned from Scott Guthrie’s keynote.
In his famous red shirt yesterday at Microsoft Ignite 2016, Microsoft EVP of Cloud and Enterprise Scott Guthrie empowered IT professionals to take the reins of digital transformation at their companies. Here are three of our favorite nuggets of wisdom from his keynote.
1. Don’t Forget: The Heart of Digital Transformation Is About Harnessing Technology
The driver’s seat is up for grabs when it comes to digital transformation. CEOs, CMOs and lines of business increasingly influence digital strategies. But remember it is you, IT experts, that live and breathe technology.
“You have the ability to make success stories, like the ones we heard this morning (referencing digital pioneers like BMW, Facebook and Rolls-Royce), happen in your organization,” Scott said. “The people who best know how to use technology—IT—are going to make it happen.”
2. Technology Is Not the Only Thing Changing
Sure, we see more screens per user and data increasing by zettabytes. But IT will also witness an influx of younger generations and freelancers in the workplace in the next few years.
What that means for Microsoft, Scott said, is that getting to a secure, productive enterprise is the new end goal. IT needs to focus on creating richer experiences for both customers and employees. We need “more personal computing.”
Cortana’s artificial intelligence is a key enabler for new productivity features in Microsoft’s products, including Tap for Word and Outlook or My Analytics for Office 365 (which now has over 70 million monthly active commercial users). Cortana now finds existing, relevant content in your organization whenever you create new content. Cortana also analyzes those reading your emails and when, so you can find the sweet spot on how to write and when to send emails.
3. Unprecedented Security Threats Call for Unprecedented Security Measures
We are living “in a world of unprecedented security challenges,” said Scott. The more tools and attack vectors we create, the more access points hackers have to corporate resources.
IT cannot just rely on old standbys for new threats. Scott told IT to lean in together and embrace new technologies to move forward. For instance, where do users spend 50% of their time at work? In a browser.
Microsoft’s new Windows Defender Application Guard for Microsoft Edge aims to secure the business-critical tool (and often overlooked pathway for malware). The virtualization-based solution allows admins to configure and distribute trusted site policies across the network, while containers quietly isolate malware.
Windows 10 has been adopted 115% faster than Windows 7, and now runs on over 400 million monthly active devices, said Scott. Security enhancements like this make Windows 10 the most secure version of Windows ever, he said.
Next:
- You can watch the replays here of the Microsoft Ignite keynotes, or read our recap of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote here.
- If you’re at the Atlanta conference, stop by booth #439 to meet the VMware AirWatch team.
- Read the big news from VMware at Microsoft Ignite 2016 here.
