Microsoft is currently having its European Convergence conference in Barcelona - and has unleashed three major announcements, my colleague Alan Lepovsky and me take a first stab analyzing them.
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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.
More about Microsoft:
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.
More about Microsoft:
- News Analysis - Microsoft expands Azure Data Lake to unleash big data productivity - Good move - time to catch up - read here
- News Analysis - Microsoft and Salesforce Strengthen Strategic Partnership at Dreamforce 2015 - Good for joint customers - read here
- News Analyis - NetSuite announced Cloud Alliance with Microsoft - read here
- Event Report - Microsoft Build - Microsoft really wants to make developers' lives easier - read here
- First Hand with Microsoft Hololens - read here
- Event Report - Microsoft TechEd - Top 3 Enterprise takeaways - read here
- First Take - Microsoft discovers data ambience and delivers an organic approach to in memory database - read here
- Event Report - Microsoft Build - Azure grows and blossoms - enough for enterprises (yet)? Read here.
- Event Report - Microsoft Build Day 1 Keynote - Top Enterprise Takeaways - read here.
- Microsoft gets even more serious about devices - acquire Nokia - read here.
- Microsoft does not need one new CEO - but six - read here.
- Microsoft makes the cloud a platform play - Or: Azure and her 7 friends - read here.
- How the Cloud can make the unlikeliest bedfellows - read here.
- How hard is multi-channel CRM in 2013? - Read here.
- How hard is it to install Office 365? Or: The harsh reality of customer support - read here.
Find more coverage on the Constellation Research website here and checkout my magazine on Flipboard and my YouTube channel here.