Last year was the year of "mobile-first, cloud-first computing." This year is the year of "digital transformation." While the exact nature of digital transformation is still lacking specifics, the term ushered in the general theme of Ignite 2016: IT professionals and users, your world is changing and here's how. The keynote hit two themes repeatedly: The IT work is shifting to the cloud, whether or you like it or not, and since Microsoft has a vast cloud infrastructure, they're your best friend for your own digital transformation.
There were a few big announcements -- Microsoft Azure will be replacing AWS as Adobe's cloud provider of choice, there are new security features meant to head off threats at their source, Microsoft continues to advance machine learning and integrate it into their Office suite as well as their admin tools.
But a substantial percentage of the keynote was devoted to videos and customer testimonials showing that change was not scary when Microsoft took the wheel. It was a consistent message for IT pros: there are roles for you in the cloud, and here they are.
Three of us -- Richard Hay, Michael Morisy and I -- were at the morning keynote. Below, our you-were-there accounts for the events of the morning. We may have thrown in a ringer re-tweet or two at the end for you too.
Pre-keynote set-up. We are sitting in front of a fog machine. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/XEkypOLA42
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Interesting that opening quotes from keynote are all IT pros explaining how the cloud’s actually great for their jobs. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Julia White is now onstage at #MSIgnite as the keynote begins. She is our host this week apparently! pic.twitter.com/SwTTSfUGhs
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
“We’ve spent a billion dollars on security technologies” via buys & investing in in-house tech — @julwhite #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
A lot of @julwhite focused on how IT is a changing field and change = growth. It’s a very “reassure the IT pro” message.
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Now @scottgu is on stage to get the details rolling in this keynote. #MSignite pic.twitter.com/PKhONYIJne
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Scott Guthrie: “our mission at MSFT is to empower every individual in every organization to achieve more.” #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
One year from concept to live for this BMW connected car app. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/Ec9ort4h03
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
We’ve moved on to explaining how Azure is powering the BMW console. Smart car tech as an example of IT. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Office 365 now works on every operating system. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/gwdcFKHj3y
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Scott Guthrie announces Adobe adopting Azure as their cloud-based provider; this is a move from AWZ #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Surprise Satya Nadella appearance! He’s here with Adobe CEO Shantung Narayan to talk about MSFT/ADBE partnership. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
So now Adobe Loves Azure! #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/bxqDGKuxdm
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
First mention of “cloud-first, mobile-first environment” & it comes from ADBE CEO Narayan. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
From a lot of MSFT’s messaging, it strikes me that they’re largely thinking of what’s beyond cloud-first, mobile-first, strategy wise. https://t.co/j4lTP0IJwx
— Michael Morisy (@morisy) September 26, 2016
Microsoft Ignite: Adobe's Cloud comes to Azure with focus on personalized marketing https://t.co/xJdspTClBL via @WindowsITPro
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
“Marketers were the last bastion of users for whom technology had not been brought to bear” — Narayen, on ADBE strategy #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Adobe Document Cloud, Adobe Marketing Cloud, Adobe Creative Cloud are all going over to Azure. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“There’s an opportunity for out-of-the-box joint integration for all our customers — one integrated sales and marketing service.” #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“If we can standardize a data model between all our models …” that should boost out-of-box ability to work (less customization) #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“Digital transformation” is the phrase that keeps popping up from each speaker. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“If we lean in and embrace the new technologies & approaches, we can get more done and have more fun.” — Guthrie, #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Hearing from real world IT Pros about using the cloud. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/OPQyKrYrvn
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
"IT Professionals are always seen as the people who spend money but don't bring value." Is this a keynote or therapy? #MSIgnite
— Michael Morisy (@morisy) September 26, 2016
A lot of this keynote is coming off like reassuring IT pros they’ll still have jobs, they just have to embrace change to have them #MSIgnite https://t.co/KEqOxuuDIq
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
The cloud is a generational shift in computing according to @scottgu #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/2WljWKW9QD
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
MSFT trading on scope + experience, citing their cloud tech as global, trusted. 34 unique Azure locations, 2x those of AWS #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
MSFT has managed to build cloud service that gets A-OK from China AND passes Germany’s data sovereignty requirements #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
85% of Fortune 500 companies are now running their businesses using the MSFT Cloud #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
We now have @DonovanBrown on stage at #MSIgnite announcing Azure Monitor - one place to monitor all your apps, VMs, etc. pic.twitter.com/bfIy1NztaP
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Hello, Contoso. We meet again, pretend company that shows up in every MSFT demo. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
This Azure Monitor service is fully customizable and once you set it up is "your" portal for monitoring. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/oA0wOKBfAI
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Azure Alerts - monitor threats to your network/services. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/drI1BjyHJb
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Now Tyco is onstage talking about how they are putting Azure to use in collecting data from IoT devices. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/CDKu3dyszt
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
It hasn’t been explicitly mentioned yet, but am wondering how much of behavior analysis in infrastructure monitors = Cortana #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Tyco CTO talks abt data scientists & how they craft discovery and analysis tools. I bet intelligence tools to be featured soon #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
All Windows Server 2016 customers now get built-in commercially supported Docker at no cost. Container deployments ahoy! #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
General release of both Windows Server 2016 and System Center 2016 today. The crowd goes wild. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Time to talk about the development tools Visual Studio; Visual Studio Code (cross platform) and Visual Studio Team Services. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/sYNlGQyrDJ
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Here are some of the companies using Xamarin tools. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/LNcjOB9bQW
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Xamarin Test Cloud having praises sung via this latest video from MSFT. Video apparently also shown at Build #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Always interesting to see how MSFT tools lay out their ideal workflows for productivity. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“Any language, any platform. I personally take that as a challenge.” — the rallying cry in MSFT devops #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
"Any language, any platform" #MSIgnite demo running on a Mac. pic.twitter.com/IgJKlj3XE6
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Yusuf Medhi takes the stage to talk about MSFT devices. Introduction slide includes mention of Hololens & IoT #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“We’re at the cusp of a revolution, a new era that places you at the center of your digital world.” — appeal to individual users #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“The world becomes your screen, and almost anything is possible. This is the digital revolution … just image what you’ll do.” #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Millennials are coming! “These are people who have grown up in the cloud,” Yusef Mendhi says. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
MSFT sees following trends: the youngs invading the workspace, 43% of workforce goes freelance, everyone has galaxy of devices #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Interesting usage stats for 2020 #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/mHeOKZiIex
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Windows 10 adoption is running 115% faster than Windows 7's. Now running on more than 400 million devices. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/Kp4Hl487a3
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
70 million monthly active users on Office 365. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/WhlWBaJ6Ar
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Demo with Surface — showing how you can use sticky notes on the computing experience & Cortana can pull up info on those notes #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
We have now reached a point in tech where we can use a stylus to cross out text on a screen, just as a pencil can do on paper #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“One of the biggest challenges to being productive is information overload” .. intro to analytics feature w/MORE info for users #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“I like to call this my FitBit for my work” - quantified life comes to workplace. No word yet on tools to help users ACT on data #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“No PBX required” = selling point for Surface Hub. b/c it’s 2016 & we may as well move past conference calls. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
What is notable about all these productivity-enhancing features is how they presume a homogenous software environment ... (1/2) #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
… when you’ll have a lot of freelancers & remote workers who have their own tools they use in tandem or instead of MSFT (2/2) #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Heading into the security segment of this morning’s keynote. Focusing on investment, analytics, software features #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Windows Defender Application Guard: “makes MSFT the most secure browser for the enterprise” #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
(More here: https://t.co/TSNgB4SEqg)
“You don’t have to rely on your users” — inadvertently touching on #1 security threat to most workplaces, i.e. human behavior #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Behavioral analytics are part of Windows Defender Application Guard’s way to block security threats & see where they originate #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Microsoft's Intelligent Security Graph is robust. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/mcwyA0eZ6e
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
We were told last night that eventually Windows Defender Application Guard will come to other browser but Edge first. #MSIgnite
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
No surprise that Windows Defender Application Guard uses big data and machine learning to power its capabilities. #MSIgnite
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Ending video: “It is time for digital transformation.” No actual definition of “digital transformation” but it’s time, apparently #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
The CIO from Accenture is on stage to talk about how his company is driving a digital transformation for 400K employees. #MSIgnite pic.twitter.com/ddvi2HUkk4
— Richard Hay (@WinObs) September 26, 2016
Accenture CIO Andrew Wilson takes best shot at defining digital transformation: “real time, agile” method of working. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
“The day of the datacenter definitely has an end.” — Accenture CIO Andrew Wilson #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
The theme: Death of the Datacenter
— Rod Trent (@rodtrent) September 26, 2016
Wilson emphasizes nature of IT today means you must be “more willing to adopt risk,” cites millennials as reason for acceleration. #MSIgnite
— Lisa Schmeiser (@lschmeiser) September 26, 2016
Your success is our success. Translation: Hey, IT Pros -- please drive your company to our cloud. The datacenter is dead.
— Rod Trent (@rodtrent) September 26, 2016
