“Cloud-first, mobile-first world,” – That was the premise on which Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella painted the roadmap for the future of Microsoft at the recently held Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) 2015. Microsoft made all the right moves with a continued emphasis on Big Data, cloud, personal computing and enterprise collaboration.
The Cortana Analytics suite is a wonderful addition to the Microsoft family. This fully managed Big Data and Analytics suite can be used to for data storage and processing in the cloud along with powerful visualizations. Business can use the Cortana Analytics suite to do more from their business data.
The collaboration strength of Microsoft would be further boosted by the launch of E5, a new Office 365 enterprise suite. Not only will it assimilate the collaboration capabilities present in Office 365, it also offers newer capabilities for communication, analytics features and other security upgrades.
The most interesting thing to have come out of WPC 2015 was HoloLens, a virtual reality platform on the all new Windows 10. What’s stunning is that the HoloLens is different from traditional virtual reality and augment reality platforms which opens up interesting use cases. HoloLens can be incorporate at work, play or for other personal uses. Many businesses are already taking an interest in these programs and are priming themselves for this holographic computer platform.
Another announcement which excited me greatly was the Project GigJam. It will simplify information sharing across tools and applications. The company wants to reinvent productivity and processes with this project. Essentially, Project GigJam will become central to collaboration among employees. The voice-activated commands makes it extremely easy to access information across any device quickly.
These new innovations are coming at the right time for Microsoft. With Digital Transformation fast becoming a key agenda across businesses, the company has used the WPC 2015 to address the key components of the Digital Transformation mix. Intelligent cloud, smart analytics, personal computing and collaboration – all point towards the future generation of computing. And Microsoft is moving fast towards becoming a leader in the next era as well.
