May 2022
I was lucky enough to attend Microsoft Envision UK this week. This is Microsoft’s first in-person customer and partner event, it was a day to showcase thought leadership, new technology solutions and customer success stories. A day combining both achievements and opportunities for customers to evaluate and inspire their digital transformation journey.
The opening keynote was presented by Clare Barclay who is the CEO Microsoft UK – she also hosted all keynote sessions throughout the event. She met with a number of inspirational people during the day, the sessions that resonated with me the most were:
- Gareth Southgate, England's National Football Team Manager. Clare and Gareth discussed all things ‘Leadership,’ identifying management skillsets, managing a high-performing team, the importance of England managers role in worldwide issues and conversations such as racism/socio-economic equality.
- Brad Smith, Microsoft’s President, and Vice Chair. They spoke about the role of Microsoft cloud technology supporting the Ukrainian government (moving a datacenter to the Azure platform in a matter of weeks prior to invasion), how cybersecurity is now the first line of defense in global warfare and how this affects the local UK market.
- Tony Danker, CEO of Confederation of British Industry. This session covered the current economic landscape of UK. Inspiring organisations to continue to invest, manage utility prices and growth setbacks through technological investment. This included automation, process efficiency, data capture, waste management.
It was fantastic to see how visually engaging and advanced all the presentations were at this event. Microsoft are focused on diversity and inclusion, and it was great to see a lot of consideration had been given to all accessibility needs including closed captions and live signing (BSL).
I got the opportunity to see my first Formula 1 car in real life, the Alpine F1 Team bought theirs along which was extremely popular and a great conversation starter – see the picture below.
This was a really well managed networking event for both clients and partners alike. There was a very comfortable and informal atmosphere and an amazing level of energy and representation from the Microsoft UK team. I am already looking forward to attending next year!
