Commsverse 2020 wrapped up yesterday, and it was jam-packed with engaging sessions, a stark contrast from many in-person conferences I have attended if I must say so. I hoped online and caught a few of the sessions, and speakers at this year’s first-ever Commsverse seem to have been instrumental in transforming many of the organizations they worked for, bringing them into the digital age – a new age of remote work, or at least some sort of hybrid approach.
Ahead of the conference, I sat down with one of the event’s organizers, Mark Vale, he’s a Microsoft MVP and Independent Microsoft Consultant based in the UK. He said he was optimistic about this year’s event which would have been in-person if it hadn’t been for the novel Coronavirus. The virus had other plans, though, forcing the team of volunteers to shift into overdrive and build a professional-looking online conference in a matter of weeks.
Kicking off with this year’s keynote via Microsoft Teams, Corporate, Microsoft Vice President Jeff Teper, Microsft Teams, SharePoint, and OneDrive, shared touched on the changing enterprise landscape, adding: “Earlier this year, I took over Microsoft Teams. The global pandemic’s changed how we operate and the community plays a big role in that.”
Sean Wilson, Solution Architect, Jamie Stark Product Manager, Microsoft Teams, hosted an interesting session as well. The duo chatted about the changing partner landscape, and how enterprise leaders will have to adjust their mindsets to enable business continuity, which they reminded attendees, is not, and should not be ‘disaster recovery.
“Partners and customers have to embrace whole new world in-home practices in work-life balance, mental health, etc”
Teper added you can do a lot with Teams, but getting the most out of the experience is key. Users can create teams in seconds with customizable templates, create and manage chatbots in Teams, add custom apps, and automate workflows in Teams. One of the most useful tips he shared, users can share Power BI reports in Teams, which can lend a great deal of insight into enterprise-wide performance.
Mio, BlueJeans, Yealink, AudioCodes, Microsoft, and Ribbon Communications, were among dozens of exhibitors that had digital booths where attendees could book a session to pick their brains. Exploring the countless applications of virtual reality at an enterprise level, Commsverse hosted an in-person-like immersive VR view of the expo hall.
If you’re worried you missed a solid conference, you’re right. I’d say this one offered a lot of value to anyone who attended. And for a nominal fee of £25, you can get on-demand access to all the sessions, live. I’m told, this means, if Commsverse has three events twelve months from the time you purchased the subscription, you can access content from each event.
Vale, whom I caught up before the conference, stressed to me, this is a community event put on by members of the Microsoft community, for members of the community. “The point is not for us to make a profit, but to provide value from learning how to best-use Teams as things shift on a near-daily basis.” Looking toward next year, he said he is sure the event will be held in person, assuring me it would be great to see many friends and partners from across the world of Microsoft Teams live and in-person although this year’s event seems to have gone off without a single glitch.
