Live Blog: Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference Keynote

Microsoft’s (MSFT) Worldwide Partner Conference 2014 is well underway in Washington, D.C., and today’s keynote address was chock-full of technology goodness. Here’s a roundup of the news distilled in live blog format, for your reading pleasure.

Phil Sorgen, Microsoft Channel Chief

After an extended musical number by blues guitarist Buddy Guy, Microsoft’s channel chief Phil Sorgen outlined the day’s events and emphasized Microsoft’s commitment to delivering world-class products and services in conjunction with the company’s partner network. Microsoft is committed to providing partner opportunity to every product it brings to market, he said, highlighting the ModernBiz campaign for partners launching in August to help partners get a leg-up on their competition and drive their sales. Sorgen also discussed the new release of Microsoft Pinpoint, including better search and a more refined website for lead management, expected to launch in September. Microsoft is focusing on helping partners keep up with the rapidly changing marketplace, he said, and, with the new site, help partners drive profitability in the cloud within the partner portal. Overall, Microsoft wants to increase its value for partners, make it easier to do business, and lower the overall cost of doing business with the company in the future.

“Our success in a mobile-first, cloud-first world will be achieved through a highly successful partner ecosystem,” said Sorgen.

Tiffani Bova, VP of Gartner Research

Next on stage, VP of Gartner Research Tiffani Bova talked about the new “Experience Economy,” in which products no longer are the best thing to sell; rather, experiences are what people are willing to pay for. Bova used a clever coffee bean analogy to explain her meaning—attendees at the conference are willing to pay for the experience of going to a branded coffee house even though there was free coffee readily available in the lobby.

The Internet of Things played closely into the importance of Bova’s experience economy, giving customers the experiences they are willing to pay for by integrating technology for the enrichment of the lives of customers. Partners need to think differently about how they are selling products to their customers and how they can keep them satisfied. Overall, customers want a more personalized buying experience than ever before, she said.

“Customers are different, not only in what they’re buying, but how they’re buying, and how they’re consuming it,” said Bova.

Tony Prophet, Corporate VP of Marketing

VP of Corporate Marketing Tony Prophet followed up next, asking the audience to consider the importance of the seismic shifts happening throughout the industry as the proliferation of cloud and mobile pushes IT in entirely new directions. Along with the rapid increase of cyberthreats, customers are demanding reliability in their platform of choice. Of course, Prophet said Windows is the only platform dedicated to utilizing the feedback and criticism of Microsoft’s partner network to become bigger and better than before.

If there was one takeaway from Prophet’s time on stage, it was his emphasis on the importance of the partner community as Microsoft continues to work on improving the Windows platform. Prophet said Microsoft is “obsessed with the feedback and council” of its partners, which can be seen in many of the new features released in Windows 8.1, including the introduction of Cortana, more support for mouse and keyboard interaction and desktop and mobile personalization options. Prophet also mentioned the importance of delivering low-cost devices to their partners and business users, and provide new business opportunities.

Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft

Last but certainly not least, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrapped up the keynote and introduced Microsoft’s ace-in-the-hole announcement. Nadella first took the time to thank Microsoft’s partners and the community as a whole for their support and to point out several partners in the audience that had excelled with Microsoft.

Nadella again emphasized the importance of the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and talked about the importance of developing and delivering what he called the “digital life experience,” where partners are able to provide individualized experiences for their customers, including the importance of incorporating work and play experiences on a single device.

Nadella then announced that Microsoft is releasing real-time speech translation software for Skype, allowing users to speak and understand each other in two different languages at the same time. Microsoft’s Steve Clayton initiated (after a few hiccups, of course) a call with a native German speaker, with Skype translating between English and German in real time during the conversation. While the translations weren’t perfect, it was pretty remarkable to see the software reacting so quickly to the conversation and patterns of speech. Obviously, the real litmus test will be if the software can keep up with rapid speakers, but for now Microsoft’s Skype translator looks more than promising.

As always, the VAR Guy would love to know what you all thought of today’s visual keynote, and whether you think Microsoft is moving in the right direction in terms of partner awareness.  Sound off in the comments below.