Microsoft ISV Summit

Last Updated on 01/06/2011

I attended the Microsoft Canada ISV Summit yesterday. It took place at Microsoft Canada’s office near Toronto. One of the speakers was marketing thinker and writer Mitch Joel.

He promised to be provocative and he was. He was unbridled and extremist in his support of the web, digital and social media. I didn’t discern much, or any, limit in these regards with him. Fortunately, for I and those like me who despise the style (or lack thereof), he was not a ‘ra-ra’ style speaker and kept his delivery intelligible.

He spoke about the humanization of technology: real interactions with real human beings as his subject.
He talked about a huge shift: to be present when and where potential buyers/interested/consumers are. He made a case for making it simple for people to buy from you (that should be marketing 101). He implored the audience to be active in their worlds and not wait for customers to come to them.

Joel spoke of his 6 points (pixels) of separation:

1- Accept it
2- But don’t stop everything else you are doing
3- Don’t write cheques that Social Media cant cash: improve your digital marketing value (websites, mobile, etc.)
4- Be open (social media should be shareable and findable)
5- Think like a publisher (it is content after all) and a marketer: have valuable content
6- Don’t ask what you are doing, ask why… focus on strategy and build value for your brand

Key Provocations:

• This is the first time in history that marketers are behind consumers. Utilize and rejoice the disintermediation with your potential customers and users.
• Remove yourself from traditional value systems, don’t be stuck in the old ways.
• Keyboards are like rotary phones.
• Get online, be interactive, open up to technology and its semantics.
• It is not just for teens. Youtube and Facebook are dominated by middle-age or older demographics.

 

Other speakers talked about the company’s cloud focus. However, one senior Microsoft manager was bold enough to announce the end of the Cloud era. Calling the proverbial Cloud the past, he told the (likely surprised) audience that 2011 is the beginning of the end of the Cloud era. 2011 and on belongs to NUI (the heir to the throne of GUI, namely Natural User Interface) comprised of human interactions like voice, touch, gestures and thought. The fastest selling consumer good, the Microsoft XBox Kinect is an actual example of what the speaker had in mind.

Other speakers were quick to emphasize the company’s Cloud (SAAS, PAAS and IAAS) capabilities and exhort the ISV partner community to jump aboard the Microsoft Azure ship.

 

 

*I do work on behalf of Microsoft