Cloud

Microsoft Ignite 2022: What to Expect from This Year’s Event

As organizations continue to move workloads, apps and data to the cloud, new considerations and opportunities arise.

Joe Kuehne is an Associate Editorial Director at BizTech magazine.

Today, the cloud is being used by many organizations for multiple purposes. It’s enabling hybrid work and allowing companies to cut costs while increasing agility and scalability. Opportunities for innovation abound in the cloud, and they offer the promise of accelerated digital transformation.

However, even with its many benefits, massive cloud migration has introduced new concerns about security that can’t be ignored. The current trend toward hybrid work has brought about a significant increase in the use of mobile devices that are frequently connected via unsecured networks.

These challenges and opportunities will be the focus of this year’s Microsoft Ignite, a hybrid event featuring an online component and in-person events in Seattle. From Oct. 12 to 14, attendees will have access to keynote speakers, breakout sessions and peer networking chats designed to explore the benefits and obstacles of a cloud environment.

Here’s what attendees can expect from this event.

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Microsoft’s Cloud Offerings Allow Innovation

This year’s event will focus on five cloud-related subject areas: building agility and creating data-driven experiences with Microsoft Azure, delivering efficiency through artificial intelligence and automation, leveraging the cloud to re-energize work from anywhere, using Microsoft’s cloud developer platform to accelerate innovation, and protecting digital assets in a cloud environment.

Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella will kick off the event with a keynote session designed to demonstrate how Microsoft is helping customers do more with less in the cloud. His session will be followed by a chat with Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft’s cloud and AI group, and Alysa Taylor, corporate vice president of industry, apps and data marketing, who will discuss how Microsoft customers and partners “are innovating, driving business impact and realizing faster time to value with the Microsoft Cloud,” according to the event website.

The focus on cloud-enabled innovation will continue with a group discussion led by Eric Boyd, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Azure AI. The panel will consider the many ways AI can be leveraged to spur growth through mining the plentiful data many organizations already have at their disposal.

Continued Cloud Migration May Require Some Reconsiderations

Taylor will also lead a discussion with Corey Sanders, corporate vice president of Microsoft cloud for industry and global expansion, and Karuana Gatimu, principal manager of the customer advocacy group for Microsoft Teams Engineering. Their conversation will examine the ways in which cloud adoption and innovation may require an industry-specific approach.

Cloud security is another matter requiring careful consideration, and the event will feature a panel discussion led by several of Microsoft’s IT leaders: John Lambert, corporate vice president and distinguished engineer for Microsoft Security Research; Vasu Jakkal, corporate vice president for security, compliance, identity and privacy; Lloyd Greenwald, partner in Microsoft Security Research; and Seth Juarez, principal program manager in the Azure AI Platform Group. The four will discuss the importance of security in the ever-expanding threat landscape of today’s digital world.

Keep this page bookmarked for articles from the event, and follow us on Twitter at @BizTechMagazine and the official conference twitter feed, @MS_Ignite.