Day two of Enterprise Connect featured a dynamic enterprise panel as well as multiple exciting announcements from Cisco and Avaya.
Software Rules
Kicking off Tuesday morning, Enterprise Connect GM and Co-Chair Fred Knight warmly welcomed a packed room of attendees to the End User Summit with a swig of Guinness and good cheer – a fitting welcome for St. Patty’s Day.
In his typical style, Fred offered up a few gems of wisdom to start. First, the newly emerging reality is that software rules. Further, if centralized IT does not adapt to the new reality, it is setting itself up for a fall.
“You don’t have to be paranoid to be concerned about cyber attacks – you merely have to be conscious,” Fred quipped. We are at a time where computer literacy is low and computer lunacy is high, he said. End users want the flexibility to use the applications and tools they like while enterprise IT is resistant to accept the challenges that come with enabling that flexibility.
Joined on stage by five panelists from companies including Marriott International, USAA, and YMCA, much of the discussion focused on the question of whether cloud and newer technologies are replacing traditional enterprise communications architectures. As Bob Galovic, VP of IT Delivery Network Services for Marriott, said, “Our whole IT world is going to the cloud.” If that’s any indication of the direction we are going, it would appear the answer to the question is, “Yes!” Time will tell.
