From the keynote stage to the show floor, change was in the air at this year’s annual enterprise communications extravaganza.
What a great week we had in Orlando! The 25th edition of Enterprise Connect, held March 16-19, celebrated a quarter-century of amazing progress, with the main stage over the years often witnessing the arrival of everything from VoIP to software-based communications, new architectures, new industry leaders, and the cloud.
Even more, this year’s conference clearly pointed the way to an amazing future. The show floor seemed to be twice as big as ever with dozens of new solutions and ideas and all varieties of delivery options. And the keynotes and the breakout sessions were even more compelling.
Thought Leaders Herald Industry Change
On the theme of change, all four of the keynotes emphasized the accelerating pace of change. Cisco’s Rowan Trollope, senior vice president and general manager, Collaboration Technology Group, told us that 40% of the Fortune 500 companies would no longer be on that list in five years’ time. Avaya’s Gary Barnett, senior vice president and general manager, Engagement Solutions, reminded us that the average time a company spends on the S&P 500 is down to just 15 years from a 65-year term in the early 1900s. Google’s Adam Swidler, technology evangelist, Google for Work, emphasized the pace of change in the way that organizations work and succeed.
