I guess we should have seen it coming, but I didn’t. I know there were some significant changes to Convergence last year that minimized the involvement of Dynamics, but I didn’t expect to have the show canceled this year and replaced with Envision, a conference geared for less than 5% of the previous Convergence population.
Yes, , . Kudos to Microsoft for making a bold decision and being clear about their target market. That market doesn’t include me, nor does it include most of you reading this. Envision is focused on enterprise customers – customers where the third tier of corporate leadership is overseeing 500+ employees. Which translates to companies who have several thousand employees. Not exactly the SMB market anymore, huh?
I’m not sure why Microsoft wants to be exclusive to the enterprise space. Last time I checked, the vast majority of businesses out there are in the SMB (small- to medium-business) space. And it takes an SMB to grow into an Enterprise company, they don’t just happen overnight. I can’t think of an SMB company that couldn’t use CRM, SharePoint, Office 365, or many other wonderful tools that Microsoft makes.
And what about the millennials? The hip, cool, up-and-coming business leaders that will soon be driving our economy? Why is Microsoft excluding them, and instead going for the stuffed-shirt, age 50+ executive who runs a mega-company? I don’t know about you, but I’d rather focus on 100% of the marketplace versus 5% or less. But hey, it’s not my decision.
So what do we do now? Fortunately, there are Dynamic Communities Summits, hosted in the fall. This year, you’ll see us again at and , where we’ll meet and mingle with real users in the real software space. People who are passionate about SMB and what’s happening today. If you were planning to go to Convergence this year, hopefully you can move that budget over to join me in Tampa October 11-14. You’ll probably save some money too.
Most of all, you’ll be welcome.
Join me,
