Lessons Learned at Microsoft SharePoint Conference 2011 #SPC11

As we quickly move into the final quarter of 2011, I’d like to take a moment and reflect upon what our team here at AvePoint accomplished at the biggest tradeshow of 2011, Microsoft SharePoint Conference (SPC) in Anaheim, California – including our key takeaways as well as how it will apply to AvePoint’s future initiatives. SPC was our platform for truly launching – and promoting – our newest product offerings, DocAve 6 and Governance Automation. Through the efforts of our global marketing, product, and sales teams, at SPC we: · Unveiled our new, world-class AvePoint booth: Always inundated with eager crowds, it was truly the destination point for attendees to check out our latest video demos and product literature. · Professional in-booth theater demonstrations: Our industry experts teamed up with partners such as Dell to share proven practices for SharePoint management, governance, and storage optimization. After each theater session, we video interviewed attendees for their feedback. · Industry defining conference sessions: As a platinum and keynote sponsor of SPC, AvePoint’s renowned industry experts led four sessions during the Office and SharePoint track. In one session, an attendee tweeted that our Chief SharePoint Evangelist Dan Holme is the “new messiah of the SharePoint community”. · Celebrated SPC with our renowned AvePoint Red Party: Our attendees raved that it was the best party of the conference. · Continued our show-stopping tradition: We drew the biggest trade show crowd over our famed “Red Ducati Drawing” giveaway on the final day of SPC. This event truly showcased how the AvePoint global team continues to step up its game and position itself as the No. 1 SharePoint ISV. In meetings with Microsoft executives, we were continually praised for our thought leadership initiatives, the way we conduct ourselves as a company, and for our efforts as a valued Microsoft partner from the first release of Microsoft SharePoint in 2001. Now, what did we learn at SPC? Microsoft officially announced that there are 125 million user licenses, representing 65,000 companies worldwide using SharePoint. Of these, 62 million users are using SharePoint 2010 today! With 1,162 SharePoint books published and a 700,000-strong SharePoint developer community, SharePoint remains the fastest growing and strongest business application platform – a shining growth story against today’s sluggish economic backdrop. Another key takeaway from SPC is that our competitors are scared. When the head of the SharePoint business at a publicly traded, multi-billion dollar company specifically – and pointedly – launched a campaign against our company and our products, you know AvePoint is where the party is at when everyone is trying so very hard to crash it! So moving forward, what does this mean for AvePoint? It affirms for us that our thought leadership campaign is working, and that we continue to firmly entrench ourselves as the No. 1 brand in the SharePoint space. With this comes great responsibility to not just celebrate our success, but to be diligent of our competition and to never to rest on our laurels in this “innovate or die” software industry. ​