Imagine that a global humanitarian organization operating on every inhabited continent wants to modernize its most important core system, migrate its ERP and CRM, build an enterprise data platform, and launch multiple new AI and analytical workloads tackling scenarios ranging from medical assistance to climate change all in the span of 18 months. This is a thing. ...but it wasn't all smooth sailing. This is a session about how to recognize the big problems in a storm, how to avoid crumbling under the day-to-day pressure to fix tactical issues, root out obstacles to success, and stay true to your strategy and vision as you navigate seriously choppy technical waters. If you think this doesn't apply to you because you're working on big, long-term projects and you can't change course now, think again. Join us to learn how even the biggest, most challenging initiatives can adapt and thrive in our new era of technological change.

Join us to hear why so many Microsoft partners are terrible, and decide for yourself if you're with the leaders or the fools. Microsoft customers are taking charge of their own tech like never before. They're training their teams, hiring their own experts and independent consultants, and building AI, Power Platform, and Fabric workloads independently. Meanwhile, traditional workloads like ERP, CRM, and HRIS - historic rocks in most customers' IT ecosystems - are rapidly becoming less important than they've ever been. You may have even heard whispers that the Microsoft Partner is DEAD! They aren't. But where does all of this change leave Microsoft Partners in the years to come? Well, it's going to be really challenging. Some won't make it, but the smart ones that adapt well will thrive. Come to learn actionable insights on how successful partners are evolving today, how foolish partners are not, what you and your team can do to stay ahead and thrive as a next generation Microsoft partner in the years ahead, and - if you're a Microsoft customer - what you should be looking for in your next partner.

It's painfully obvious how difficult so many organizations find it to actually build and execute on their AI strategy, in part because of the decades they've spent kicking their proverbial data can down the road, and in part because it turns out most people have zero clue where to start. This is your golden opportunity to become a true leader in artificial intelligence! Join us to pick up practical knowledge and tools to help your organization (or your customer) assess its maturity to adopt and scale AI, and identify specific areas to invest time, talent, and treasure across 25 dimensions including your technical ecosystem, data distribution and integration, business applications, AI development tools, extensible AI, Responsible AI (RAI), data governance, and how technical debt can destroy your greatest AI dreams. Organizations diverse as government, law firms, banking, industrial and manufacturing, utilities, global humanitarian, and Microsoft partners from the United States to France to Thailand are using the AI Strategy Framework to get twelve steps ahead. You should be, too.

The grace period for organizations to get their act together and position themselves for the next wave of tech is growing much shorter. The margin for error is much narrower. The churn in cloud technology today will produce big winners and surprise losers. Ecosystem-Oriented Architecture (EOA) is the new path forward, allowing organizations that embrace it to more readily absorb successive waves of technological change in the era of AI, data, and beyond. So, what must Ecosystem Architects know to thrive professionally and move their organizations and their customers forward? Well, you'll need to move away from placing big point solutions like ERP and CRM at the center of your architecture, place data at the core, and adopt composable development approaches such that when one workload is added or removed, the rest of the ecosystem continues to function and evolve. Join us to explore the application and real-world examples of ecosystem-oriented architecture, as well as the principles of platform first, composability, evolution, restraint, artistry, and following the money that will help you be the kind of Ecosystem Architect that leads winning organizations and their projects in the years to come!