Gwen Stefani said it best: WPC was “B-A-N-A-N-A-S.” Cool trends, innovative ideas, enlightening conversations, and one spectacular demo of Microsoft HoloLens technology. But what do IT pros need to take away from WPC to drive their business in the coming year?

Azure

You couldn’t go 20 minutes or 20 feet at WPC without hearing something about Azure. It came up multiple times in Satya’s presentation. It’s the fastest-growing cloud infrastructure with more than 120,000 new subscriptions each month and provides a world of opportunity for partners. Want to expand your cloud portfolio? Azure is a great way, and BitTitan has what you need to get started without any deep expertise.

CSP

Cloud solution providers are the kings and queens of the Microsoft partner world these days. Why? Because they are the trusted advisor to their customers. You can be counted on to combine high-margin service offerings with product sales to drive revenue. It highlights the importance of bundling services that we at BitTitan have been talking about. It’s also the only context in which Office 365 was really discussed, and understandably so; in the age of growing cloud collaboration, it’s all about how you differentiate your Office 365 offering. This is essential to your success in the new era of the cloud.

Automation

We’ve come of age in IT, and it’s about time for MSPs, CSPs and other IT shops to automate processes. Automation will help IT service providers scale, focus on business strategy, and build important relationships. With automation, IT pros can take success to the next level—a level that’s beyond the clouds. One might say the stratosphere for a grade-A, groan-worthy pun, albeit quite appropriate. But back to seriousness—it will more than the right approach to get beyond the clouds; you’ll also need the right technology partner with the right tools.

Honorable mentions

• Enterprise Mobility & Security: Okay, this was a pretty huge topic, beyond changing the “S” in “EMS.” An expanded EMS E5 plan means an even greater commitment by Microsoft to help protect organizations’ data, even proactively—with behavioral analytics and anomaly detection.

• BI in data: Alongside automation driving processes, data is driving decision-making. Welcome to the digital age. If you can’t back up your business decisions with data, you may as well forfeit your seat at the table and try to enjoy that delusional stone age you’re living in.

Shameless self-promotional mentions

• More than 700 people came to our Game of Clouds It was the most fun we’ve ever had, and we can only hope that Kristian Nairn (a.k.a. Hodor) will cherish the memories of sharing poutine with us as much

• We more than doubled the number of visitors to the BitTitan booth from last year. This wouldn’t be so important to mention if it weren’t for us donating $10 per person scanned to Doctors Without Borders. We hit our goal and donated $15,000!

• Partners were super jazzed about what’s coming with MSPComplete as well as the rollout of ModernMSP.com and our new website. Check them out!