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Participants, organizers and speakers of Microsoft Discovery Day in CDO (Photo by DevCon CDO)

Microsoft Discovery Day came to Cagayan de Oro City, with the theme “Unlocking Potentials and Opportunities with Microsoft”, to showcase the latest trends and technologies that will enable business organizations to achieve digital transformation. Hosted by DevCon CDO, the event was held at the DICT Tech4Ed Center in Cagayan de Oro City last November 8, 2019.

Developers Connect (DevCon) Philippines is a non-profit organization which aims to promote collaborative growth and competence of developers in the Philippines by providing a unique venue for IT professionals, students, educators and enthusiasts to Sync, Support and Succeed.

Organized by the Cagayan de Oro chapter, DevCon brings the Biggest Developer Conference in the Philippines to the progressing golden city of Cagayan de Oro with Microsoft as one of their co-presenters.

Microsoft introduces Digital Transformation, the product of new technologies, connections, data, and business opportunities, which has been radically changing many industries and organizations. The event was attended by professionals in the IT industry and business administration as well as by students who were interested in unlocking their potential through Microsoft.

The event started off with an introduction by Almarie Amores, a representative from DevCon, welcoming everyone to the event and elaborating on what DevCon is all about, and what to look forward to for the event on the following day.

Almarie Amores introduces DevCon and the speakers from Microsoft

Digital Transformation with Azure

The first speaker, Ian de Torres, the developer marketing manager of Microsoft. He talked about digital transformation with Azure and how it has enabled business organizations to accelerate growth through the use of the advanced technology that we currently have as most business leaders have seen digital transformation as a way of sparking innovation and efficiency as well as increasing their profit.

Mr. Ian de Torres introduces Microsoft Learn and AI School (Photo by DevCon CDO)

In line with this, Mr. de Torres introduced Microsoft Cloud, a cloud computing service for building, testing, deploying and managing applications and services through Microsoft-managed data centers, as a tool that will help teams or businesses to be more collaborative and productive through digital transformation. It offers modern workplace experience, business administration, and apps and infrastructure development.

Mr. de Torres also introduced Microsoft Learn, an online platform for task-based interactive learning to help everyone, especially students, who are aiming to improve or learn new skills. Microsoft Learn offers a step-by-step, friction-free learning experience while letting users unlock achievements to keep them wanting to learn more. Aside from that, Microsoft also has AI School which focuses more on learning how to build artificial intelligence into solutions. He then proceeded to demonstrate a few of their AI solutions, such as the Ink Recognizer Explorer and Celebrity Match.

Modern Workplace and the Future of Work

The second speaker, Steven Torralba, is the experiential lead of Microsoft. He talked about modern workplace and its advantages. He discussed the difference between a modern workplace and a regular workplace, wherein the regular workplace is when your work is limited inside an office while modern workplace is when you get to work wherever and whenever you want, blurring the boundaries of time and space making it a huge advantage for modern workplace.

Mr. Steven Torralba introduces modern workplace and the future of work (Photo by DevCon CDO)

“Today is the future we thought about yesterday”, said Mr. Torralba as another current trend that is needed in organizations nowadays is integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) initiative. And with that, he introduced and demonstrated some of Microsoft’s new innovations that promote collaborative teamwork even outside of the office such as Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Teams. Microsoft 365 is an online version of the Microsoft Office series which lets you collaborate with your teammates in real-time such as creating a Powerpoint presentation, making teamwork efficient. Microsoft Teams, on the other hand, is a single-solution chat-based workspace where you can not only work collaboratively with your team but also chat with them at the same time. These innovations have made teamwork easier and accessible, whether within the office or not.

Participants from Innovuze Solutions, Inc. (from left) Jason Javier, Ralp Mancawan, Eric Lagasca, Uma Roa, Lyn Albacete and Jennifer Ricardo

Despite the information overload, the event wasn’t just all about that. Freebies were given away, such as stickers and lanyards, as well as prizes for the social media challenge and the raffle draw at the end of the event. Two employees from Innovuze Solutions, Inc. were lucky enough to win the raffle and receive a Microsoft practice set and $200 worth of Microsoft voucher.

Employees from Innovuze Solutions, Inc. win the raffle, (from left) Lyn Albacete and Jennifer Ricardo

An event like this provides an opportunity for educators and professionals to be aware of the evolution of the workplace and the innovative products we have right now to keep up with the future of work, as well as provide accessible knowledge to develop the necessary skills needed in one’s career. And it’s not just for professionals but for students as well. It gives them the chance to learn and improve their skills by giving them access to information with ease as well as help them be aware of the kind of work they will soon face. Indeed, we all look forward to more future innovation in the workplace and in advancing human progress.