Catalyst Top 10: Virtualization, Productivity and Content

This is my final Top 10 learnings list from this year's Burton Catalyst conference. This list relates to desktop virtualization, productivity suites, and enterprise content management:

• It will be 2012-2014 before companies do wholesale desktop replacement using virtual end-points.


• Licensing can be an issue with virtual desktops, especially with Microsoft and Oracle.


• Productivity suite options: 1) Stay with MS Office, 2) Give an alternative to disenfranchised users only, 3) Use an MS Office alternative - mostly, 4) Wait to dump MS Office until XML support improves, 5) Replace current productivity tools with collaboration tools.


• If you ever see Microsoft Office dethroned, it will be because there has been a fundamental shift in the content creation market.


• When you don’t treat content review like a project, you get all the same problems as a poorly run project.


• Content is the currency used by businesses to make decisions.


• Why isn’t there more use of digital rights management? Not perceived as having enough value, yet. However, it will grow in importance.


• One big gap for the non-Microsoft productivity suite vendors is their lack of integration with SharePoint.


• Think of structured and unstructured content as different views of corporate information.


• Don’t assume that all corporate information is inside the firewall.

So that concludes my coverage of Catalyst. Overall, it was an interesting four days filled with timely insight. I would definitely consider attending again.