#MVPbuzzChat with Gareth Gudger

In episode 12 of #MVPbuzzChat, I sat down with fellow Office Servers & Services MVP Gareth Gudger (@SuperTekBoy), a Solution Architect with Blue Chip Consulting Group (https://www.bluechip-llc.com/), which is headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio. Gareth focuses primarily on Exchange and Exchange Online, and has been in various tech roles for more than 20 years.

In this discussion, we touched on a few different topics, beginning with the excitement around the forthcoming 2019 release cycle, including Exchange Server 2019, Skype for Business Server 2019, SharePoint Server 2019, and more, and how withing the Microsoft release cycle, there is some uncertainty (inside and outside of Microsoft) or which features will make the final cut for General Availability (GA). Just because a feature is included within the preview, or discussed in status calls with MVPs in the months, weeks, and days before GA, changes can still happen if the management team at Microsoft feels that a feature simply isn’t ready for market. And on occasion, surprises also make it into a release. So there is generally a lot of excitement around the release cycle, even for those who are working with the preview versions.

We also discussed the topic of multi-geo in Office 365, the expansion of Microsoft data centers worldwide, and the change happening in data privacy standards and regulations around the world.

Additionally, Gareth and I talked about the importance of providing your feedback to Microsoft, sharing your positive and negative (but constructive) feedback via the Microsoft Tech Community and User Voice. I’ve certainly commented on this, and Gareth also wanted to make the point that providing feedback is so critical to the fast pace of innovation coming out of Redmond — they need to understand where they’ve hit, and where they’ve missed customer requirements and expectations. We discussed making User Voice a part of our regular dialog with Microsoft, whether or not you’re in the TAP program with many of the leading partners and customers, participating in the Windows Insiders program, or have decided to sign up for an early preview. Microsoft cannot improve if we’re not identifying the gaps.

Here is the link to the UserVoice poll that the Exchange MVPs are pushing right now that Gareth mentioned during the show:
https://outlook.uservoice.com/forums/322590-outlook-2016-for-windows/suggestions/19686520-email-signature-sync-across-devices

Great discussion, and hopefully people take that advice and get more plugged into User Voice and Tech Community. And if you’d like to connect with Gareth directly, you can find him on Twitter, LinkedIn, and through his blog at https://supertekboy.com