-Microsoft’s Dave Coplin to outline why businesses can, and should, embrace connected lifestyles in day one keynote-

London, 15 February 2013: Microsoft’s Chief Envisioning Officer, Dave Coplin, has been announced as the keynote speaker for day one of Unified Communications Expo. In his role at Microsoft, Coplin has witnessed that the internet has quietly, but quickly, brought about a social revolution that is blending our analogue and digital worlds. His session “Business Reimagined - The changing role of technology in the workplace” will look at the challenges and opportunities the web presents as it becomes ubiquitous across all of our devices and impacts upon every aspect of our social and professional lives.

Coplin will explore how the new collaborative models of communication that have developed with the internet could translate to the business world. He will examine how organisations would benefit by dispensing with established norms and hierarchies to embrace new “open” models developed to accelerate the free flow of information. The session will go on to look at how the erosion of internal boundaries and shifting to a more human approach to technology can ultimately unlock businesses’ full potential.

Commenting on his keynote, Coplin said: “A lot of the time, companies are chasing round trying to save costs but still trying to replicate the same things they’ve always done, which invariably means they end up making concessions. Companies that use business models which pre-date digital lifestyles, risk missing significant opportunities. During this session, I’m going to explain why businesses need to think differently about technology and working practices if they wish to make the most of the full opportunity that technology offers organisations, employees and customers.”

The keynote will take place at 09h50 on Tuesday 5 March in the ‘Microsoft - Your Business Re-Imagined Theatre’. Unified Communications Expo 2013 offers an extensive seminar programme, which will bring together industry leaders to debate on a range of issues, such as mobility, social business, the contact centre, cloud and convergence. These sessions will highlight how organisations can maintain a competitive advantage within the digital economy.

As Europe’s biggest business communications event, Unified Communications Expo brings together thousands of attendees and all the key players in the field of unified communications and connected business to demonstrate the value of ‘connected people, connected business’. It is the one place where visitors can evaluate the latest technologies to better understand their core business benefits in the fast-moving world of communications. Unified Communications Expo 2013 takes place on 5-6 March at London’s Olympia — register free today.