 Everybody, this is Christian Buckley with another MVP buzz chat, and I'm talking today with Shabazz. Hello. Hi, Christian. How are you? It's great to have you and yet another grand spanking new MVPs. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you. You know, it's for people that might be watching the series, I might think like I only go and select people that just get their, their MVPs like, no, I think this, I don't know what episode we're in the 130s. Wow. But yeah, the, but it's, you know, open invitation to any MVP, the series was started so I could get to know MVPs around the world and in other areas. So you're an enterprise mobility. Yeah, that's correct. Before we dig into that, why don't you give us the introduction, who you are, what you do, where you are. So my name is Shabazz Da, based in the UK, you couldn't tell by the accent from the north, the UK. I work for a net company, they're a Danish based company, but they've got a presence in the United Kingdom. So I'm a senior infrastructure specialist and my main specialities are around Microsoft 365 endpoint manager, and also I'm a big as your virtual desktop fanboy. Yeah, I've been in IT for about 15 years now, and I'm just really into whole cloud thing really, really enjoying it. Yeah, so I'm interested in your, your thoughts and feel free if you don't want to talk about it, it's fine, but with the announcement around Windows 365, and how that changes so much of like, you know, I was never in that role in IT I've been in technology my entire career, but always had all the friends that that did that that were setting up all the laptops for new employees or systems and and pushing that out there. So how is that world changed or changing. I think it should give us give organizations just a different option and really it's not. I don't think it's about replacing anything. There's always going to be a place for hardware and laptops and you know personal devices. I just think this gives people another option. You know that the pandemic came all of a sudden no one knew there was going to happen and it came out of nowhere. And they weren't these options around as your virtual desktop was in his infancy and it just overnight it grew into this massive phenomenon. Have you ever relied on Hyper-V in production environments? Yeah, exactly. And by by introducing this Windows 365, they just given it God forbid there's another another issue like this in the future where all of a sudden people have to go work from home. It just gives businesses know there's another option for us and I think that's all it is. I don't see it replacing anything. And they're still they're still there. And then you know it's an excuse for IT admins to upskill and learning new technology. That's where I see it. So what are what are some of the topics that you're focusing on? What are you writing about talking about lately? A lot of hybrid is probably the main thing I talk about anything hybrid. There's no very rare we talk about I'm talking about cloud native or you know just on premises all hybrid. Again with with the pandemic it caused a lot of companies to sort of go straight into the cloud because they're in a short space of time and they didn't have that time to plan their sort of roadmap. But I think now that companies have got that time now they started to think right we need to maybe roll some things back and go back to a sort of more hybrid role, which is probably supports their organization better. And also probably a bit more cost effective because even though the clouds been here for a while now it's still not massively cheap. Unless you automate the hell out of it pardon my French for hybrid is a massive conversation I'm having. Okay, you know it's interesting so I so I was originally a SharePoint MVP so came from kind of that that side of things and actually my last company we did research and for ISV for partners with the Microsoft ecosystem and I did a study back in. So it was published in early 2017 which you can find out my blog Buckley Planet and the resources, you can scroll down you'll find it, but around, you know, on prem hybrid online from the SharePoint perspective. And basically Microsoft, when they started pushing the cloud this is before Steve bomber left to CEO was all like cloud now go go go to the to the cloud. And there were a lot of us that were just kind of looking at and saying it's like, yeah, you know we're doing a lot of things it's great the technologies, just about they're not quite yet. The reality is that the cost of you can't just lift and shift and move those workloads over. It's certainly not true in the SharePoint world like running that, like what you're doing on prem with SharePoint, moving that in the cloud. It just was not cost effective it was so expensive do that. Now obviously the version of your SharePoint online as part of Microsoft 365 as part of the infrastructure of teams. It's a different beast than 10 years ago we started talking about hybrid. But you mean how is that you know where the areas that organizations are struggling to move to pure cloud kind of what are those common areas where they are remain hybrid. So these applications if I'm honest with you and the identity aspect of it has got much easier with the integration with Azure AD and on premises active directory. So that's allowed a lot of business and you'll find most organizations now haven't have a hybrid identity model. So they have the same object both in cloud and on premises. But I think it's, it's legacy applications that's again all the conversations that I have it's all based on well we've got, we've got XYZ legacy applications that are not supported. And that's, that's where I'm seeing most of it in the application stack really. As far as, you know, the sort of end user compute aspect goes that's that's pretty much there, especially with endpoint manager being able to. And again, there's always people worry about endpoint manager taking over from SCCM and config manager but even that co management is a lot of the conversations I'm having companies don't want to go all into in tune and then point manager and autopilot they want that. They still want that on premises server there but they want to have the best of both worlds why not. Well, that was always the promise I think even from the beginning was move when it makes sense to move I mean obviously Microsoft other vendors and they want to push as hard as they can against that. And that's one of the things that Jared Spitaro so over marketing from Microsoft 365 and had conversations with him at the partner conference back in Houston so like six, seven years ago, seven years ago, eight years ago, I don't know, anyway, a long time ago, time is relevant anymore that's one thing as the benefits like time doesn't matter. I've actually done a bunch, I think three or four all nighters this year. There's a lot of stuff to do. Yeah, it doesn't do much for productivity the next day, but you know got stuff done. No but I had conversations about moving to the cloud and one of the things and this was kind of the thinking with Microsoft was, you know, when do they think that they're going to see the majority of production of production systems, all cloud based meaning no more hybrid no more on prem in cloud and they said oh we think you know in four or five years very quickly. In the next year, the very next year, I met with him again and we talked about that I said do you remember what you said he's like yes I do. And I said do you want to amend any statements is as the data is now showing us and conversations with customers that we're not putting an end date on the transition so which meant they were shifting their messaging away from move to the cloud and now you're a fool if you're not in the cloud to the reality of move when it makes sense for you to move will continue supporting you what you need. And so Microsoft, you know, in saying like again in SharePoint world, there is no end date on SharePoint on prem. They're not talking about it it's not in their plans, I can. I'll give you the inside view people that are watching there is no inside plan to secretly shut down SharePoint server. You're the on prem version of it like doesn't exist. But it's the it's the more embrace of to your point. Bring the tools where they sit what they what you have now will make sure that they all work together. So it should be irrelevant whether you're you've got a line of business application that is a core data source. And as long as you've got the identity authentication issues resolved. It's just pointing to where that data is making sure it has the right level of access for those people. So if you look at if you look at the recent integration with VMware like as your VMware solution. That's another hybrid service really because it supports that on premises ESXi servers as well as your your sort of as your hosted VMware. So again it's just another element of hybrid even though it's integrated with VMware still another hybrid service that they've been lucky you know they're doing. Yeah, hybrid and there so there's those those issues I think that's getting to be a better story. There's still a Clujie story around multi tenant access and the multi cloud access and the. The fact that we are and it's not just MVPs and consultants that are working in this that it's becoming more commonplace for users to be working across multiple clouds and running into a lot of the authentication issues and movement and you know between those those applications that also part of your world. Yeah, I mean again i'm not too versed in the Amazon web services or gcp areas but but again i'm finding that customers that are more agnostic that they they're not really bothered to them Microsoft AWS Google these are all at the same level for them. So they're not they're not too long as it meets all their sort of security requirements, they're not really bothered where it says they just want the best application or the best service that fits their use case. So it might be some services in Amazon it might be you know identity in Microsoft and some applications in good they're not really first I suppose and so yeah not as yeah those conversations are more with bigger enterprises that's what I would say not the smaller types. So it's kind of a conversation I'm hearing. Well, it's it just doesn't exist anymore at least I don't believe you get your opinion but that of a company no matter what the size to say like, we are a Microsoft company and we will only use Microsoft products. Done. Like, you know anybody that says that is not talking with their end users, because their end users are using a lot of different things and there is intellectual property from your company that are on the other clouds that are in those other worlds. Yeah, I've never heard anybody say I wear a Microsoft house or it just to be companies just tend to generally was a 90s early 2000s thing but you know used to hear that all the time. But I think I think most time companies just landing in a with it with a vendor like they just naturally, you know, progressing to a specific vendor I don't think they do it with the thought of, we're only going to use a diverse or they're going to use. Just because it's just naturally gone that way and again it's all dependent on on integration as well as the integrations of a big thing as well having their different services integrate with each other. And I think with again with with with Azure AD being so integrated with with other public identities and other other public sort of vendors. I mean that's helping quite a bit as well. And that was always one of the fears to people say well you make it so easy to to work across those like our customers go and this was something that like analysts and reporters and stuff I remember asking that question is like if you make it so easy. And to move across and they could just as easily move off, move off of your stack. And the reality is that, you know, companies were moving this direction anyway. And if you don't support that ease of use of crossing between, then they're just not going to select you at all. Exactly. Again, the organizations want that flexibility they want that agility they don't want to. If they want to silo they want to silo themselves they don't want a vendor telling them you have to use ours and we're not going to integrate with anyone else don't want they don't want to be told that which is why it's better to have that flexibility. I worked in, you know, in enterprise application space and you're back in the 90s and working with. So I did huge data center consolidation projects and these are months and months long projects to move off of certain pieces of hardware to move out of certain applications. So you're talking about like your business objects, sass, you know, platforms like that. And, you know, one of the very valid questions is we go into it's like, what is your process to get back out of that that system that was part of the decision making process, because in 1996, 1997, we had already been a couple different and been locked into and then those companies, you know, part of the fear was, they're not going to keep up on on the latest technology that these, you know, smaller now in our world now, you know, cloud based solution providers can be very agile very fast in the development of new features and we want to have the flexibility to be able to go and give our that user experience and features that our users need. If we don't provide it as it, they'll just go around us they'll go get it in another way and then it won't be managed by it by the organization we won't have the governance and visibility and do what they're doing. That is one of my one of the things I do like about the sort of Microsoft sort of methodology that they do try and integrate as much as they can with other vendors, even you know, I mean I know there are certain services in Amazon Web Services like their services equivalent of ABD that integrates with Azure AD as well. So I do like the way they are open to integrating with other vendors and other SAS applications. Again, it makes them more flexible for that for that organization that wants to keep an open mind as to their application stack. We are also competing based on the features and the unique IP and not on those common services. So again if you if the it's a given, it's understood that there's no customer out there these days that is in any single camp they're going to be using different solutions, but that you make a case based on price based on functionality based on support and support ability the solution that yours is the best capability and can plug into those other competitors that's, that's just where we are now and and where companies need to be. Again, multi cloud hybrid they're all, they're all there and they're all there based on making the organization the clients lives easier, rather than more difficult given given choice. Don't don't make it so they have to go one or the other, the more choice you give them the more, the more they are to go with, go with your service. Right. Well, let's change the topics here. You're talking about you becoming an MVP. I hear this is a question I hear a lot and as if it can be canned into a single activity but what was it that pushed you over the ledge into becoming a an MVP what do you think made the difference. So, I've never really aimed so I've always looked up to MVPs and when I first started with with community. I was very naive, and I was a bit younger as well and I kind of looked at what I want to be an MVP, and then I actually realized you know what community is not about that it's about sharing giving back helping people. I'm not bothered now the MVP is what it is. If if one day somebody thinks I'm appropriate for it then then great. I suppose the amount that I just started being more more more visible on social media. I do a lot of Twitter stuff and I think that was just being more visible and more more just out there helping people really that that's what got me noticed I would say. Yeah, I like that the MVP award is the icing but you got a lot of cake you can eat along the way. You know there's a lot of benefits that are out there and there's quite a few people that had that attitude where maybe they were. They had kind of a plan to go and become an MVP and they're working and making sure they're checking off, you know boxes of things that they need to do. And they finally just kind of gave up and said you know doesn't really matter. And you know because I'm doing these things because I enjoy it I like giving back, I'm just going to participate if it happens it happens, and then shortly thereafter, you know they got the recognition so. I think it's the best attitude to it's the most stress free attitude to have it and it's because of that I've been able to enjoy the content that I do. I've been able to enjoy having those conversations on social media being able to enjoy doing user groups. I'll be honest in a sort of twisted way that the pandemic has massively helped me because virtual events have been the main thing over the last 18 months. I've been able to present an American user group, a user group within Europe, all from sitting where I'm, I wouldn't have necessarily had that opportunity. And because I've been able to do that it's gotten me better well known within the wider community within the global community. So that's helped me quite a bit. And the thing is it's a passion of mine it's, I made it into a passion and because it's become that passion in the content that I do you can see that I'm enjoying it. And it's, it's, it's, like I said there's nothing, I probably think just being more vocal and being more helping people more really got me noticed I would say. So what are what are kind of your, your, your primary community activities like how what do you what do you do what are your primary contributions. So I, I've got a YouTube channel. So my moniker is I am it geek. So you can find me on YouTube, YouTube.com slash I am it geek where, again, I just do I do sort of series of videos. So I've done a series on identity I did a series on as your virtual desktop, like a zero to hero with it with a colleague with a friend of mine Simon Lee. And I just do just do videos if I have an idea. I'll blog about it and do a little video demo. Again, I have a blog again, I am it HTTPS I am it geek.com. Again, just blogging about, I tend to blog more on there about when I do certifications I'll blog about my experience the resources I used and what the exam was like without giving away everything obviously just helping people who with resources I used. So the thing about the things I enjoy the most is presenting. It's, it's something that I was always nervous about but then again, through the pandemic I got through it virtually and, and I've hopefully got a few in person gigs coming up as well. So those are my three main sources of, of helping the community that I tend to do user groups are presenting blogs in a video. So I agree with you I mean it's just as far as opportunities for people that are not MVPs that would hear all the time can I was participated in an all over the world presenting at SharePoint Saturday events these different in person community driven events, as well as bigger conferences and the struggle with those as an organizer of those kinds of events is always finding new people and people like well I don't want to go and do that it's like look you're going to be in front of 20 to 30 people. So I'm presenting nobody's expecting you to be perfect and gifted up there just, you know be prepared, have a good topic and and tried out but how difficult it was to find people. So that from the comfort of your own home office, joining and presenting that way is a good, you know, toe in the water for people and introduction into that. And there are just so many different opportunities. So I'm on the board for the, for the, we call it the Microsoft user group Utah or mug it just hashtag. And it was available for some reason as a site and tag, but that we're we still struggle to find speakers. And so we just recently did a call for speaker we're like anybody in the world. It's all virtual. You don't have to be here. One of the things that I started a user group as well again during the pandemic was all virtual and the two friends of mine were also I'm from a place called Bradford it's a little city within and off the UK. And to my friends who, again I got to know through Twitter and the cloud community. We just started a Bradford cloud user group. And I think because we're fairly new, I said say less than a year. We've not had an issue with getting speakers and because it's virtual. The problem we've had is engaging people and getting people to actually join the user group because what I found is people starting to get virtual. Yes, virtual fatigue is the right phrase, even I'm getting it. Do you know what I mean. It must be the most difficult thing from a user group as organizers with perspective I think what makes me think now is virtual fatigue. Real. Is it. It's not phantom fatigue. It's a real thing. And play on words for the word virtual. I'm virtually fatigued. Yeah, so, but yeah, I mean it's easy to get burnout and and no matter how good a job you try to do in that engagement side in conversations and an email and other things like I wish there I think one thing that's kind of died off that I've seen are the kind of open our just no topic dial in and just chat with people when the pandemic first started like I loved that. Yeah, so I used to I so I started dropping in. I had friends down in South Africa I participated some there over on the East Coast in the US in Australia where I just dropped in and be like yeah we got a guest from, you know from the the western US like hey and, and so that that was great I'd love to see more like that but yeah, I am so ready to get back to in person. I know we're looking to organize an in person user group hopefully in October. And there's like today I don't know if you saw on Twitter there's comms versus happening. Yeah, oh that's right. Yeah. And I just look at the people who are just all the photos it was so much fun in person. Happy. I wonder what the numbers are like that's that's the thing. So I did sold out. Well that's fantastic. Like we I know we had our my first event was like three weeks ago four weeks ago, and flew to the Midwest it's a smaller event, but the North American club summit, but it was great to see people that interaction even the small numbers mean got so much value out of doing that. I think there's another one coming up in time presenting at the South Coast Summit in October that's in Southampton in the UK. So I know people who are coming from abroad, people from Europe are coming to that as well. And so that's like a Microsoft 365 free that's a free event as well. I'm really looking forward that'll be my first in person conference since the pandemic so massively looking forward to that we're we've started to talk about we did for almost a decade we did our. We rebrand it from SharePoint Saturday to Microsoft 365 Friday so we moved it to Fridays and then expanded the content within it. And when we did that we moved it there's a cultural difference here in Utah with the you know the rest of the world where, but you know where we doubled our numbers by moving into Friday so we're sticking with that, but where we didn't do it this year. And so our last one was in February of 2020. Right. Before pandemic. And so we're now looking at February, March, you know, whether we're going to do our next in person where we're going to try again and whether people will still show up to make it worthwhile to for the cost and time and effort and pull that together. I think there will. And again it's we will go back to that virtual fatigue I think people want in person events now. I agree. I, I do. Yeah, same. Well she was really appreciate your time and meaning today getting to know you hopefully we'll see each other at the next MVP summit, which maybe, maybe next year. It'll it'll happen, but in the meantime people want to find out more about you where do they find you out on social. Yeah, so I'm a Twitter handle at Shavas da and you can hit me up on them. I'm very approachable obviously on LinkedIn as well. And obviously just just obviously watch my YouTube channel and my blog site. Yeah. Excellent. We'll have all the links out on the blog post of course out on the buck the planet.com. And so for that, Shavas really think, thank you for your time and we'll connect with you soon. Thank you.