Driving sustainable user adoption is the Holy Grail for all those who use SharePoint. Every IT department working on the platform is looking for ways to do it, prove it, and keep it going. One of experts leading the charge in this space is Susan Hanley, SharePoint MVP and consultant who literally wrote the book on SharePoint essentials.

This year at Ignite I had a chance to catch her for a quick interview. Watch it below to hear what she had to say about all the SharePoint buzz and the future of Microsoft!

Discover Lessons Learned at Ignite 2016

More from Dux Quax:

• Microsoft’s Julia White Talks Innovation and Transformation
• Microsoft’s Jeff Teper Rounds Up the Top 8 Innovations Added to SharePoint in 2016
• Microsoft’s Bill Baer Talks SharePoint Announcements at Microsoft Ignite
• Microsoft’s Chrisophe Fiessinger Shares the Elevator Pitch for Office 365 Groups
• Microsoft’s Mike McLean Gives the Scoop on Office 365 Planner
• Microsoft’s Rachel Braunstein Gives Insight into the Microsoft Partner Network
• Microsoft’s Jeremy Thake on Why Azure is More than Just Infrastructure as a Service
• NBCUniversal’s Charles Williams on Transforming a Deployment in the New Age of Microsoft
• Microsoft’s Dan Holme Shares Customer Feedback on SharePoint’s Comeback
• Microsoft’s Anna Chu Connects IT Pros Through the Microsoft Tech Community
• Constellation Research’s Alan Lepofsky on How Microsoft AI Will Change the Way We Work
• SharePoint Consultant Susan Hanley on Sustainable Adoption and the Future of Microsoft

Video Transcript: Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux) and Susan Hanley (@SusanHanley)

Dux: Hey, everyone, welcome to another episode of Dux Quax. Day three here at Microsoft night and amazing Atlanta Georgia. Sue!

Susan Hanley: Dux!

Dux: Can you introduce yourself?

Susan Hanley: Hi! I’m Sue Hanley.

Dux: There you go. So Sue, why are you here? What do you think of the conference so far?

Susan Hanley: I’m here because I’m speaking which is a really great thing and I’m covering the conference for Network Roll. So, I have two hats, what do I think of it so far? Oh my God, amazing, absolutely amazing.

Dux: How does this Ignite compare to last year’s?

Susan Hanley: I have more steps on my Fitbit because the distances are insane.

Dux: Isn’t it the same, though, with Chicago just about?

Susan Hanley: It was pretty far. There was a lot of walking in Chicago. But I tell you what really feels different for me, it’s SharePoint, SharePoint, SharePoint. It’s back, it’s here, it’s so cool.

Dux: Pardon my voice, I stayed out till 2 for AvePoint Red. So… But anyway, so awesome, SharePoint, it’s back, it’s cool, it’s all over the place. In fact, SharePoint even trended on Twitter the first day.

Susan Hanley: Oh, that is so cool.

Dux: Yeah, because of this conference, so…

Susan Hanley: I thought that because I was in all the demos.

Dux: yeah, yeah true. So, tell me about your session. What’s your session and what are you covering and all that?

Susan Hanley: So in about an hour, I’m gonna be talking about my favorite topic, which is user adoption. Three tips in 20 minutes.

Dux: Awesome. And this is a lifelong pursuit, right?

Susan Hanley: It is a lifelong pursuit. It is absolutely.

Dux: Now, what do you think the future looks like for Microsoft? There’s a lot of goodness, energy, excitement. What do you think the future looks like? Give it 12 months.

Susan Hanley: You know, I’m not very much of a future thinker, but I can tell you right now, it’s certainly an exciting place to be. And the direction and what’s going to be happening, and the transparency with which the product team is sharing all the things they’re thinking about and what they’re planning to do and how they’re reacting to the marketplace is really, really cool.

Dux: Now, maybe you’re getting the special treatment because you’re an MVP, do you think that’s the same for everybody?

Susan Hanley: No, because I’m watching people ask questions and I’m listening to how people are answering and they’re just people sharing their pain, sharing their love actually for the product. I sat in on Jeremy Mazner’s team site session today and people were saying, “We have a lot invested in team sites. We’ve been using them for a long time.” And his answer was, “You’re gonna be able to use your team sites as long as you need to be able to use them.”

Dux: And he is sincerely saying that with passion?

Susan Hanley: No, his quote was, “No site left behind.” It was awesome.

Dux: I love that, “No site left behind.” That’s a new hashtag right there.

Susan Hanley: It was awesome.

Dux: Awesome, I know you have a session in an hour but before I let you go, Sue, If you were a Microsoft product, other than SharePoint, I know you love SharePoint but other than SharePoint, what would you be?

Susan Hanley: I think I would have to pick OneNote because I think OneNote is the most magical product on the planet. I use it every single day. I ran my daughter’s entire wedding from a OneNote notebook.

Dux: And did you share it with them?

Susan Hanley: Did I share it with whom?

Dux: The OneNote notebook?

Susan Hanley: The notebook, of course, I wrote a blog about it. I shared the framework of the OneNote. I use it every day. I feel like I’m a converter of people to OneNote. And I would like to be a product that everyone loves.

Dux: I gotta talk to Mike who heads the OneNote team and he has to see what you’ve done. Awesome. Well, Sue, thank you. Enjoy the rest of the conference.

Susan Hanley: Thanks, Dux, you too.

Dux: Have a good time at your session. Till the next episode. Bye.

What else did you miss at Ignite?

Watch our Lessons Learned at Microsoft Ignite webinar, now on-demand for a recap of announcements from the conference and a deeper discussion about what it all means for you.