Recent meetings with Atos and Zoho, Smartsheet acquisition, Notion, Airtable, Kandji, GoTo updates and some personal updates and more....

Hello all,

Welcome to the 80th edition of the weekly Digital Workplace and Future of Work newsletter.

This past week was perhaps one of the busiest weeks for each of the areas we cover in this newsletter. Plus, there is some personal update to share as well.

But before all of that, wanted to share with you that ISG (Information Services Group) has released its own State of Gen AI Market report. You can access it here:

There were some really great insights from this one. The key that stood out for me was: In a nutshell, Gen AI is definitely being seen as a game-changer, and clients understand that it's not really a magic wand. It will take some time until they begin to realize the real RoI, provided they take care of a couple of things: skillset, partnerships, data platforms, governance and security. I request you to read the report and share your thoughts with me!

With that, lets begin the key highlights of the past week.

End-user technology

HP strengthens in DEX with acquisition of Vyopta

HP announced the acquisition of Vyopta . More details here:

HP's Workforce Experience Platform (formerly known as Proactive Insights) is its own DEX offering, which, although is less-known, provides many DEX features. There could a common misconception that it works only with HP devices, which, is not the case. With acquisition of Vyopa, HP strengthens its capabilities in monitoring and managing UC applications.

Kandji introduces AI in its platform

Kandji announced that it has introduced a new AI capability called 'Kai' within its platform. More details here:

Kandji addresses privacy and security concerns by providing access to the data already in its Prism solution. I really liked the simplicity of the solution, which also provides an option for users to view the results in Prism with each query result. This is expected to enhance the efficiency of IT admins managing Apple devices with Kandji.

Intune brings in the capability to manage Apple Intelligence features

Speaking of Apple devices, this week 微软 announced that Intune will have features to let IT admins enable or disable Apple Intelligence features for devices enrolled in their environment. More details here:

This is a very important update. As AI is increasingly becoming an integral part of all kinds of mobile OSes and devices, it will become extremely important for mobile device management and UEM vendors to include capabilities to let IT admins control access to these features. Watch out to see similar updates next year for multiple mobile OS platforms by other MDM and UEM vendors.

GoTo Resolve gets SAM capability

GoTo announced that it has introduced Software Asset Management (SAM) capability within its GoTo Resolve solution. More details here:

Software license usage visibility is a big pain point for many enterprise IT organizations. As workplace leaders increasingly look for solutions that can assist in observability and visibility, GoTo's update with software asset management is timely.

My recent webinar on Remote Support technology is now available on demand

Speaking of GoTo, this week, I did a webinar on remote support technology with leaders from GoTo. This was meant more for system integrators or managed service providers. You can view the recording by registering here. Registration ( gotowebinar.com )

Managed workplace services

Meeting with Atos leadership

Speaking of GSIs and managed service providers, I wanted to share with you that I got a chance to meet the digital workplace services leadership of 源讯 this week in Bangalore. More details here:

Digital Adoption Platforms

Whatfix grows in funding

Whatfix announced that it has secured $125m in funding. More details here:

It is great to see growing confidence in a DAP vendor as enterprise affinity to adopt new software solutions now powered by AI increases. DAP has the potential to grow into the most important software category in 2025. Whatfix's mantra of "technology adopting to users and not the other way round" is extremely critical and timely in this age of AI.

Connected and collaborative work

Smartsheet acquired by private equity

Smartsheet announced that it has been acquired by Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners More details here:

The deal is expected to be completed by January next year. This is a significant acquisition in this space and highlights the changing dynamics. Smartsheet will strongly focus on its innovations (some of which I saw yesterday in a pre-briefing analyst call with Smartsheet leadership), although the clients may be concerned about the leadership.

Airtable brings AppLibrary

Airtable announced the introduction of many new features. More details here:

App Library seems a great way to standardize best practices. Loved the way best practices can be shared and implemented across different business processes. This will help assist clients moving away from siloed excellence and deliver a well-orchestrated output.

Notion brings "nosey" AI

Notion enhanced its AI capabilities and brought in a new look for its AI assistant. More details here:

The ability to connect to multiple data sources, such as content collaboration, productivity apps, collaborative work management, PDFs etc., is a huge value-add. Notion's AI also somehow reminds me of the old Microsoft Clippy. As Clippy was the first-ever introduction of a smart assistant, who knows, a 'nosey' AI assistant could be the first step towards a very smart assistant that could get insights by leveraging data from diverse sources.

Meeting with Zoho team

I also attended the analyst meet for Zoho Zoholics event. I got a chance to meet the Zoho team including the CEO Sridhar Vembu. As Zoho advances into multiple product categories and enhances its IoT and Analytics solutions, its client stand to gain a lot. More details here:

Google brings Gemini to Workspace clients

谷歌 in its Gemini at Work event this week showcased many successful implementation use cases. More details here:

Google is also bringing Gemini to its Workspace Enterprise customers without additional cost. Does it mean pushing the AI-enabled assistant, to realize clients won't pay extra for them?

Miscellaneous

Meta showcases Orion

Meta seems like is still clinging to the Metaverse hype. It showcased its new AR glasses "Orion". More details here:

While I have some fundamental reservations about such a product, I can't help but imagine an extension. How about also having the possibility of a virtual keyboard that is only visible to the user wearing the glasses, which may be projected from the wristband? That way, the user can have the entire PC experience by just wearing glasses!

Atlassian highlights the importance of emojis in its new survey

Atlassian highlighted in its new research results that emojis may be an underutilized feature in the collaboration tech stack. More details here:

Maybe it's just me, being a millennial, that I don't feel like using emojis can overcome the emotional overhead at work. However, I have observed that in communications from my boss (who uses emojis at least more than me), they do lift the spirits and help understand the sentiments!

In the end, a personal update from my side.

I am not sure how many of you know I am also an artist and graphic novelist. (In fact, first an artist, then an analyst!). I do write my own stories and draw my graphic novels. I wanted to share that my new book/ graphic novel is now released and available for purchase from leading online retail stores. More details here:

If you are interested, I request that you get your copies and let me know your feedback. For any questions, please feel free to reach out to me.

That's all for the week, folks. Please share your thoughts and feedback in the comments below and share this newsletter with anyone you think would be interested in the content. Thank you so much for your consistent support!

Thanks

-M