Event coordinators should soon add another business name to their quiver of partnered-solutions arrows. According to a report from EventNewsBlog, Microsoft has partnered with event content management technology startup Hubb to create a new cross-platform mobile app.
As it seems, Microsoft reached out to Hubb for help engineering a mobile app that would allow the company to navigate its annual Global Business Support University event, so that the company can have its various administrative employees share their best practices among one another.
The details of the development process include Hubb dedicating a selection of engineers to work a four-month long in-house project at Microsoft which resulted in an app that worked across Windows, Android and iOS devices relatively seamlessly. Part of Hubb’s commitment to satisfying its customers’ needs was seen in the company using Microsoft’s own Visual Studio Tools for Apache Cordova to develop, test and deploy the app. Furthermore, the co-partnered app was hosted on Microsoft’s Azure to help the two teams spin up and run the service quickly and efficiently, according to Hubb’s engineers.
Working closely with the Hubb engineering team was an excellent experience for us, and I think both sides learned a lot from the co-development process,” said Peter Hauge, senior software engineer at Microsoft. “Hubb’s integration-friendly technology and back-end combined with our mobile app expertise helped us create a robust solution that integrated with the event’s existing registration site and enhanced the event attendees’ experience on-site.”
The specifics of the app, according to EventNewsBlog, are a Hubb specialty that blended various functional aspects such as Hubb’s own event content management software for a recording of all session descriptions, types, times, locations length and more. Conference attendees using the app were also able to sign up for individual sessions while setting their agendas all from within the app. Microsoft was then able to capture profile information from the 538 attendees who used Hubb and access it through the new BSU mobile app to engage with users in real-time.
However, Hauge’s comments about the co-development process should resonate further when noting that event management software will be a $9.3 billion industry by the end of 2020. As more companies and conferences seek to integrate the latest technology with their events competition in the space of event management software (EMS) will seemingly increase, making the likely hood of early partnerships vital.
In a calendar year, Microsoft can host anywhere from 12 to 20 major technology focused events around the world alone, imagine the amount of conferences other giants such as Intel, Facebook and IBM can add to that estimated bottom line.
