Recap of my Experience at NetApp Insight Dublin

I attended my first NetApp Insight event in Dublin a few weeks back. As a Professional Services Manager for Egnyte and a newbie to the event, my point of view might be slightly different than others, but I was just amazed at the technical level of the attendees.

While staffing our booth, I was frequently asked, “What does your company do?” Pretty common question, right? So I started with the high-level marketing speech, but quickly saw from their expressions that they were NOT asking me for a marketing overview but wanted to know the deep down technical specifications on our product. This is, of course, exactly what I wanted to tell them, so I left the marketing speak for other vendors. It was great to share exactly how Egnyte works from a technical view and explain how our product could help them solve their business problems.

During the event, our team interacted with thousands of attendees; at times, they were lined up at the booth waiting to talk to us! We spoke with people from literally every country in the EU as well as those from a number of companies outside the region.

Speaking with so many representatives in the region gave me a much better understanding of the similarities and general requirements each company was looking for in an enterprise file-sharing application. Security was a big topic. Specifically, how can Egnyte ensure that customer data is secure? Egnyte Storage Connect provides a perfect turn-key solution in response to this concern, and they were all very interested in hearing more about it.

I also heard about how, in some parts of the EU, users are unable to - or are discouraged from - engaging in BYOD in the workplace. In the US, BYOD is a growing and very popular trend, but from my observations, many enterprise organizations in the EU are still trying to decide how to handle BYOD. I had a great time doing demos of Egnyte’s mobile security controls; there was tremendous interest in the ability to remote wipe Egnyte data from any device, as well as the ability to enforce local encryption of files on the device.

The event was great overall, and it was an honor to represent Egnyte at NetApp Insight. I now have a better understanding of the needs and requirements for EU-based enterprise businesses, and I look forward to the next time I get the chance to showcase Egnyte. I also want to thank my colleagues Ross Kemp & Rajesh Ram who attended the event with me; it was great to spend time with them both. I'm now sitting at my desk with an eight hour time zone difference, questioning what time of the day it is and thinking of the great times I had and the great people I met. Simply put, my one word for this trip: “Amazing.”

To hear me live, sign up for the product webinar I’m hosting on Dec. 19. For more details, visit Webinars.

*Matthew Stramel is a product expert & professional services manager at Egnyte. Be sure to follow him on Twitter: @mattstramel.