Top 25 Microsoft Office 365 Influencers for 2015 Announced

CHICAGO, IL--(Marketwired - May 6, 2015) - IGNITE CONFERENCE, BOOTH #602 - Adoption of Microsoft Office 365 continues to accelerate as companies embrace the cloud as a key pillar of today's digital workplace. harmon.ie, a proven enterprise collaboration leader, today announced its list of the top 25 Office 365 influencers. A natural extension of its past annual top 25 SharePoint influencers, this year's top list embodies the Microsoft ecosystem leaders' digital transformation to the cloud. Today's leaders go beyond on-premise SharePoint to play a critical role in helping businesses successfully embrace Office 365 as the cornerstone of their employee collaboration and productivity platform. The awards were announced at the 2015 Best of Breed Party on Tuesday night, hosted by Metalogix, and the full list of 2015 #O365Top25 winners will be available in harmon.ie booth #602 on Wednesday and Thursday.

Of this year's winners, 20 percent are Office 365 MVPs, specialists or consultants, whereas 64 percent are SharePoint MVPs, architects or specialists expanding their expertise into Office 365. The remaining 16 percent were a combination of CTOs, Microsoft beat reporters and enterprise search influencers. 88 percent of this year's influencers were previously recognized as top SharePoint influencers, underscoring the accelerating trend toward the cloud. The prevalence of previous SharePoint influencers also signals the increased business need for expert support and guidance as companies embark on the digital transformation from on-premise to cloud-based productivity and collaboration solutions. This year, North Americans still made up more than half of the list, but dominated less than previous years, with 15 of the top 25 influencers residing in the United States or Canada, while the remaining 10 hailed from Europe. Four of the top 25 spots were occupied by women, consistent with last year's list. The top 10 Office 365 influencers are:

1. Naomi Moneypenny - @nmoneypenny
2. Benjamin Niaulin - @bniaulin
3. Andrew Connell - @andrewconnell
4. Laura Rogers - @WonderLaura
5. Dan Holme - @danholme
6. Christian Buckley - @buckleyplanet
7. Spencer Harbar - @harbars
8. Wictor Wilen - @wictor
9. Mary Jo Foley - @maryjofoley
10. Waldek Mastykarz - @waldekm

"I'd like to thank everyone who helped recognize myself and my peers included in the list of top Office 365 influencers," said Naomi Moneypenny, a top Office 365 and previous SharePoint influencer award winner. "It is exciting to be part of a growing community of Microsoft professionals who are enabling new opportunities for business transformation by embracing mobile and cloud technology. The more we share as a community, the faster we can help businesses transition and maximize the potential of these new capabilities."

In selecting the winners, harmon.ie commissioned Scratch Marketing + Media to manage the process of objectively identifying leaders who are helping businesses navigate the digital transformation to the mobile cloud. Based on a finalist list of the top 75 Microsoft Office 365 influencers, a weighted formula was used to identify the 2015 top 25 Microsoft Office 365 influencers worldwide. Selection was based on each professional's Office 365 knowledge and business impact; digital and social presence and influence; blog reach and frequency; depth of Office 365 topic coverage; citations by other influential bloggers; and more than 1,400 qualified community votes.

"We consider it an honor to be recognizing such an esteemed group of collaboration thought leaders," noted David Lavenda, vice president of product strategy for harmon.ie. "As Microsoft Office 365 continues its rapid growth, these experts are the vital go-to resources for companies as they seek best practices for maximizing their investments in mobile and cloud technology."

"I am proud to be selected as a 2015 top 25 Office 365 influencer, and I am thrilled to be part of this growing community committed to the continued transformation of collaboration and knowledge sharing in today's increasingly complex business environment," said Benjamin Niaulin, Office 365 MVP and SharePoint specialist at Sharegate. "This is really only the beginning; there is tremendous potential for these capabilities as companies reinvent themselves in the mobile, cloud world."

Check out the complete list here.

About harmon.ie
harmon.ie provides a powerful suite of products that empower the digital workplace. An established global company serving thousands of enterprise customers, harmon.ie helps organizations increase their return on cloud-based application and service investments, increasing information workers' focus by bringing multiple cloud services into one contextual, single-screen, personal experience across mobile devices and desktop computers.