Contracts 365, a leading provider of Microsoft-based Contract Lifecycle Management software, today announced its Gold Sponsorship of Microsoft’s CollabDays New England 2026, taking place October 16 at the Microsoft Innovation Hub in Burlington, Massachusetts.
The free, in-person event brings together Microsoft 365 professionals, Microsoft engineers, MVPs, and community contributors for technical education, practical guidance, and networking.
As part of its sponsorship, Contracts 365 Founder and CEO Russ Edelman will lead a special interactive lunch session titled How to Present the True Business Value of Microsoft-Based Technologies to Your Internal Customers.
Edelman will be joined by Chris Bortlik, Director of the Microsoft Innovation Hub in Boston, and Microsoft MVP Susan Hanley, an information architect and consultant specializing in intranets, collaboration, and knowledge management.
The session will examine a familiar challenge for technology professionals: communicating the value of a technology solution can be harder than building it. What technologists see as exciting and innovative may seem overwhelming, disconnected, or unnecessarily complex to business leaders and end users.
“Technology teams can build an elegant solution and still struggle to explain why the organization should care,” said Edelman. “We want to give technologists practical ways to connect what they are building to the business problems, risks, and outcomes that matter to the people they serve.”
Through an informal panel discussion, audience participation, and practical examples, the speakers will explore communication gaps between technologists and business stakeholders, the importance of beginning with desired outcomes, and the role relevant examples play in encouraging meaningful adoption.
“The technology should come after a clear understanding of the business outcome,” said Bortlik. “Teams need to understand what they are trying to prove, what success looks like, and whether the problem is valuable enough to solve. That discipline helps turn technical possibility into measurable business value.”
The discussion will also consider why people may struggle to identify useful applications for AI and other emerging technologies without examples grounded in familiar work.
“People do not always need a deeper technical explanation. They often need a relevant example,” said Hanley. “When people can see how a technology applies to work they already understand, they can begin imagining additional uses for themselves.”
Contract management will serve as one example of the broader challenge, drawing on Contracts 365’s experience helping organizations connect Microsoft technologies with practical business concerns such as inefficient processes, fragmented information, risk, and user adoption.
“CollabDays is built around people sharing practical knowledge with the Microsoft community,” Edelman added. “We are proud to support that community as a Gold Sponsor and contribute a conversation attendees can apply to many different technology initiatives.”
CollabDays New England 2026 will take place October 16, 2026, at the Microsoft Innovation Hub in Burlington, Massachusetts. The event is free and will be held in person.
Event information and registration:
Visit CollabDays New England 2026
Contracts 365 is a leading provider of AI-powered Contract Lifecycle Management software for Microsoft-first organizations. Operating within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, Contracts 365 helps legal, procurement, and business teams manage the complete contract lifecycle through governed workflows, trusted contract data, AI-powered negotiation, metadata extraction, reporting, and compliance.