The start. No office?! Where to work?
On January 1st 2018 I joined Microsoft as an Account Technology Strategist. On the last day of the year it is time to recap this year and to look forward to 2019. I started at Microsoft without an office, because Microsoft The Netherlands decided to reconstruct the building after more than 10 years. The new building represents the icon for “the new way of collaboration”; the successor of “the new world of work”. In the new office we can inspire customers and partners with the possibilities of new technology. The building in Amsterdam shut her doors for almost three months and all employees had to find new rituals and a way of work. As a result, we started to work smarter and made conscious choices: more from home and work at the offices of customers and partners. We now engage more with them than ever before.
Inspired by a great leader
The official opening of the new office was on November 1st. This was also the day that Satya Nadella visited The Netherlands and we had a great opportunity to meet him in our new office and during the keynote in the Johan Cruijff Arena in Amsterdam. Satya started the morning with his Technology in Action keynote. It is all about Digital Transformation: “The way in which technology penetrates our society is enormous. Every place and everything becomes embedded, and every industry changes. This is an opportunity for all of us. In fact, we all should think about that, because there is no more business that is not software-driven or digital”. Satya says we need tech intensity: “The combination of accelerating the adoption of technologies at companies and in society, while building digital capacity, where a strong focus is needed on lifelong learning, trust and ethics.” During the keynote Satya also explained our long-term investments such as quantum computing.
Digital Transformation achievements
As Telco & Media team we had some great Digital Transformation reference cases. For example, the new KPN workplace build with all new capabilities of Microsoft 365. To use all innovations we accelerate to have an up-to-date state-of-the-art secure workplace with the best productivity tools in the market. Besides the Digital Transformation theme: ‘Empower your Employees’ we had focus on ‘Transform your Products’ and ‘Optimize your Operations’. Together with Endemol Shine Group we refreshed the TV show’s brand and streamlined its production. For this solution we used a cloud-based serverless workflow solution powered by Microsoft Azure Media Analytics. It is built on the Azure Media Services platform and applies machine learning in order to index video files by using speech-to-text, face recognition and related technology. This avoids a tedious manual review of hours of raw footage, it speeds up the production process and frees up time for more creative development. We also work with clients to engage better with their customers by creating an improved customer experience to get a lower churn and achieve a higher NPS with solutions like Dynamics 365. IT Transformation and simplification is still going to be an agenda item for many companies in 2019. I am working with multiple different Telco & Media companies to create better operational efficiency through IT Transformation using public cloud solutions and services.
Azure is one of the biggest fundaments for Digital Transformation. With the global scale, features, etc. companies could really drive Digital Transformation. Not only is Azure the engine for this, but it is a winning combination with Visual Studio. DevOps in the Enterprise to drive Digital Transformation. I also look forward to further deploy more specific Azure services like the Azure Telco Cloud and work on next generation management by applying AI and machine learning.
Proud: our new office
We are proud that we have in our new office a Microsoft Technology Center, or the Customer Experience Center as we call it in The Netherlands. One of the 14 MTCs that we have in EMEA. I already have had some successful customer briefings in the CEC. We have done envision sessions about the New Digital Secure Workplace, and we did a security-based inspiration day for the CISO office of a customer. Security, privacy, trust and compliance will also be a topic for every organization in 2019: Forbes Cybersecurity Predictions for 2019.
Besides the CEC meetings and Datacenter Tours we have started to engage more strategically with our customers during Executive Briefing meetings or even a trip to Silicon Valley to get inspired by different technology companies on the topics: customer experience, leadership and innovation. Are IT and business finally really coming together?
What’s next?
What is 2019 going to bring us? What’s next? What is the next phase after Digital Transformation? At the Gartner Symposium in Barcelona, Gartner set the tone with the theme: Continuous Next. Is it impossible for organizations to have a narrow view on “What’s next?”. Businesses need to adopt the mindset that the IT landscape is constantly changing. Teams need to adopt an operational model where they can continually incorporate new thinking and new technologies into the business, without changing everything from the ground up. Compounding the challenge is the requirement to leverage technology to achieve business goals, particularly in an environment where markets and business goals consistently change and evolve. Continuous Next is broken into five key focus areas to help businesses maintain a high pace and continuous growth: Privacy, Culture Product management, Digital Twin & Augmented Intelligence. Gartner Top 10 Strategic Technology Trends 2019.
Conclusion
I joined Microsoft in January 2018 and was an attendee of Microsoft Ready in Seattle. I visited our headquarters in Redmond and even had the opportunity to attend to a Q&A with Satya. It was a great start of a great year. I am looking forward to 2019 to make an impact together with my clients, partners and colleagues on Continuous Next! Don’t forget to register for Microsoft Ignite the Tour in Amsterdam.
Thanks Microsoft and especially our whole team for a great 2018!