Digital transformation is no longer a choice; it’s a new way of doing business. Digital transformation has become imperative and is compelling organizations to embrace it to deliver high-value experiences. The Harvard Business Review report, The Digital Transformation of Business, demonstrates how leading organizations are getting creative with the cloud, mobile, social and big data.
Microsoft has invested heavily on “Mobile-first, Cloud-first world” strategy. It has been successful in executing the strategy year after year. Every new product or service is related to this key strategy. Thus, organizations can confidently rely on Microsoft’s products, technologies, and experiences to succeed in the Digital Transformation journey.
To realize their mission in mobile-first, cloud-first world, Microsoft boldly innovates in three key areas:
• Create personal computing: In the coming years, personal computing will become ubiquitous. Whether they are about the explosion of sensors, intelligent screens (small and large), or the emergence of smart devices like HoloLens that mix digital content and real world experience. These will become an everyday part of our life.
• Reinvent productivity and processes: Help in reclaim time by shifting focus to the things that matter most to businesses and organizations.
• Build an intelligent cloud platform: Today, data is the currency. An organization’s ability to convert data assets into intelligence can yield appropriate actions.
Today, organizations who are ready to embrace Digital Transformation think ahead of individual solutions like CRM, ERP or Office automation solutions. They think about systems of intelligence. Systems of intelligence have feedback loops that help turn data into actionable insights. Digital Transformation approach toward systems of intelligence focuses on:
• Engaging with customers
• Empowering the employees
• Optimizing the operations
• Transform and reinvent products and/ or business models.
Microsoft’s ambitions for digital transformation have led to various feature-rich products and services for each focus area of transformation. Let’s explore those in the next section.
Engage customers
Microsoft provides digital marketing and advertising solutions, helping marketers to connect with their customers. Microsoft technology can update information about products, audiences, and offers in real time. They use machine learning and analytics to find new ways to boost the conversion rates.
Microsoft products like Power BI, Media Services, Microsoft Social Engagement, Skype, Dynamics Marketing, Office 365, CRM Online, Azure Storage, Azure SQL DB, HD Insight and Azure Machine Learning are leading the way to help organizations engage customers at a new level.
Empower employees
Microsoft allows employees to efficiently collaborate to meet rapidly changing customer needs and expectations. Microsoft products like CRM Online, SharePoint, Skype, Dynamic AX, Azure Files, Stream Analytics, HD Storm, Azure Storage, Azure SQL DB, Data Factory, HD Insight, Azure Machine Learning and Power BI are helping organizations and employees to respond to customers’ needs with improved speed.
Optimize Operations
Microsoft provides products and tools to organizations that enable information sharing, efficient resource management with agility and better process coordination. Optimized operation yields high-value realization to customers, increased sales with better margin and reduced costs.
Products like Skype, Office 365, SharePoint, HD Storm, HD Insight, Microsoft Social Engagement, Stream Analytics, Azure SQL DB and Dynamic AX are leading the way to achieve optimized operations for organizations.
Transform Products
Product development is a lengthy, costly and risk-laden process. Is there a way businesses and teams can expand their reach to customers, understand them better on how they use products and respond to changes with quick turnaround? Virtual prototyping, quick design validations are the key enablers to develop products relevant to customer needs and real-time collaboration with teams and customers.
Microsoft products such as Power BI, Skype, TFS, VSTS, SharePoint, CRM Online, Office 365, Media Services, Azure CDN, Stream Analytics, HD Storm, Azure Storage, Azure SQL DB, and Azure Machine Learning are helping teams to collaborate with customers, respond to their needs and build relevant products and services.
Lastly, a successful digital transformation also implies structural changes in the company in terms of organizational structure, operating and business models. Hence, internal transformation (people, reward, organization) is the key foundation of success.
Digital economy enables the emergence of new sources of revenues, which is rewarding and an essence of doing business. As such, organizations and businesses should be ready to adapt themselves to a level where digital transformation becomes a new way of doing business.
