How global business can (and must) benefit us all

I am lucky enough to have my home in Paris but most weeks I travel, visiting every country where we have an office. I know that many of you reading this will also take business trips. There is a danger that this type of travel can keep you in your own ‘filter bubble’ - moving from airport, to office, to hotel for a few hours’ sleep, without a sense of a wider world. To balance this, I see travel as an opportunity to be inspired by the stories people tell me and in turn I am happy to share some of the lessons I have learned. I also try and catch up on interesting articles and books that provide different perspectives.   

Wherever I travel, I hear directly from our customers, partners, Government leaders and young entrepreneurs about the positive impact of an open economy, supportive of free and fair trade. Yet anyone who follows the news has to acknowledge that we are also experiencing ongoing economic instability and tough social issues - not everyone has benefited from globalization. After 33 years working at Microsoft, while I firmly believe that a global economy which removes barriers to trade is ultimately good for all, I also believe that business leaders must take responsibility to ensure that their local communities profit. This means creating new jobs, business ecosystems, skills, products and services. At Microsoft we are committed to unlocking new economic and social opportunities, wherever we do business. It’s that sense of purpose that makes me proud to work for the company and it motivates me, every day.   

Part of the answer to ensuring that everyone benefits from globalization lies in harnessing the power of technology that is rapidly reshaping the way we work and live and creating new commercial opportunities. I want to share the story of two successful business with you. Both harness the transformative power of technology, one to build something entirely new, the other to re-energize an established organization. Both deliver jobs and create new opportunities for their communities.     

Take Dodo Pizza, for example. Launched as a single restaurant by entrepreneur Fedor Oychinnikov, in Syktyvar, northern Russia in 2011, it now has 218 stores in nine countries, stretching from Romania, to the US and China. What makes it so special and has enabled it to expand globally, is the company’s proprietary digital system, Dodo IS. The business is built on Microsoft Azure (Fedor was given a ‘taste’ of this when he joined our BizSpark program which provides startups with free products and services). This means that data in the cloud can be turned into real-time business insights and decisions can be made quickly.

In contrast, DBS is the largest bank in Southeast Asia and for almost 50 years operated as a very traditional financial institution. But it recognized that it needed to digitally transform in the face of aggressive competition from new sector entrants and traditional rivals. All this in an industry where trust and security are an absolute premium. While branches may be disappearing, the bank is asking its 22,000 employees to “think like a start-up” and embrace and embed the new, like cloud-based productivity technology, Office 365. This means staff are engaging customers and growing the business outside of an office environment.

With the right strategy and support technologies - such as the cloud, AI, and machine learning - any organization, anywhere in the world, can be helped to engage customers and citizens, empower employees, optimize operations and transform products – for the benefit of all.  

Yet this transformation doesn’t just occur at an operational level. There has to be a culture of people being open to new opportunities, a willingness to learn and to try new things. You have probably heard about Satya Nadella’s new book, Hit Refresh, which was published earlier this week and is a set of his reflections, ideas and principles on transformation. I count myself as very privileged to have been part of this journey with Satya and with Microsoft. There are many interesting takeaways from the book but this quote really stood out for me: “…we have practically a moral obligation to continue to innovate, to build technology to solve big problems – to be a force for good in the world…” 

I’ll continue to share everything we have learned as a company on my travels and - importantly - to learn from all of the diverse and inspiring people I meet. Stopping and taking stock, pausing and then hitting refresh has given Microsoft a clear and renewed sense of purpose. Perhaps you will find time on your next business trip to do the same. Globalization can and should benefit us all. As business leaders we have a responsibility to make this happen.