Inspired and Ready for FY20

I am still energized after an incredible few days last week in Las Vegas meeting customers and partners, as well as catching up with internal teams from across the globe at our annual Microsoft Inspire and Ready event.

These events are always a whirlwind of invigorating conversations and connections, and this year was made memorable by some notable appearances on stage by senior leaders who shared their experience and perspective on some wide-ranging themes that are top-of-mind for many right now.

I had the opportunity to share the stage with Arti Zeighami from H&M Group in two sessions. I was so impressed to hear Arti talk about how this 72-year-old company is building a culture of innovating and trying new things, and how AI is an integral part of their digital transformation.

Interestingly, H&M Group has dedicated an AI & Advanced Analytics function that is separate from IT. We learned how Arti’s team has grown over the last 3-4 years as they continue to create business value. Arti does not refer to AI as Artificial Intelligence; instead, he calls it Amplified Intelligence, stressing the importance of empowering his teams on this journey. 

Another discussion I enjoyed was with Josh Schmiesing, who is the Microsoft Lead at WPP. It was great to hear how technology is changing the face of the media industry with increased automation and relevance of media targeting, leading to increased engagement with consumers and better ROI across the board.

Josh described technology’s transformative power in shifting WPP from a marketing services group to be more of a creative house driving ideas, innovation, and growth across their portfolio of clients.

Finally, I welcomed Toshihide Itoh, the CIO of Toyota Material Handling Group (TMHG) on stage in front of internal teams at Microsoft Ready. We learned how TMHG is partnering with Microsoft on their digital transformation journey as they upgrade their vehicle fleets with IoT solutions that help increase efficiencies by collecting and analyzing data leading to predictive maintenance and more reliable and flexible platforms.

There were so many additional moments during the week where I felt proud that Microsoft is truly empowering our customers and partners to achieve more. Digital transformation is first and foremost a people story, and technology is an enabler to help them achieve more.

Transformation comes from within and people are still our best asset. When we invest in skilling and development of our teams, the powerful combination of people and technology can accelerate innovation and growth for any organization.

I’ll be posting more often here on LinkedIn, so hope you will join me and share some of your stories as well.

Until next time…….

Deb Cupp is CVP Global Enterprise & Commercial Industries at Microsoft. Please feel free to connect and engage with her on LinkedIn.