Future Decoded: Four Pillars of Digital Transformation
Some of the most consistent positive feedback we’ve received from attendees of our previous Future Decoded events was how much our guest speakers had given them to think about. While they appreciated the art of the possible laid out by great keynotes – by everyone from Internet of Things pioneers to quantum astrophysicists – attendees especially noted how valuable it was to hear from their peers and colleagues about their strategies and execution, their challenges and successes. We think that this year will be no different, and as we explore the path that companies take transform in the digital economy, attendees will benefit greatly from our customers who will be sharing their stories in four key areas of digital transformation: engaging with customers, empowering employees, optimising operation and transforming products.
Below is a bit of a teaser of what to expect from some of the speakers on Day 1 of Future Decoded
Milliman: Engaging with customers:
When one thinks of customer engagement, actuarial sciences wouldn’t necessarily be the first industry that comes to mind; but that’s exactly what Milliman is doing. As one of the world’s leading actuarial consulting firms, Milliman’s business spans insurance, pensions, employee benefits, health insurance and investments. Taking a hybrid approach to the cloud with Azure, Milliman has been able to drastically reduce the production time of their client-facing reporting and allowed them to provide real value (and increase engagement) with their clients. Milliman is also looking at new ways to analyse the enormous amount of data that their clients are able to upload to provide them with fresh insights into their customer database together with new ways to read the data, identify risks, and provide a better level of service to their customers: all on a much wider scale than was previously possible. Watch their story here:
Atkins: Empowering Employees
Another key pillar for digital transformation is the ability to empower employees, providing tools and processes for greater collaboration, mobility and insight. Such is the case for Atkins, one of the world’s leading engineering, design and project management consultancies. They chose to roll out Office 365 E5 to over 18,600 employees worldwide. Office 365 E5 is provides the core Office apps, plus email, cloud storage, a robust set of team collaboration capabilities, Skype for Business meetings and voice services, and advanced security and analytics capabilities. Atkins selected Office 365 to help achieve its goal of moving all its IT systems to the cloud.
Atkins anticipates that using Office 365 will help its teams with people in different locations work together more seamlessly, which will ultimately enhance its performance on global design and engineering projects. Team members will be able to collaborate and access data from wherever they’re working, without sacrificing privacy or security. See how Atkins empowers employees:
JJ Foods: Optimising Operations
While customer engagement and employee empowerment are very visible pillars of digital transformation, the digital economy is having an equally transformative impact on how organisations approach operations. Take JJ Foods, for instance. They recognised the need to react to the limited time their 60,000 customers have available for ordering supplies and also of ensuring that their deliveries were efficient, accurate and, most importantly, fresh and ready to use in the kitchen. Using Microsoft Dynamics in conjunction with Microsoft Azure, JJ Foods have developed a series of applications to address these key requirements.
Chefs and restauranteurs are now able to order stock instantly from a mobile app whilst they are in their kitchen or storeroom, ensuring that their ingredient stock is always robust. Delivery drivers use a custom app with detailed instructions for the speedy dispatch of orders to the end customer; plus sensors within their trucks transmit vital data via the Cloud to Head Office so that temperature can be monitored and controlled, ensuring quality deliveries every time. See more about how JJ Foods is optimising operations here:
G-Paws: Transforming Products
The last (but certainly not least) of the four key areas that the digital economy is transforming products. Even as we view the impact of the previous three pillars, it’s clear that either the drivers or the results of the transformations outlined above are all dependent on the new products and services that our customers were able to provide. The digital economy also created opportunities entirely new products in their own right. As is the case with G-Paws and the Internet of Things (IoT).
The founders of G-Paws have been able to transform pet collars, making them GPS and cloud-enabled pet tracking devices. They were able to take advantage of the cloud to develop and launch their products, and the power, speed to market and a low-cost, low-risk implementation of Microsoft Azure helped the start-up company get up and running! See more of the G-Paws story here:
Much more at Future Decoded
This is just a sample of the stories these companies will be telling at Future Decoded. And there will be even more customers sharing their own stories of digital transformation: the reasons and goals they set, the pitfalls and roadblocks they ran into along the way, and ultimately the impact and benefits they’re seeing as a result of their work. If you haven’t already registered for Future Decoded, spaces are filling up quickly.
