Guest blog post, by Matthew Stibbe 

Everyone talks about innovation and admires innovative companies but what does it actually look like? We visited Microsoft Research Cambridge – a modern building in the heart of the ancient university city – to find out what businesses can learn from the way we innovate here at Microsoft.

The lab was originally set up in 1997 with just three researchers. It was Microsoft’s first such lab outside the USA. While it makes significant contributions to the company’s different products, for example coming up with magic that enables Kinect for Xbox to recognise people’s movements, its operating charter owes more to the academic world than the commercial one.

The business of research

The lab’s goals are to advance the state of the art in computer science, to transfer technology to Microsoft’s business and to lead Microsoft into the future. It sits firmly in the academic world, letting smart researchers and students explore topics including: machine learning, programming principles and tools and computer mediated living.

They are largely free from the obsessions of the academic world such as teaching or grant applications and the company protects them from having to deliver ‘products’ that are market ready. They collaborate with the rest of academia and publish freely.

A carefully orchestrated process bridges the gap between the lab and the business. The people who do this are often Microsoft’s most experienced and able leaders. For example, one was responsible for the first six versions of Microsoft Office before moving to Microsoft Research.

Managing geniuses

In a document called ‘Zen and the Art of Research Management’ two Microsoft Research veterans outlined their approach to creating an innovative environment. Several points are highly relevant to businesses as well as university labs:

John Naughton and Robert Taylor recommend that you only hire the very best people – one superb researcher is worth dozens of merely good ones. Microsoft labs are notoriously selective and with good reason. But ‘once you’ve got them trust them’. You can lead and inspire geniuses but you can’t manage them nor should you try.

They also have some more pragmatic suggestions, which have a symbolic as well as a practical meaning. They advocate keeping the organisation chart shallow and the organisation small. A world-class coffee machine is a must (and we sampled it on our visit to check!). Good chairs are important – most brain work is done sitting down. They also suggest you have a ‘toy budget’ to allow staff to make modest purchases on their own authority. No questions asked.

A portfolio approach

Microsoft views its research projects as a stock portfolio – there are some safe bets that respond to clear, tactical needs; some longer shots and some projects that are just ‘way out there’ with the potential for a huge pay off. They aren’t looking at the next generation of products, but the generation after next or even the one beyond that. This advanced search for disruptive technologies is characteristic of successful businesses. However small the scale, every business could learn something from this approach to innovation.

The CIO Summit took place in London a few weeks ago. The event was the perfect opportunity to take the pulse of IT trends and to listen to the top industry players. We have summarised the event in 5 key concepts that will be key in the future of the CIO role.
 
Disruption

This topic was definitely the event’s “trending discussion point”. The concept was referenced in many of the presentations. The Summit emphasise that we are experiencing “a digital transformation”, and that the CIO role is key in this process. Transformation and speed were highlighted as being key factors. As Brendan O’Rourke from Telefonica said “If you don’t change as fast as the markets, you lose”.

This digital transformation is taking place within a new economic situation. CIOs are required to reduce IT costs, whilst also increasing business growth and overall productivity. In this new era, IT providers need to give real value to their customers. Christina Scott, Financial Times CIO, highlighted the challenge in the press industry where £100m has been lost in advertising revenue in the last decade.

Richard  Warner, CIO of LV shared some examples of “the internet of things” such as intelligent cars with apps integrated. For insurance companies like LV, this will be an innovation opportunity to leverage. In his well-received presentation, James  Whitaker shared another story of how Bing provides the opportunity to integrate end user into our everyday tools. e.g. into the Outlook calendar. “Experiences as the new apps”.

And how fast do we need to act to take advantage of the disruption opportunity?  “The digital revolution is about doing things & learning from them rather than waiting for an idea to be 100% formed” – Paul Dawnson. Partner at Fluxx.

Consumerization of the IT

Businesses are changing fast and the CIO role is changing as well. In the new business organisation, CRM and IT solutions are closer than ever. As a result of these changes, a new CIO role is emerging: a persona orientated to drive change in the business model:  “I don’t see myself as IT, I see myself as part of the business”, Andy Haywood, Co-operative CIO  told us when he shared how they are organised. They developed a digital plan that involves the whole organisation.

Going beyond the marketing and business objectives, the CIO has another aspect to take care of. The surge in mobile devices being used is empowering people’s ability to work from anywhere. How they are approaching the “mobility” challenge, was covered with real examples, such as Cloud solutions (“cloud is an inevitability for everyone” – Jos Creese, Hampshire County Council CIO), BYOD solutions, and promoting the “Anywhere Working” concept (Severn Trent, CIO Myron Hyrcyk, remarks mobility as big challenge)

Smart use of the Big Data

This is not about how much data you can collect, is about what you do with it. We need to make some deep analyses to extract really useful information. Christina Scott, Financial Times CIO, told us how she is trying to get the right information from their media customers on a single platform. “We put data at the heart of our marketing, advertising, editorial and business decisions”.
Choosing the right partner will create the perfect situation. Michal Paulson, Co-operative CTO told of his experience creating a mix between “in house” capabilities and the correct partners, involving them as part of the internal team.

In Microsoft we are proud to collaborate with organisations to find the right solution, helping to achieve business objectives. That was the case with Simon Callow, head of IT at Aston Martin, who told us how they are working, hand in hand, with Microsoft on their Office 365 implementation. "I've put my faith and trust in a supplier and an organisation with proven experience: Microsoft”

Customer Collaboration

The classic message from organisations is “to put the customers first”. These days, we are living with the rise of social media channels, with their respective platforms and tools…  Companies need to integrate these tools into their IT systems, and customers are being empowered with the use of the social channels. Richard Warner, LV CIO, spoke about “FriendSurance”. An online peer-to-peer insurance for the German market, which combines social networks with well-established insurance companies. O’Rourke from Telefonica shared a best practice with good results: “Giff Gaff”, a virtual mobile network, which is “managed” by their customers. An intelligent use of technology will be key for customer engagement: “The art of following the customer is really important”, said JJ Van Oosten – Group CIO Travis Perkins.

Employee involvement

The Consumerisation of IT requires an internal cultural change. The digital disruption is not only about IT, it is also about people (“The real business difference is the people” - Myron Hrycyk – Severn Trent CIO). The IT departments might prepare general IT training for their employees, in order to be prepared for managing their own devices, work from anywhere, or use tools related to the business necessities. IT is changing so fast, with new concepts and tools. Traditional IT specialist skills need to be revisited and refreshed. O’Rourke, CIO of Telefonica UK explained how they are working internally, with projects like “Telefonica Digital” to promote business transformation with brilliant IT that will generate “digital power”.

In terms of internal employees, Anthony Watson, Barclays CIO, highlighted another opportunity and challenge in his speech: “We need to bring diversity” into the IT. He said that the IT industry needed to recruit and promote more women to get the right balance.

All in all, as Richard Warner said: "Never has there been a more challenging or more fun time to be a CIO." What do you think?

The Connected Fitting Room solution is an intelligent system powered by Microsoft and developed by Accenture. This solution allows retailers to take customer service to the next level by building a more personal, seamless and differentiated shopping experience. The solution not only creates an engaging experience that encourages customers to buy (and buy more) but it also delivers deep insights into customer preferences and staff responsiveness, enabling retailers to make better merchandising and staffing decisions.

We attended the presentation as part of the Microsoft Social Team, where Steve Dunbar (Microsoft) and Brendan Mislin (Accenture) presented how the Connected Fitting Room is bringing the Internet of Things and Intelligent Systems to life and after the presentation, we had an opportunity to talk directly to both Steve and Brendan – check out the interview in the video below.

 [View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gryZ4n54TmY]

If you have any questions for the Windows Embedded team about the Connected Fitting Room, please, leave a comment on the blog, and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

Have you tried to explain what cloud computing is to people who are not familiar with the concept? If trying in the future, you receive a literal “cloud” answer, your interlocutor won’t be wrong. There are some companies going to the cloud with Business Solutions...and literally. A real example is International Airlines Group.

IAG has selected Microsoft Office 365 as the business communication solution for approximately 58,000 employees, enabling its workforce to collaborate virtually, anytime, anywhere, around the world.

The new Enterprise Agreement includes Office 365, with Exchange, SharePoint, Lync and Yammer, and provides the necessary features and security to help British Airways and Iberia (IAG) transform their businesses, by using cloud-based solutions.

“Giving our employees the tools and freedom to achieve more in their day-to-day activities was a key component in our decision to engage with Microsoft,” said Nigel Underwood, IAG – Chief Information Officer “Office 365 will allow employees to collaborate and achieve their work tasks, regardless of the platform, product or device. This is an excellent example of IAG enabling change within the group to create a common IT platform for our airlines, which
will be more efficient and reduce our costs.”

Nowadays,airline companies are looking for business solutions that complement their B2B and B2C activities. Technology is the perfect partner to increase customer satisfaction, with these new services and devices. Like IAG, this is also true in Delta Airlines’ case, as they serve more than 160 million customers each year.

Delta decided to “send to the cloud” some Nokia Lumia 820 handsets, powered by Windows Phone 8. The Windows Phone devices will be a customer interaction tool for more than 19,000 Delta Airlines flight attendants.  A solution, developed by Microsoft, Avanade and AT&T, that offers instant access to useful information, such as processing credit cards in real-time for on-board purchases and even for emailing, receipts and scanning coupons. With Microsoft Dynamics for Retail and Windows 8, enterprise manageability is a specific strength and security is enhanced. For Delta Airlines, this solution eliminates cost and complexity.

One more step further for Delta's mobility strategy: 11.000 pilots will travel with their trolley, and a new complement: a Microsoft Surface 2 tablet, as "electronic flight bag". The Surface 2 will run on the Windows RT 8.1 platform and provide flights crews real-time access to essential tools and the most up-to-date flight related resources including key charts, reference documents and checklists while saving the airline $13 million per year in fuel and associated cost. Check out this video to listen some Delta's employees testimonials about the benefits of using Surface

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OytPPdu1wUg]

These are just three examples of innovation in the real “cloud”. In terms of adopting a business solution, or implementing a new tool, what do you think might be the vision from a CIO perspective, internally or thinking more about customer experience?

 Share your vision with us!

Next week IP Expo takes place at Earls Court, London. Tagged as the UK’s number one enterprise IT event. Industry leaders, experts and business decision makers will ascend on the capital city next week to discuss and discover the most recent trends in our industry.

‘For just two days IP EXPO brings together high profile industry speakers from around the world providing valuable insights and thought-provoking keynotes in 280 sessions. Add 250 industry-leading exhibitors from across all technologies and especially created networking spaces and you have the unique event which is IP EXPO.’

Microsoft will have a large presence at the event. We have many great insightful sessions scheduled over both days led by subject matter experts who will be on hand to share their expertise and answer any questions you may have.

Their will be a wave of content covered from hundred’s of exhibitors over both day’s.. Microsoft have an action packed agenda lined up. Highlights including the ‘Transform your datacentre with Microsoft cloud OS’ by Julius Davies session and Thursday’s ‘Microsoft Cloud OS’ opening keynote session with Mike Schutz and Daniel Roach-Rooke from Aston Martin.

Check out the complete agenda

A Keynote insight..

‘Transform your datacentre with Microsoft Cloud OS’ by Julius Davies (Wed & Thurs  10:30 – 11:00)

Respond to changing business needs with the power of a hybrid cloud from Microsoft. See how Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2 and Windows Azure combine to take the big, complicated, heterogeneous infrastructure you have today and bring it forward into the new world of cloud. You can take advantage of the boundless capacity the cloud offers, while still meeting requirements for security and compliance. You can reduce cost and complexity with technology innovation in areas like storage and networking. And you can deliver services to the business faster with a platform that makes you more agile and more productive.

'Microsoft Cloud OS – the vision and modern platform that is delivering new forms of value today!' by Mike Schutz and Daniel Roache-Rooke (Thurs 09:50 - 10:20)

It’s a new day in IT. There are more applications, more devices, and now, more data than ever — all driven by the rise of cloud computing and the use of cloud services. With these technologies playing an ever present role in businesses, how can IT drive more efficiency and deliver new forms of value? Microsoft’s answer is the Cloud OS.  Hear how this approach allows IT to get all the benefits of scale, speed, and agility while still protecting existing investments.  Hear directly from Aston Martin on how they are driving performance, strategy and innovation with the power of a modern cloud platform.

Follow all the activity through @MSFTBusinessUK using #IPEXPO.  We will keep you update with our tweets, and we be publishing some after event contents.

Don’t forget to visit our Hybrid Cloud Theatre (Stand A36) and say hello to the Social and Enterprise team!

Don’t be surprised if you see a Police Officer in the streets with a tablet. In Hampshire, the Police Force are using the Windows 8 Lenovo Tablet 2 in their daily work.  Using the tablet, reduces the time they spend on paperwork and enables the police to access useful information on the move.

“The old paper base system, wastes a lot of police time… If you have a decent digital system, all of that would be a completely seamless now, it’s going to take a few year to get that, but that’s the direction” says Damian Green MP – Policing and Justice Minister.

Check out the story in this BBC video

Hampshire is not alone in this digital transition process. In Hertfordshire, the Police Force is also involved in a trial project with the Panasonic Windows 8 Toughpad. The device allows officers to record a crime
while on the beat, thereby saving them time.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, visited Cheshunt in Hertfordshire on July 17th where he was shown a number of community police crime prevention initiatives, which included the Police using Panasonic’s FZ-G1 Windows 8 tablet. 

There are many possibilities for the device: officers can take a crime scene picture or use it to help identify a suspect, which empowers officers on the move.

In the Netherlands, 800 Public Prosecutors from The Dutch Public Prosecution Service are carrying Samsung ATIV SmartPC Pro tablets.  The device includes Windows 8 apps for remote accessing data, connected to a knowledge management solution based on Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010. This means, enhancing productivity anywhere.  

For instance, if a police officer called a prosecutor in the middle of the night to ask about excessive speeding fines, it could take a lot of time for the prosecutor to access that information on DPPS servers. With the Windows 8 tablet, that data is available offline and can be found in about 15 seconds.

The tablets are remotely managed using the Microsoft System Center 2012 family of system management products.

“As the operating system runs on Windows 8-certified hardware, we can securely start up the operating system with the Trusted Boot feature and protect our data using BitLocker drive encryption technology,” says Edwin Mac Gillavry (Deputy Director, Bureau of Criminal Law Studies, Dutch Public Prosecution Service).

Do you know other examples of how tablets are helping in the digital transition?

Share with us! 

Yesterday, the Langham Hotel in London played host to the fourth annual UK CIO Summit. Over 100 CIOs attended this year’s premier event, enjoying a range of topics for discussion and debate.

Microsoft was proud to be the sponsor of the Business stream, incorporating an inspiring and thought-provoking presentation by Technology Evangelist, James Whittaker, and a Devices Showcase featuring the latest Surface, Nokia Phones and Windows 8.1.

The event offers a perfect opportunity for networking and engaging with some inspirational key speakers. 24hrs later, we want to share some key moments and reaction from the great presentations and interesting discussions. Did you
attend the event? What was your thought-provoking moment?

Sander Kristel ‏@StaffsCIO
@c_scott75 of @FT: Going digital meant changing from broadcasting one-way attitude to proper interaction with customer #ciosummit

paulcdale ‏@paulcdale
#CIOsummit Telefonica - If you run innovation in your business it is probably not successful, you have to look outside. - it is just agility

Sander Kristel ‏@StaffsCIO
Changing role of CIO is to drive a change in business models @bcpor #ciosummit

paulcdale ‏@paulcdale
#CIOsummit #microsoft @docjamesw true "Evangelist", "free knowledge" & calendar with integrated "Bing" search, knows your "temporal intent"

CIO UK Editor ‏@ciouk
Richard Warner, LV= CIO, signs off. "Never been a more challenging or more fun time to be a CIO." #CIOsummit

Sam Meldrum ‏@SamMeldrum
"Technology change is not just about the technology" Myron Hrycyk CIO Severn Trent #ciosummit

Gideon Kay ‏@gids
Good challenge from @AnthonyWatson to the IT industry to recruit, develop and promote more women to get the right balance #CIOsummit

CIO UK Editor ‏@ciouk
"Enterprise IT too busy finding reasons not to do things, rather than how to do them," says Workday CTO Annrai O'Toole #CIOsummit

Sam Meldrum ‏@SamMeldrum
@vanoostenjj : the art of following the customer is really important #ciosummit

Mark Gannon ‏@markgannon
Excellent session from @poleydee on how to test ideas - "Launch something, learn something". Good advice #CIOsummit

Sander Kristel ‏@StaffsCIO
@JosCreese: public sector leading a lot of innovative use of technology (vs the innovation of technology). I obviously agree :) #ciosummit

Sander Kristel ‏@StaffsCIO
Public sector standards important but should be flexible for different customers or organisations eg central vs local #CIOsummit

Ian Cox ‏@ij_cox
Final advice from James Thomas of UCLH and no. 1 on the #CIO100: Don't be afraid to suggest radical things for your business. #CIOsummit

CIO UK Editor ‏@ciouk
"Getting digital at centre of Co-op agenda began with getting exec on side and changing to an agile culture" CTO Michael Paulson #CIOsummit

CIO UK Editor ‏@ciouk
Aston Martin head of IT: "I've put my faith and trust in a supplier and organisation with proven experience - Microsoft." #CIOsummit

With the Connected Fitting Room potentially transforming clothes shopping by delivering an exciting, creative and interactive process for the customer, the business can richly benefit from treasure trove of sales intelligence.

By leveraging tools from Microsoft and Accenture’s technology and analytics prowess, it can: provide a compelling, engaging shopping experience that appeals to customers; help increase sales; provide valuable intelligence that drives better merchandising decisions; and, help boost sales associate productivity.

Simon Francis, Windows Embedded Enterprise said: “You have all these devices that can collect valuable information for the enterprise and if we can get that back up into their central databases and BI, and get that back to the store, they can make intelligent and well-informed decisions.

“We can track customer behaviour and see how intelligence works to upsell to you, the customer. A good example is my shopping experience; for example, I was trying to buy a belt, but was worrying how it looked on other clothes, but with this Connected Fitting Room it helped me decide what belt was best.”

He went further in suggesting that it can dramatically transform the shopping experience.

He said: “The fitting room is like a crime screen. Clothes generally everywhere with customers getting frustrated and upset, and when they leave the store the Sales advisors are generally left clueless as to why the customer didn’t buy. With this technology, we can connect the customer with the store in places where they couldn’t before and provide. 

“Customer service is very important. It’s about widening customer choices and attempting to upsell and cross sell. Link selling is vital for retailers and the amount of information you can tell through the dashboard is brilliant. The Intelligence Systems can help staff to actively compete where you can see your best performing staff.”

Brendan Mislin, Windows Capability Lead for Accenture Mobility, echoed Simon’s words and believes it will enable retail shops to compete with their online rivals.

“The whole changing room experience needs to be more fun, instead of being a drag. By using Connecting Fitting Room, we can turn trying on clothes into something fun and something that generates a large amount of valuable, anonymous data for retailers.

 “Online shopping is easy to track, and now we can finally use those same analytics to help retailers make better purchasing decisions.”

This Connected Fitting Room solution is an Intelligent System powered by Microsoft technology that combines digital, cloud and analytics capabilities, key pillars of an intelligent systems, this solution
not only creates a much more engaging experience that encourages customers to buy, but also delivers deep insights into customer preferences and staff responsiveness that store managers can use to make better merchandising and staffing decisions.

He switched from iPad to Surface, and shared his first impressions of the device on Twitter.

“I’m loving this new Microsoft Surface RT tablet - battery life is outstanding.”

“Continuing to be amazed by the new Microsoft Surface RT. It’s the closest thing to a laptop in a tablet. Brilliant! “

Surface is a business ready device, bringing together the best of tablet and laptop devices, allowing you to run the latest Office version and thousands of other apps. If you are thinking of making the switch, like Lord Sugar did, this link
will provide you with further details about the way that Surface can empower your business.

Moreover, trying the device yourself in a work environment is the perfect way to understand its capability. A real example is described in this video. Marcus Bluestein, Chief Technology Officer of Kraft Kennedy has replaced
his corporate-issued laptop, his iPad and even his desktop with the Surface Pro.

[View:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2N3NYWlahNU]

He discovered that he can access all his corporate and productivity applications while enjoying the portability of a tablet. “Writing on the documents, and then sending to somebody is an experience that you can’t have on a desktop or even really a laptop today”

The “anywhere working” concept is a reality in Marcus’s daily working life: “Walking around the office and sharing what you are doing with somebody, that’s a new experience. Even with the iPad I didn’t have that because I didn’t have my work environment in the iPad”

In the words of this CTO, the Surface Pro is even faster thanhis previous laptop.  “Surface is my new laptop. I don’t carry my iPad anymore”. 

If like Marcus and Lord Sugar, you are using a #Surface in your Business, share your experience with us here or via Twitter: @MSFTBusinessUK

In order for BT to be successful, they rely heavily on the engineer’s daily activities. This will often involve working face to face with customers, in their own homes. Mobility is key as the engineers need to do many things with their devices in front of the customers. “Having an effective device is critical” says Anthony Fagan - BT Field Engineer, Openreach.

Regarding this requirement over 4.000 British Telecom field service engineers have been upgraded from XP to Windows 8 with convertible tablets.  In this video the BT Leadership Team and Field Engineers talk about how the new Windows 8 Device is helping to improve their productivity and customer service.

[View:http://content4.catalog.video.msn.com/e2/ds/bcb10dd6-28ca-45bd-b048-83310da78063.mp4]

However, anywhere working doesn’t mean less security.With Windows 8 BT have implemented a virtual smartcard, which allows remote users to seamlessly & securely access resources inside BT’s corporate network without having to launch a separate VPN.

“We have a lot of customer data, it’s very important to us to keep that data secure”, says Peter Scott – BT Director of End User Technology & Security.

Windows 8 also brings the possibility to develop dedicated internal Line of Business & external B2C Apps. With these apps BT increases interaction with their customers, offering a new functionality such as obtaining customer signatures and giving customers the ability to provide real time feedback at the end of the visit.