Tuesday, August 31, 2021
The Future of Manufacturing: A Blueprint for an Intelligent Supply Chain
Read this report from PSFK to discover ways to maximize your success with digital transformation. You'll see how intelligent business applications can help you create autonomous supply chains and explore ways to prepare for the future, such as building a more skilled workforce and prioritizing sustainable practices.
Customer Lifetime Value and the Subscription Economy
In our digital world, subscription services are more complicated. Specifically, a business's costs, benefits and value of subscriptions are more complex. It's no longer as simple as multiplying the cost of the subscription by the number of months and subtracting the costs associated with acquiring the customer and publishing and delivering the magazine. Think about it: ALL of those methods have changed! A customer's Lifetime Value (LTV) is multifaceted—and it "represents the very financial lifeblood of any business organization trying to succeed in today's 24/7 digital world," writes Phani Nagarjuna. He adds that according to predictions by Gartner, Inc., "virtually all new entrants and 80% of existing vendors will offer some form of a subscription-based business model by 2020." Read Nagarjuna's article, "Customer Lifetime Value and the Subscription Economy" for a deeper understanding of LTV. An updated understanding of your customer's value is foundational to your marketing approach and business in general.
Rapidly-growing UK restaurant chain migrates key business processes to Microsoft Dynamics 365
TGI Friday's wanted a more scalable, flexible platform for core business processes. To support its ambitious growth, the company is consolidating business operations starting with financial management on Microsoft Dynamics 365. Built-in functionality and ease-of-use mean that TGI Friday's can continue to onboard more business processes while expanding its franchise. Benefits of their innovative growth strategy include lower costs, easier access to data, and better insight.
eBook: Intelligent Economies: AI's transformation of industries and society
Discover what hundreds of senior executive survey respondents from around the world think about artificial intelligence and how its use transforms industries. Read the Microsoft-sponsored report from The Economist Intelligence Unit to learn how people are using AI to make the production and distribution of goods and services more intelligent.
You'll also see how optimistic industry leaders are about AI and how it:
•Contributes to financial benefits.
•Transforms economies and jobs.
•Encourages growth and productivity.
View: eBook: Intelligent Economies: AI's transformation of industries and society
Monday, August 30, 2021
Manufacturing a more sustainable future
COVID-19 has brought disruption to many areas of life, including manufacturing. In this thought leadership piece, learn about the importance of opportunities for increased innovation in crisis response and recovery, as well as the need for a more sustainable future.
The AI-enabled future
This article from Forbes explores Cognilytica's four-part AI enabled vision of the future. In that vision, there are four main areas in which AI will impact our future lives: the way we work, the way we live, the way we experience the world and our interactions with each other, and the relationship we have with data.
Creators wanted to manufacture a resilient and sustainable future
This blog explains Microsoft's commitment to the #CreatorsWanted movement, which seeks to fill the skills gap and inspire a diverse workforce with intelligent and data-driven manufacturing. Learn about the practical ways Microsoft supports responsible and sustainable manufacturing in their mission to empower people to achieve more.
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
4 Reasons Why Social Proof Is Essential to Building Your Brand
Social proof is the idea that people will follow the actions of others—that since so many other people behave in a certain way, it must be the correct behavior. In digital marketing, social proof is highly influenced by comments and reviews on your social platforms. Studies have shown that people are not only more likely to share their experiences about your product or service online, but they are also more likely to be influenced by what other people say and write about you. So yes, it's vital that customers are sharing positive reviews of doing business with you—customer service has never been more important than in the digital age.
Maleeka T. Hollaway, in her article "4 Reasons Why Social Proof is Essential to Building Your Brand," states that your social proof demonstrates the degree in which you've helped your clients gain results. "When you can publicly share with your audience how your work or product has created transformations for those who do business with you, naturally, people are inclined to pay attention. Results speak for you whether you are present or not," writes Hollaway. Customers' excitement is often contagious, and you suddenly access the radar of people who might not have even known about your brand, according to Holloway. To read more in depth about social proof and the reasons it's essential to your business, read her entire article. Social proof has never been more important.
Our approach to responsible AI
This video highlights six important principles Microsoft considers before pushing their AI products to production.
Leverage the cloud to connect, automate, and gain an end-to-end view of your supply chain and your business
To quickly respond to changes in environment, customer preferences, competitive forces, or unforeseen crises, manufacturers must embrace technologies that deliver supply chain agility. This infographic explains the Microsoft solution, the technologies involved, and the benefits they provide.
Predictive Analytics
This infographic is an overview of how Azure Machine Learning is the best way to transform your business with the power of AI. This tool highlights the growing market opportunity and how Microsoft itself has leveraged AI into ongoing momentum for its own business.
Monday, August 23, 2021
Council Post: Why Should You Automate Manufacturing Processes: To Save Money, Make Money Or Both?
This thought leadership piece explains different ways to integrate automation in your manufacturing processes, as well as the resulting benefits in reducing waste and improving efficiency.
The power of AI comes with a powerful responsibility
This blog article from Microsoft discusses how AI has the potential to transform the future of work, and it is critical that businesses foster a culture that includes everyone as they incorporate AI strategies. The biggest potential that AI holds is its ability to help us work together to tackle our toughest problems and it requires the shared responsibility to think about not just what AI can do, but what it should do.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connected Field Service in Oil and Gas
This video showcases Microsoft's Connected Field Service solution for the oil and gas industry. In this video, you'll discover how oil and gas companies can gain insights from remotely connected devices, drive operational efficiencies, and improve technician productivity with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Connected Field Service, Power BI, and Azure IoT.
Tuesday, August 17, 2021
Drive innovation with insights: engage customers, empower employees, and transform business solutions
Drive innovation with insights to engage customers, empower employees, and transform business solutions.
Audi technology partner EFS uses deep learning to analyze roads for self-driving vehicles
Audi technology partner EFS is developing cutting-edge autonomous driving technology. Using Microsoft Azure, EFS was able to create a deep learning AI solution that analyzes high-resolution images of roads, improving road-analysis and propelling EFS toward the goal of safe autonomous travel.
Council Post: Creating An Effective Case Study: 12 Important Tips To Remember
Case studies are effective marketing tools when done correctly. Not only do you need to select which background details to include in your case study, but you also need to pack it carefully so that it demonstrates you are a problem solver and have desirable skills—without looking like you are merely promoting your business. It's a balance. This article offers 12 key elements—offered by 12 members of Forbes Agency Council—to keep in mind when creating cases studies. For example, Emily Porter's tip is #9 Let the Images Do the Work. Aside from ensuring a case study is focused on the solution to the problem, Porter writes that "nothing brings it to life more than imagery. In lieu of a long-form case study, consider a photo essay with solid captions narrating the case study" in order to keep the audiences truly engaged while illustrating your product's value.
How the Atlantic is preserving published history with Azure AI
The Atlantic is using Azure AI to preserve 160 years of published history. Specifically, the Atlantic is using Azure Cognitive Search to transition from hard copy to a digital system where its archives can be perused by the public. Writers can use these services as a resource to build connections between stories and enrich their content.
Microsoft Partner Network podcast: Partner Marketing Pros- Episode Nine (Part Two)
This week's guest is Gerry Murry, a Research Director with IDC's Marketing and Sales Technology service. Marketing technology and related solutions are his specialty and he's got a great pulse on marketing budgets and trends. He confirms that we've seen an increase in social, content and digital marketing and that the significant upsurge in digital marketing is because it's "way less expensive for the reach that you get." Yet he also advises to pay close attention to the privacy and data collection trends that continue to be on the rise. Marketers must be respectful and create positive relationships centered around customer privacy—a priority pillar in this digital business world. Listen to the entire podcast for more insight into marketing budgets and investments!
Monday, August 16, 2021
Frost & Sullivan: Bridging the Divide Between Digital Products and Intelligent Manufacturing
In this whitepaper from Frost & Sullivan, get insights on accelerating innovation and creating the products your customers really want. It also covers topics such as connected products, reducing time-to-market, and driving products with data insights.
Big Red Cloud: Targeting pain points
Chief Executive Marc O'Dwyer shares that he started Big Red Cloud, an online cloud accounting software company, because as a business owner of a different company, he experienced problems with his own accounting systems and believed there had to be a better way. Because of these prior pains, he focuses on supporting customers and claims it is the primary reason for the company's success. Watch this video for examples of how Big Red Cloud prioritizes customer service and enjoys a 55% conversion rate from lead to closed sale.
Enhance innovation and agility with Digital Twins
This eBook helps readers understand Digital Twin technology, its potential, and its applications. It also profiles Microsoft partners who have utilized Digital Twin technology for success and discusses Microsoft's role in this technology.
Tuesday, August 10, 2021
Intelligent, Trusted, Flexible
This infographic offers an in-depth look at how Microsoft business analytics and AI is intelligent, trusted, and flexible. This service produces faster, more accurate insights and predictions. It also offers the most secure, compliant, and scalable system. Finally, it works with what you have.
Putting customers at the center of the OEM supply chain
This report from The Economist Intelligence Unit, sponsored by Microsoft, discusses the upside of supply chain digital transformation. Benefits include improved ability to meet strategic objectives and compete in a fast-changing global landscape.
Four Ways To Boost Customer Experience (And Thus Hold Onto Your Clients)
Customer satisfaction needs to be THE priority in every area of your business. Each interaction a customer has with you will either positively or negatively influence your brand, the customer's lifetime value, and the impact on future customers and therefore your revenue. The customer experience is everything in today's market. Ryanne Van Der Eijk is the Chief Customer Experience Officer at RAKEZ and knows how to create a customer-centric workplace. She shares her best advice for providing the right experience to customers in her article, "Four Ways to Boost Customer Experience (and Thus Hold onto Your Clients)." One of her tips is to build customer-centricity as part of your company culture. Start by defining your company's philosophy on customer service—that's the easy part—and then work on ways to share it via the workflow, the hiring process and the staff training. Read her entire article for more ideas for developing a culture focused on customers and her other tips to boost overall customer experience.
HP uses AI to transform its customer support experience
HP Inc. handles more than 600 million technical support contacts each year, and the company strives to make every single one a satisfying experience for the customer. To improve both self-service and contact center support delivery, HP built a virtual agent using the Microsoft Dynamics 365 AI solution for customer service. Customers can now interact conversationally with the assistant to solve common problems, support staff use the Microsoft AI solution for instant access to a wealth of troubleshooting information, and the company gains deeper insights into common customer issues.
Monday, August 9, 2021
The Resilient Supply Chain: Trusted, Sustainable, Intelligent
In this eBook, learn how to improve your organization's service resilience and profitability by planning and implementing a more resilient supply chain. Discover how you can mitigate the challenges facing supply chains by leveraging the power of cloud technologies.
View: The Resilient Supply Chain: Trusted, Sustainable, Intelligent
Partner Opportunity Playbook: Business Analytics and AI
This playbook highlights the various ways Microsoft Analytics and AI can help your customer's business. It briefly and visually covers the process Analytics and AI follow to produce insights and action. The playbook also lists various practical ways Analytics and AI can be applied in a business context, such as intelligent customer service.
View: Partner Opportunity Playbook: Business Analytics and AI
Kennametal embraces Microsoft cloud strategy to drive business innovation
This customer story demonstrates how Microsoft equipped Kennametal with the technology and tools needed to become a cloud-first company. Leveraging Azure and Dynamics 365, Kennametal reduced costs, increased productivity, and empowered workers to deliver superior results.
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
Improve performance with faster, more accurate insights and predictions
Microsoft Analytics and AI takes innovation to the next level with faster, more accurate insights and predictions. Subscribe now to stay informed!
View: Improve performance with faster, more accurate insights and predictions
Factory of the future: Achieving digital excellence in manufacturing, today
"Industry 4.0" is the term coined to describe the rise of automation and data exchange in manufacturing, technology, and it has transcended the factory floor to now include the entire manufacturing process. In this eBook, explore how to optimize your digital operations with business solutions for intelligent factories.
View: Factory of the future: Achieving digital excellence in manufacturing, today
How to Use AI in Sales and Marketing
This video illustrates how to get the most from Dynamics 365 - the unified platform powered by Azure AI and natively integrated with your favorite Microsoft 365 applications. Learn how to enable an intelligent sales and marketing approach for your organization with AI from Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Monday, August 2, 2021
Industry 4.0: IoT key to building agile factories of the future - Microsoft Industry Blogs
This blog outlines how to utilize IoT solutions to build smart, agile factories that meet and overcome modern challenges. Learn how to drive operational efficiency, improve product quality, and increase uptime and availability.
Analytics and AI Microsoft Principles
This infographic details the Microsoft philosophy toward responsible and ethical AI through a set of core principles. These principles include maximizing efficiencies without destroying the dignity of people and guarding against bias. Additionally, it advocates for accountability against intended harm, transparency, privacy, and design that assists humanity.
Jabil creates the factory of the future with predictive analytics
In their pursuit of digital transformation, Jabil leveraged predictive analytics and real-time manufacturing to optimize processes and create an agile factory. In this customer story, learn about the specific ways they applied Microsoft tools and solutions to create their factory of the future.
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The Tales of Computers: Chapter 2 - The Silent Guardian
In a small design studio, a powerful workstation sat quietly, its cooling fans humming in steady rhythm. For years, this machine had render...
