November 10, 2017 at 11:06Digital Transformation: Getting Started
Hello, Habr! Today we will talk with you about digital transformation, the very buzzword that everyone is talking about, but no one knows how to do it. This is the first article in a series in which there will be more theory. Under the cut you will learn about how transformation differs from automation on the example of the grandmother’s business, you will find the top 10 cases from Microsoft, and also talk a little about the new Tech Acceleration program.
Most often, confusion arises in terms of automation and digital transformation, and, consequently, in understanding the essence. Therefore, we suggest starting with this.
As you can see, the example above is a typical example of a business based on manual labor. Let's try to automate it.
Automation - processes that previously required the involvement of “manual” labor were automated differently, depending on the type and type of process.
So, let's move on.
Digital transformation - a change in the business process with the help of modern digital technologies, data-driven campaigns, occurring under the influence of competition.
Of course, in the real world, the transition from automation to transformation is much more complicated and includes much more details, but nevertheless, we hope that you understand the general essence of the process. Move on.
It seems that we have never talked on Habré about the Microsoft mission: To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more (to help every person and every company on the planet achieve more).
It sounds grandiose and we are really saturated with this idea. We can say that it forms the basis of digital transformation and describes the desire to help a variety of companies transform with the help of the latest technologies. We will not dwell on the values of the company, as you can find a lot of materials on this topic if you wish. For example, a month ago a wonderful interview on Forbes was published with Satya Nadellain which he talks about three technologies that will change the world and a little about how the corporation has changed over the course of several years (by the way, this is all absolutely true).
It will be much more interesting to talk about cases that you might have heard about:
A solution that allowed fashion brands to open virtual 3D custom shoe boutiques. The uniqueness of the project lies in the fact that buyers can independently create the perfect pair for themselves taking into account their needs: taste, features of the foot and other preferences. Read more about ELSE Corp’s solution and its implementation using Azure technologies here and here .
In this project, created with the world-famous golf course designer, Gilbert Hans, Microsoft is taking a fresh look at working with data in the sports industry. Information is collected from various sources (from landscape analysis and wind speed to weather data at different times of the year), including using drones and aerial photography, and processed using Azure machine learning tools (for more than 13 thousand golf courses). This allows designers to effectively evaluate the selected landscape for future fields, and golfers to evaluate the best positions for playing on existing fields. By the way, this project became the bronze medalist of the Cannes Lions 2017 festival. You can learn more about it in the WSJ article .
If you watch broadcasts of key Microsoft conferences, you probably should have remembered the demonstration of Satya Nadella at the keynote report Ignite, which took place a year ago. On it we saw how, using the technology of mixed reality and HoloLens, you can create a custom design for your kitchen. The pilot project was launched in two stores: while in the showroom, customers can pick up their own kitchen design from all available products in Lowe stores using simple gestures. More details can be read here .
Not all projects that can be attributed to digital transformation are commercial. Last year, we already told you about a non-profit project in which, with the help of Xamarin and Azure, a solution was created to quickly collect information about a missing child, and automatically send data to law enforcement agencies. More details can be read here .
This service analyzes the quality of service and customer satisfaction in real time using a neural network in the field of machine vision and speech recognition, using only information from the front-line employee’s webcam. It was created on the basis of Microsoft Cognitive Services and is already working in the Moscow Region MFC and the Russian Post. Also, an interesting technical detail, the guys left the monolithic architecture and now their system is built on microservices. Read more about it here .
An excellent example of the transformation of agribusiness, in which IoT developed a platform that saves water and electricity. But that's not all, SE has developed a service based on Azure cloud technology, which combines sensor management, data acquisition and analysis systems, as well as digital interfaces. It has a built-in monitoring system that helps optimize the operation of solar power plants and another monitoring system that real-time monitors the temperature in individual rooms, the operation of power supply systems. You can learn more about this solution here .
This is an international network of pizzerias whose main product is ... a franchise, with a core in the form of its own Dodo IS information system based on Azure cloud technologies. It is implemented as a website. Franchisee partners work with her as a SaaS service. In 2015, their revenue exceeded 1 billion rubles . You can find more technical details in our article on Habré .
In addition to the recent case of Ford demonstrating a car in a museum using mixed reality technology and HoloLens, it will be interesting to read about several joint cases with museums in Seattle, New York and London . In them you will see examples of how, through the digitization of existing works of art and data processing using artificial intelligence algorithms, museums get new ways to interact with visitors.
This is a system for analyzing the actions of hockey players, working with unique algorithms based on neural networks and machine learning in real time, using analytical services from Microsoft Azure. It helps to optimize budget spending, increase training efficiency and the likelihood of a team winning each individual game and in the championship. Read more about this project here .
Digital transformation affects various areas of our lives, including the creative industry. At Microsoft, this takes place as part of Music x Technology, a collaboration program between musicians and technicians, in which, with the help of new technologies, solutions are created that allow musicians to communicate with the audience in a new way. It has already been attended by M83, Phantogram, Childish Gambino, Broods, Grimes and others. Read more about these cases here .
Today we shared the theory with you. This material will become the basis for a series of articles in which we will share our experience and technical cases in order to understand together examples of how digital transformation occurs in different industries.
The key focus in this series will be on 5 priority areas: ML and Big Data, IoT, AI and bots, containers and microservices, as well as Serverless.
Minute of advertising . If you want to try new technologies in your projects, but don’t get your hands on it, leave a request in the Microsoft Tech Acceleration program . Its main feature is that together with you we will select the necessary stack, help to implement the pilot, and if successful, we will spend maximum effort so that the entire market finds out about you.
Thanks to Stas Pavlov and Kostya Kichinsky for inspiration and help. :)
PS And, of course, Quantum Quintum , for illustrating this article.
Digital Transformation Series
Technology articles:
1. Start .
2. Blockchain in the bank .
3. We teach the machine to understand human genes .
4. Machine learning and chocolates .
5. Loading ...
A series of interviews with Dmitry Zavalishin on the DZ Online channel :
1. Alexander Lozhechkin from Microsoft: Do you need developers in the future?
2. Alexey Kostarev from Vera Robot: How to replace HR-a with a robot?
3. Fedor Ovchinnikov from Dodo Pizza: How to replace the restaurant director with a robot?
4. Andrei Golub from ELSE Corp Srl: How do I stop spending a ton of time shopping?
Digital Transformation from Grandma's Business Case Study
Most often, confusion arises in terms of automation and digital transformation, and, consequently, in understanding the essence. Therefore, we suggest starting with this.
For ease of understanding, we will draw an analogy with the business of a grandmother who knits socks. Imagine that her name is Lidia Petrovna, she is 73 years old, she is from Russia and knits 1 pair of woolen socks a week, and then sells them on the market, not far from the house.
As you can see, the example above is a typical example of a business based on manual labor. Let's try to automate it.
Lydia Petrovna has a wonderful grandson, Vasily. He worries that the grandmother has too much work, she is tired, and even with 4 pairs of socks per month you will not earn much. Therefore, he offers to digitize the design of grandmother's socks, to buy the Super Knitter 2000 robot, which can knit 100 pairs of woolen socks per week. And why go to the market when you can create a website through which you can sell socks. Grandma will only need to control the production process and fill the site with new products.
Automation - processes that previously required the involvement of “manual” labor were automated differently, depending on the type and type of process.
So, let's move on.
As time passed, grandmother's knitting business grew and prospered. With the onset of spring, Lidia Petrovna realized that she needed to look for new markets, agreed with ski resorts around the world and added thinner socks to the assortment especially for Australian buyers. Vasily's innovations greatly facilitated her work and she began to earn much more. Lidia Petrovna began to look younger and was thinking of moving to a warm country this winter.
But, as always, not everyone was happy with her success. A neighbor on the site, Maria Ivanovna, realized that things were going uphill with our grandmother, and asked her grandson to buy her the same robot and digitize her ideas for socks. At the same time, Fernanda’s grandmother from Brazil was already dumping the prices for Lydia Petrovna’s socks in some ski resorts. And the forums talked about the mysterious grandmother Ataro from Port Elizabeth, who was going to offer an innovative design.
It would seem that the grandmother’s business began to take positions literally before our eyes. But, Vasily did not lose heart and suggested changing the business model: create a global resource with drones delivery to which grandmothers from all over the world could upload their sock designs and sell them all over the world. Lidia Petrovna was not sure that anyone would agree to this. But Vasily explained that thanks to data collection and the use of machine learning algorithms, other grandmothers will be able to get more accurate analytics, which means they will improve their sock models using a data-driven approach. And, of course, it is obvious that this will allow them to sell socks in much larger volumes. Not to mention that they will no longer be worried about logistics, wool purchases and the purchase of the new Super Knitter X model.
This is how the super-knit-socks.lp resource came into being, which has become the largest sock service in the world.
Digital transformation - a change in the business process with the help of modern digital technologies, data-driven campaigns, occurring under the influence of competition.
Of course, in the real world, the transition from automation to transformation is much more complicated and includes much more details, but nevertheless, we hope that you understand the general essence of the process. Move on.
10 cases of digital transformation from Microsoft
It seems that we have never talked on Habré about the Microsoft mission: To empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more (to help every person and every company on the planet achieve more).
It sounds grandiose and we are really saturated with this idea. We can say that it forms the basis of digital transformation and describes the desire to help a variety of companies transform with the help of the latest technologies. We will not dwell on the values of the company, as you can find a lot of materials on this topic if you wish. For example, a month ago a wonderful interview on Forbes was published with Satya Nadellain which he talks about three technologies that will change the world and a little about how the corporation has changed over the course of several years (by the way, this is all absolutely true).
It will be much more interesting to talk about cases that you might have heard about:
1. ELSE.shoes
A solution that allowed fashion brands to open virtual 3D custom shoe boutiques. The uniqueness of the project lies in the fact that buyers can independently create the perfect pair for themselves taking into account their needs: taste, features of the foot and other preferences. Read more about ELSE Corp’s solution and its implementation using Azure technologies here and here .
2. Microsoft Course IQ
In this project, created with the world-famous golf course designer, Gilbert Hans, Microsoft is taking a fresh look at working with data in the sports industry. Information is collected from various sources (from landscape analysis and wind speed to weather data at different times of the year), including using drones and aerial photography, and processed using Azure machine learning tools (for more than 13 thousand golf courses). This allows designers to effectively evaluate the selected landscape for future fields, and golfers to evaluate the best positions for playing on existing fields. By the way, this project became the bronze medalist of the Cannes Lions 2017 festival. You can learn more about it in the WSJ article .
3. Lowe
If you watch broadcasts of key Microsoft conferences, you probably should have remembered the demonstration of Satya Nadella at the keynote report Ignite, which took place a year ago. On it we saw how, using the technology of mixed reality and HoloLens, you can create a custom design for your kitchen. The pilot project was launched in two stores: while in the showroom, customers can pick up their own kitchen design from all available products in Lowe stores using simple gestures. More details can be read here .
4. MCSC (Society for the Search for Missing Children of Canada)
Not all projects that can be attributed to digital transformation are commercial. Last year, we already told you about a non-profit project in which, with the help of Xamarin and Azure, a solution was created to quickly collect information about a missing child, and automatically send data to law enforcement agencies. More details can be read here .
5. HeedBook
This service analyzes the quality of service and customer satisfaction in real time using a neural network in the field of machine vision and speech recognition, using only information from the front-line employee’s webcam. It was created on the basis of Microsoft Cognitive Services and is already working in the Moscow Region MFC and the Russian Post. Also, an interesting technical detail, the guys left the monolithic architecture and now their system is built on microservices. Read more about it here .
6. Schneider Electric
An excellent example of the transformation of agribusiness, in which IoT developed a platform that saves water and electricity. But that's not all, SE has developed a service based on Azure cloud technology, which combines sensor management, data acquisition and analysis systems, as well as digital interfaces. It has a built-in monitoring system that helps optimize the operation of solar power plants and another monitoring system that real-time monitors the temperature in individual rooms, the operation of power supply systems. You can learn more about this solution here .
7. Dodo Pizza
This is an international network of pizzerias whose main product is ... a franchise, with a core in the form of its own Dodo IS information system based on Azure cloud technologies. It is implemented as a website. Franchisee partners work with her as a SaaS service. In 2015, their revenue exceeded 1 billion rubles . You can find more technical details in our article on Habré .
8. Transformation of museum space
In addition to the recent case of Ford demonstrating a car in a museum using mixed reality technology and HoloLens, it will be interesting to read about several joint cases with museums in Seattle, New York and London . In them you will see examples of how, through the digitization of existing works of art and data processing using artificial intelligence algorithms, museums get new ways to interact with visitors.
9. ICEBERG
This is a system for analyzing the actions of hockey players, working with unique algorithms based on neural networks and machine learning in real time, using analytical services from Microsoft Azure. It helps to optimize budget spending, increase training efficiency and the likelihood of a team winning each individual game and in the championship. Read more about this project here .
10. Music x Technology
Digital transformation affects various areas of our lives, including the creative industry. At Microsoft, this takes place as part of Music x Technology, a collaboration program between musicians and technicians, in which, with the help of new technologies, solutions are created that allow musicians to communicate with the audience in a new way. It has already been attended by M83, Phantogram, Childish Gambino, Broods, Grimes and others. Read more about these cases here .
Next steps
Today we shared the theory with you. This material will become the basis for a series of articles in which we will share our experience and technical cases in order to understand together examples of how digital transformation occurs in different industries.
The key focus in this series will be on 5 priority areas: ML and Big Data, IoT, AI and bots, containers and microservices, as well as Serverless.
Minute of advertising . If you want to try new technologies in your projects, but don’t get your hands on it, leave a request in the Microsoft Tech Acceleration program . Its main feature is that together with you we will select the necessary stack, help to implement the pilot, and if successful, we will spend maximum effort so that the entire market finds out about you.
Thanks to Stas Pavlov and Kostya Kichinsky for inspiration and help. :)
PS And, of course, Quantum Quintum , for illustrating this article.