Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella is anticipating a future in which new software systems will actively ply traditional and Internet of Things (IoT) systems to triangulate and analyze, generating more accurate business intelligence.
The Lowdown: Nadella laid out his vision of advanced business analytics systems at an invitational editors’ event at Microsoft’s headquarters. He told those in attendance that three types of software systems will come to market in the near future.
The Details: — Systems of Record: Existing and new software such as ERP and CRM that will record and track business activities such as production, inventory, and sales.
— Systems of Observation: Software that rides on IoT devices, collecting copious amounts of tracking, incident, and operational data.
— Systems of Intelligence: Software that uses artificial intelligence to analyze and identify trends, devise response scenarios, and apply appropriate actions.
The Impact: Advanced business analytics have tremendous potential for creating new opportunities for channel partners – particularly service providers and systems integrators. Businesses are already turning to specialists that can develop and operate business analytics. The addition of billions of IoT devices over the next 10 years and a resulting massive increase in available data will only extend the business analytics software and service opportunities.
Background: The vision laid out by Nadella isn’t new, per se, as much as it’s reorganizing many existing concepts based on IoT systems, business intelligence and Big Data, and cloud-based software systems. Nadella’s forecast for new types of software systems is likely more a telegraphing of Microsoft’s plans for capitalizing on existing software and service development.
The Buzz: “Once you have these three things, you now can say, let me do a system of intelligence, which really triangulates these three and adds new value,” said Nadella.
Channelnomics Point of View: Microsoft, under Nadella’s leadership, surprised many industry observers and pundits that wrote off the software company as a has-been by rallying back as a leading contender in business software and cloud computing. In his book, “Hit Refresh,” Nadella defined his and Microsoft’s strategy for having its software on every system regardless of the underlying operating system. In his five years at the helm, Nadella has transformed Microsoft from a company wedded to Windows to a vendor that’s pushing the boundaries of innovation. The triangulation vision Nadella defined to editors is a signal that Microsoft continues to look for ways to capitalize on evolving and emerging trends.
