Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on fuelling ‘tech intensity’ in the UK

Companies need to not only be fast-adopters of best-in-class technology but also build their own digital capabilities, Microsoft Chief Executive Satya Nadella said.

Nadella told nearly 5,000 people at the Future Decoded event in London that every organisation will have to embrace what he described as “tech intensity” to be successful going forward.

He shared examples from across the UK, explaining how the NHS, Centrica, Marks & Spencer, as well as other leading organisations are building their own digital capabilities so they can serve customers more efficiently and optimize operations.

“To succeed as computing becomes so pervasive, so embedded in our world, every institution, every organisation will need to have what I describe as tech intensity,” Nadella said during his keynote on the second day of Future Decoded.

“The thing that all of us have to do is adopt technology in ways that are much faster than anything that we have done in the past.”

He added: “But then we don’t stop there. Perhaps the most important thing is each one of us in our institutions, in our organisations, whether it’s public sector or private sector, will have to build our own digital capability on top of the technology that we have adopted. Because every company is a software company, every company is a digital organisation.”

Nadella highlighted NHSScotland’s partnership with Microsoft to revolutionise healthcare in the country.

As part of the landmark agreement, NHSScotland will merge more than 100 separate computer systems and give its 161,000 staff access to Office 365 so they can spend more time focusing on patients.

Meanwhile, British Gas owner Centrica will use Dynamics 365 and Azure as part of a strategic partnership to transform the way its 12,000 engineers serve customers across the UK.

Nadella also pointed to Marks & Spencer, which will use Microsoft’s AI technology to optimise retail space and give staff extra insight into its stores in real-time.

Nadella said: “We want to build technology so that each one of you can go on to build more technology. Ultimately, technology for technology’s sake is not going to do anything. It is about your ability to take technology and transform how you engage customers, how you empower your own employees, how you transform and optimize your operations and your products and services. That’s ultimately the goal that each one of you has.”

Future Decoded was held on October 31 and November 1 at ExCeL. The audience of consumers, technology, experts, business owners, developers and journalists, also heard from Microsoft UK CEO Cindy Rose, Chief Accessibility Officer Jenny Lay-Flurrie, Azure Executive Vice-President Jason Zander, actor Michael Caine and broadcaster Matthew Syed.

Microsoft also announced a tie-up with the University of Cambridge and an expansion of AccountGuard, which is designed to protect organisations that underpin democracy from cyberattacks.