Frontline workers are the foundation of every industry—from retail and healthcare to hospitality and field services. Yet for years, they’ve been asked to increase productivity and deliver more value, faster, often with tools that weren’t designed for the specific realities of frontline work. Today, that dynamic is shifting. When AI is applied in practical, governed
Recently, I had a conversation around optimization for a banking customer — specifically, about whether they could optimize a particular activity. It sparked an interesting debate: What is optimization, and where can it be applied? This post offers some ideas about where and when to apply optimization.
“Diversity expansion can then prevent bias. Only through education can organizations understand the critical need to hire a diverse talent base. It may not be possible to have what some call an “unbiased brain”, but it is possible to bring diverse brains to the table to help prevent it.
With two tropical storms headed for the Gulf Coast, a U.S. Navy team of leading engineers and scientists partnered with their Microsoft Federal counterparts over the Aug. 22–23 weekend to successfully deploy an enhanced weather model capable of rapidly scaling weather and ocean pattern predictions on demand.
When COVID-19 hit the US earlier this year, organizations of all types and sizes had to metaphorically “flip the switch” to remote work at a moment’s notice. IT departments had to provision devices and customize remote environments that empowered users to essentially do business from their homes.
As healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) evolve into highly complex environments including many roles, locations, devices, and applications, we’re challenged to manage these complexities while maintaining security and efficiency, all without adding a lot of disparate tools.
Resiliency is a significant challenge for finance organizations, and during the current COVID-19 pandemic, financial service providers need the right mix of security, compliance and agility to stay flexible. A previous article from Lisa Choi and Luke Thomas outlines the importance of the cloud in building elastic infrastructures.
Microsoft and partners launch Accelerate: Houston, an economic development initiative to create skills for high-demand jobs and close the digital divide.
Companies are putting great emphasis on digital or self-service contact channels. The economics of self-service are undoubtedly compelling: Whereas live support channels cost dollars, self-service channels, by contrast, cost pennies per interaction. Also, self-service channels are improving quickly. With the introduction of intelligent chat bots and other AI-inspired innovations, these channels can handle many more types of transactions than was possible even a few years ago.
When disaster hits or the unexpected befalls a community, First Responders are on the frontlines of compassionate, strategic response. Now, a new federal consortium aims to support First Responders in doing the highly valuable work they do to protect and repair lands and communities experiencing a crisis.
COVID-19 has been a strain on everyone. We’ve all navigated social isolation, uncertain investment projections, and remote work environments to various degrees, but regardless of the experience, this time away has left a haze over individuals and organizations alike.
Financial institutions are aware of the need to keep markets moving, deals closing, and clients delighted, all while staying safe. Collaboration tools like Microsoft Teams have provided secure, reliable, and scalable alternatives to relaying sensitive financial data to peers, clients and boards of executives.
At a time when every aspect of life is being transformed to help prevent the spread of COVID-19, compassion and collaboration have never been more essential to the success of families, communities, and businesses.
