{"id":7705,"date":"2026-02-09T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-09T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/?p=7705"},"modified":"2026-02-06T12:34:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T20:34:50","slug":"how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/","title":{"rendered":"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">AI is no longer experimental\u2014it\u2019s\u202freshaping margins, reducing cycle times, and accelerating revenue growth for companies that move decisively. Frontier Firms are already capturing these gains, leaving slow adopters behind.\u202fAccording to&nbsp;a recent&nbsp;study&nbsp;from IDC,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/marketingassets.microsoft.com\/gdc\/gdcvSFjHm\/original\">Frontier&nbsp;organizations<\/a> see three times&nbsp;higher ROI from AI than slow&nbsp;adopters.&nbsp;Another differentiator&nbsp;emerged from&nbsp;our own research: 71% of employees at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/worklab\/work-trend-index\/2025-the-year-the-frontier-firm-is-born\">Frontier Firms<\/a>&nbsp;say&nbsp;their company is thriving,&nbsp;compared with just 39% globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frontier&nbsp;leaders aren\u2019t&nbsp;simply&nbsp;bolting&nbsp;new technology&nbsp;onto&nbsp;their existing operations. As Microsoft Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Business Judson Althoff&nbsp;has&nbsp;shared in&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/27\/how-microsoft-is-empowering-frontier-transformation-with-intelligence-trust\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recent articles<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/ignite.microsoft.com\/en-US\/sessions\/KEY01\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">keynotes<\/a>, these leaders are taking a human-centered approach to&nbsp;AI&nbsp;transformation.&nbsp;The people closest to the work understand the real bottlenecks and&nbsp;opportunities. By equipping them with AI, leaders unlock practical solutions that drive measurable performance gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-content-justification-center is-layout-flex wp-container-core-buttons-is-layout-a89b3969 wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/info.microsoft.com\/ww-landing-prompt-guide-for-business-leaders-personalized-ai-transformation-blueprint.html?Lcid=EN-US\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Get the e-book: Prompt Guide for Business Leaders<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-essentials-for-building-a-frontier-organization\"><span class=\"text-gradient text-gradient--primary\">3 essentials for building a Frontier organization<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Here\u2019s&nbsp;Althoff\u2019s&nbsp;outline&nbsp;for&nbsp;a&nbsp;Frontier&nbsp;approach to&nbsp;using&nbsp;AI and agents that puts capability directly into&nbsp;each&nbsp;employee\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"1-start-with-your-employees-to-amplify-ambition\">1. Start&nbsp;with&nbsp;your employees to amplify&nbsp;ambition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-quote-default-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-body-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">At the&nbsp;heart&nbsp;of every Frontier business flow is the notion of democratizing intelligence. Human ambition is at the core, coupled with&nbsp;your AI assistants and agents to get real work done.<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014Judson Althoff, Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Business, Microsoft<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The idea<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>The point isn\u2019t&nbsp;to&nbsp;simply&nbsp;deploy more technology, but&nbsp;to&nbsp;deploy it in ways that&nbsp;unlock more potential&nbsp;in&nbsp;people&nbsp;to&nbsp;solve their hardest problems and create more business impact.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Why it matters<\/strong>:&nbsp;According to IDC,<sup>1<\/sup>&nbsp;AI adoption is accelerating&nbsp;past the&nbsp;initial experimentation phase, with 68% of companies using AI and 37% using agents. However,&nbsp;providing&nbsp;access to the technology is not the same as providing the guidance and skilling needed&nbsp;to unlock&nbsp;its potential.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The shift<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Frontier leaders focus on applying agents where they matter most\u2014the&nbsp;priority workflows that define performance and growth.&nbsp;AI is at its most powerful when&nbsp;employees have&nbsp;the space&nbsp;and the guidance they need&nbsp;to imagine, experiment,&nbsp;and pursue bolder ideas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The&nbsp;big picture<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Frontier leaders don\u2019t start with AI capabilities. They start with human ambition, then design the systems, workflows, and guardrails that allow that ambition to scale responsibly. This&nbsp;requires treating AI adoption as a management system\u2014not an IT rollout\u2014with executives and business decision-makers actively redesigning&nbsp;workflows&nbsp;end-to-end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"2-expand-across-every-business-function\">2. Expand&nbsp;across every business function<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-quote-default-font-size is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p class=\"has-body-large-font-size wp-block-paragraph\">There\u2019s a maker in every one of us, and the Frontier Firm has a maker in every room of the house.<\/p>\n<cite>\u2014Judson Althoff, Chief Executive Officer of Commercial Business, Microsoft<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The idea<\/strong>:&nbsp;The people&nbsp;closest to the&nbsp;challenge&nbsp;are often closest to the opportunity.&nbsp;As AI becomes more accessible, creativity moves from the edges of the organization to the center so that everyone is empowered to innovate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>A striking data point<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Frontier Firms aren\u2019t leaving AI adoption to the IT department\u2014they are making it a company-wide leadership priority. According to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/11\/bridging-the-ai-divide-how-frontier-firms-are-transforming-business\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IDC research<\/a>,&nbsp;Frontier Firms&nbsp;are&nbsp;using the technology across seven business functions on average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Real-world innovations<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Mercedes-Benz&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.microsoft.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/28\/becoming-frontier-how-human-ambition-and-ai-first-differentiation-are-helping-microsoft-customers-go-further-with-ai\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">scaled&nbsp;AI&nbsp;innovation<\/a> across its global production network, diagnosing efficiency declines and reducing energy consumption of buildings and machines\u2014including 20% energy savings in one paint shop.&nbsp;And&nbsp;Althoff highlights&nbsp;how&nbsp;Toyota is pioneering AI intelligence in manufacturing with&nbsp;the&nbsp;O-beya&nbsp;system,&nbsp;a multi-agent AI system that simulates expert discussions virtually. O-beya can auto-select AI agents in fields like fuel efficiency,&nbsp;along with&nbsp;drivability, noise and vibration, energy management,&nbsp;and power management to pinpoint causes and suggest solutions.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The takeaway<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Broadening&nbsp;access to agents&nbsp;can&nbsp;unleash innovation.&nbsp;Frontier leaders don\u2019t&nbsp;need to&nbsp;script how employees should use the technology\u2014they just&nbsp;need to&nbsp;ensure that there are proper guardrails around a wide space for experimentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"3-trust-governance-and-integration-determine-roi\">3. Trust,&nbsp;governance, and integration determine ROI<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The idea<\/strong>:&nbsp;AI can create more value<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>when&nbsp;people trust it enough to use it. Trust is what allows AI-powered&nbsp;innovation to scale beyond isolated pilots.&nbsp;And that requires human oversight with&nbsp;\u201c<strong>observability at every layer of the stack<\/strong>,\u201d<strong> <\/strong>according to Althoff.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The&nbsp;challenge<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Not every organization has put the right safeguards in place yet. Microsoft\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/info.microsoft.com\/ww-landing-data-security-index-2026.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2026 Data Security Index<\/a>&nbsp;reports that only&nbsp;47% of companies have fully implemented data security controls for AI.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The&nbsp;solution<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>Frontier leaders&nbsp;must&nbsp;ensure&nbsp;security and&nbsp;be&nbsp;explicit about human-in-the-loop observability as a cornerstone of transformation. People adopt AI confidently when they understand how decisions are made, how data flows, and how systems behave\u2014and when to intervene as needed.&nbsp;Finally,&nbsp;Frontier organizations don\u2019t&nbsp;implement&nbsp;new technology&nbsp;and then slow down\u2014or backtrack\u2014to implement responsible practices. They&nbsp;design&nbsp;for&nbsp;trust from the start so they can keep moving quickly.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"actions-you-can-take-to-drive-measurable-impact\"><span class=\"text-gradient text-gradient--primary\">Actions&nbsp;you can&nbsp;take&nbsp;to&nbsp;drive measurable impact<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The idea<\/strong>:<strong>&nbsp;<\/strong>The organizations that will win in the Frontier era&nbsp;are those that&nbsp;view&nbsp;AI not as a one-off tool rollout but as a leadership discipline. They start by clarifying ambition, giving people the space and agency to act, and building trust early so transformation can scale across the business.&nbsp;Importantly,&nbsp;they use AI themselves to&nbsp;guide decisions, surface insights, and stress&nbsp;test ideas about keeping humans at the center of their business transformation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Where to start<\/strong>:&nbsp;Microsoft\u2019s new&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/info.microsoft.com\/ww-landing-prompt-guide-for-business-leaders-personalized-ai-transformation-blueprint.html?Lcid=EN-US\">Prompt Guide for Business Leaders<\/a>&nbsp;was designed to&nbsp;help leaders get a handle on&nbsp;the changing AI landscape and&nbsp;use the technology itself to&nbsp;stress test their ideas and strategies&nbsp;in&nbsp;response&nbsp;to it.&nbsp;The guide&nbsp;offers guidance on&nbsp;how&nbsp;to:&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol start=\"1\" class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Assess&nbsp;readiness<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Identify&nbsp;value&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Map&nbsp;workflows&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Build&nbsp;roadmap&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Plan&nbsp;for risk&nbsp;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li class=\"wp-block-list-item\">Define actionable next steps<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Example prompt<\/strong>: &#8220;<em>Show me the top three workflows where agents could reduce cycle time by at least 20% based on our current operations<\/em>.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"from-vision-to-value-in-the-frontier-era\"><span class=\"text-gradient text-gradient--primary\">From vision to value in the Frontier era<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The guide&nbsp;demonstrates&nbsp;how&nbsp;AI&nbsp;can be a thinking partner, and&nbsp;helps leaders develop a&nbsp;strategy&nbsp;to&nbsp;help their people&nbsp;harness the technology to&nbsp;achieve&nbsp;goals, innovate,&nbsp;and&nbsp;unlock more value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"is-style-inline-centered wp-block-bloginabox-theme-promotional\">\n\t\n<div class=\"promotional promotional--has-media promotional--media-right\">\n\t<div class=\"promotional__wrapper\">\n\t\t<div class=\"promotional__content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"promotional__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"innovation-with-ai\">Innovation with AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What every company can learn from Frontier Firms leading the AI revolution<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-button\"><a data-bi-an=\"Global CTA\" data-bi-ct=\"cta link\" data-bi-id=\"cta-block\" class=\"wp-block-button__link wp-element-button\" href=\"https:\/\/marketingassets.microsoft.com\/gdc\/gdcvSFjHm\/original\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Read the report<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"promotional__media-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"promotional__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"600\" height=\"600\" src=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cloud_Blog_Abstract-06-600px.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full\" alt=\"A close up of a curved object.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cloud_Blog_Abstract-06-600px.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cloud_Blog_Abstract-06-600px-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Cloud_Blog_Abstract-06-600px-370x370.jpg 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\" \/>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><sup>1<\/sup> <a href=\"https:\/\/aka.ms\/IDCstudy2025\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IDC InfoBrief<\/a>: sponsored by Microsoft,\u202f<em>What Every Company Can Learn From Frontier Firms Leading the AI Revolution<\/em>, IDC # US53838325, November 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Frontier Firms turn human ambition into ROI, using AI and agents to accelerate growth, margins, and employee confidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":7729,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ms_queue_id":["aiblog-content-sync"],"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_classifai_error":"","_classifai_text_to_speech_error":"","_alt_title":"","ms-ems-related-posts":[],"footnotes":""},"post_tag":[336,466],"content-type":[6],"industry":[],"job-function":[],"job-role":[],"property":[],"topic":[7,422],"coauthors":[374],"class_list":["post-7705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ai-transformation","tag-frontier-firm","content-type-thought-leadership","topic-ai","topic-ai-resources","review-flag-1-1695745984-811","review-flag-2-1695745984-459","review-flag-3-1695745984-226","review-flag-idc-1695745987-435","review-flag-new-1695745982-637","review-flag-partn-1695745982-841"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people | The Microsoft Cloud Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Learn how to build a Frontier organization by taking a human-centered approach to\u00a0AI\u00a0transformation with insights from Judson Althoff, Microsoft CEO of Commercial Business.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people | The Microsoft Cloud Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Learn how to build a Frontier organization by taking a human-centered approach to\u00a0AI\u00a0transformation with insights from Judson Althoff, Microsoft CEO of Commercial Business.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Microsoft Cloud Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-09T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Toby Bowers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Toby Bowers\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/\"},\"author\":[{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/author\/toby-bowers\/\",\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@name\":\"Toby Bowers\"}],\"headline\":\"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-09T16:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/\"},\"wordCount\":1227,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people-2.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"AI transformation\",\"Frontier Firm\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/\",\"name\":\"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people | The Microsoft Cloud Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people-2.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-09T16:00:00+00:00\",\"description\":\"Learn how to build a Frontier organization by taking a human-centered approach to\u00a0AI\u00a0transformation with insights from Judson Althoff, Microsoft CEO of Commercial Business.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people-2.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people-2.jpg\",\"width\":1920,\"height\":1080},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"AI resources\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/topic\/ai-resources\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"The Microsoft Cloud Blog\",\"description\":\"Build the future of your business with AI\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Microsoft Cloud Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/microsoft_logo.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/microsoft_logo.webp\",\"width\":400,\"height\":400,\"caption\":\"Microsoft Cloud Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d524ecca2df2ec0f08cee92a55e0ccc\",\"name\":\"kristingallagher\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2222274c8d03b762dcfdb44bb33bb782692c687883af3fcc47a99dfe609c8370?s=96&d=microsoft&r=gf02c647f1435633a1cc611ce18d0ca72\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2222274c8d03b762dcfdb44bb33bb782692c687883af3fcc47a99dfe609c8370?s=96&d=microsoft&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2222274c8d03b762dcfdb44bb33bb782692c687883af3fcc47a99dfe609c8370?s=96&d=microsoft&r=g\",\"caption\":\"kristingallagher\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/author\/kristingallagher\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people | The Microsoft Cloud Blog","description":"Learn how to build a Frontier organization by taking a human-centered approach to\u00a0AI\u00a0transformation with insights from Judson Althoff, Microsoft CEO of Commercial Business.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people | The Microsoft Cloud Blog","og_description":"Learn how to build a Frontier organization by taking a human-centered approach to\u00a0AI\u00a0transformation with insights from Judson Althoff, Microsoft CEO of Commercial Business.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/","og_site_name":"The Microsoft Cloud Blog","article_published_time":"2026-02-09T16:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1920,"height":1080,"url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Toby Bowers","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Toby Bowers","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/"},"author":[{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/author\/toby-bowers\/","@type":"Person","@name":"Toby Bowers"}],"headline":"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people","datePublished":"2026-02-09T16:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/"},"wordCount":1227,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people-2.jpg","keywords":["AI transformation","Frontier Firm"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/","name":"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people | The Microsoft Cloud Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people-2.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-09T16:00:00+00:00","description":"Learn how to build a Frontier organization by taking a human-centered approach to\u00a0AI\u00a0transformation with insights from Judson Althoff, Microsoft CEO of Commercial Business.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people-2.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/frontier-transformation-people-2.jpg","width":1920,"height":1080},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/2026\/02\/09\/how-to-start-your-frontier-transformation-3-strategies-to-start-with-people\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"AI resources","item":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/topic\/ai-resources\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"How to start your Frontier Transformation: 3 strategies to start with people"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/","name":"The Microsoft Cloud Blog","description":"Build the future of your business with AI","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#organization","name":"Microsoft Cloud Blog","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/microsoft_logo.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/microsoft_logo.webp","width":400,"height":400,"caption":"Microsoft Cloud Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9d524ecca2df2ec0f08cee92a55e0ccc","name":"kristingallagher","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2222274c8d03b762dcfdb44bb33bb782692c687883af3fcc47a99dfe609c8370?s=96&d=microsoft&r=gf02c647f1435633a1cc611ce18d0ca72","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2222274c8d03b762dcfdb44bb33bb782692c687883af3fcc47a99dfe609c8370?s=96&d=microsoft&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/2222274c8d03b762dcfdb44bb33bb782692c687883af3fcc47a99dfe609c8370?s=96&d=microsoft&r=g","caption":"kristingallagher"},"url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/author\/kristingallagher\/"}]}},"bloginabox_animated_featured_image":null,"bloginabox_display_generated_audio":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"The Microsoft Cloud Blog","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7705"}],"version-history":[{"count":22,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7737,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7705\/revisions\/7737"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7729"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_tag?post=7705"},{"taxonomy":"content-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-type?post=7705"},{"taxonomy":"industry","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/industry?post=7705"},{"taxonomy":"job-function","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/job-function?post=7705"},{"taxonomy":"job-role","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/job-role?post=7705"},{"taxonomy":"property","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/property?post=7705"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=7705"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.microsoft.com\/en-us\/microsoft-cloud\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=7705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}