It was interesting to see the Back to the Future DeLorean in the lobby as you entered the Microsoft Future Decoded event in London on Monday, which had a top Keynote line-up including Jeremy Paxman, Sir Martin Sorrell, Dame Stella Rimmington, Sara Murray, Ronan Dunne and Sir Bob Geldof.
The presentations from the speakers were very interesting and diverse in both style and in content. Staying somewhat within the frame of looking towards the future many did remind us that to do so we need to review the past. Drawing on experiences of family life and working experiences as employee, entrepreneur and boss all the speakers spoke of creativity, education and of using technology as a tool rather than a crutch to enable you and your staff to better communicate.
Jeremy Paxman, television presenter, raised a few eyebrows with some of his content with a presentation discussing the future of the UK with references to family members fighting for what they believed in and how immigration has affected the makeup of this country and how we all need to adapt to move forward.
There were some impactful anecdotes from Dame Stella Rimmington, Former Director General with MI5, who shed light on the processes of MI5 recruitment and training, but the eye opener was how, like many corporates the service was, with a blame culture holding back the personal growth of employees.
Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, and Sara Murray, OBE, spoke more directly about their business experiences in growing a global organisation and maintaining good communication links and in how important an entrepreneur can be in using tools to disrupt established practices for the better.
With Ronan Dunne, CEO of Telefónica UK (O2), reminding us that the UK networks growth in 4G (he didn’t actually mention Vodafone but of course this refers to the Cornerstone project of joint venture between the networks) and how this will be the backbone enabling all the services and systems to aid productivity.
Musician turned political activist Sir Bob raised a chuckle referencing how he has worked for years in rock and roll only to turn up to speak to bunch of techie geeks and surprised many with an early announcement of Band Aid 30. He spoke eloquently of his experiences of education and how vital it is in removing barriers to the growth of young people today across the globe. Reminding the audience that those born not so long ago now see all the tech and communication tools as natural. His description of the internet was an interesting one; “The web is an encephalic membrane wrapped around the planet that we can tap into at any time... Education will remove barriers and fill minds with what is possible”.
This was the first time that Satya Nadella was to give a keynote speech in the UK since becoming Microsoft CEO and expectations were high with many remembering the Steve Ballmer keynotes of the past, but Satya’s style is much more laid back. Focusing on how productivity is key, he reaffirmed the new Microsoft ethos to empower this with services solutions and hardware and this was reflected in the many afternoon discussion groups with businesses talking of their direct experiences in using Microsoft services and solutions. He also talked passionately about the power of technology and how it has the ability to transform the future, as well as evolving communication and that this is where opportunity lies; “Technology exists to augment human potential. This should always be our starting point...”
There were an array of workshops and presentations throughout the afternoon from Microsoft, demonstrating the power of their devices in providing a work/life balance, which were very engaging.
All in all I feel that this shows how Microsoft are serious about being a long term provider of both business services and hardware, but the main message was of utilising these tools to create and move forward – rather ironic considering the DeLorean Time machine set to travel back to 1955 in the lobby.
