Microsoft: How AI will transform business
AI is dominating developments at Microsoft. During Ignite, Satya Nadella and technology experts shared how artificial intelligence is transforming businesses across all industries.
"It's important that companies shift money from their IT operations budget to innovation, testing and development of AI services", says John Henrik Andersen, CTO at Cegal.
Microsoft Ignite is Microsoft's largest annual technology conference. The conference takes place in November. This year the conference was held in Chicago and gathered 14,000 participants in "the windy city", while almost 200,000 attended keynotes and lectures virtually.
Artificial intelligence (AI) was the key word for Ignite 2024 and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella opened the conference by saying that the speed of development of AI technology is now four times faster than "Moore's Law" (doubling of processing power every 24 months).Nadella believes that the advent of today's AI technology is a platform shift.
"With every platform shift, it's important to understand the underlying forces. One of them is the "law" of scaling. The computational power of artificial intelligence doubles every six months", Nadella said as he opened Microsoft Ignite.
If AI technology really does double every six months, it will be four times more powerful in one year - and 16 times more powerful in two years. Although Microsoft's CEO problematized the scaling laws, saying that these are not physical laws, but assumptions, it illustrates how fast the development is going.
Why does your business need to prioritize AI now?
"Although many people may feel that AI is not that intelligent, especially considering the context you're in, developments are moving so fast that you'll be left behind if you don't find the time and resources to try out AI technology", says John Henrik Andersen Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Cegal.
"At the same time, Ignite was a reminder that AI is still categorized as innovation and breakthroughs. Therefore, AI must be prioritized at the expense of the traditional IT operations that businesses already spend most of their IT budget on. It's more important than ever before to free up resources, capacity, personnel and money away from traditional operations - to innovation and modernization", Andersen continues.
Three AI platforms from Microsoft
On stage in Chicago, Microsoft CEO Nadella presented three platforms that are driving the AI transformation:1. Copilot:
Personalized AI assistant, designed to increase productivity and efficiency that is built into Microsoft 365 applications such as Word, Excel, Outlook, Teams. It uses advanced language models such as ChatGPT integrated with customer data via Microsoft Graph to help users with tasks such as:
- Summarizing meetings.
- Generating reports and text suggestions.
- Automating repetitive processes.
"We are building a world of AI agents based on Copilot, said Satya Nadella at Microsoft Ignite."
Read the article: Entering the Copilot era - a story of integration >
2. Copilot Devices:
Devices built specifically for Windows 365, Copilot and secure connectivity to cloud platforms and enterprise systems. Designed for hybrid work environments, where users can work flexibly from anywhere, the devices have powerful specifications to handle AI capabilities on-premises or in the cloud.
3. Copilot & AI stack:
The underlying technology infrastructure that enables the AI capabilities of Microsoft services. It includes:
- Azure AI: The cloud platform that runs the AI models, such as ChatGPT and OpenAI technology, integrated with Microsoft's systems.
- Microsoft Graph: The data ecosystem that aggregates user data from Microsoft 365 to provide context to AI capabilities.
- Microsoft Fabric: A common integrated data with links to all major data platforms such as Google Cloud Platform, Amazon Web Services, Snowflake and on-premise servers. Microsoft calls this common data platform OneLake.
Copilot and ChatGPT increase productivity
"Driving innovation and modernization is often about increasing productivity with end-user tools like Copilot and ChatGPT. But it's also important to use older solutions that can predict maintenance needs and make other predictions. These are solutions that have been around for a long time, but have not had the same impact as ChatGPT", says Andersen. He adds that it is extremely exciting to see the solutions that are created when several knowledgeable employees work together.
(Photo: John Henrik Andersen)
"At Cegal, we have several employees with PhDs in data science, geoscience and artificial intelligence. This domain knowledge combined with Cegal's understanding of the industry and technology puts us in a unique position when advising our customers in the future."
John Henrik Andersen, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at Cegal
Back to Chicago and Microsoft Ignite: "AI will drive business transformation," Satya Nadella emphasized from the stage.
AI for the energy industry
AI technology can also transform the energy sector, both in renewables and oil and gas. By integrating data from different sources and using AI to analyze real-time data, businesses can:- Increase productivity.
- Strengthen collaboration.
- Improve safety and security.
- Make better and faster decisions.
Cegal helps customers implement and customize these solutions for their specific needs. Whether it's digitizing operations, securing data flows or optimizing workflows, Microsoft presented powerful new tools to meet the challenges of a digitized energy sector. The combination of industry and technology understanding makes Cegal a preferred partner for implementing AI solutions that deliver tangible value.
"We already have several exciting AI projects underway with our customers. It's incredibly inspiring to see the results when knowledgeable employees work together to solve complex challenges", says Andersen.
