In a letter to all employees two years ago, Satya Nadella, who had just been appointed CEO, said: “Our strategy is to build best-in-class platforms and productivity services for a mobile-first, cloud-first world. Our platforms will harmonize the interests of end users, developers and IT better than any competing ecosystem or platform.”
Today, Microsoft is reporting impressive growth for its SaaS solutions. Revenue from its cloud platform, Azure, grew triple digits, with usage of key computing and database workloads more than doubling year-over-year. And embracing Apple and Android is paying off, making its software easily available on all operating systems. (In fact, that’s often where you’ll find the best Microsoft apps.) Office 365’s enterprise user base is also growing quickly. End of last year, Techradar.com reported it’s already twice as popular as Google’s G Suite in organizations across Europe. It’s a bold move for a company once considered an evil monopolist who perceived open-source as an existential threat to their business. As one court order stated: they put up ‘technical barriers’, making it hard for the competition to work on the Windows operating system. Remember the ‘browser wars’?
I’m happy to see Microsoft’s progress and its approach to open source. At Codit, we welcome the transition from a closed Microsoft-only stack to an open Azure platform. It’s the perfect foundation for co-creation with our customers. For instance on projects related to the Internet of Things.
We have many customers exploring IoT. Usually they have lots of ideas, devices and sensors. But they have no resources, expertise nor experience to connect these to the cloud and putting their data to work. Cue in the Nebulus™ IoT Gateway. You can use it to link any sensor or device in a couple of minutes to the Microsoft Azure cloud, allowing you to connect, capture and control data in real-time.
I’m a big fan of co-creation. Most customers have a clear view on what they want. But they need help translating it into specific technology features and functions. That’s where we come in, helping you turn big ideas into new tangible services.
What’s your big idea? We’re listening.
– Stijn Degrieck, CEO Codit
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