- Welcome to "The Shiproom."
You're on the air.
- Oh my god.
Don't put that in there.
- So, the word analyst first appeared
in the English dictionary
in the year of 1656.
And so for the next 16 to 56 minutes,
I'm gonna be talking
with Nick McQuire here,
one of my favorite
analysts from CCS Insight.
- Brad, thank you for having me.
I'm really looking forward to it.
I love the sofa. -
You actually go out and survey end users.
You know, there's a lot
of research in the market
that maybe talks about,
"Well, here's what the
"IT professionals are seeing."
What are the key things that you're seeing
that end users are saying?
- The other piece that's
really become clear
over the last 12 months is around trust.
And one of the things that we've noticed,
quite substantially, is
that, actually, trust
in some of the big technology
companies is increasing.
Obviously, there are,
there are ways where that trust
is actually being undermined.
We know a lot about what's happened
in the last 12 months--
- Yup.
- ... with some of the
scandals that have occurred.
We tend to think about that in the context
of IT and the business.
But actually, employees are
highly aware of that, as well.
- Oh yeah.
- So, we've seen
the trust levels actually
change quite a lot
around certain brands.
Part of what we see is actually,
the companies that have, arguably,
the most touchpoints with the employee.
So, whether it is a collection of apps,
whether it is hardware, whether
it is services, as well,
tend to be the ones where there
is a high degree of trust.
That's one aspect.
But there's also an
important aspect is, really,
I think about those companies
that have actually made
security and trust a core
part of their narrative
to the industry.
And that is actually now translating down
in the employee level, as well.
That's really where, why we see trust
is actually starting to become,
it's becoming a battleground
in the industry.
- Ah, interesting.
- It's becoming as important,
in our opinion, historically,
as other areas of competition,
like developer ecosystems
or product innovation.
- We're getting a call on the Teams Phone.
- All right.
- Let me check who it is.
All right, you're on the
air with Nick McQuire.
- What is up, my dogs?
- Hey, who's this?
- I'm an AI A-I,
an artificially intelligent
artificial intelligence.
Am I speaking with Brak Andreson, BTW?
- Well, it's Brad.
But I've heard about these before.
It's kinda this concept
of artificial intelligence
can also be a way of saying really dumb.
- Exactamundo, my dude.
You got the basic protoplasms of it.
- So, you have a question for Nick?
- Right now, which industries are
using AI the mostest,
and how is it getting used?
- Nick?
- Ah, well, we see it across
many, many industries.
It depends on the use case.
If we look at, kind of, those use cases
that kind of address a lot
of company requirements,
things in cybersecurity for example,
areas in IT automation.
- Yup.
- I think some of the
leading areas where we see
a lot of interests
are incoming in the financial
industry, for example.
Quite a lot of investment
in cybersecurity,
artificial intelligence,
fraud detection, and so forth.
I would say the banks are
up there into that space.
Regulated industries
are still coming along.
But I still feel that that's
where we see a lot of action.
And then, of course,
the other big use cases
around the customer experience industry
that's heavily focused on the consumer.
Retail, for example.
We see a lot of action
in those arenas, as well.
So, it's a real mix,
depending on the use case.
- Man, we're using
AI everywhere, you know.
We're using AI in how we help
guide organizations, how
to upgrade from one version
of Windows to the next, how to upgrade
from Office to the next.
We put AI in how we
actually give ideas to help organizations
and, specifically, users
create better content,
create better slides.
You know, really,
AI is everywhere
in what we're doin' across.
It's just not in the Cloud.
It actually is in the
application that the end user
are actually using.
AI is just a part of
everything we do now.
- The world is really polarized, right?
It's either the greatest
thing since sliced bread,
or it's an over-hyped buzzword.
But of course, what gets
missed and overlooked is
a lot of the AI
that's just getting infused--
- Exactly.
- ... into tools and products, right?
- Cool, cool, right.
I was listening to all that.
So, what are practical,
actual ways an IT team
can start using AI
like myself, right nowsers.
- You know, the padlock
of the organization--
- Yeah.
- ... has shifted, hasn't it?
That's right.
- It's shifted around the user
and the identity of the user.
And that is a very tangible, kind of, way
in which we've seen that shift occur.
- And that's a very practical application.
It's very real for every
organization in the world
because every organization
wants to talk to me about
how do I prevent phishing attacks.
Well, you can't.
They're gonna happen.
And so, you need to have capabilities
to detect when something
is off to take action.
And you have to take that
assumed breach posture.
And it's funny, it's not necessarily about
who has the most data.
It is who has the right data.
- Right.
- And so, AI
operating on, you know, the right data
is where all these
interesting things happen.
Did that answer your questions?
- He's hung up now?
- Yeah, he hung up on us!
That's pretty rude--
- No, I'm still here.
I accidentally uninstalled my camera.
Sorry, my dudes.
Check ya laters.
- I think, you know, one
of the most amazing things
that's happening right now is, I think,
everybody is understanding that experience
you give to your users really is one of
the most significant drivers of culture.
And organizations are
recognizing that the culture
is key, not only to empowering employees
but to attracting and retaining employees.
- Absolutely.
And it's quite interesting.
Because one of the aspects that we see
for companies that are
quite mature around this
workplace transformation
area is that they now
are starting to measure some of these
impact areas.
- That's right.
What's the NSAT?
- Exactly right.
And I think employee experience is an area
where we're starting to see
companies take seriously
and is trying to look at ways in which
they can actually measure that.
Some companies take it even so seriously
that actually they make that a KPI
in IT, as well.
- Yeah, oh yeah.
Yeah, and it's actually one of the things
that we've been looking at as, you know,
we've been helping organizations move
to that modern desktop and
that kind of modern workplace.
What is NPS before and after?
You know, if you don't see,
like, a 10 or 15 point increase,
I'd say you haven't really
given the modern workplace.
So, Nick, it's been a lot
of fun having you here.
Thank you for stopping by.
- Thanks for having me.
It's been really good.
- Right, so, tell people
where they can find you.
- Follow me on Twitter @nickmcquire,
M-C-Q-U-I-R-E.
or look me up on LinkedIn.
I'd love to connect
and have a conversation
around these topics.
So, thank you very much.
- Thanks, everyone, for watching.
I'm Brad Anderson.
This is "The Shiproom."
Tell me if you think AI
will be able to do that.
- Okay.
- Finding a use for kale.
- Definitely yes.
Can't stand kale.
- Negotiate peace between
the United States and Canada.
- No.
Never.
Never.
- Hey everyone.
Now, that you've watched this
episode of "The Shiproom,"
I really recommend you go
to Microsoft365.com/shift
and learn how to get started deploying
Windows 10 and Office 365.
