{"id":55743,"date":"2016-12-11T00:44:41","date_gmt":"2016-12-11T00:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ppmfunds.wpengine.com\/?p=55743"},"modified":"2017-07-19T01:22:15","modified_gmt":"2017-07-19T01:22:15","slug":"how-to-create-a-digital-dividend-microsoft-boss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ppmfunds.com\/how-to-create-a-digital-dividend-microsoft-boss\/","title":{"rendered":"How to create a digital \u2018dividend\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Organisations need to set themselves up to embrace all the technological changes happening around the world, to embrace and adapt with the disruptions. The financial services industry is not immune from the trend.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Pip Marlow, the managing director of Microsoft Australia, gave an inspirational talk to 30 financial services professionals at the latest Private Portfolio Managers
\n(PPM) \u2018Leaders Lunch\u2019 in Sydney December 7. The message for organisations was clear: adapt or fail.<\/p>\n

Marlow, a New Zealand-born Australian who has been with Microsoft for 21 years \u2013 more than half of the 40-year old company\u2019s life \u2013 and has worked with its three chief executives, says that what drives and motivates her is not so much the latest success with \u2018Windows\u2019 or any other new platform, but rather the personal impact the company has on the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor instance, a couple of weeks ago I had my CEO in town [Sydney] and we met an amazing teacher who had used our technology in her treatment of kids with autism,\u201d she said. \u201cI love knowing that there are hospitals which use our technology in the treatment of their patients.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hugh McNally, the CEO of PPM, which is a Microsoft shareholder, said that Marlow was in a particular point of advantage to comment on managing change, given the many changes in Microsoft which had been successful over several decades.<\/p>\n

She said, however, that when she looked back at the (recently strong) share price of Microsoft \u201cit hasn\u2019t always been great\u201d. She refers to the 2000s as the \u201cdark decade\u201d. But in the past three-or-so years the many media headlines written about Microsoft have been increasingly positive. The company has regained its mantle as an innovator.<\/p>\n

Marlow spent eight years with Microsoft in Seattle before returning to Australia, becoming the managing director in 2011. She was asked to join the board of the Australian Rugby Union early this year and accepted. Kiwi-born women know their rugby too.<\/p>\n

On change and how organisations should cope, Marlow said we were living in an era which they called, at this year\u2019s Davos conference for international leaders \u201cthe fourth industrial revolution\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is the true intersection of the physical with the digital,\u201d she said. There were two things fueling this:<\/p>\n