The document discusses how organizations can transform their operations and value chains by thinking like digital companies. It provides examples of how technologies like blockchain, IoT, bots, AI and open APIs can be used across supply chain, trade finance, know your customer (KYC) processes, product lifecycles, and open platforms to build digital ecosystems, improve efficiency and uncover new revenue streams. The document also profiles several companies that have worked with Microsoft to apply these technologies to problems in their industries.

1. Start thinking like
a digital company
Transforming the external value chain and back
office with Digital Ecosystem and Operations
Empowering business
for what’s next

2. Tableof
contents
03
New ways to break
digital ground
04
Supply chain
05
Trade finance
06
Know your
customer (KYC)
07
Digital DNA
08
Open API
09
Why Microsoft
Services?
10
What’s next?

3. START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
Newwaystobreak
digitalground
Our digital world is moving at an
accelerated rate.
Your organization must evolve faster than ever to stay relevant and win within
the new digital economy. Learn from ground-breaking business models to help
your organization start thinking like a digital company and creating digital
ecosystems to offer new services, reshape customer experiences, and enter
new markets.
A digital ecosystem is created when organizations use standardized digital platforms to interact with
customers, partners, and even competitors. Digital ecosystems are all about collaborating beyond
the organization’s usual circle of trust to transform the business: think about a retail organization
transforming its loyalty program by building a consortium with business partners. Whether your
organization is a conventional enterprise or in the public sector, you can leverage modern
technologies to build your own digital ecosystem to extend the reach of your existing products
and services or create new products and services that anticipate customers’ needs.
Technologies such as blockchain, IoT, bots, AI, and Open APIs will play an important role in building
the digital economy. Let’s take a closer look at how you can leverage these technologies across five
different business patterns:
1. Supply chain
2. Trade finance
3. Know your customer (KYC)
4. Digital DNA
5. Open API
This will help you build digital operations to conceive new products and business models that drive
net-new revenue and supercharge the efficiency of your processes.
“You’re not only building digital
business, but a more connected,
more efficient digital society.
“ Peter Sondergaard
Executive Vice-president, Gartner Research
03

4. START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
Supplychain
Supply chains face unprecedented complexity
in today’s connected market.
Multiple parties need to move goods across the globe in a secure and timely
manner, and consumers and suppliers need better insight into the source of
inputs for their products, especially with the increased importance of fair trade,
and threat of counterfeit products. For many organizations, labor-intensive
manual processes can create significant challenges, especially when multiple
parties are involved. For instance, the involvement of intermediary parties can
slow the transfer of goods considerably or even put shipments at risk of
counterfeit or fraud. Paper-based processes to create, validate, and audit
supply-chain data and documentation can result in costly errors when goods
are lost or unaccounted for. And revealing commercially sensitive data to third
parties can be daunting and put your organization at risk of a security breach
if the right permissions aren’t in place.
Leveraging digital technologies like Azure Blockchain and Azure Internet of
Things (IoT) can help you transform your supply chain. By enabling self-
executing contracts, automating repetitive processes such as billing and
shipping, and ensuring data security along the chain they can help you
accelerate shipment times while minimizing the chance of counterfeit and fraud.
For example, combining blockchain with IoT-enabled edge sensors helps ensure
that every party along the supply chain handles and transports products under
the right conditions and that participants can identify and remedy mistakes in
near-real time. Using this technology, you can avoid mistakes that result in delays
or loss of goods. You can also get insight into factory floor activities, ERP, logistics,
and consumer behavior that can help you uncover new business opportunities.
Customer spotlight: Nestlé
Nestlé wanted to reduce supply chain management costs associated with one of its flagship
confectionary products while also giving customers insight into the journey of the product from
farm to fork.
Nestlé and Microsoft designed a blockchain solution to give it real-time visibility into its supply chain,
which helped it to engage the tactical and strategic angles of its supply chain to reduce costs, ensure
quality, and increase revenues. Nestlé also enjoyed enhanced visibility into its confectionary export
process and improved its ability to address inefficiencies and resolve disputes involving both suppliers
and consumers.
Blockchain was designed to resist data changes
because information in blockchain can’t be altered–
without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and
the consensus of the network. It has the potential of
improving cybersecurity, and digital identity.
04

5. START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
Tradefinance
Mitigate trade risk through trusted
intermediaries, financial institutions that
provide assurance to sellers.
If your organization is involved in importing or exporting goods, then you are
likely involved in trade finance. Resolving disputes between parties can be time
consuming, and so can manual reconciliations, which can be difficult because
parties exchange multiple versions of documents that must be reviewed and
agreed upon, before the financial transaction can take place. Many import and
export organizations find themselves waiting long periods for shipments to
clear or for disputes to be settled.
With modernized, reliable, and secure trade finance operations based around
technologies like Azure Blockchain, Azure API Management, Azure Active
Directory and Azure Bot Service, importers, exporters, and financial institutions
can exchange data easier than ever, track assets in nearly real time, and resolve
disputes quickly, resulting in significant savings. Blockchain can also help
increase business agility and efficiency by shrinking time to payment from weeks
to days through automated settlements. And because these cloud-based
services leverage enterprise users’ digital identities, you get a near real-time
view of the transaction process with the ability to see key documents and
participants at each stage.
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
Customer spotlight: Bank of America Merrill Lynch
Microsoft and Bank of America Merrill Lynch (BAML) have been building and testing blockchain-
powered financial exchanges on Microsoft Azure – Microsoft serving as the technology provider
and test client, through Microsoft Treasury, and BAML providing the necessary trade matter subject
expertise. They want to develop applications that optimize trade finance processes.
Microsoft and BAML have been focusing on standby letters of credit – documents issued by a bank,
providing payment assurance on behalf of a client should the counterparty not perform as intended.
Originally, this was a manual process that took a long time and had a high error rate, due to the
number of steps and parties involved. They wanted to understand how blockchain can help reduce
cycle times and provide a better view of risk.
“Blockchain can transform our business.
Specific to trade, there is significant potential
because it is inherently a document heavy
business. It relies on bilateral exchanges of
documents that need to be reviewed, agreed
upon and then complied with to satisfy the
financial side of the transaction. It’s an exciting
time as we learn how to take advantage
of technology to not only accelerate
transactions, but reduce risk and cost, and
improve transparency for all parties.
“ Chris Bozek
Global Trade and Supply, BAML
05

6. START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
Knowyourcustomer
(KYC)
Verifying customer identities across
organizations and their business
partners can be a complex process.
Often, customers are required to fill out multiple forms, many of them with
duplicate information, which must be processed, reviewed, and filed. So much
paperwork can result in multiple files for one customer, which can further
complicate verifying identity and authenticating documents. Having multiple
files can also mean that the customer’s data privacy is at greater risk of falling
into the hands of the wrong party.
You can use Azure Blockchain to create a single digital identity for customers
across the companies participating in the program, which helps you to improve
your KYC process by eliminating multiple versions of customer files and enabling
you to facilitate near real-time data exchange with business partners for faster
and effective validation. This means customers only have to submit information
once, while your organization can reduce time and operational costs to validate
new customers. You can also improve security around customer information
while increasing transparency, enabling customers to control who has access to
their information and to track where they are in the authorization process.
Customer spotlight: Singapore Airlines
Singapore Airlines wanted to improve customer experience with its KrisFlyer frequent-flyer loyalty
program by enabling customers to more easily redeem their frequent-flyer reward points. In a first-of-
its-kind blockchain initiative, Singapore Air partnered with Microsoft to create a rewards program that
linked customers’ digital wallets to their KrisFlyer rewards program using blockchain, so customers
can use their miles for point-of-sale transactions throughout an expanded retail partner network.
This approach has provided the airline with a better way to manage its ever-expanding partner
network while also helping encourage customer participation in the mileage program and
improve customer loyalty.
“This groundbreaking development in which
we will be using blockchain technology to
‘digitalise’ KrisFlyer miles is a demonstration of
the investment we are making to significantly
enhance the digital side of our business for
the benefit of our customers.
“ Goh Choon Phong
Chief Executive Officer, Singapore Airlines
06

7. START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
DigitalDNA
Getting insights to valuable information along
the full span of the value chain.
Whether your organization manufactures automobiles, consumer products, or
pharmaceuticals, gaining insights from design and engineering to manufacturing,
operation, maintenance, and disposal—can be very difficult. In addition, tracking
original parts that make up larger components can also be a complex process.
Different groups manage different stages of the lifecycle and all of them manage
parts, register equipment, and document processes in siloes. Determining where in
the product lifecycle a problem has occurred or where you could best optimize
operations may not only help contain costs but also help you find and fix issues
that could affect your brand.
In the future, each part will have a unique digital identity tracked through a
blockchain, establishing a clear chain of custody and responsibility transfer
through the part’s lifecycle. Connecting parts and systems through Azure
Blockchain can help you to standardize and automate operations to ensure fewer
errors and reduce downtime through the manufacturing process. Also, with
Microsoft Bot Framework you can reduce the time and associated cost of checking
the trusted status by chatting with a bot that takes the information directly from
the blockchain. Azure IoT can help you track parts for manufacturing or faulty
equipment on your manufacturing and maintenance lines as well, helping to
keep standards high and lower costs. You can also use a combination of these
Azure technologies to track products after they’ve reached customers, enabling
tracking of maintenance issues and customer satisfaction and ensuring problems
are resolved quickly.
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
Customer spotlight: 3M
3M turned to blockchain on Microsoft Azure to safeguard against tampering in its own supply chain.
It tracks specially labeled packages through the supply chain using multilayer QR codes to expose
tampering. Every time a product changes hands, the receiving party scans and activates the label. This
helps improve visibility and security at each transfer to ensure products are authentic and tamper-free.
“3M combined tamper-evident prototype
labels with blockchain on Azure to create
a label-as-a-service supply chain solution
concept that can help identify counterfeits,
protect business performance, and enhance
consumer safety.
“ Oscar Naim, PhD
Lead Software Architecture Specialist, 3M
07

8. START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
OpenAPI
Firms adopting APIs see increases in sales, net
income, market capitalization, and intangible
assets.¹
Quickly evolving customer expectations, ever-changing regulations, and the
continuous need to control costs can make the premise of innovating new
products and services based on modern technologies seem out of the question.
In addition, trying to harness the data you’ve collected to create new revenue
streams or improve customer experience may also seem like an impossible task.
You can leverage Azure Open API to drive innovation and quickly deliver a
greater range of apps and services. For example, banks trying to compete with
FinTechs need to think beyond their typical boundaries and reconsider what their
role will be in an open, shared economy. By creating an open banking platform,
they can create more flexible services to meet different demographic markets
like Baby Boomers or Millennials or enable greater financial transparency and
control for account holders. For example, by aggregating information from
service providers, the bank could offer customers a full car purchase package
including price, options, financing, insurance, etc. to provide a better customer
experience and improve margins.
Customer spotlight: Clear.Bank
®
The UK’s first new clearing bank in more than 250 years, Clear.Bank aims to increase competition in
the sector and speed up transactions. Clearing banks enable financial institutions to settle payments
wherever they start and end, charging a fee to process payments and move money between
individuals and organizations. Clear.Bank was built specifically to create competition and aims
to change the market dynamics radically through new technology processes, potentially saving
customers billions in settlement costs.
To rise above the thousands of fintech startups and challengers offering new choices, Clear.Bank
believed it needed to escape the constraints of legacy operational structures. Using Microsoft Azure,
it sought to transform the clearing bank experience by processing payments faster, more efficiently,
and more cost-effectively than ever before.
As a digitally focused business, Clear.Bank is using the Microsoft Azure cloud service to rewrite the
rules on how financial services can be delivered and create a robust banking infrastructure that
can overcome substantial barriers to entry in a fraction of the usual time and at minimal cost.
1 Source: Boston University, “The Impact of APIs in Firm Performance”, 2016
08

9. WhyMicrosoftServices?
With the demand for digital economy projects certain to rise,
organizations need trusted technology partners to help them
to deliver successful solutions. At Microsoft Services, we have
partnered with some great companies from around the globe
as they have embarked on their own digital transformation
journeys. We’ve helped them create new revenue streams
through new products, services, and business models by
building solutions enabled with disruptive and emerging
technologies such as Blockchain, IoT, and Open APIs, that are
infused with AI to accelerate the digital transformation.
We’re often asked, “Where should we start?” Our approach is
to start with a one-day ideation workshop to define the use
cases and patterns that apply to your specific situation and
then work with you to develop a clear roadmap and quick
wins to garner confidence—in us and in your growing skill in
digital ecosystems and operations. Our collaboration can
help you improve how you serve customers and business
partners through data and technology platforms as you
continue your digital transformation journey.

10. START THINKING LIKE A DIGITAL COMPANY
EMPOWERING BUSINESS FOR WHAT’S NEXT
What’snext?
No matter where you are on your digital transformation
journey, Microsoft Services can help.
Empower employees
Empower a high-quality, committed
digital workforce to work as a team
anywhere, on any device, with
seamless data access—helping you
innovate, meet compliance
requirements, and deliver
exceptional customer experiences.
Engage customers
Reimagine the customer experience for a
digital world and deliver more value
through insights and relevant offers by
engaging customers in natural, highly
personal, and innovative ways throughout
the customer journey—driving increased
relevance, loyalty, and profitability.
Optimize operations
Gain breakthrough insights into risk
and operational models with
advanced analytics solutions and act
on real-time intelligence to optimize
risk management and meet
regulatory requirements.
Transform products
Drive agility with open, connected systems
and automated digital processes to
support new product development and
optimize distribution channel strategies,
while meeting the security, privacy, and
transparency expectations of customers,
regulators, and shareholders.
Credits
Many subject-matter experts from various groups at Microsoft contributed to
the conceptualization and articulation of the story contained in this document.
Michael Molendijk
Director, Business Program
Manager, Microsoft Services
Pablo Junco
Sr. Business Program
Manager for Modern
Workplace, Microsoft
Services
Amy McCullough
Director, Solution Area
Marketing, Microsoft
Services
Contributors
Aly Shivji
Director, Business Programs,
Microsoft Services
Keith Rouser
Director, Solution Spec
John Johanneson
Director, Solution Spec
Paul Brunelle
Director, Sub PMM
Petra Cicek
Sub PMM
Serge Lenbet
Sr. Sub PMM
10

11. Microsoft Services empowers organizations
to accelerate the value realized from their
digital experiences.
Imagine.
Realize.
Experience.
microsoft.com/services
© 2018 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.