The Company: Microsoft, Inc.
Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more (Microsoft.com, 2022). The company was founded in 1975 and incorporated in 1981, working with the U.S. Government and IBM to build the Windows Operating System. It’s responsible for a wide range of computer products that span from Business Solutions to Gaming, to Application Development tools for programmers to create systems that truly change the world. Its most recent innovation is the Cloud Computing System, which includes management tools for its large and vast suite of products for Office Productivity, mainly database solutions, word processing, presentations, collaboration tools, and many more solutions for both users and developers. Microsoft, Inc. has designed and made available tools for machine learning and artificial intelligence to empower developers to create intelligent solutions. Not much information can be gained from reviewing the Corporate Marketing site beyond short summaries of product capabilities which summarize this new emerging technology as advanced solutions available in the Azure Marketplace.
A short test drive of Microsoft Azure to learn and understand its Cloud Solutions shows the company is aligned closely with Agile and other Software Development Management protocols, as they offer training and new management consoles for consolidated and collaborative development activities for Microsoft Product/Project Management, also known by industry and project professionals as ‘resource management.’ Since the release of code libraries and open-source capabilities, such as GitHub, and others, Microsoft seems to have chosen an alternate route in harnessing common code and capability by creating small applications or code additions to add to a buyer or leasers’ suite of products. Their marketplace offers three options – free trials, get it now, and contact me, with some solutions showing a monetary figure for purchase.
Microsoft’s Learning System, Microsoft Learn, offers a wealth of well-organized training modules where users can learn free of charge. After earning 45 Badges in Microsoft Azure’s Cloud Platform, with some Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, very much is still unknown about how the two products work and how they measure up against the competition, mainly being Google, and IBM.
The Product/Technology: Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Machine learning is a computational technique that helps discover patterns of relationships from complex datasets. In many cases, machine learning is considered process management and dissection, by reviewing data, workflow, processes, and enables computer programming to automate many routine tasks, up to and including even some entire full or part time paid or voluntary positions.
Explainable machine learning reveals the relationships between inputs and outputs. The result is a “white box” model that not only produces predictions, but also explains them.
Each solution, or application in the Azure Marketplace in the Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning category has its own name and is not further categorized by industry, but are designed for specific processes, such as sales, manufacturing, healthcare, business, tax, and other non-categorized solutions. Its solutions are organized by Automated ML, Bot Service, Business/Robotic Process Automation, Cognitive Service, Data Labeling, Data Preparation, Knowledge Mining, ML Operations, and ML Service. One product called Nuance, Dragon Professional Anywhere Cloud is a Nuance Dragon Professional Anywhere is an enterprise, on‑premise speech recognition solution empowering professionals to create high‑quality documentation—all by voice. Also, valuable and immediately useful categorized in Cognitive Services, is the QnA Maker application. The QnAMaker is a Cognitive Service tool that uses your existing content to build and train a simple question and answer bot that responds to users in a natural, conversational way. QnA Maker ingests FAQ URLs, structured documents, and product manuals, extracts all possible question and answer pairs from the content. Each available service or application has separate costs and require subscription to the main Microsoft product, Azure, where pricing can be costly and varied depending upon add-ons and subscription levels, and use.
What seems to be a straightforward definition that can be inferred about Machine Learning is that the machine learns and uses lean standards automatically. This inference is incorrect – it must be programmed, and Microsoft provides the development tools, with some solutions already created to help organizations become more efficient and effective in their operations. Learning can take place, but it requires professionals or individuals with software programming skill, with the ability to learn new applications and create something effective with what is offered. Some solutions are already created and for sale, but many of the applications prompt the necessity for customization and use in other areas of business, such as predictive business process models designed for manufacturing, when it could be adapted for other quality control and quality assurance or development and production processes.
Innovation Spiral: The Valley of Death
The Valley of Death is used as a metaphor to describe a discrete segment of development between research and product development associated with a relative lack of resources and expertise in the front end of product innovation (Trott, 2021). The Figure 1 below shows the process of innovation, both the front end and back end from idea generation to development and testing where a new product is created. This concept and process does not only apply to new product development, but changes and improvements to existing ones.
Figure 1 – Innovation Process
Figure 2, shown below, describes the Valley of Death to be the space between opportunity discovery and product development (Trott, 2021). If the concepts and ideas can make it through the Valley of Death in the development phase, then the idea or concept has potential to make it to commercialization. If the new idea or concept goes through the process and strikes like a venomous snake in the Valley of Death, it might coil up and cause severe injury and increase in hospital visits at the end. Most already know that a rattlesnake can cause death and they are not available in all regions, but that same snake and method of ‘injuring from the end’ in a sneaky and slithery, skin shedding way to implement a vehicle to cut the tail end off or keep them at the zoo to develop and manage problems like a surprise visitor or unexpected life-threatening event that prevents one from moving forward.
| Figure 2 – The Valley of Death |
The snake’s product is poison, and the unsuspecting human is the owner of injury and the hospital profits, continuing in the pain management pharmaceutical business of needs-based medication with high profit margins.
The point is that one affects another’s profits, so it is important to understand all ‘touchpoints or profit points and reduction or growth areas with prioritization on safety, human life, and less entertainment and fear. The time to strike while the iron is hot or while the boss is ready to invest because he has some extra cash that is based on more than his mood, market, skill, your idea or location.
Figure 1, The Innovation Process, depicts concept and idea generation and the process it goes through, which is referred to as an Innovation Process for New Product Development and used for existing product improvement. Snakes don’t often team up for their attack or target specific victims with strategy meetings to ask if they can collaborate and innovate. They change colors and adapt to their environment, just like a new concept or idea, showing up in other areas to market their reptile repertoire, metaphorically comparative to the end area of competitive destruction. Resource management, allocation, and availability is presented as one of the only issues preventing a concept or idea from reaching development and commercialization stages or production and sales. Resources are not the only obstacle or measurement, so the Valley of Death, although it sounds nice to be able to calculate or estimate resource challenges, setbacks, lack, or allocation, as well as availability of talent to create a development and test plan, the most critical stage is the acceptance of the ideas and concepts where the decisions are made to begin development. Resource Management in those stages are critical areas because much time and effort can and is often wasted on bad ideas or lengthy research into things or products that already exist elsewhere or are of little value to add to a company’s product line, portfolio, or calendar for new innovations to add to their wish list of things they hope to create, design, develop, or can. Just like junk food, made of artificial sweeteners and machine ready products to quickly serve and eat – it’s quick, tasty, and satisfies, but causes physical and financial problems, not to mention patterned addictions and unawareness.
Conceptualization and Idea Generation can occur in many brainstorming sessions over short and lengthy periods, often resulting in time lost fantasizing without consideration of reality that the market is not ready, the resources are not available, and the talent does not exist. Things get worse when there are decision makers and investors with no sense of time, talent, market impact, or company impact in how ideas and phases are presented – such as those who think the Valley of Death explains in a visual or textual description of success, solely impacted by one word: resources. Management comparable to a snake – often unknown. Generalizations, such as the image in Figure 2: The Valley of Death, is of no actual specific or mathematical value and behind it resides no formulas or concept/idea requirements or measurements to show investment in innovation or its impact.
The process of Opportunity Discovery and the chance that something new might go through a Research and Development phase requires significant time, investment, proposal, presentation, and approvals using various known processes called Market Research, Competitive Analysis, Needs Assessments, Approvals to begin in more in-depth research and standard procedures or processes for managing the investment cycle all the way to production and market or world impact proofs of concept or product reports which are available in many forms. These are all different styles of presentations, depending upon the company. This non-standardization and high number of variations force the innovation process to be presented generally, without specific process steps, performance metrics, approval, and investment plans, as well as project management activities for the prototype.
To summarize, a small figure, a creative name for what is considered a project area of difficulty and a non-numerical two-sided graph to depict this is a small visual of a new concept that is to be rejected. It is not because the subject is as dry as the desert, or the reference to the need is presented as ‘slang’ or ‘industry talk’ as a hot item where there is a need as bad as a burning fire or bomb about to explode and all staff are placed on alert and resources allocated for fire prevention, explosion management, and post product clean up from disaster from poor planning or allowing another bad idea to waste millions of dollars in research and development. The application of this concept, as well as how it is evaluated in this paper is applicable to deploying artificially intelligent, machine learning capability and making it available in the marketplace for purchase with specific intent, direction, training, use, and customized or industry and process specific results that are obtained by the artificially intelligent machine learners. The machines and artificially intelligent should show proof beyond short summaries of capability or ‘application intent and purpose.’ Even the snakes deserve a place in cloud computing with zoo keepers, wildlife managers, and cam-p-ain management for safety, security, and to reduce the poison or prevent wildfires and rattletrap meetings, but prioritization of concepts, use, systems resource allocation, including data storage, research, and development of their skill, location tracking, and management or support for their species is last on the list, likely to fail before the Valley of Death. The Front-End Development, much like the rattlesnake, sounds good, but hurts in one or the other from the Back End – victims, locations, costs, profits, and likelihood unknown, but available with R&D.
Management of Key Activities
Few snakes have keys to the wild kingdom, where they can showcase their freedom and survival, or their preferred wild or marine-life cuisine. The management of their key activities are not what is to be reviewed, but management of new ideas and concepts of releasing a thousand or more snakes in specific areas to target populations or to feed their reptilian ways. They compete with many because they are an evolved species who begin as gardeners and grow into diamond back rattlesnakes disguised as professional ball players just looking for a strike. Cross-mutation is scientifically possible, as is the idea and concept generation of two areas or activities in one, over time with the correct calculation and management of both time, space, price, cost, and value. Cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and machine learning is not required for this, but is applicable to the reptile species because of its plastic and artificial availability and its connection to machines or metal, such as the band called White Snake: Here I Go, Again on My Own. A perfect song, for the Innovation and Product Management or New Concept, explaining how it goes alone. Snakes don’t attend search parties on YouTube or Google, nor do they sing, but they are live creatures as well, metaphorically useful in cut-throat end results of product and market innovation, up to and including time management – wasting time. There is time to kill the concept, the ideas, the logo-centric use of health, wealth, and separation of military and commercial or private hospitals and emblems. Many with slithery and sly intent, occurring and poisoning projects, plans, and producing harmful results – for the sake of obese pharmaceutical prioritization or lack of skill and laziness. I call her Stay-cee – you must stay to see snake, some accept excess fat, bad products, all with buyers with bad taste, waiting in line for their profits and wild dreams of big pharma-low quality, and bad technology with expectations and hopes of good planners and decision-makers to lead the way in evolution or what many call development.
Market Research and Development
The only thing worth marketing and development in these subject areas are Geographical Information Systems, access to Zoo Ticket Sales, Photograph Sharing Applications, and investigators to quiet the mouths of those who seek to wreak havoc or question meta-physics, technology, and motivation for investments and prioritization of people, things, fat reduction, entertainment spending or budgeting, choice of words, prioritization of funding, spending, and the marketing of bad products such as Desert references connected closely or masked and disguised as bad ideals, concepts, product choices, words, professions, and the movement of people. Not much research on the food market, or the Whole Foods Market, and time taken to compare products for the best price, or to create applications to make one of our survival necessities a top priority. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a theory by Abraham Maslow, which suggests that people are motivated by five basic categories of needs: physiological, safety, love, esteem, and self-actualization.
Social, Family, Education, and Healthcare Institutions – Needs and Wants beyond the basics and the management of “Things We Use, Require, Need, or Want Out of Life”
Maslow’s graphical depiction matches the design of the Food Pyramid, prepared, and disseminated by the U.S. Government or the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Human motivation is managed by more than just those presented by Maslow, in fact, his depiction can be summarized as Psychological and Physiological which extends to Sociological and Institutional Interaction and results from substantial or minimal interaction and the connection of each in the process of ‘idea or concept’ innovation. A simple shift in the way food is served, digested, marketed, and seen can change every area without a major investment, as does a change in forced learning, or the change of educational material marketed by government agencies.
Both triangles or pyramids are still applicable and are matters of preference and preparation standards. Artificial foods, plastic toy representation of foods, organs, in learning programs or children’s kitchens do not change our habits, our preferences, or our choices, but they can show how young boys rarely have access to a girl’s kitchen when she models or ‘copies’ her learned responsibilities in a pretend world where fine plastic cuisine is served or skipped because of her or someone else’s requirement of real food preparation learning, serving, and managing. Applications such as YouTube, The Food Network Magazines, and a trip to the Grocery Store would be excellent resources to get her started in real life, but because industry prefers to call it “Artificial Intelligence” or “Machine Learning” combines and schedules learning systems to understand machine food, as well as artificial sweeteners, and products with marketing that do not care if they destroy the futures of healthy new children or change the lives of the patterned offenders and buyers of bad media who suggest bio-fuels and carbon reduction is top priority for Government investment and spending. The buyer, spender, investor, and artificially intelligent consumer will continue to buy, and markets will continue to stock and prices will fluctuate, with new unhealthy products shipped daily, with minimal management of key activities from open to close, week by week, or month by month with visible results and goal setting standard plans and techniques for change. If this does not make sense, then the reader simply does not eat, or does not have experience with fats, sugars, marketing, and overconsumption or patterned habits and how technology and cognitive pattern recognition and other solutions can change this problem.
Attrition/Churn Rate
The attrition rate with a generalized approach to conceptual new product innovation or faulty references and misunderstanding using the “Valley of Death” is sure to cause dryness, drought, thirst, and mismanagement, with overspending, poor buying choices, and habits are motivated by more than the self, but also by socio-illogical domestic units, seeking to promote blended raw materials without a delivery mechanism or promotional communication ability. It is not likely they will churn butter and milk cows to learn the food chain, and its product improvements and change in the use of oils, fats, and animals, but because they are humans, machines, and families, they still face death if they don’t learn and at least attempt to gain in pattern recognition and digestive change.
Implementation Analysis: Short and Long-Term Recommendations
SmartWater does not create an intelligent sugar free human digester of dietary choice and/or a highly commercialized trend-setting follower of beverages high in sugar and foods high in fat, or even advertised desserts low in fat or calories. It does not create a healthy diet of or increase in psychological or physiological improvement, even though it is managed by a program with supportive and affordable technology, such as Calorie Counting by Weight Watchers. Technology exists and is available but not using the standard marketing, buying, and selling practices, nor does acceptance of the status quo and the expectation of continuance of artificial human abuse and consumption. Rates are available in diets such as Weight Whale Watchers, but true and genuine results are better celebrated and last longer when self-designed, away from old ways of thinking, influencers, feeders, consumers, paid spokespersons, dieticians, marketers, advertisers, and product specialists who have mastered the addictive substance of packaged marketing or Food Chain routines. A good idea or concept can be simplified or complicated, implemented immediately, planned for, or spontaneously with goal management with proof outside of the ‘scalability,’ records keeping, statistical compilations, and enjoyment of new and healthy ways of change. How to implement it is dependent upon what it is, who it is, where it is, and what is to be gained or lost, and by whom on what level.
The conclusion includes one question: Where is Microsoft, Inc. in the Food Management business, beyond being another large company who seeks to combine heavy sweeteners with new intelligent designs? We already know it offers search, word processing, financial spreadsheets, and even technology in devices, such as laptops, phones, and software, which enables access to these products and mechanisms that both help and hurt. What is it doing for the Food Chain, the everyday buyer, consumer, and households who lack pattern recognition? “Empowering others – Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more” (Microsoft, 2022).
Programmers, Developers, and Intelligent Creators – Who Are They?