Many companies struggle to reap the benefits of investments in digital transformation, while others see enormous gains. What do successful companies do differently? This article describes the five stages of digital transformation, from the traditional stage, where digital and technology are the province of the IT department, through to the platform stage, where a comprehensive software foundation enables the rapid deployment of AI-based applications. The ideal is the native stage, whose hallmarks are an operating architecture designed to deploy AI at scale across a huge, distributed spectrum of applications; a core of experts; broadly accessible, easy-to-use tools; and investment in training and capability-building among large groups of businesspeople. Over the past decade, Novartis has invested heavily in digital transformation.

This article was contributed by Oliver Schabenberger, chief innovation officer at Singlestore. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella coined the term tech intensity, a combination of technology adoption and technology creation. Companies can accelerate their growth by first adopting best-in-class technology and then building their own unique digital capabilities. Over the past decades, technology innovation has followed a familiar pattern towards digital transformation in almost every industry or application area. Connecting has evolved from building roads and railroad tracks to wiring between computers to software-defined networking.

As the world anticipates a new US Congress and a new administration, we need a strategy to reimagine and rebuild communities, industries, companies, and nations. As we battle cascading disruptions from a global pandemic, economic strain, climate-related crises, and unrest over racial injustice, technology should be part of a solution--but technology alone is not enough. Satya Nadella is the CEO of Microsoft. Marco Iansiti is a professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School and chairman of Keystone.AI. To more evenly spread economic opportunity and resilience, we must democratize "tech intensity," a combination of tech and people skills--including among citizen developers.

There's no denying the growing skills gap that currently looms over our workforce. The good news is that awareness is increasing. Business leaders and institutions recognize the fundamental need to invest in skills training programs for their people to stay competitive in today's digital economy. Unfortunately, while the skills gap challenge is well established, few are taking action, and the solutions are not moving quickly enough. In 2020, we can expect 200,000 tech jobs to go unfilled in Canada, according ICTC.

It was a year ago when we at Microsoft claimed that 2018 would be the year of artificial intelligence (AI). Indeed, 2018 was a remarkable year for AI where we witnessed this game-changing technology dominating the agendas of leading organizations and even nations. How is AI shaping up in 2019? How will the organizations that have deployed AI reap its benefits? To help answer these questions, we partnered with leading research analyst firm IDC to conduct a study involving 109 business leaders and 100 workers in the Philippines.

As I look out at 2019, there's certainly plenty to be optimistic about – revolutionary new technologies are fueling the 4th Industrial Revolution and positively impacting how we work, live, connect and play. It's exciting to see technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), Mixed Reality (MR) and the Internet of Things (IoT) becoming key drivers for digital transformation and making a positive and lasting impact on our society and environment. In Australia, for example, the Department of Primary Industry and Resources for the Northern Territory Government is using AI and IoT to identify and analyze hundreds of precious fish species in one of Australia's largest harbors. This massive undertaking will ensure fisheries' resources are sustainably-managed, protected and developed for future generations. Although there is good reason to be generally optimistic about economic and societal prospects for 2019, some business leaders have also confided in me that they see significant challenges ahead.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella issued a challenge and a warning to CIOs and other IT managers attending the company's Ignite 2018 event: Gear up for "tech intensity," and pick your digital technology platform partners wisely. Microsoft Ignite 2018 drew some 30,000 attendees in Orlando, Fla. It generated more than 80 product announcements from the software giant and still more from partners in its ecosystem. Thematically, the annual event for enterprise customers, IT professionals and developers focused on the "intelligence cloud and intelligent edge" -- the catchphrase Microsoft uses to describe the ongoing technology shift toward ubiquitous, embedded computing infused with AI. "We need tech intensity" to deal with this emerging IT environment, Nadella noted during his keynote address at Microsoft Ignite 2018. Nadella said he views tech intensity as having two facets: First, organizations need to make sure they are adopting "the latest and greatest technology."