Microsoft

Microsoft, number 21 on the Fortune Global 500 list, is obviously a giant in any industry related to automation. The Redmond (Washington) based tech leader employs over 118.000 people of which more than half have university degrees.

Microsoft, under Satya Nadella, is transforming itself from a software and hardware vendor, to a leading cloud company, having only Amazon Web Services above and all others under. With its own datacenters, Microsoft convinces customers to rent the software, without cannibalising the traditional sales of on premise software for Office, Exchange and other applications. What started as a provider of operating systems for Atari computers, is today leading the world of not only operating systems, but productivity software, groupware applications, enterprise resource software and hardware, ranging from peripherals to laptops, and from game computers to cell phones.

Since the acquisition of Skype, Microsoft entered a world of collaboration as well and dominates it. The addition of Microsoft Surface Hub to the portfolio is the logical end result of Sharepoint, Office 365, Skype for Business, Windows 10 and many smart apps into an all-in-one collaboration solution, portrayed as a touch display. Surface Hub could replace projectors, video conferencing systems, white boards, and many other meeting room tools by one intuitive solution.