On launch day, Apple’s Senior Vice President for Worldwide Marketing, Phil Schiller, teased the audience as he set up the next demo at the iPad Pro launch. “We’ve been lucky to have some developers come in to work with us on professional productivity. Who knows productivity more than Microsoft?”

Nervous laughter filled the room.

“Yeah, these guys know productivity.”

In today’s era of digital transformation, every organization and every industry are potential partners. Consider the taxi and entertainment industries. Ninety percent of Uber riders wait less than ten minutes for a driver, compared with 37 percent of taxi riders. Netflix costs its viewers $0.21 per hour of entertainment compared with $1.61 per hour with the old Blockbuster video-rental model. These are some of the higher visibility examples of digital transformation, but it’s happening in every industry. We estimate the value of these transformations over the coming decade to be about $2 trillion.

Our emphasis on strategic partnerships isn’t really new. It’s actually another example of how we have been rediscovering the soul of Microsoft. When I look at our founders, Paul Allen clearly saw the power of new computers and Bill Gates saw the power of software. Together they were able to create magic and, more importantly, democratize computing. I sometimes wonder: If Bill and Paul had not succeeded with Microsoft, what would the world look like? Would we have independent hardware manufacturers, independent software vendors, system integrators, and others? Our original business model was built on an ecosystem of partners—independent software developers like Adobe and Autodesk, video game makers like EA Sports, hardware manufacturers like Dell, HP, and Lenovo, and retailers like Best Buy. I don’t think Google would have existed but for the PC browser. Microsoft enabled Google to build a toolbar for our Internet Explorer, making Google services more visible and accessible. As a result of these and other partnerships, Microsoft and the PC helped nurture a host of billion-dollar companies—and Microsoft attracted millions of additional customers in the process.

These experiences have taught us a lot and refreshed our partnering spirit. Microsoft already has the largest ecosystem of partners in the world. Hundreds of thousands of companies worldwide build and sell solutions that support our products and services. In addition, millions of customers in every sector have built their businesses and organizations using Microsoft technologies. My ultimate goal is to be the biggest platform provider underneath all of this entrepreneurial energy, with an unrelenting focus on creating economic opportunity for others.