Surface Book helps Silicon Valley startup innovate faster

A little more than year ago, Microsoft’s Panos Panay made a strong impression when he introduced the Surface Book, a new member of the family of Surface hybrid devices designed to be the ultimate laptop. As a high-end hybrid PC with a detachable keyboard and an innovative dynamic fulcrum hinge, the Surface Book is obviously a more solid option for laptops lovers compared to the Surface Pro 4, and it also seems to be an attractive proposition for MacBook users.

The Surface Book form factor may also start to convince young startup execs that need devices that are more versatile than traditional laptops. In a new blog post on the Windows Devices blog, Vatsal Shah, Co-founder and CEO of Litmus Automation, explained how the hybrid device allowed him to improve his workflow and find more opportunities to grow his three-year-old company.

“Better tools deliver better products, and Surface Book is the perfect combination of Hardware and Software,” said Vatsal, whose company is developing IoT solutions for the largest businesses in the world. Litmus Automation also uses Office 365 and Xamarin, with the CEO explaining that the cross-platform development tool has “cut down our time to go to market into half.”

As for the Surface Book, Shah explained that the ability to use it as a digital clipboard with the Surface Pen allows him to quickly sketch ideas, create diagrams and more. During brainstorming sessions, Shah can also wirelessly mirror the screen of his Surface Book to share his sketches in real time with other participants. It has completely replaced analog whiteboards while helping the company save thousands on printing costs.

“Digital transformation for us is empowering everybody to use the best components in the market. How we actually empower everyone is with agile tools, and Microsoft allows us to do that,” concluded the CEO. Microsoft may not be the most popular company in Silicon Valley right now, but the fact that young startups are leveraging Microsoft solutions to improve how they operate is definitely promising.

Further reading: 2-in-1s, Case Studies, productivity, Surface, Surface Book