Microsoft Philippines has strengthened its presence with the launch of new industry-specific cloud offerings over the last 6 months, making it well prepared for the full reopening and recovery of the domestic economy.
According to John Patrick “JP” Vicente, Microsoft Philippines Enterprise commercial lead, the have launched cloud offerings specifically designed for financial services, manufacturing, healthcare, nonprofit, and retail.
Vicente said the Microsoft industry clouds were created to provide a launchpad for further innovations, by bringing together common data models, cross-cloud connectors, workflows, APIs, and industry-specific components and standards, with the breadth of Microsoft’s cloud services, including Microsoft 365 and Teams, Azure, Microsoft Power Platform, Dynamics 365 and security solutions.
“Through these industry clouds, we aim to empower everyone to deliver value faster, adapt quickly to changing conditions, build for the future and do all of this with security at the core,” Vicente said.
Since remote and hybrid work will continue to be the normal mode of operations, Vicente said the focus on enhancing and supporting those scenarios for its customers will be increased.
Aside from those already in the market, Vicente said they will rollout this year the next generation of Windows 11 operating system.
Its Surface for Business lineup of devices was officially introduced to the Philippine market earlier this year and is available for customers.
As shift to digitalization accelerated during the pandemic, Vicente said that the growth in the Philippines in terms of usage of its solutions has been driven by government, healthcare, banking,
telecomm and manufacturing.
“We’ve seen, consistent, accelerated growth specifically for Cloud services, modern work and remote access, and security solutions,” said Vicente, whose main responsibility is to enable customers’ innovation to create competitive advantages for their organizations.
Banking, retail and manufacturing are some of the key industries the technology company has been focusing on as part of a broader hyper-focused industry approach.
With the pandemic, Vicente cited of the dramatic but expected increase in demand for its solutions and services.
Pre-lockdown in mid-March 2020, Microsoft Teams had 44 million daily active users globally, today there are over 145 million. Its capacity was challenged but the company has responded and “We are now poised to meet the demand for our solutions and enable people and organizations to respond, recover and reimagine.”
Right at the onset of the pandemic, Vicente said, “We, as an organization resolved to be the digital first responders for the Philippines. We’ve enabled public and private sector first responders and frontliners with digital tools and infrastructure to support their efforts throughout the country.”
Vicente said how they have worked with customers and partners to enable their organizations to adapt, engage, and remain productive in the new digital workplace while providing high level security for their data and information.
They enabled organizations at the frontline to innovate and transform their operations and business models such as the Supreme Court’s implementation of Microsoft Teams to conduct virtual hearings.
Microsoft also helped in the development of the RapidPass app with DevCon PH, the Department of Information Communications and Technology and the Department of Science and Technology.
Microsoft also partnered with the Department of Education, schools and private companies to enable remote learning for millions of students nationwide. 18M free Office 365 accounts for students all over the Philippines were distributed to over 47,000 schools.
The company also helped in the digital skilling programs and technology adoption impacting over 500,000 teachers and 9 million students.
He noted that the digital transformation that was projected to happen over the next ten years is happening today. COVID19 has exposed many vulnerabilities but has also accelerated the creation of untapped business opportunities and models.
“At Microsoft, we know full well the potential of technology to address gaps and challenges of organizations, communities and individuals, but while it is a powerful platform to drive transformation, it must be supported by key motions to achieve the right outcomes,” he said.
Vicente added that Microsoft will continue to enable innovation—especially where it matters—accelerate cloud technology adoption and enhance the digital skills and employability to its workforces today and tomorrow.
“As we have for the past 26 years, we’re committed to joining hands with organizations, communities and individuals across public and private sectors to empower positive outcomes today and for the future,” he added.