Globe Telecom Inc., through its cloud company Cascadeo, has collaborated with Amazon Web Services (AWS) to digitally transform Philippine businesses via cloud technology.

The collaboration will also build the next generation of cloud professionals in the country, according to Ernest Cu, Globe President and CEO.

This is "a very big milestone for Filipino corporations as they continue on their journey towards transforming their legacy infrastructure into the Cloud", he stressed.

Unfortunately, many companies have not taken advantage of the Cloud’s numerous benefits, Cu maintained.

The Cloud allows vast amounts of programs and data to be stored and accessed via the internet instead of physical servers.

AWS was instrumental in Globe’s digital journey almost a decade ago.

The telco used a "cloud-first" strategy to drive down its costs - vital for a company which annually invests billions in capital expenditure (capex) - P92.8 billion in 2021 and P89 billion this year.

Now, Globe offers the same experience to corporate clients so they can also increase their operational efficiency, reduce costs and improve agility.

"After (digitally) transforming its organization, Globe is giving the broader Filipino business community an opportunity to learn from their experience,” observed AWS ASEAN Managing Director Conor McNamara.

“It's really exciting. We've done a lot together to get to this point that we're mutually committed to doing even more together,” he added.

Globe’s acquisition of Cascadeo in November 2020 helped the company improve its cloud-based services.

Cascadeo is one of the global leaders in cloud consulting, with particular expertise on AWS.

Now, Cascadeo is optimistic about the collaboration because Globe was its first customer in Asia before both parties decided on the acquisition.

“For most businesses, digital is the future," said Cascadeo Founder and President Jared Reimer.

"For companies getting started or scaling up their first big production applications, a lot of value comes from working with people who have done this before. That includes experts at AWS, Cascadeo, and Globe," he elaborated.

"Together we can help businesses adopt Cloud faster, less expensive, and correctly on the first try and save a lot of that reinvention."

Building the Philippine workforce is another component of the collaboration.

The parties are "investing significantly in bringing up the next generation of cloud talent".

While demand is multiplying, there is a lack of cloud engineering talent to deliver on the opportunity.

“There's amazing talent here. We view this as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do something significant — training, education certification. These are high-skill, high-wage jobs that are relevant globally,” according to Reimer.

The goal is for computer science graduates to develop skills in real-world environments. Later on, they can transplant their learnings and experience to Philippine enterprises.