Inspiring productivity and growth through cloud-based technologies

We are moving into a time when the world economy is powered by ideas and creativity. Dubbed the ‘creative economy’, this era will be based on people’s use of their creative imagination to increase an idea’s value – made more powerful by information readily available to fuel the creativity and the tools to easily understand the information and do things with it.

For Saudi Arabia, this is particularly interesting in light of Vision 2030. Announced in 2016, this plan details the country’s desire to diverse its economic revenue beyond oil.

Organisations in the country can assist in achieving this goal by embracing digital transformation and revolutionising the ways in which they do business.

Every organisation on the planet is going through some sort of digital transformation to be able to compete in the future. As they progress through digital transformation, they empower their employees, engage customers in new ways, create completely new operational models and transform their products. In turn, these transformations change lives, give back time, make networks safer and smarter, all while bringing significant environmental benefits and helping individuals and institutions achieve more.  

At Microsoft, we’re working on digital transformation across economic boundaries with companies of all sizes around the world. Our goal is to help businesses transform to compete in the creative economy and lead in the fourth industrial revolution. We want to see industries and economies grow, and we believe that new cloud-based technologies can assist in achieving growth.

Switching to the cloud

In a report titled Saudi Arabia Beyond Oil: The Investment and Productivity Transformation, management consulting firm McKinsey states that a productivity-led transformation of the economy could enable Saudi Arabia to double its GDP and create as many as six million new local jobs by 2030.

To help businesses understand how best to empower their employees and improve levels of productivity, Microsoft recently commissioned research examining the interaction of technology and people in the workplace. The study found that businesses with a strong digital culture versus a weak digital culture are likely to have five times as many employees who feel empowered and able to do their jobs to the very best of their ability.

That is why Microsoft has launched a wide range of productivity-enhancing products to the Saudi market. For instance, Azure Stack was recently launched in collaboration with partners Sahara Net and Lenovo. This is a hybrid-cloud computing product that offers customers from all sectors access cloud computing services integrated with technical support in record time.

Similarly, the McKinsey report further said that if Vision 2030 is to be achieved, education systems must evolve for a changed workplace, with policy makers working with education providers to improve basic skills in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), and put a new emphasis on creativity, as well as on critical and systems thinking. It was with this in mind that Microsoft announced a new set of educational products and services, inspired by teachers and students. These include Windows 10 S, new experiences in Microsoft Teams, new features in Minecraft and mixed reality, as well as a range of devices suited specifically to education.

These and other technologies are available to aid private sector companies to upskill their staff, maximise their business potential and ultimately contribute toward the overall growth of the country. From healthcare to agriculture, Microsoft offers tools to assist companies and industries across the board achieve more.