Jean-Philippe Courtois, president of Microsoft International, is much impressed by Malta’s achievements in the field of ICT over the last 10 years and believes the company has played a part in this success. However there is still room for further development, especially with the rise of cloud computing.
Cloud computing allows computing resources such as processing power, storage, applications and services to be based on a server somewhere ‘out there’ or ‘the cloud’ accessible through internet rather than installed on the computer in front of users.
“Harness the potential of technology to establish your competitive advantage,” was his message in an exclusive interview with i-Tech just before the signing of the third strategic partnership agreement between Microsoft and the government, worth €26.8 million over five years. He was flanked by Adrianna Zammit, Microsoft country manager for Malta.
“Malta has been smart as a country over the past 10 to 15 years to identify some unique spots in certain industries to become one of the reference countries in the EU and in the world. The combination of technologies like the cloud and smart devices, and the dedication of the government of Malta working in partnership with multinationals like Microsoft and others and the business community can make a big difference.”
While Mr Courtois admits it will not be easy, given the financial uncertainties in the EU, he is still very optimistic but Malta needs to do its part.
“Bet on your people. Bet on your new generation because they can make a difference and they can be the new chief executives of very innovative companies. We are committed as a leading technology company to really inspire and enable some of them to become great success stories in the next five to10 years not only in Malta but also beyond.”
Cloud computing and investment in human capital and skills is the essence of the new strategic partnerships signed last Friday. Microsoft will open in Malta its first research centre in the world focused on cloud computing, with a seed investment of more than €3 million over five years. In addition, the multinational software giant will provide discounted software to Maltese students and teachers, access to Microsoft’s online educational services, and access to Microsoft’s programmes that support software development start-ups and local businesses.
“I am actually very excited to return to Malta after a number of years. I remember a decade ago cementing the first strategic agreement with the government of Malta. There are things which are still relevant to the partnership. Firstly, it’s about the human capital of Malta and the skilling of its knowledge society. At the end of the day, what Malta has –beyond the wonderful country, tourism and the rest – is its people. What we can do as a company, and we can do a good job of it as we have done for the last 10 years in Malta, is training the children, students and the teachers.
“Secondly, we are trying to go beyond that and also contributing to the Maltese ICT industry, something which we started to do many years back and are extending now. We are providing solutions to our partners in Malta and with the new innovation centre we are planning to trigger and ignite some startups in Malta, the same as we have done in other countries, with the BizSpark programme. We enable them to have access to the best of our technologies and expertise to test their business plans and certainly help them market their innovative cloud services in particular.
“The third aspect is all about the government. There have been a lot of accomplishments in terms of e-government. What we are trying to do now is work deeply with the government on enabling the next generation of services through the cloud. We are openly discussing with the government the way the cloud can help in a number of areas such as the main connection between government and citizens.”
But why all this talk about the cloud? Cloud computing is a core part of the Microsoft’s global strategy and is also a reflection of the rapid changes which the ICT industry is going through right now.
“It is moving to a world of devices and cloud services,” explained Mr Courtois. “There is one trend that we see happening which is the proliferation of smart devices. Devices can be PCs, laptops, smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes or small TVs. The ways people can interact with content applications from anywhere is just amazing.”
Microsoft’s top executive explained how in the past 10 years there has been a big change enabled by key new technologies that are called ‘the cloud’. The cloud is really based on three main attributes. It’s about the scale, meaning that providers and companies like Microsoft and its partners can provide huge data centres and capacity for businesses to provision services. It’s also about real-time access to content and services from anywhere. There are a lot of efficiencies in the cloud because it’s about using basically servers and storage and IT capacity that you don’t need to buy anymore as a company.
Mr Courtois referred to studies that have indicated productivity gains of up to €756 billion for the European economy over the next five years thanks to the use of cloud services. Another study in late 2009 was talking about the creation of a 100,000 new small businesses in Europe in the next few years all enabled by the cloud.
“These two big trends are really at the core of Microsoft strategy. As a company we have decided to lead with the cloud and enable the cloud on the terms of the customers. It means we are providing a broad access to cloud scenarios, either as a private cloud working with partners, and we have many here in Malta, or working with government, which is an excellent example here in Malta.”
With the strategic partnership agreement just signed, Microsoft has forged its role in cloud computing in Malta and in the words of its top executive in Europe, wants to continue to feature in Malta’s success story in the field of technology.
“The beauty in Malta is that when you are small you move much faster. I think we are still one of the few multinationals to have a real structure in Malta with Adrianna Zammit as country manager and with a full team. I think we have helped creating about 1,500 local jobs to date, with IT professionals working with Microsoft partners and Microsoft technologies. It’s quite sensible given the country’s size. So we are committed more than ever to the success of Malta. We would love to see Malta becoming a centre of excellence for cloud computing as a smart island in the coming years,” concluded Mr Courtois.