Microsoft attends conference on digital economy

ALBAWABA - Microsoft participated as a Strategic and Sustainability Partner, and Sustainability Transformation Zone Partner at IDC Middle East’s CIO Summit held at Atlantis the Palm in Dubai, the firm said in a statement.

It said the Feb. 22-23 event brought together some of the region's most prominent C-suite executives to explore the current state of the digital economy and the latest innovations to benefit citizens, customers, employees, and operations.

"We are delighted that Microsoft joined us as our Strategic Partner and Sustainability Transformation Zone Partner for this year's edition of the IDC Middle East CIO Summit," said Jyoti Lalchandani, IDC group vice president and regional managing director for the Middle East, Turkey, and Africa.

"As the rise of the digital economy continues to gather pace, there is a growing focus across the region on the infrastructure, innovation platforms, skills, and work models that are required to support the expansion of digital businesses," Lalchandani said.

"?At the same time, the issue of sustainability is gaining considerable prominence, with
around one-third of the CIOs surveyed by IDC in the Middle East having already started the data discovery process to identify the internal systems that house the key data required for them to drive sustainability initiatives,” the CEO added.

With the Dubai-hosted COP28 climate conference just months away, Microsoft brought a strong message of sustainability to this year’s event, the statement said.

"The company conducted a live demonstration of its cutting-edge industrial metaverse scenarios using the powerful combination of Microsoft Azure and the HoloLens 2 mixed reality headset and launching Windows 365 Cloud PC in the UAE data center," according to the statement.

"We are pleased to have been the Strategic Partner and Sustainability Partner at this year’s CIO Summit," said Naim Yazbeck, Microsoft UAE's general manager.

"The world continues moving fast, and business leaders must constantly find
ways of keeping pace with innovation," Yazbeck said.

He said his company believes that the coming months will be defined by "how well enterprises address the issues of sustainability hybrid work, and how to achieve more in current economic conditions."

"Our solutions are designed for what’s ahead, and we look forward to sharing those innovations," he added.