The Record - Issue 21: Summer 2021

41 immense growth. In the third quarter of FY21, Microsoft saw Azure revenue grow by 50 per cent and Teams usage continuing to rise, by 26 per cent. “This speaks to both their impact and role in ensuring business continuity over the past year,” says Clark. Microsoft currently has specialised clouds for healthcare, retail, financial services, manufac- turing and non-profit. “We believe that digital transformation can benefit any industry and our Industry Clouds allow customers to hit the ground running with industry-specific solu- tions, whether they are in early stages of their cloud journey or increasing their investment in cloud,” says Clark. “Post-Covid-19, in particu- lar, we are finding a lot of companies that made that initial leap to the cloud are starting to ask themselves what’s next and what more they can be doing.” Microsoft’s partners can be key to this next step, as Clark says: “They are a fundamental part of our Industry Cloud strategy since they are on the ground working day-to-day with customers and creating solutions, whether that’s through customised applications, analyt- ics templates or collaboration models.” While business continuity has been the main focus over the past 18 months, organisations are also increasingly focusing on operating more sustainably. “Microsoft is deeply committed to sustain- ability and we are working closely with our customers and partners to drive change,” says Clark. “We collaborate with our partner eco- system to develop solutions that enable cus- tomers to achieve business and sustainability goals. From reducing energy consumption, streamlined processes, waste management and much more, there are plenty of sustainable “We collaborate with our partner ecosystem to develop solutions that enable customers to achieve business and sustainability goals”