Technology Record - Issue 22: Autumn 2021

48 www. t e c h n o l o g y r e c o r d . c om “With our Industry Clouds, organisations can act faster and make more intelligent decisions” W hether in a factory or working from home, educating students online or delivering care within the commu- nity, workers are benefitting from improved communication and collaboration, thanks to cloud technologies. In 2021, over two thirds (68 per cent) of enter- prises have spent over $2.4 million on cloud technology, and 36 per cent have spent over $12 million, according to the 2021 State of the Cloud Report from IT management provider Flexera. The cloud has become an integral part of dig- ital infrastructures and enabled organisations to pursue real digital transformation. Microsoft has supported this with the launch of multiple Industry Clouds over the past 15 months. “Our customers and partners have told us that the cloud services we offer must support the spe- cific needs and challenges of their industry, so we built Industry Clouds to meet their unique needs in a flexible, adaptable way,” says Kees Hertogh, general manager of global industry product marketing at Microsoft. “With our Industry Clouds, organisations can act faster and make more intelligent decisions, providing the agility they need to adapt to the evolving global pan- demic and future challenges.” Businesses in all industries can use the clouds to quickly adopt or augment solutions built spe- cifically for the industry, break down data siloes, improve productivity workflows and use modu- lar solutions with built-in industry standards to meet evolving business needs. Many of these organisations work alongside Microsoft and partners to extend the platforms to every business need. “Having a rich partner ecosystem across the Microsoft cloud is vital to supporting customer needs across the entire value chain for each industry,” says Hertogh. “All of this is based on the notion of having a common data model, which allows services partners to better serve their customers with a pre-defined architecture from Microsoft, and independent software vendor partners to build their solutions deeply integrated with that data. “With the Microsoft Cloud for Healthcare, for example, we wanted to create an industry BY E L LY YAT E S - ROB E R T S Kees Hertogh of Microsoft explains the value of the new Industry Cloud platforms, including how they are helping businesses to reach their sustainability goals New heights for the COV E R S TOR Y cloud