Microsoft announced its “Bersama Malaysia” initiative which marks a big commitment to empowering Malaysia’s inclusive digital economy and advancing the nation’s digital transformation across the private and public sectors. As a part of the plan, Microsoft will establish its first datacenter region within the country to deliver trusted cloud services locally with world-class data security, privacy and therefore the ability to store data in-country. Microsoft also announced plans to skill a further 1 million Malaysians by end of 2023 to help create economic opportunities for people and businesses in the digital era. Microsoft also will help form the MyDigital Alliance Leadership Council to collaborate on cloud-first and digital-native policy recommendations.

This represents a big milestone in Microsoft’s 28-year history within the country and supports the govt of Malaysia’s MyDigital goals to transform the country into a regional leader within the digital economy. consistent with IDC’s research, Microsoft’s investment in Malaysia will help generate up to USD 4.6 billion in new revenues for the country’s ecosystem of local partners and cloud-consuming customers over the subsequent four years. Additionally, the research estimates Microsoft, its partners and cloud-using customers will together contribute over 19,000 new direct and indirect jobs.

Microsoft will establish its first datacenter region within the Greater Kuala Lumpur area and deliver access to the complete Microsoft Cloud, which includes:

• Microsoft Azure – enabling anyone to create with purpose using cloud services and capabilities that span computing, networking, databases, analytics, AI and Internet of Things (IoT);
  
  
  
• Microsoft 365 – to connect, collaborate, work remotely and learn online with innovative productivity tools;
  
  
  
• Dynamics 365 and Power Platform – to rapidly build and manage critical enterprise business solutions at scale with intelligent business applications.

The new datacenter region also will deliver Azure Availability Zones, providing additional resilience options for highly available applications, and support Microsoft’s sustainability goals. Microsoft features a global commitment to shift to 100% supply of renewable energy by 2025. this suggests Microsoft will have power purchase agreements for green energy contracted for 100% of carbon-emitting electricity consumed by all its datacenters, buildings and campuses, including the planned Malaysia datacenter region.

Microsoft will work with the govt, startups and enterprises to support the country’s digital transformation goals. Specifically, Microsoft in partnership with the Social & Economic Research Initiative (SERI) has established the MyDigital Alliance Leadership Council to collaborate on cloud-first and digital-native policy recommendations. The Alliance’s first meeting discussed digitalisation within the education sector to nurture a globally competitive Malaysian digital workforce. Additionally, Malaysia’s leading companies, Petronas and Celcom Axiata Berhad have committed to helping advance Malaysia’s nation-building and digital ambitions, also as using the Microsoft Cloud from the new datacenter region when available.

As a part of the Bersama Malaysia initiative, Microsoft is committed to equipping individuals with equal opportunities to thrive during a cloud and AI-enabled digital economy. to realize this, Microsoft will work with the Human Resources Development Fund (HRDF), Social Security Organization (SOCSO), Junior Achievement Malaysia, TalentCorp Malaysia, MAMPU, Grab Malaysia, Biji-Biji Enterprise and native universities to succeed in people of all socio-economic backgrounds including young adults and other people living with disabilities. This commitment may be a continuation of Microsoft’s global skills initiative since July 2020 which has reached quite 110,000 Malaysians so far.

PointStar’s role as a Silver Microsoft Partner

Microsoft’s announcement is in line with PointStar’s ambition of providing the best cloud solutions for businesses in Malaysia. As a Silver Microsoft Partner, we understand the various concerns a business has regarding digital transformation but rather than facing the inevitable digital transformation alone, we would like to be the guiding light that will be there every step of the way.

PointStar features a team consisting of certified cloud experts that have tons of experience and have implemented countless large scale projects across the region. Our experienced teams guarantee passionate support throughout the whole digital transformation journey, so you’ll rest assured that your investment is well supported. While high costs are mostly a determining factor to halt the digitisation process, PointStar provides adequate research and consultation to make sure that your needs, budget and expectations are met without undermining your concerns.

For a start, consider migrating to Microsoft 365 where you’ll increase productivity and collaboration severalfold. From tools like Outlook to Word and Skype or Teams, Microsoft 365 allows businesses to remain agile, especially when it involves transitioning employees to a remote working environment. Moving faster along a digital journey also requires an understanding of the worth of data and analytics tools that Microsoft Cloud provides abundantly – a totally managed, multi-cloud analytics platform that empowers everyone to get insights while eliminating constraints of scale, performance and price.

We want to be there for you once you take that first step in your digital transformation journey. It’s a lifelong investment and for that, PointStar will make sure you are ready to deploy your digital technologies optimally for your business.