Power Letters 2023: Naim Yazbeck, general manager, Microsoft UAE

In 2022, Microsoft UAE celebrated the third anniversary of the launch of our local cloud data centres.

This was also the year we launched HoloLens 2 in the country. We see our mixed-reality headset as one of the defining technologies of the Industry 4.0 era and the emerging metaverse. We also launched four new services in 2022.

Our launches are not random; they arm organisations for the immediate future – a future in which the pressure to remain agile keeps increasing. According to International Data Corporation, Microsoft, our
partners, and our cloud customers are due to add almost 100,000 jobs to the UAE economy, including over 29,000 skilled IT jobs. But we must ensure we have a talent pool ready to assume these roles.

Microsoft continues to commit heavily to education and skilling initiatives. Last year, at GESS 2022, we demonstrated a range of solutions designed to modernise teaching methods.

In June 2022, we worked with Dubai-based French international school Lycée Français International de l’AFLEC to give diverse groups of students an introduction to coding. In alignment with our ongoing pledges to diversity, inclusion, and accessibility, we made the sessions open to a wide array of students, including those with special needs.

The future requires reinvention – of ourselves, of our businesses, of how we work, and of how we innovate. In 2023, Microsoft will continue delivering on our industry clouds, which are tailored toolboxes that allow for the unique needs of each sector.

We shall show how our employee experience platform Viva can bring insights, purpose, connection and growth to enhance the employee experience in the age of hybrid work.

As digital transformation continues, we must not forget to protect ourselves. The cyberthreat landscape is becoming more sophisticated as the years pass, and Microsoft will not rest on this issue.

We will bring robust countermeasures to protect people and organisations from malignant forces that would disrupt innovation.

With COP27 not far behind us and the UAE-hosted COP28 fast approaching, Microsoft UAE sees 2023 as the year of sustainability. And we shall continue to lead.

Globally, we have been carbon-neutral since 2012 and have pledged to be carbon-negative by 2030. By 2050, we aim to have removed from the environment all the carbon we have emitted since our 1975 founding. From water to waste management, we work to protect the planet.

We bring our technologies into arenas such as smart buildings, joining forces with organisations like Bee’ah and DEWA to infuse corporate headquarters with artificial intelligence and other technologies that help drive down emissions.

We also launched the Emissions Impact Dashboard to help businesses evaluate the environmental impact of their cloud usage. Humankind’s history is largely one of self-improvement. In 2023, we face some challenges but that is no different than any other year.

Let our past inform our future. Let us look to our ingenuity and apply our skills and technology to keep on improving.