“Manufacturers had faced skill gap to go digital-first and most companies in the sector handled work through traditional means, until recently. However, digital transformation is no longer a choice but a necessity,” says Tariq Halawani, Executive Director – Enterprise Solutions at Microsoft UAE, during a media roundtable organized as part of the Global Manufacturing and Industrialisation Summit (GMIS) held in Dubai Exhibition Center at Expo 2020 site.

He adds, “In the recovery of the COVID-19 pandemic, every enterprise customer wants to go digital and skill their workforce to embrace digital. A few sectors such as automobile and pharmaceutical were faster in the process in the pre-pandemic era but now, everybody is eager to catch up with the modern technologies include digital transformation, cloud computing, and AI.”

Microsoft presents solutions focusing on safety and security to workforces, agility at work, customer interactions, supply chain, and sustainability at GMIS. It claims success in creating tie-ups for big-scale digital transformation contracts with major utility providers, government organizations, oil and gas corporations, pharmaceutical companies, logistic service providers, and construction networks.

The company attributes its strength to its decade-long presence in the UAE and the reputation gained over these years. Although Microsoft has built long-sustaining relationships with large enterprises via big platforms, it also focuses on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and is ready to tailor services based on their needs seeing the volume of SMEs operating from the UAE.