Plan combines investments in long-term talent upskilling, strong local partnerships, support for Digital Transformation and latest cloud technology to help realise vision of ‘Polish Digital Valley’ and boost digitalisation and innovation for companies, government and citizens.
Microsoft Corp. has announced a comprehensive US$1 billion investment plan to accelerate innovation and Digital Transformation in the ‘Polish Digital Valley’. Foundational to this multifaceted plan is the opening of a new Microsoft data centre region in Poland as part of its global-scale cloud to provide the country’s broad ecosystem of start-ups, entrepreneurs, enterprises and government access to secure, enterprise-grade cloud services. Microsoft and the domestic cloud provider, Chmura Krajowa, have signed a strategic agreement to provide Digital Transformation expertise and broad access to cloud solutions across all industries and enterprises in Poland.
The plan builds on Microsoft’s nearly 30-year track record of working successfully with Polish organisations and businesses of all sizes and with a network of more than 6,000 local partners. The initiative extends over the next seven years and combines extensive Digital Transformation expertise with a strong focus on upskilling local talent with the latest cloud-based competencies to empower local organisations to drive and accelerate their Digital Transformation, boost competitiveness and support employment opportunities in market.
“I deeply believe that Microsoft’s investment in Poland will be important for enterprises, public institutions and the education system and will enable them to digitally transform and implement new work standards. Our primary goal is to accelerate Poland’s transformation into a technological hub for the region of central and eastern Europe,” said Mateusz Morawiecki, Prime Minister of Poland.
“I am proud to announce our US$1 billion dollar investment in Poland’s continued Digital Transformation and the development of the ‘Polish Digital Valley’. The announcement builds on our nearly 30-year presence in the country. Microsoft’s global-scale cloud in Poland will allow an ever-wider use, faster implementation and more benefits to those public institutions and businesses in critical sectors along with Poland’s thriving start-up community. This investment will also provide strong support for the continued success of Poland’s developer talent pool and beyond, creating critical skilling and learning opportunities for an estimated 150,000 employees, partners and students. Our mission is to empower the people and organisations of Poland to achieve more,” said Jean-Phillippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President, Microsoft Global Sales, Marketing and Operations.
A new cloud partnership for the ‘Polish Digital Valley‘
To support local organisations in their transformation and innovation with the new cloud data centre region, Microsoft and Chmura Krajowa have signed a partnership agreement to support Polish public institutions and businesses in critical sectors such as government, health, education, manufacturing, retail, energy, finance, insurance and more.
“We are celebrating the signing of a strategic partnership between Chmura Krajowa and Microsoft, a great global technology player and one of the biggest. This is another important step on the road to digitisation and accelerating the development of the entire Polish economy. A special step in the face of irreversible changes that are taking place before our eyes in the socio-economic ecosystem. Digital Transformation is a great opportunity to deal with the current crisis faster and more effectively. Cloud technology is the future that we want to pursue today,” said Zbigniew Jagiełło, CEO of PKO Bank Polski, one of two founders of Chmura Krajowa.
“Poland has the opportunity to be the digital heart of Europe. This is why we are announcing a partnership with Chmura Krajowa, and one of the biggest investments in digital technology in Poland ever of US$1 billion investment in skilling, Digital Transformation support and building a Microsoft global-scale and trusted cloud region, giving our customers and strong local partner ecosystem access to our world-class digital technology and innovative cloud solutions all located here in Poland,” said Mark Loughran, General Manager, Microsoft Poland.
Through this partnership, Microsoft and Chmura Krajowa are providing the latest developments in cloud technology for the good of their customers and society, increasing competitiveness and innovative solutions to serve customers across many industries in Poland and across the globe.
Skills for the future: Talent and technology
An important pillar of the announcement is the robust and long-term skilling programme to expand employment opportunities for local professionals and youth. Microsoft aims to boost the digital competencies of an estimated 150,000 business employees and IT professionals, educators, students and citizens to support the Digital Transformation of organisations. In doing so, the company seeks to increase competitiveness of Polish businesses and individuals in the market and empower Polish employees to successfully innovate and implement the cloud-based Digital Transformation strategies of their organisations.
The skills development programme will include trainings, e-learning programmes, workshops and hackathons covering cloud computing, developing with AI and Machine Learning technologies, Big Data and the Internet of Things (IoT). Within this effort, accessibility is important to Microsoft to ensure people with disabilities also have access to the technologies and the tools that allow them to be educated, informed and increase employment opportunities.
Trusted, global-scale cloud
The announcement will pave the way for local companies, start-ups and institutions to fully utilise the potential of cloud computing, while maintaining the highest cybersecurity, data residency and compliance standards, especially those with specific data storage and processing requirements.
The new cloud data centre region joins Microsoft’s global footprint of cloud regions, now totalling 59 regions announced, with Microsoft Azure available in over 140 countries, and will provide companies local access to Microsoft’s full set of cloud services, all built on a foundation of trust:
- Microsoft Azure: An ever-expanding set of cloud services that offers computing, networking, databases, analytics, AI and IoT services.
- Microsoft 365: The world’s productivity cloud that delivers best-of-breed productivity apps integrated through cloud services and delivered as part of an open platform for business processes.
- Dynamics 365 and Power Platform: The next generation of intelligent business applications that enable organisations to grow, evolve and transform to meet the needs of customers and capture new opportunities.
- Compliance, security and privacy: Microsoft offers more than 90 certifications and spends US$1 billion every year on cybersecurity to address security at every layer of the cloud. Microsoft’s Poland data centre region will help companies comply with the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and will also help customers store data at rest in Poland.