This week, Microsoft announced some advances in its “Innovate for Mexico” plan. According to a press release, the objective of this program is to contribute to the development of the country. This plan aims to accelerate digital transformation in Mexico to democratize access to technology. For this, Microsoft will make an investment of 1,1 billion dollars in the country in the next five years.
The company’s plans include establishing a new region of cloud data centers in Mexico and expanding its cloud-based services, which consists of a range of Microsoft products such as Microsoft Azure, Office 365, and Dynamics 365, as well as Power Platform.
Microsoft is looking for an AI technology with a human hearth
In addition to the data center, Microsoft will seek to develop a solid education and training program consisting of different initiatives, such as the creation of three laboratories and virtual classrooms in collaboration with public universities in the country, to provide an educational platform focused on the development of digital skills and help the labor insertion of future generations. Technological education has been a weak point in the competitiveness of Latin America, so this initiative can contribute to solving it.
As part of the AI for Earth initiative, Microsoft’s investment will also support the “Artificial Intelligence for pelagic shark monitoring in the Mexican Pacific Ocean” project, led by the environmental organization México Azul, which focuses on the conservation of Mako sharks The organization will receive an investment to create open-source software that will photographically identify sharks of four pelagic species in danger of extinction, in the Mexican Pacific Ocean, using artificial intelligence and automatic Machine Learning to create a more efficient process that helps estimate population parameters and thus obtain better marine conservation policies. The main objective of this project is to generate fundamental data that improves the monitoring and conservation of these species in Mexico and, in the long term, in the rest of the world.
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Mexican CEOs JOIN THE MICROSOFT PLAN
As part of the digital transformation plan, Microsoft has sought the managers of Mexican companies that have made significant progress in transforming the country digitally. The experience of these managers will help to identify when technical training initiatives are required, as well as share best practices, track progress, and improve the employability of Mexicans. This would be done through an Advisory Council formed by the managers.
Government agencies and Mexican companies have already previously benefited from alliances with Microsoft. For example, the Tax Administration Service (SAT), in collaboration with Microsoft, has optimized tax collection processes, allowing the tax agency to process large amounts of information from the cloud.
The SAT also managed to save $ 4 million with the improvement of electronic invoice processing. Its platform receives an average of 21.1 million invoices per day. With the collaboration of Microsoft, the country’s Tax Administration managed to design a low-cost platform for the massive processing of Electronic Invoices, maintaining to reduce information processing time from hours to a few minutes, while the new solution will mean an Estimated reduction of about 90% in the monthly cost compared to its previous version, according to Juan Pablo de Botton, General Planning Administrator in the Tax Administration Service.
Oscar Von Hauske, Chief Fixed-line Operations Officer & Director of America Movil, also commented that Telmex and Telcel work on the digital transformation of their processes and systems. For this, Grupo Carso companies have included the use of artificial intelligence.
Finally, Graciano Guichard, CEO El Puerto de Liverpool, commented that in 2019 the company transformed its way of interacting digitally with its customers through communication-based mainly on Microsoft technology. With this, the company can better understand its customers and thus provide a better service.
MEXICO OFFERS DIVERSITY FOR INNOVATION
Microsoft identifies Mexico as a place with great potential for innovation, thanks to its dynamism and diversity. The company believes that cloud-based services can accelerate innovation in the country, in addition to supporting people across the country to improve their businesses, identify new areas of opportunity and offer solutions to some of the world’s most complex problems.
Enrique Perezyera, CEO of Microsoft Mexico, believes that the digital transformation “will open new opportunities and horizons.” Also, he added that the $ 1.1 billion investment plan represents how the company maintains a commitment to Mexico’s social and economic development.
“THE NEW REGION OF THE DATA CENTER IN OUR COUNTRY WILL PROVIDE INTELLIGENT SERVICES TO HELP COMPANIES TO INNOVATE IN THEIR INDUSTRIES.”
Enrique Perezyera, CEO of Microsoft Mexico
SKILLS FOR THE FUTURE
In addition to the data center, Microsoft’s “Innovate for Mexico” plan has a second fundamental pillar called “Skills for the future.” The objective of this is for students to develop skills for the use of new technologies to increase their educational level and have better job opportunities in the future, a problem that the country’s educational reforms have failed to solve.
As part of this initiative, the Ministry of Education chose three universities in the country to build three state-of-the-art laboratories that will offer technological solutions to professors, researchers, and senior students. According to Microsoft, teachers, students, researchers, and administrative staff will have the opportunity to develop personalized learning that meets their needs and interests.
Training proposals include the development of new technical skills, as well as the relevant content for the professional profile of users. In addition to the physical places, Microsoft will work, in the hands of public universities to implement a concept called Virtual Classroom, which will be the basis of the educational proposal and will allow expanding the innovation generated in laboratories that seek to benefit thousands of Mexican youth.
EMPLOYABILITY IMPACT
In Mexico, Microsoft has had a significant impact on employability. The company has contributed to the creation of more than 156,000 jobs in the IT sector. This, in conjunction with the network of 4,000 business partners, which are small, medium, and large Mexican companies. The company has maintained an alliance with foundations and civil society organizations for the creation of a network of training centers where people can have access to computers, the Internet and courses to learn digital skills; To date, 15 million online training has been completed. People with disabilities are also a priority for Microsoft, as they make available access technologies to provide them with the tools that allow them to prepare to increase their employability opportunities.