Digitization and sustainability. These are the two strategic drivers on which public and private companies are called upon to leverage to intercept the recovery in the post-pandemic phase, exploiting the potential of new technologies, starting with cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Matteo Mille, chief marketing & operations officer of Microsoft Italy, is convinced of this, and points out how “right now we are in a perfect storm because we can navigate economic growth supported by European Union investments”. The reference is to the National Recovery and Resilience Plan – Pnrr which is divided into a series of reforms organized in turn in six missions. “Two in particular are fundamental and concern investments in digital innovation and sustainability”, observes Mille. “During the pandemic it was in fact realized that these are two converging themes and this has prompted companies to invest in solutions
technologies that aim to safeguard the health of the environment. In this context, our mission is to help people and organizations do more for the planet, putting technological innovation at the service of the country’s sustainable growth. “Among the technologies capable of combining attention to the environment and support for economic growth Mille cita in particular artificial intelligence and cloud computing, “the use of which allows a reduction of polluting emissions by 98% and energy savings of 93%”.
The Ambition Italy project #DigitalRestart
In this regard, the company has launched the “Ambizione Italia #DigitalRestart” project which includes a five-year investment plan for Italy worth 1.5 billion dollars and the creation
of the first Microsoft data center region in Milan. With several objectives, namely to allow companies to access local cloud services, offer digital training programs and support
of smart working, helping companies in the restart phase by offering them access to laboratories and programs specifically designed for SMEs. Microsoft has also launched a Sustainability Alliance to create an open innovation ecosystem on green issues. In addition to this, explains Mille, “we promote the adoption among companies of artificial intelligence solutions which from our point of view will have a similar impact to the one we had on production processes with the invention of electricity. This is because for Businesses at some point will become the norm to turn the myriad of data they have into valuable information from
use to improve the business, obtaining, for example, greater customer satisfaction, or preventing any problems “. Issues towards which companies show a growing awareness.” Recent research reveals that 80% of companies have experienced the machine learning projects last year, while they were just over 50% in 2019. Two thirds of the sample decided to invest even more in these technologies thanks to the benefits obtained “, underlines Mille.
Smart working revolution
A period of evolution and change that is also strongly involving the world of work. The pandemic has led to experiencing the advantages of smart working, a new way of working from which it is no longer possible to go back, at least completely. “According to recent research, 65% of employees in Italy want remote and flexible working options to persist,” notes Mille. “87% say they are more productive when working in smart working and feel more involved. It is no coincidence that on LinkedIn the offers of remote employment have quintupled in the last period”. A scenario in which, however, it is necessary to be careful of the burnout danger of people, who must be able to disconnect to avoid the accumulation of stress. “With this in mind, our solutions, such as Teams, set meetings on maximum times of 25 minutes, so as to leave a minimum break of five minutes between one meeting and another”, explains Mille. “We also launched Viva, an employee experience platform that aims to simplify the remote working experience.” How? Allowing the employee to access information, calendars to manage their activities, training-related content through a single environment. “To avoid the risk of excessive stress, we have finally added a function that allows you to determine if you are organizing your workload adequately, evaluating any breaks and receiving advice to maintain the necessary concentration”, he concludes.
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