Author's entries

I recently had the honour to attend the Sustainia Awards ceremony with Arnold Schwarzenegger (Honorary Chair of the Committee), Connie Hedegaard (European Commissioner for Climate Action), Gro Harlem Brundtland (former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director General of WHO), and Dr Pachauri (Chair of the IPCC).

As I’ve stated several times in the past, I believe that cloud and technology innovations can empower governments and public administrations. In order to come up with the best technology innovations, it is necessary to understand the challenges that governments face every day. We have had many discussions around this topic at the Worldwide Government Solutions Forum 2012 in London.

As youth unemployment continues to rise across Europe, today’s students are more pressured than ever before to make the most of their education and prepare themselves for the jobs of the future.

With economic headwinds buffeting Europe, governments are confronted by many difficult challenges. But in these unpredictable times, one thing is certain – that Europe has to embrace change, to do things in a better, more efficient and innovative way.

Where Europe succeeds, we succeed Europe matters to us. For the past thirty years, it’s been our aim to help fuel the European economy with the programs, partnerships, products and services we deliver, through ourselves and others. Our investment has reaped significant return for thousands of new and existing businesses across the continent. My job takes me to interesting places all...

The on-going debate around the world’s economic recession may be an unpleasant topic to address, but in my job as Vice President for Public Sector in Europe, Middle East and Africa, I face this issue every day when meeting with customers and partners, and I believe we need to continue addressing it in order to solve it!

Today, citizens in developed countries look for increased engagement and efficient services; they want more responsiveness and collaboration with Public Sector entities similar to the experience they have as consumers with industry and businesses. Governments need to adapt to these needs while working hard to build economic growth and prosperity in their countries. There is a need to look for approaches to...

Success in the public sector today rides on not only being able to do more with less, but also being able to meet and exceed citizens’ expectations.

I truly believe that Europe has an immense potential to innovate. As stated by the EU Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will be the powerhouse of the Innovation Union, as they represent more than 99% of all businesses and employ more than 90 million people in Europe.

If ever proof was needed of the importance of cloud computing to local regional and national governments, then I heard a wealth of evidence during my visit to Rome today.

When I talk with government leaders and chief information officers across our region, I’m often asked questions that seek to learn more about the latest trend towards cloud computing. These questions range from legislative compliance such as data security and privacy, to data formats and interoperability, to budgeting policies and how Microsoft is responding to these specific public sector...

For some, the talk of cloud computing produces more haze than light, and there is no doubt: we all need to see the deeper analysis of the economics of the cloud in order to make decisions about information technology strategies.  I work with public administrations across Europe, and see that the interest level in cloud computing is high, but there is also widespread desire for better understanding of...