Microsoft, M'sian govt announce MyDigital GovTech innovation partnership

• MyDigital, MAMPU to equip civil servants with digital skills, training
• Targets 80% adoption of cloud; 100% digital literacy in civil servants 

Microsoft Corp and the Malaysian government has announced the MyDigital GovTech Innovation partnership in a bid to build continued efforts to bolster Malaysia’s economic resilience.

In a statement, Microsoft Malaysia said the company and key government agencies such as MyDigital Corp and the Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (Mampu) will equip civil servants with digital skills and training, to support the nation’s aspiration for inclusive, responsible, and sustainable development.

It added that this represents the next milestone of the Malaysian government’s partnership with the company, progressing towards achieving the targets outlined in the 12^th Malaysia Plan and Malaysia Digital Economy Blueprint. 

The targets include 80% adoption of cloud storage across the government in 2022 and 100% digital literacy among civil servants, as well as 80% end-to-end online Government services by 2025, Microsoft said.

Mustapa Mohamed, minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Pic, third from right) said the role of Malaysia’s civil service is key to building the country’s economic resilience in these challenging times. 

“Our long-standing partnership with Microsoft enables the civil service to be more innovative, data-driven and people-centric in finding solutions as well as formulating effective policies.

“An initiative such as this is an important step for Malaysia to equip ourselves with the relevant tools and capabilities to develop a digital-first economy.

“We welcome Microsoft’s continued contribution as a knowledge and technology partner to Malaysia, including their commitment to train 300,000 people by 2024 with the Human Resource Development Corporation,” said Mustapa.

This announcement is in addition to the Cloud Framework Agreement (CFA) signed between Microsoft and Mamput, to create a trusted cloud network and empower the public sector of Malaysia in their digital transformation journey.

Jean-Philippe Courtois (Pic, third from left), executive vice president and president of national transformation partnerships at Microsoft, said the company’s mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. 

“Microsoft will remain steadfast in our partnership to enable Malaysia to leverage our expertise and capabilities in technology to power inclusive economic growth and resilience in the digital era,” he said.

Meanwhile, K Raman (Pic, second from right), managing director of Microsoft Malaysia, said, “This partnership was further cemented during the launch of Microsoft’s Bersama Malaysia commitment last year.

“[There] we pledged to establish our first datacenter region in the country and skill an additional one million Malaysians by the end of 2023 while forming the MyDigital Alliance Leadership Council to collaborate on cloud-first and digital-native policies,” he added.

This announcement builds on the Letter of Intent signed between Microsoft and MyDigital Corporation during the prime minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s visit to the United States in May 2022.