Microsoft and the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Center (ADSIC), have teamed up to host a series of digital transformation workshops geared towards increasing awareness about the importance of digital technology and the immense impact it can have in the public sector. The workshops will focus on government workforce digital transformation readiness and building effective and sustainable digital strategies across all Abu Dhabi Government entities.
The first workshop of the series, titled Empowering Digital Government: Cyber Security took place last month at the Beach Rotana Hotel, Abu Dhabi with the participation of more than 20 government entities and 50 executives and employees, in addition to a select group of digital transformation specialists. The sessions took a significant step towards enhancing awareness on Cybersecurity threats and how users can safeguard against malicious content in the digital world. The full-day event provided insights into the current security landscape and featured demos as well as discussions on Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise, Microsoft Enterprise Mobility and Security and Microsoft Office 365 Security features such as Advanced Threat Protection and Data Loss Prevention. Microsoft Cyber Security experts addressed best practices, frameworks and the importance of an advanced security strategy for the digital age that can proactively safeguard public sector organizations without limiting the productivity of their employees.
“As the entity in charge of developing the local ICT sector, ADSIC places great strategic emphasis on protecting the assets and data of our partners from the government sector and end-users of the digital solutions that we either directly provide or oversee. Our collaboration with Microsoft and other leading ICT experts from the private sector assists us in achieving our mandate, while creating notable awareness on advanced security best practises.”
– Said Al Mansouri, Executive Director of Shared Government Services at ADSIC.
Attendees at the workshop benefitted from immersive demo-oriented experience presented by Microsoft, along with the company’s complete security portfolio and opportunity to learn from the Cybersecurity team about building an effective government security strategy.
“As companies embrace new technologies such as cloud, big data, and IoT, it becomes critical to have advanced security measures in place. In this digital era, the focus needs to shift from securing parameters to safeguarding data spread across different systems, devices and the cloud. Microsoft is committed to ensure holistic, agile and identity driven security policies are placed across all government entities, so that current threats are timely identified and addressed, and transparency is achieved. This workshop forms part of a shared vision between ADSIC and Microsoft towards building capacity and increasing awareness on digital risks and threats.”
– Cyril Voisin, Executive Security Advisor, Enterprise Security Group, Microsoft Middle East and Africa.
According to a Microsoft research, the number of attempted cyber-attacks over a week rose 600,000 in the past three of years. These figures clearly point towards a need for implementation of strict security measures with organisations. The company’s ongoing strategy builds on its intelligent security portfolio that safeguards organization with protection of all endpoints, detection of threats before they happen and faster response with informed security analytics and machine learning.
With the continued effort and commitment to government capacity building, the second workshop of the series titled “Empowering Digital Government: Harnessing the Disruptive Force of Technology”; took place on May 3. The workshop focused on innovative technologies such as Blockchain, the Internet of Things, Machine Learning and Chatbots and the immense transformational opportunities they can create for public sector organizations. The sessions elaborated on the public sector use-case scenarios of these technologies and how their adoption can further empower the robust digital transformation strategies and future plans of the Abu Dhabi Government entities. Microsoft technology and business experts and executives from over 25 government entities discussed how the capitalization of these technologies can drive innovation and future sustainable growth, enabling government organizations to become more agile, drive efficiency and transform their services.
The partnership between Microsoft and the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Center (ADSIC) is set to continue with the joint goal of empowering the productivity of government employees and ensuring the consistent delivery of enhanced and personalized citizen experiences through operational optimization and transformation of services and products. More workshops in the series, focused on Microsoft Azure Public Cloud Security and Datacenter Management, are planned to be held later this year.
