“More for Brazil” plan supports inclusive growth through technology, sustainability and skilling programs for up to 5.5 million Brazilians, including expansion of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure in Brazil
São Paulo, Brazil – Today, Microsoft announced “More for Brazil,” a comprehensive plan to advance the country’s growth, employment opportunities and sustainability. As part of the plan, Microsoft has expanded its cloud offering in the country, established an alliance with the Ministry of Economy to help job matching for up to 25 million workers and is offering free digital skilling with the capacity to train up to 5.5 million people. Microsoft also announced a new effort to help protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation using AI. Microsoft made the announcement at a digital event attended by Marcos Pontes, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations; Carlos da Costa, Special Secretary for Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy; Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President of Sales, Marketing and Global Operations of Microsoft, and Tânia Cosentino, President of Microsoft Brazil.
“Today marks another major milestone for Microsoft in Brazil. The Microsoft ‘More for Brazil’ initiative will support Brazilian citizens by providing skilling and improving discovery of employment opportunities in the digital economy, which is essential to overcome the employability challenges that have only increased due to the pandemic. To support business growth and accelerate digital innovation, today we are also announcing the expansion of our cloud infrastructure in the country,” said Jean-Philippe Courtois, Executive Vice President and President of sales, marketing and global operations of Microsoft.
“Today’s announcement demonstrates Microsoft’s commitment to supporting an inclusive economic recovery in Brazil. Through investments in skilling, expansion of our cloud infrastructure and commitment to supporting sustainability initiatives that preserve Brazil’s diverse ecosystem, we aim to promote new innovation and growth in the country,” said Tânia Cosentino, President of Microsoft Brazil.
Expanding the Microsoft Cloud in Brazil
Microsoft announced it is expanding its cloud infrastructure with a new datacenter region – Brazil Southeast based in Rio de Janeiro – that will provide customers the option of in-country and scenario-based disaster recovery. Additionally, to support cloud applications for mission-critical workloads with high availability, Microsoft will launch Azure Availability Zones in the existing region in Brazil South in 2021. Availability Zones are fault-isolated locations within an Azure region, providing redundant power, cooling, and networking, supporting applications with higher availability and fault tolerance to datacenter failures.
Microsoft began operations in Brazil 31 years ago and launched its first datacenter region in São Paulo State in 2014. Since then, Microsoft’s partner ecosystem in Brazil has grown to 25,000, and leading businesses across key industries are using Microsoft’s cloud services to digitally transform. Microsoft will deliver cloud services – Microsoft Azure, Microsoft 365, and Dynamics 365 and Power Platform – in the new Brazil Southeast region, with Azure available today, Microsoft 365 available by the end of 2020, and Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to follow in first half of 2021.
As part of Microsoft’s global commitment to be carbon negative by 2030, the company will shift to 100 percent supply of renewable energy for its datacenters by 2025. With the new region, Microsoft’s global cloud spans 65 cloud regions announced, supporting more than 1 billion clients in more than 90 countries around the globe. This expansion of Microsoft’s cloud infrastructure in Brazil will benefit public sector clients, private companies, including small businesses and startups. Brazilian companies, such as Bradesco and Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, are already choosing the Microsoft Cloud in their digital transformation journeys, helping them to reinvent their business.
“At Bradesco, we have a clear vision of positioning ourselves to be the bank of choice for Brazilians, regardless of whether they are in the physical or digital environment. We know how much our own digital transformation, driven by cloud computing and the use of AI, is foundational to this journey. That is why we see great value in having a strategic partner like Microsoft beside us. Collaboration with Microsoft has supported us in a wide range of initiatives, from transforming the experience of our individual and corporate customers through insights obtained from data analysis to strategic topics, such as open banking, instant payments as well as empowering our employees. We want to accelerate our journey toward the growing adoption of the most relevant technology innovations, and Microsoft plays a fundamental role in helping us pave the way for this to become possible,” said André Rodrigues Cano, Vice President of Operations/IT.
“The union between technology and health has become, more than ever, a vital link to overcome the challenges of the moment that we are living. In our daily lives at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, the search for digital transformation has been an imperative, and Microsoft’s contribution to paving this path has been fundamental. In the pandemic context, we were able to call upon Microsoft cloud solutions that gave us agility, effectiveness and security to create alternatives in patient care, using AI with virtual agents and telemedicine. The partnership with Microsoft has also been valuable in supporting us on crucial security and compliance issues, which are invaluable when we think about caring for our patients’ information. With its cloud offerings for healthcare, Microsoft continues to contribute to great advancements for humanity,” said Sidney Klajner, President of Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein.
Skilling today and tomorrow’s workforce in Brazil
Skilling today and tomorrow’s workforce is another key pillar of the “More for Brazil” initiative. The Ministry of Economy announced “School of Worker 4.0,” an e-learning platform developed by the Special Secretary for Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness of the Ministry of Economy (SEPEC/ME) with the Brazilian Industrial Development Agency (ABDI), including Microsoft courses through the Microsoft Community Training tool. The platform is available to Brazilians nationwide with the capacity to train 5.5 million job seekers by 2023, and Microsoft will provide 58 instructors to offer customized guidance and orientation for up to 315,000 people. The platform, implemented with the partnership of NGO Softex, will feature more than 20 technology courses at different levels based on the main skills requested by the labor market – from digital literacy to more advanced modules on cloud computing, AI and data science. Additionally, Microsoft has donated cloud credits for the improvement of the National Employment System (SINE). The solution update was led by BizApp and will use AI to connect people and their skills to relevant employment opportunities as well as refer individuals to qualification courses. The goal of this solution is to improve employability job matching for up to 25 million workers.
Using AI to help protect the Amazon rainforest in Brazil
Lastly, Microsoft, in collaboration with Vale and Imazon, also announced an initiative to help protect the Amazon rainforest from deforestation and fires using AI during the next drought season in 2021. Using advanced AI capabilities from Microsoft across a number of predictors, such as illegal roads opening in forest regions, and data from satellite images, Imazon will be able to predict the most likely deforestation zones. With the assistance of this technology, Imazon can identify critical areas to assist government agencies in protecting against deforestation and conserving Amazon rainforest.
