“Despite the uncertainty we have experienced, Microsoft is seeing a faster growth rate here in Malta and we want to keep investing more in the country’s economy. Malta is very partner-focused and as Microsoft grows, we want our partners to keep growing with us,” Theodosis Michalopoulos, general manager of Microsoft Greece, Cyprus and Malta, said in his keynote speech at a specially dedicated event for Microsoft’s partners in Malta.

Michalopoulos explained to the over 60 Microsoft partners, who attended the first physical event since 2020, how up to two years ago, many companies were looking at digital transformation but with COVID, the commitment shifted to a digital acceleration where companies started looking at data to accelerate their processes.

“This event took place as part of our overall strategy to be ‘the best partner for our partners’, especially for Malta where the market is greatly driven by our partner ecosystem. This is why we remain committed to grow our engagement with all our partners in Malta, a market which is growing faster than our other countries. We believe that Malta has the potential to deliver an even bigger contribution driven by igaming, fintech and government sectors,” Michalopoulos said.

With COVID, the commitment shifted to a digital acceleration

He also noted that throughout these past two years, Microsoft has also been very active in skilling.

“We engaged in a lot of teacher-training on Microsoft Teams, we provided free courses through eSkills, hackathons, certifications and reskilling with our partners. We want to do even more over the next years, both with our customers and with our partners, whom we assure, are going to be seeing more support from us,” he said.

The event hosted several panel discussions with the participation of partners who shared their experience of partnering with Microsoft across different sectors ranging from small and medium businesses, AI, banking and igaming.

Speakers included Joe Agius, CIO, Bank of Valletta; Edward Midolo, head of technology and business transformation, Catena Media; Marthese Portelli, CEO, Malta Chamber; Patrick Cutajar, CEO of Eyetech; Gege Gatt, CEO of EBO; Stefan Farrugia, CEO of Eunoia; and John Ellul, co-founder and sales director, Veracloud.

Portelli spoke about the work of Malta Chamber when it comes to supporting Maltese business organisations and the support it can deliver to Microsoft partners to tap into local and the upcoming EU Resilience funds (RRF).

Gatt explained how more companies are looking at data to accelerate their internal processes.

“Today, much of a company’s success depends on how rapidly a company can change to adapt to sudden market shifts. At EBO, we worked on three main pillars namely, how we transform as a company, how we are reviewing our payment processes, and the ethical framework within which we can make AI more empathic. All this was possible also through Microsoft’s technology,” he commented.

In his closing remarks, Vincenzo Esposito, general manager, Commercial Partners, Microsoft Central Eastern Europe, said: “We would like our partners to look at Microsoft as a platform company that holds all the tools that can allow a company to succeed in its mission. This ethos of being partner-led is always going to be in everything we do.”