Hello everyone and welcome back to the Cognixia podcast. 

We already know about the situation between Russia and Ukraine going on for quite some time now. It has been challenging times for Ukraine and corporations as well as governments from across the world have stepped in to help in whatever way they can. Ukraine too has stepped up and appreciated the help it has received. And if you have been keeping up with the news, we are sure you would have read about Microsoft and AWS having recently received the Ukraine Peace Prize for their cloud services. Google received the same prize back in May as well. So, what is this peace prize being awarded for, and how is cloud computing helping keep the peace?

Did you know that Ukraine has a ‘Minister of Digital Transformation’? Yes, they do. Mykhailo Fedorov is the current Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine as well as the Minister of Digital Transformation. We often see job titles in corporate organizations for individuals facilitating digital transformation in the company but not that often that we see an official government minister for the same, do we? 

While there have been no specific details about why the Ukraine Peace Prize has been awarded to these cloud services companies, the Minister of Digital Transformation has said that Microsoft stands for truth and peace and they are glad to have Microsoft’s support. The Minister goes on to explain AWS’ contribution by saying that Amazon AWS literally saved their digital infrastructure – their state registries and critical databases which were migrated to the AWS cloud environment. He went on to elaborate that Ukraine is ready to cooperate on government technology solutions and reform the judicial sphere radically. 

One thing all these news reports tell us quite simply is the importance of cloud computing and the need for urgent cloud migration. We live in uncertain times, and not just the Ukraine-Russia conflict, but the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has proved it to us better than anything else could. Resilience is the need of the hour, and cloud computing is almost indispensable to enterprise resilience. Besides resilience, there are countless benefits of cloud migration – reduction in the total cost of ownership, faster time to delivery, enhanced opportunities for innovation, agility, flexibility, and ability to keep up with changing market demands & consumer needs, etc

But as individuals, what can you do? Well, you can sharpen your skills in working with cloud computing and help your organization realize the potential of the cloud. To accomplish any of these, your skills need to be top-notch. Would there even be a better way to do this than to have an official Microsoft Training or Amazon cloud certification validating your skills & expertise in the field? So, this is your opportunity to get trained and acquire the skills you need to be an outstanding cloud professional.