This month my company InfoStrat announced its participation in Microsoft CityNext, a global initiative empowering cities, businesses and citizens to re-imagine their futures and cultivate vibrant communities. Through the Microsoft CityNext initiative, Microsoft and InfoStrat will help leaders to do “new with less,” by combining the power of technology with innovative ideas to connect governments, businesses and citizens with city services that increase efficiencies, reduce costs, foster a more sustainable environment and cultivate communities where people thrive.
In a recent study, IDC named Microsoft the most trusted smart-city vendor. "Whether it's traffic congestion, citizen services, energy efficiency or operating costs, our Microsoft CityNext partners are equipped to tackle whatever problem or priority local governments want to address. Microsoft’s IDC smart-city scores are really a credit to our partners, which leverage our trusted cloud platform, powerful data analytics, security and privacy infrastructures, and other advanced capabilities to enable smart-city innovations."
Cities have long been the center of industrial, economic and entrepreneurial activity fueling the rest of the world’s success. Today, as more of the world’s population urbanizes, cities face mounting pressures and challenges to maintain high standards and quality of life for citizens. It is expected that by 2050, seven out of every 10 people will live in a city. Leveraging a broad portfolio of familiar and security-enhanced consumer-to-business software, partner solutions, devices and services and Microsoft’s history of successful education and social programs, Microsoft CityNext is a collective effort that helps cities anticipate and plan for these changes and challenges, enabling them to meet citizens’ needs, thrive economically and embrace modernity.
“We’re thrilled to partner with InfoStrat on Microsoft CityNext. Microsoft prioritizes a people- and partner-first approach across all our initiatives, and Microsoft CityNext is no different,” said Trudy Norris-Grey, managing director, business development, Worldwide Public Sector, Microsoft. “While cities are feeling the strain from economic challenges, Microsoft CityNext ushers in innovative technology solutions to create opportunities for cities and their citizens, enabling them to accomplish what they never thought possible. We’re inspired by our diverse partner ecosystem and know that working together we can help cities realize their full potential.”
I will explain some of the accomplishments and priorities of CityNext in future blog posts.