Remote work and distributed teams have evolved from the latest office trend to standard business practice creating an entirely new corporate landscape.
While some organizations have embraced a
remote work culture, others have been forced to acclimate due to the recent health crisis and global lockdowns.
Whether they’re adopting or adapting to this new model, businesses are searching for innovative ideas
and creative solutions to better their work from home practices and achieve more.
Announcing the winners!
18%
OF EMPLOYEES WORK REMOTELY FULL TIME
GLOBAL SPONSOR:
42%
of remote workers plan to work remotely more frequently in the future
Microsoft enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
Microsoft's motto for Remote Working, "Work remotely without feeling remote," works toward providing innovative solutions that empower organizations to achieve more.
Timeline
Register
Once you have completed the sign up, you will gain access to the hackathon platform and additional resources.
Opening Webinar
May 28th
A webinar series will introduce the challenge and platform in greater detail as well as provide background information.
1st Milestone Project Page
June 5th
Submit a completed project page by June 5, and unlock a 1:1 mentor sessionwith a Microsoft mentor to evaluate your concept.
2nd Milestone Prototype Demo
June 15th
Submit a completed prototype demo by June 15, and unlock a 1:1 mentor session to pitch your demo and get feedback.
Submission Deadline
June 23rd
This is the final hard deadline to make changes to your submission.
Winners Announcement
June 29th
The winners of the Remote Resilience Online Hackathon are announced.
COMPANIES WITH REMOTE WORK OPTIONS EXPERIENCE
25% LESS
EMPLOYEE
TURNOVER
Challenges
While this challenge is specific to remote work, all ideas/solutions based on Microsoft products/technology are welcome, and could include:
Remote Collaboration & Productivity
Make collaboration easy and effective digitally on any device. Think mobile , think responsive and think low latency, low bandwidth. How can you bring the world closer without disruption?
Consider:
● Mobile Applications; Swift, Flutter, ReactJS
● Design Thinking
● Voice Assistance
Microsoft Suggests:
● Azure Mobile Services
● Azure AI Services
● Developer Tools
Remote Secure Access Management
Data is key to not only awareness but making decisions. End-to-End encryption and privacy is not an option anymore. What could you do to secure existing and new access?
Consider:
● Active directory
● AI Automation
● Authorization and Authentication
Microsoft Suggests:
● Azure Data Services
● Azure AI Services
● Azure Active directory
Remote Rapid Business Process & Customer Relationship Management
Your customers are key to your business. They need to feel and know Remote Business is as effective as non-remote. How can you reach out to customers with innovative business process to make remote businesses thrive?
Consider:
● Mobile Applications
● Data Science & Analytics
● Database Management Systems (DBMS)
Microsoft Suggests:
● Azure Database Services
● Azure AI Services
● Azure Internet of Things (IoT)
Remote Distributed Team Programming
Developers are no longer in a small dark room. They are stretched out across the world. Development processes are going fully cloud based and digital. How can you give autonomy, purpose and mastery in these new remote Development shops?
For this online hackathon, Microsoft will provide participants with additional resources. These will only be available to participants signed up to the platform. To get access, click the button below!
If you’ve got a great idea we’d love to hear from you! Whether you’re a developer, designer, entrepreneur, data scientist, marketing expert, student or freelancer, all solutions are welcome.
Azure Business Lead for Microsoft Middle East & Africa
Julien Bertin is the Azure Business Lead for Microsoft Middle East and Africa.
His organization is responsible for engaging Customers and Partners across the region, assisting them with their unique IT ambitions and desires to migrate to the Cloud.
In his previous roles, he was Regional Managing Director at SAP and Hewlett-Packard Enterprise.
Julien holds a Mathematics degree from Northumbria University and a Master of Science in Space Sciences from the Open University.
He has also completed Accelerated Development of Talented Directors Program from Harvard Business School.
Jamie Galviz
Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer for Microsoft Middle East & Africa
Jaime took on the role of Chief Operating Officer and Chief Marketing Officer for Microsoft Middle East and Africa in February 2017. Prior to this, he headed the company’s Gulf region as Director of Business, Marketing & Operations. During his tenure in both roles, Jaime has brought the Microsoft Cloud power to organizations across the region, developing a robust ecosystem of people, skills, partners, and solutions to deliver digital transformation and economic growth in communities across the region.
Through thoughtful and inspiring leadership, Jaime has furthered Microsoft’s enduring commitment to the Middle East & Africa and its governments’ ambitious economic-development programs. His boundless passion for building talent is at the heart of everything he does, with a laser-focus on training people, companies, and governments in all things cloud, so they can capitalize on the opportunities to be found in the era of digital transformation. He also acts as a mentor and trainer for the Microsoft Academy of College Hires (MACH) program across MEA.
Jaime’s skill-building aptitude emerged early in his Microsoft career when he created and piloted the MVA (Microsoft Virtual Academy). Nurturing the concept through rigorous testing in his native Colombia, he developed it into the global learning tool it has become with more than 10M members. He also conceptualized, sponsored, and developed the newly initiated Microsoft Cloud Society program designed in the Middle East and Africa for IT Professionals to advance their technical accuracy and become world-class experts in the space of cloud computing.
Before his eight years in Microsoft Middle East & Africa region, Jaime spent 14 years in South America, strengthening Microsoft business operations in Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. In his several roles in the Andean region, he made invaluable contributions to the creation of new sales territories and business groups. He has proved himself an astute, creative, people-oriented leader with a flair for adding value to communities and organizations. Jaime continually adds value to Microsoft through the identification and development of emerging talent.
Jaime is an industrial engineer, trained at the University of the Andes. He has also completed studies at INALDE Business School in Bogota, as well as management and strategic marketing programs at the University of Michigan and Columbia University in the United States. In addition, he attended the IPEC (Institute for Professional Excellence in Coaching) trainer program. He recently was part of the Oxford High-Performance Leadership Programme at the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. Jaime divides his free time between his family – wife and two children – and his passion for soccer and golf.
Mohamed Alaa
Regional Partner Technology Manager for Microsoft Middle East & Africa
Mohamed participated in building Microsoft’s Azure market share in MEA since it was launched in 2012. Currently, he’s the Regional Partner Technology Manager in Middle East & Africa, leading a team of Cloud Solution Architects, responsible for building Azure Partners capacity in Apps & Infra across the region.
He has a Computer Science B.Sc. and Masters of Business Administration degrees with over 19+ Years in Microsoft, and a total of 24 years of Experience in Selling solutions, building IT Strategies, Architecting, Designing and Developing systems and applications based on Microsoft Platforms.
Started in R&D, developing document management and workflow products, leading different projects between Egypt and the US. Joined Microsoft Egypt as a development tools specialist, acting as the father of .NET in Egypt, running several developer programs and conferences.
Moving to Microsoft Services as a Pr. Consultant acting as the Architect of the Egyptian Government Gateway, then to Microsoft Services Gulf as the delivery and presales architect of several large projects, focusing on Portals, E-Services, Business Productivity, and Identity Management, for the Government, Education, Healthcare and Telco’s verticals.
Moving to the sales world, he joined the Microsoft MEA incubation team, and was responsible for the Identity and access in MEA, and then for the Azure business in Gulf, Saudi and South Africa since the release of the service in MEA, as the Azure Solution Specialist (MEA).
He was the Azure Principal Solution Specialist running the HiPo motion in Gulf and Saudi. He drove the Azure business with some of the most significant and most strategic customers in the region, where he was awarded the WW Platinum Club Award in FY16. Before his current role, he spent a year as a Technical Sales Manager managing the Azure Cloud Solutions Architects in the Gulf region.
Peter DeBenedictis
CMO, Microsoft Middle East and Africa
Peter DeBenedictis leads the marketing function for Microsoft in the Middle East and Africa region, a role he assumed in March 2017. His team takes an integrated marketing and communications approach, using digital marketing and traditional channels to build the Microsoft brand and engage customers and partners on their cloud journey.
Peter has lived and worked in the Middle East region for over 30 years and has deep experience in growing business in diverse Emerging Markets. Prior to joining Microsoft, he has had a distinguished career leading the marketing function in several of the world’s leading brands, including General Electric, Philips, and FedEx, where he has led multiple growth and investment programs to drive top-line growth.
Peter has been a regular speaker at Marketing conferences across the region and is a Board Member of the Marketing Society MENA. He is a past President of the Alumni Association of Dubai College, one of the top non-profit British schools in the region, and is also a member of their Board of Governors. Peter is based in Dubai with his wife and two children aged 12 and 6.
Michael Mansour
Chief Learning Officer for Microsoft Middle East & Africa
Michael Mansour is the Chief Learning Officer for Microsoft Middle East and Africa.
Michael leads a series of technical skilling initiatives aimed at supporting the digital transformation of the region, helping organizations embrace the culture of learning as a driving force, core to Microsoft’s mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more. Technology continues to evolve at a rapid pace representing both a disruptive force and business opportunity; Michael’s efforts have included helping IT organizations realize their ambitions through supporting comprehensive upskilling programs on technologies ranging from AI to Big Data.
In 2010 Microsoft was appointed as the Head of Developer Platforms and Evangelism at Microsoft Gulf, supporting the developer community from academia and startups to enterprise and government.
Prior to Microsoft, was the Director of Marketing at EMC Corp in New York, leading a variety of telco business segments. His corporate tenure includes leadership roles in a variety of US-based start-ups, as well as earlier experience in a series of sales and engineering roles at ABB and Nortel. In all Michael has 30 years of industry experience in IT, telco, and power generation, spanning geographies that include the United States, Canada, Europe, and the Middle East.
Michael holds a Master’s of Business Administration and Bachelors of Electrical Engineering Degree from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He is passionate about the success of others, and is a vocal supporter of the region’s developer community.
