The American multinational technology company, Microsoft has signed a partnership with Qatar’s incumbent public-transport services provider Mowasalat (Karwa) to speed up its digital transformation initiatives and ensure safe and personalized experiences for passengers.
The partnership deal will include workshops to drive the delivery of innovative new solutions for the nation’s transportation sector. The current plans include the development of the concept of Mobility-as-a-Service and the delivery of Microsoft Power BI dashboards and Power Apps agile development.
Microsoft will also instruct Mowasalat staff on how to leverage the Shifts & Scheduling app in Microsoft Teams, for the enhancement of operations management. Further, the partnership will design and build a journey planner to enhance rider experience and to train employees through a skilling and certification plan.
The agreement was signed by Ahmed al Muftah, Chief Administrative Officer, on behalf of Mowasalat (Karwa), and on behalf of Microsoft, by Lana Khalaf, Country Manager, Microsoft Qatar.
Fahad Saad Al Qahtani CEO – Mowasalat (Karwa)
“As a trusted cloud solutions company, Microsoft is the ideal partner for us in our establishment of a digital enterprise. Our goal is to put Qatar on the world map as a hub of innovation in the transport services sector. Together we shall design training programs that will help bridge the gap between technology companies and transportation entities. We expect Microsoft’s partner ecosystem to play an important role in building agile and modern solutions for Mowasalat.”
Commenting on the deal, Mr. Al Muftah stated that “Our focus lays not only on customer-related interfaces like our Bus and Taxi Apps but also on transforming our daily operations to optimize our processes. This has helped us to implement our customer-centric philosophy while reducing our environmental footprint. Ultimately, tech-based solutions will play an integral part in establishing a sustainable transportation legacy in the country.”
In line with Qatar’s preparations for hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, the country’s government is heavily investing in projects that will support the estimated influx of tourists and the key areas of focus include sports, transportation, hospitality, and infrastructure.
“Mowasalat is amongst the major stakeholders in Qatar’s growth story, which is led by the Ministry of Transport and Communication. With upcoming global events in the country, the company furthers its commitment to Qatar and it’s National Vision 2030,” Ms. Khalaf said.
Microsoft has designed plans to deliver trusted cloud services from a new data canter region in Qatar. This will enable customers and businesses to increase agility, enhance service latency and performance.
