SOEs - Microsoft Partnership Aims for Technological Leadership

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State-owned Enterprises Minister, Erick Thohir on Wednesday said the memorandum of understanding (MoU) between state-run electricity firm PLN, state-energy firm Pertamina, and Microsoft is to mainly support data transparency and aims to excel in technological leadership. 

“This collaboration is the initial step from the SOEs to establish added value and support data transparency by the application of strategic and efficient technology,” said Erick Thohir in his official statement. 

As of current, the SOE Ministry oversees 800 state-owned enterprises, which includes subsidiaries. Erick maintains that running all of the enterprises with traditional ways will only cause disruption in the future and is the main reason in establishing a partnership with Microsoft. 

The partnership with the American multinational technology giant will mainly focus on developing artificial intelligence (AI), the Internet of Things (IoT), and high-performance computing (HPC). More specifically, Microsoft will help PLN develop smart metering, smart grid management, smart supply chain, big data analytics, and an executive dashboard. 

As for Pertamina, the Microsoft partnership will be eyeing on procurement cost efficiencies, tracking strategic wells, and the development of philanthropy programs such as AI for the earth which focuses on the effects of climate change. 

ANTARA