A note from our sponsor, Microsoft, on their Tech For Good Initiative
As the world responds to the outbreak of COVID-19, Microsoft has been committed to doing our part by ensuring the safety of our employees, striving to protect the health and well-being of the communities in which we operate, and providing technology, tips and resources to our customers to help them do their best work while remote.
Microsoft’s Healthcare Bot service is helping healthcare organizations respond to inquiries, provide guidelines to people in need, answer questions with up-to-date information, and keep people who do not need medical assistance at home. Health systems in Italy, Denmark, Israel, and Finland have been using our Healthcare Bot service to create COVID-19 self-assessment tools, and more we have now introduce the HeathBot to hospitals and clinics across South Africa to reduce the strain on their emergency hotlines. Globally, we have also partnered with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
“Since March, more than 1,300 instances of COVID-19 bots based on our service have gone live. Those bots have served 200 million messages to 22 million people across 20 countries, including South Africa. Bots have not taken away from the current methods of engagement but significantly enhanced them by making them more inclusive, multilingual and accessible 24x7 to citizens.” says Mitesh Chotu, Area Solution Architect at Microsoft and member of the COVID Industry Task Team.
Government, Microsoft & all members in ICT industry have all been working collaboratively to support various initiatives across the country.