The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) responded to the people’s call for help during the pandemic through the DOLE-AKAP (Embrace) initiative which provides one-time financial assistance of $200 (P10,000) for displaced land-based and sea-based OFWs.

Since OWWA partnered with NTT DATA to start their digital transformation journey years ago, hosting their applications in Microsoft Azure, the government agency was able to optimize their existing assets across both on-premises and cloud sources and migrate key services to the cloud.

As a result of the partnership, NTT DATA Philippines was one of the organizations recently recognized by Microsoft with the Community Response Award — a new global award category that recognizes partner organizations providing innovative support or services to customers and the community. This year, the award acknowledges innovative solutions to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Through the technology solution provided by NTT DATA using Microsoft Azure, OWWA was able to provide fast, secure, and contactless financial assistance for displaced OFWs due to Covid-19 via the DOLE-AKAP (Embrace) portal.

“The Philippines’ OFWs embody the heart and soul of the nation: resilience and sacrifice,” said Andres Ortola, country general manager, Microsoft Philippines. “They contribute so much to the Philippines and through this program, we are able to support them in return. We are privileged to be of service and empower our modern-day heroes during these challenging times.”

Within three days of launch, OWWA received 54,000 online applications through the DOLE AKAP portal. Moreover, the OWWA IT personnel was able to configure, deploy the application, and modify updates remotely using DevOps and Azure providing flexibility at an instant with minimal downtime.