Microsoft Channel Kick-off 2014 empowers 700 partners to drive business value
Hong Kong, 4 September – Microsoft Hong Kong today gathered with more than 700 partners at Microsoft Channel Partner Kick-off 2014 to share opportunities for partners to grow their business and win together with Microsoft in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world. The event also hosted an IT Executive Forum where CIOs of both enterprises and SMEs shared their business challenges and insights in this new era and how cloud and mobile help transform and reimagine their businesses. Microsoft also gave out 20 awards to top-performing local partners at this annual kick-off event.
“Putting partners first has always been key to our joint success during these past few decades, and it will continue to be a priority in today’s mobile-first, cloud-first world,” said Horace Chow, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong. “The theme this year is, ‘Leading to the Next Era with Cloud and Device’. Microsoft is the only company that has the breadth and depth of technology and expertise to offer a one-stop shop, from infrastructure to applications, for partners and our mutual customers, to embrace cloud and drive business value. No company is better positioned than us to help partners make money by building, hosting, managing or selling cloud solutions.”
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| Horace Chow, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong, shared partner strategy in a mobile-first, cloud-first world at Microsoft Channel Kick-off 2014 |
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Mandarin Oriental offers premium digital experiences for guests with Microsoft’s mobile and cloud technologies
More and more customers are reimagining their business with Microsoft’s cloud and mobile technologies. One of the recent examples is Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. The Hotel Group has collaborated with Microsoft to provide Windows 8.1 as a platform for delivering a premium digital experience to the luxury hotel group’s guests. The Group is piloting Microsoft Surface Pro tablets in four of its award-winning properties in London, Washington, D.C., Las Vegas and Tokyo, providing in-room tablets that feature a custom Windows 8.1 start screen and modern touch apps. In conjunction with Microsoft, Mandarin Oriental has created a suite of five custom Windows 8.1 touch apps, available in nine different languages, that manage services for in-room dining, concierge and housekeeping requests, a guest compendium that provides information about the hotel’s facilities, and access to guest feedback and guest preferences.
“As a brand known for our legendary hospitality, we’re always pushing ourselves to create unique, premium guest experiences,” said Raju Daryanani, Vice President of IT Infrastructure and Information Security of Mandarin Oriental. “We are currently operating in 25 countries, and with our expansion into new markets we needed a powerful, secure, yet easy-to-manage solution with robust language support, which Microsoft technologies can offer. Through this partnership we can create digital experiences that cater to our guests’ needs and expectations whenever they stay with us.”
Working with Microsoft and other hospitality solutions partner and application development and design company, the Group’s custom Windows 8.1 touch app will allow guests to quickly and easily request hotel services, such as housekeeping, laundry and in-room dining. Each touch app is infused with Mandarin Oriental’s luxury brand elements and is completely configurable via a cloud management solution offered by iRiS Software Systems, which runs on Microsoft Azure. Offering an even further customized experience, guests may log into the Surface Pro tablet using their own Microsoft Account to access personal email and files on OneDrive, as well as use their favorite apps associated with their Microsoft Account profile. With Microsoft’s remote data removal functionality and write filtering, the guest profile and personal data will be removed from the device. Upon checkout, the device is automatically wiped clean of personal guest data and restored to the hotel’s customized homepage design.
“Through the Microsoft platform, we have a bespoke digital experience that allows guests to easily place a complex meal order and request other guest services with a touch of the finger,” Daryanani said. “Early feedback from our guests has been extremely positive, and we will continue to tailor the solution as we extend the tablet deployment to more of our markets, with an initial target installation of 1,000 tablets across the portfolio in the near future.”
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| Guests Sharing in the Panel sessionFrom left to right: Alan Yip, Director – Technology Solutions of Icicle Group; Tom Burns, Director, Curricula and Alliances; Raju Daryanani, Vice President of IT Infrastructure and Information Security; Wilkie Wong, Chief Financial Officer (Hong Kong & Overseas); Aaron Painter, Director, Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners Group |
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Local SMEs enjoy increased productivity and significant cost savings by using Office 365
The adoption of cloud is growing very fast in Hong Kong. According to the latest Hong Kong SME Cloud Adoption and Security Readiness Survey, jointly conducted by The Internet Society Hong Kong and the Cloud Security Alliance Hong Kong and Macau Chapter, 50% of surveyed SMEs have already adopted cloud services to varying degrees. Microsoft has been actively helping Hong Kong SMEs migrate to the cloud, and the number of SME cloud users is growing in triple digits year-on-year. Icicle Group is one of the SMEs which has migrated to Office 365 in recent years.
Mr. Alan Yip, Director – Technology Solutions of Icicle Group, said, “Icicle Group specializes in delivering cost effective marketing solutions and supply chain management services at the highest world standards to international brands. Like many SMEs, we are limited in our IT resources, with only a small number of IT specialists to provide end-to-end and round-the-clock support to our company’s information systems. This is why we decided to migrate part of our IT infrastructure to the Office 365 cloud service. This hybrid cloud model allows the professional and trustworthy service provider to manage our day-to-day IT infrastructure and maintenance, ensuring regular system patching and backup processes. At the same time, we can retain and manage sensitive customer data in our own internal system. This not only helps us reduce cost by as much as 50% and improve efficiency with anytime, anywhere access across different devices on different platforms, but also maintain a high level of information security which an SME couldn’t normally afford.”
SOS winning ‘Partner of the Year 2014’
Strategic Outsourcing Services (SOS) Group Limited is one of Microsoft’s cloud partners, and it has effectively transformed to succeed in this cloud and mobile era. SOS started back in 2006 with less than 10 staff based in Hong Kong. “Microsoft has a clear and differentiated vision in this mobile-first, cloud-first, data-driven world. Their cloud services provide significant opportunities for their partners to drive business value both for themselves and for their customers,” said Howard Chow, Director of SOS Group Limited. “With Microsoft’s cloud services and partner support programs, we have successfully transformed from a traditional infrastructure-based SI company to a cloud-focused company with 80% of our business now cloud business. In the past two years, our cloud revenue in Hong Kong has increased by 300% year-on-year and our number of new cloud customers has grown over 500% year-on-year. Hong Kong is the business hub linking China and the world and there are a lot of companies with cross-border operations. SOS aims to further expand our cloud business into the bigger Mainland China market and Microsoft is the only foreign company that offers trusted cloud services in China.”
Microsoft’s partner ecosystem is one of the largest in the industry. Today, it has more than 1000 cloud partners enrolled in the Microsoft Partner Networks. IDC research revealed that cloud partners had 1.6 times the recurring revenue as a portion of total revenue versus other partners1. IDC also predicts that spending on public cloud services in Hong Kong will grow from US$251m in 2013 to US$685m in 20172. At the annual Channel Kick-off, Microsoft is equipping its partners for cloud success with a robust lineup of innovative solutions, new licensing models and exciting partner support initiatives. One of the new partner support initiatives is the Microsoft Experience Club. This is a partner community with 7 different core solution groups including Office 365, Azure, SQL, SharePoint, Lync, Dynamics and CityNext. Each community club will be led by a Microsoft solution owner who will be sending technology updates to the partner club members through Yammer. In addition, members will also get to network with each other and with solution experts through regular community events. With the launch of this Microsoft Experience club, Microsoft aims to recruit more new partners to its partner ecosystem and help its partners to prosper in this new cloud and mobile era.
1 “Successful Cloud Partners 2.0: What IT Solution Providers Need to Know to Build Profitable Cloud Practices” – IDC, May 2014
2 IDC Worldwide Cloud Black Book 2013
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