Hong Kong, September 5, 2016 – Microsoft Hong Kong hosted Channel Kick-off (CKO) at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre today with the theme of Digital Transformation in Action. The purpose of the CKO is to provide opportunities for its partners to grow their business in the mobile-first, cloud-first world. This is the largest and most informative annual partner event, and provides a platform for close to 1,000 partners to connect and share inspired thought leadership.
Microsoft designed CKO to create exciting opportunities for partners within its powerful channel network. This year’s CKO focuses on Digital Transformation with a series of keynote presentations, workshops, networking opportunities, along with an exhibition showcasing the latest solutions and technologies developed by Microsoft’s partners. “We value our relationship with partners and strive to support them in expanding their businesses. Partners are facilitated to maximize their profitability potential across our complete ecosystem with reliable technical solutions, broad network profile, training and Go-To-Market resources.” said Horace Chow, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong. “We appreciate our partners’ confidence in Microsoft’s one-stop-shop platform, which reflects a very encouraging growth in our business. We strongly believe our partners’ success is Microsoft’s success. We are committed to performing our dual role of being both a technology partner and a business partner to deliver benefits to our mutual customers.”
Digital transformation ignites higher margins and faster growth in businesses of all sizes
IDC[1] predicts cloud spending will exceed US$500 billion by 2020, demonstrating increasing demand for cloud services and the importance of digital transformation in the changing business landscape. Today, opportunities are in the cloud. According to a recent IDC study, for every US$1.00 spent on Microsoft cloud, partners (with more than 50 percent of their revenue related to cloud) make an average of US$5.87 from their own service offerings. Customer demand for the Microsoft Cloud has exploded over the past year with over 85 percent of the Fortune 500 using the company’s cloud services. The company is dedicated to its mission of nurturing an optimized digital transformation journey for its partners.
First announced in 2014, Microsoft’s ISV program was created to offer its ISV partners resources for developing enterprise mobility solutions by leveraging Microsoft Azure and other resources. As part of the partner ecosystem, ISVs are key drivers of the creative implementation of Microsoft’s technologies. ISVs play a key role in building partnerships with each other to deliver complementary services that power new revenue streams. With nearly half of Azure’s worldwide consumption coming from ISVs, Microsoft is ever more committed to enabling ISV partners’ success. The all rounded ecosystem of ISV Hub, Azure IoT Suite, Microsoft Partner Network, Microsoft Go-To-Market Resources and Marketplaces sets the stage for partners to sparks new relationships and drive new business. There are over 60,000 IP partners in the Microsoft Partner Network worldwide, where partners can get support in business design, targeted training and software use rights etc. ISV partners can also leverage from the Microsoft Go-To-Market services for ISV and Application Builder portal, Smart Partner Marketing and Partner Profitability tools. To support ISV partners in delivering the best solutions to their customers, they are also ensured easy access to Azure Marketplace, Windows Store, Office Store and Partner Center.
Embracing digital transformation through Microsoft’s ISV ecosystem
Microsoft has been striving to empower its ISV partners to maximize their business potential by taking advantage of the company’s scalability and flexibility combined with the power of intelligence and security. Today it showcased two great examples of its partners’ success through TFI Digital Media Limited, Country Partner of the Year (Hong Kong) and EmployeeConnect (Greater China) Limited, one of the leading industry provider in HR software.
HERMES Video Platform, a one-stop video solution developed by TFI Digital Media Limited (TFI), provides world-class video encoding, streaming and delivery platform to businesses in the media, entertainment and education industries. TFI recognized the rising trend of video streaming and teamed up with Microsoft in 2010. “By implementing Microsoft Azure, the efficiency of our encoding process was increased significantly.” said Wilson Yuen, Founder and CEO of TFI Digital Media Limited. “This results in greater productivity via lower costs, from which we can re-invest the saved budget in R&D to further develop our own technology. The Microsoft partner engagement team also bridged us with direct business opportunities in different market segment, which vastly enhanced our salesforce.” In addition to technical enablement and partner networks, TFI leveraged Microsoft’s Go-To-Market resources to organize more marketing activities, and included customer call down campaign, joint marketing seminars, online advertising and other related marketing collaterals. With Microsoft’s technical enablement, Go-To-Market resources and its powerful business network, TFI is looking for more significant growth in its business and new opportunities to expand their footprint globally.
EmployeeConnect (Greater China) Limited, a pioneer in integrating technology to conventional HR workflow in Asia, has been relentlessly pushing the boundaries of HR technology for close to two decades. Seeing HR systems and technologies in Asia was lagging behind the global trends, Microsoft supported EmployeeConnect in extending their customer segment to SMEs through Go-To-Market resources and technical integration. “We have explored a lot of cross-selling opportunities with other partners from Microsoft’s events and the positive feedback on Azure and Office 365 facilitated us in gaining customers’ trust.” said Kenneth Holt, Director, Hong Kong and Greater China, EmployeeConnect (Greater China) Limited. “We are hoping to lead the HR technology scene in Asia by continuing our close collaboration with Microsoft. We believe Microsoft’s reliable cloud service and marketing support will further enhance our business growth and in educating the mass market.”
###
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) is the leading platform and productivity company for the mobile-first, cloud-first world, and its mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
About TFI Digital Media Limited (TFI)
TFI stands for Technology, Fun and Innovation. It is a leading one-stop video solution provider in Hong Kong, Asia and the World. We aim at bringing fun content to everywhere with innovative technology. We focus on research and application development of different video related technologies such as Live Video Encoder, File-based Encoder, Over-The-Top (OTT) and any one-stop video solutions.
About EmployeeConnect (Greater China) Limited
In the world of HR software, EmployeeConnect continues to be one of the leading industry providers of innovative solutions. We have relentlessly pushed the boundaries of HR technology for close to two decades – creating a proud and passionate business born from the need to answer questions that nobody else has asked. We operate on four key values – innovation, ambition, service, passion. We understand that actions speak louder than words and are always looking to deliver a high-quality solution to the needs of our various clients and partners. With this in mind, it is important to look back at our past and let our history speak for itself. EmployeeConnect continues to be shaped and crafted by our journey thus far and we are proud of how we have progressed since 1996.
For further information, press only:
Microsoft
Jocelyn Cheung
Tel: +852 2804 4437
Email: [email protected]
Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Microsoft
Angela Wan / Fran Tam
Tel: +852 2894 6283 / 2894 6294
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
TFI Digital Media Limited
Winnie Lam
Tel: +852 37551000
Email: [email protected]
EmployeeConnect (Greater China) Limited
Cherrie Lau
Tel: +852 9162 1011
Email: [email protected]
[1] Source: IDC eBook – Sponsored by Microsoft. Part 1: the Booming Cloud Opportunity
