The collaboration is part of Microsoft’s ongoing support for the cloud-based digital transformation of the enterprise
Hong Kong, 9 November 2016 – Centaline, Microsoft Hong Kong and TFI Digital Media Limited (TFI) today announced the launch of Hong Kong’s first-ever online video property viewing service. While some agencies offer limited video footage of luxury properties via YouTube, Centaline has developed its cutting edge, cloud-based video as a value-add to its existing property viewing website and mobile apps, ultimately targeting as many as 5,000 property listings.
The solution will allow Centaline’s approximately 4,500 agents to shoot video footage, edit and upload instantaneously by using their mobile devices, providing house hunters with unprecedented visual access to every part of their prospective home. The enormous computing power of Microsoft Azure empowers TFI to provide a bespoke video platform for Centaline to transcode and render the property videos efficiently, and to centralize the storage and management of these videos. Both Centaline and TFI can reduce investment on any upfront IT infrastructure as Microsoft is capable of offering cloud capacity, scalability and connectivity on demand.
All Centaline’s agents act as directors, bringing real-time audio visual coverage along with details of the property listings to the house hunters’ palms. Buyers can enjoy a better purchasing experience without worrying about tight schedules or the remote locations of the properties. CentaVideo soft-launched a month ago and, since then, over 3,300 video clips have been uploaded, with over 5,000 property video clips forecast to follow in the next six months. Already, the click-rate of online property ads with video clips is five times higher than those without.
With plans to invest no less than HKD 50 million on IT and agency system development, Centaline will soon take the further step of opening this technology up to property owners who have listed properties with Centaline, to enable them to upload the video clips themselves. “This collaboration is one more critical step in realising Centaline’s vision of successfully leveraging digital transformation at the heart of our business’ growth,” said Addy Wong Wai Hung, CEO, Asia Pacific at Centaline. “We strive to leap forward from conventional house viewing and increase sales opportunities by providing a well-resourced database and flexibility to buyers.”
Centaline is partnering with TFI, an award-winning, state-of-the-art video technology company which provides video streaming and over-the-top (OTT) solutions to businesses in every sector, such as film distribution, entertainment, education and tourism, etc. TFI’s cloud-based video technology brings truly impactful, high quality video to the Hong Kong property market for the first time. “TFI’s OTT video technology benefits different business sectors and continues to re-write the history of media in Hong Kong. The Video Cloud platform for Centaline will not only facilitate property transactions or big-data analytics from a business perspective, but also build up a cultural heritage database of properties in Hong Kong with far-reaching impact simply beyond our imagination today. After all, there is nothing more important than our home,” said TFI’s visionary Founder and CEO, Wilson Yuen.
Today, opportunities are in the cloud. 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. Horace Chow, General Manager of Microsoft Hong Kong, stressed that Microsoft is dedicated to its mission of nurturing an optimized digital transformation journey for its partners, “Microsoft is deeply committed to empowering our partners in expanding their businesses in the mobile-first, cloud-first world, leveraging digital transformation to do more and achieve more. This most recent “market first” event demonstrates the power of the cloud yet again, and we are very proud to partner with Centaline and TFI to bring this unique online property viewing service to Hong Kong.”
[1] Source: IDC eBook – Sponsored by Microsoft. Part 1: the Booming Cloud Opportunity
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About Centaline
Founded in 1978, Centaline Property Agency Limited is the flagship of the Centaline Group today. Throughout the decades, Centaline has extended its services arm from residential sector to various sectors including commercial, industrial, retail, car-parking spaces, bank-owned real estate properties and government quarters. In recent years, the company has evolved to be a one-stop property services provider.
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 and Asia. Our vision is to “Bring Culture, Content & People Together”. We use state-of-the-art video streaming technology to bring content to every corner in the world smoothly and ubiquitously. TFI focuses on research and application development of different video related technologies such as video encoding, live streaming, and Over-The-Top (OTT) Platform for all internet connected devices.
For further information, press only:
Centaline
Ada Lam
Tel: +852 2501 1891
Email: [email protected]
Microsoft
Jocelyn Cheung
Tel: +852 2804 4437
Email: [email protected]
Hill+Knowlton Strategies for Microsoft
Fran Tam / Dora Zhang
Tel: +852 2894 6294 / 2894 6292
Email: [email protected] / [email protected]
TFI Digital Media Limited
Winnie Lam
Tel: +852 3755 1000
Email: [email protected]
