By Cally Chan, General Manager, Microsoft Hong Kong
Microsoft Datacenter Series (1/3)
Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cloud and Big Data are the key hot topics of 2018. And it’s getting hotter than ever recently. Different vendors have different propositions. How to select the best partner for your company? What are the key factors to make your digital transformation strategy successful?
One of the most important differentiators is the IT vendor’s datacenter strategy. Datacenter is imperative to your company’s digital transformation journey. It is critical for the very functioning of any enterprises. Your datacenter provider needs to be a trusted partner who you can count on at all times.
So, how to select the best datacenter provider to fit your needs? What are the key points to consider?
Consistent cloud strategy from Microsoft since 2010
Having local datacenters to support your business can provide companies with peace of mind knowing that their data is stored locally and protected by the local authorities. Another level of added value is to have a cloud vendor that has a consistent cloud strategy – they should have been in Hong Kong for a long period of time, with an all-time presence.
Microsoft has long identified Hong Kong as one of the key strategic locations for the company’s datacenter strategy in Asia. To establish Hong Kong as the datacenter hub of Asia, Microsoft introduced its first datacenter for Azure, the company’s enterprise-grade cloud computing platform, in Hong Kong in 2010.
Since then, our datacenter investment has grown tremendously to having three datacenters in Hong Kong today, as more and more companies of all sizes and industries have migrated to Microsoft Azure and Microsoft Cloud in the past eight years.
Enterprise readiness: 90% of Hang Seng Index companies are empowered by Microsoft Cloud
The second key factor for you to select the most appropriate cloud vendor is to gauge how ready their cloud system is for enterprise customers. Do they understand the unique needs of Hong Kong companies? How many Hong Kong businesses are on their cloud?
Microsoft has demonstrated continuous commitment to empower Hong Kong businesses to embrace a cloud-first world. Throughout the past eight years, Microsoft handles and protects the data of many Hong Kong companies. By November 2018, 90% of Hang Seng Index companies are empowered by Microsoft Cloud. We take pride in the trust that the largest enterprises in Hong Kong has given to us – a testimony of our cloud’s enterprise readiness.
The perfect cloud vendor should also have a sizable, holistic support team. Usually, the vendor will have a team to design, set up and execute the cloud strategy. The key differentiator is their support after service delivery. Having a locally available team for you to connect with anytime is vital to the success of your datacenter strategy. At Microsoft, our Enterprise Services consultants and field engineers, who are dedicated to providing production support around the clock, are just a phone call away should you need any assistance. Microsoft knows how Enterprise IT operates. We have your back covered.
Azure empowers Advanced Data Analytics in Hong Kong
In view of the AI and Big Data era, we understand that our customer’s world is becoming more heterogeneous than ever – from running workloads in your on-premises datacenters, to hosting at service providers and in public clouds. Our customers’ success ride on Microsoft Azure for both Microsoft products and open source technology support. Microsoft loves Linux. Azure supports many open source Operating System (OS) including RedHat and tools such as R and Python, as well as many advanced cloud services like TensorFlow, an open-source machine learning framework; Azure Databricks, a fast, easy and collaborative Apache Spark-based analytics platform; and HDInsight, an easy, cost-effective, enterprise-grade service for open source analytics such as Hadoop.
With such vast array of solutions, it is vital for us to ensure our customers enjoy the highest quality seamless services at all times. Companies can choose from over 60 Microsoft Azure services with guaranteed availability. If we do not achieve and maintain the Service Levels as agreed, we will offer service credit back to the customer.
Together, Hong Kong companies have been able to use Microsoft’s massive computing power available locally to fuel growth, spur innovation and accelerate digital transformation. I am truly excited to enable our customers to leverage the power of the cloud!
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