Microsoft Celebrates Outstanding Partners Reinventing Productivity for Businesses and Consumers in Malaysia

Microsoft Partner Awards 2015 recognizes local partners for excellence in helping Malaysian businesses, consumers leverage cloud and mobility; Telekom Malaysia crowned Microsoft Malaysia Country Partner of the Year 2015

KUALA LUMPUR, 9 March 2015 – In supporting its commitment to being the productivity and platform company for a mobile-first, cloud-first world, Microsoft Malaysia recently recognized its most valuable and outstanding partners in a celebratory awards night. At the Microsoft Partner Awards 2015, a total of 14 winners were announced, underscoring the fact that companies are starting to realize that a key part of maximizing success – including revenue opportunities – comes from leveraging the cloud and mobility trends.

The Awards recognizes excellence in the IT sector from companies that have integrated Microsoft’s solutions into their products and services to accelerate innovation and go above and beyond customer expectations. Award winners were chosen from local partners and were selected from a group of nominations based on their dedicated use of Microsoft technologies to provide solutions for their customers’ needs.

Reimagining work and life for a mobile-first, cloud-first world

“For more than 20 years in Malaysia, Microsoft has worked closely with our partners to help Malaysian businesses transform through the cloud so enterprises get the most out of their IT investments, contribute to business bottom lines, improve efficiencies and maximize resources. Our local partners have continually demonstrated early leadership in the cloud business and have shown promising wins in partnership with us, spanning the Public Sector, Enterprise, and SME segments,” said Azizah Ali, General Manager, Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners, Microsoft Malaysia.

Azizah continued, “Likewise, we are making exceptional progress with our partners to move from a world where time and place dictate what we can do, to a truly mobile world – a world where people, not devices, are at the center. With our personal and professional lives blending into one, mobility is changing how we work and live – our apps and tools need to work well across different devices, anytime, anywhere. We are driven to help businesses and consumers achieve more by giving them the best possible tools for any moment. We are delighted to celebrate and recognize the outstanding partners who are helping us accomplish all this.”

Telekom Malaysia (TM) Bhd – the country’s pioneer and largest integrated telecommunications solutions provider – took home the Microsoft Country Partner of the Year Award that distinguishes the company as having demonstrated business excellence in delivering at scale Microsoft O365-based productivity solutions to SMEs as an integrated part of their current offerings to this segment. TM was praised for its innovation, competitive differentiation, and customer value that resulted in a profitable business for the partner and showcased the benefits of using Microsoft Cloud services.

“We would like to thank Microsoft, and we are absolutely thrilled to be announced as the top Country Partner of the Year for Malaysia. This symbolizes the extensive efforts that have been put in from the Microsoft and TM teams to create real impact in Malaysia and bring transformation to businesses – just as our tagline goes: Business Made Easier with TM,” said Mohamad Yusman Ammeran, General Manager, Mass Business Sales, Consumer & SME, Telekom Malaysia.

Microsoft possesses the largest partner ecosystem in the industry, investing over US$5 billion annually in channel operation, also the largest amount in the industry. In Malaysia alone, the company maintains over 5,000 partners nationwide, the largest in Malaysia’s IT industry.

Full list of winners at the Microsoft Partner Awards Night 2015 are as follows:

Cloud services market entering the “innovation stage”

According to IDC[1], the cloud services market is now entering an “innovation stage” that will produce an explosion of new solutions and value creation on top of the cloud. In what it has identified as “cloud-first” strategies, IT vendors are expanding their offerings and IT buyers are implementing these new solutions – driving the rapid growth in demand for public IT cloud services. As the number of applications and use cases explode, cloud services will reach into almost every business-to-business and consumer services marketplace.

“The Microsoft Cloud helps businesses of all types scale rapidly to meet changing needs, unlock new insights and drive productivity in a connected world. Our partners’ transformation experiences in the marketplace have in fact sparked confidence for others to undertake the same journey, and more importantly, is an opportunity to demonstrate that by leading in with the cloud, local service providers, Microsoft partners can grow their business profitably. Putting channel partners first in Microsoft’s go-to-market strategy will continue to be a priority for us, to drive business profitability for our partners and their customers,” concluded Azizah.

In the latest version of Microsoft’s IDC-commissioned research which outlines actionable insights for partners into how they can achieve profitability in the cloud, cloud-oriented partners – defined as those who generate more than 50% of their revenue from the cloud – grow at 2x the rate; amass new customers more than 2x faster; and generate 30% more revenue per employee compared with non-cloud-oriented partners[2].

For more information on cloud partner profitability with Microsoft, please visit http://aka.ms/cloudpartnerprofitability

Find out how to build a profitable cloud business at http://aka.ms/cloudcore

[1] Worldwide and Regional Public IT Cloud Services 2014–2018 Forecast, IDC Oct 2014
[2] Successful Cloud Partners 2.0, IDC eBook 2014

Top Image: Azizah Ali, General Manager, Small and Midmarket Solutions and Partners (SMS&P), Microsoft Malaysia (center) flanked by award winners at the Microsoft Partner Awards 2015, with Rukmani Subramanian, Chief Marketing & Operations Officer, Microsoft Malaysia (far right).

Tags: Microsoft Partner Awards, Microsoft Partners & ISV, Telekom Malaysia