Bangkok – 11 October 2016 – Microsoft (Thailand) Limited has announced its futuristic vision and unveiled the latest innovations to drive Thailand onward to success in the Digital Transformation journey across all dimensions of development. This transformative vision seeks to boost Thailand’s capability for innovation, reinforce competitiveness across the business sector, develop next-generation talent, and open up opportunities for all to harness the true potential of digital technologies in creative, constructive, and secure ways. To illustrate said vision, Microsoft showcased a number of success cases from all around the world – including a Thai-language chat bot, cloud technologies that help businesses cut costs and increase agility, software solutions for startups, public-sector partnerships, new advances that bring together objects and environments around us to unlock their connected capabilities, and reinforcement of security and privacy in the digital world.
“For Microsoft, Digital Transformation is neither a choice nor the future. It is an imperative that is already forcing organizations and individuals to adapt in order to survive and thrive,” said Orapong Thien-Ngern, General Manager at Microsoft (Thailand) Limited. “As a global technology leader, Microsoft has contributed to various digital transformation successes for organizations and people across the globe in many aspects. These successes are founded on the four key pillars: engaging customers, empowering employees, optimizing business and transforming products/business.”
To underline Microsoft’s ability to drive Digital Transformation at all levels, Orapong showcased actual applications of Microsoft technologies on a global scale – including notable examples such as General Electric’s industrial Internet of Things (IoT) platform Predix, powered by Microsoft Azure; UBER’s enhanced security feature based on driver selfie verification using Microsoft cognitive services; and ThyssenKrupp’s predictive maintenance solution for elevators, which significantly increases elevator uptime and reliability.
In Thailand, Orapong announced the first Thai-language chatbot capable of intelligent answers and suggestions. Developed by Betimes Solutions Limited, the bot is built using Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence Suite as an automated channel for text-based communication with full capability for natural-language conversations in Thai with users. Developed for deployment on the web and through Skype, this technology is currently being primed for use by several customers – including both government agencies and the private sector.
“Aside from these cutting-edge innovations, Microsoft continues to build upon our collaborative efforts with various sectors to drive development on a national level. One of the most recent examples of this commitment is the memorandum of understanding with the ‘Pracharat’ Initiative for a Competitive Workforce – led by the Office of the Vocational Education Commission (OVEC) – to provide a cloud-hosted platform named Microsoft YouthWorks for digital learning and career opportunities. Other examples include the Partnership for Innovation through the Chula Engineering Innovation Hub, which seeks to equip new generations of engineers with innovative technological skills, and the Government Security Program Agreement with Thailand’s Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), through which Microsoft will provide information on internet safety, cybersecurity threats, vulnerabilities and related guidance to uplift digital security nationwide,” added Orapong.
Siriporn Pajharawat, Director of the Developer Experience & Platform Evangelism (DX) Group, Microsoft Thailand, said “One of Microsoft’s core strategies is to support the educational sector by developing IT professionals and technologists for the country. In light of the ‘Thailand 4.0’ strategic framework for development, professionals and technologists with IT expertise are in high demand to raise the country’s competitiveness and develop the IT industry over the long run. This is a national agenda to combat the insufficient supply of quality human capital that can carry out the sustainable development of the country’s economy and society.”
At an individual level, Ekaraj Panjavinin, Country Lead – Consumer Group at Microsoft Thailand, said, “The digital shift is taking place at great pace due to the expanding scale of digital technology utilization – both at work and in everyday life. Since virtually everyone has a device in their hands, anyone can become a technologist who can create, work, and live anywhere, anytime, using any connected device. Through the power of the cloud, devices are becoming more connected and more intelligent as a result of advances in machine learning, powerful algorithms, artificial intelligence, and more. These invisible technological forces promise to create an entirely new ecosystem for everyday life. At Microsoft, we continue to invest heavily in researching and developing new technologies and ways to deliver them to our users – from Windows 10 as a service, Azure IoT, and intelligent cloud applications to the establishment of a new research department focused on artificial intelligence. Our mission is to make these powerful technologies a seamless part of everyday life. Increasing the capabilities of devices is one thing, but the priority for us is to widen the access to technology for people and ultimately empower every person and every organization to do and achieve more in the mobile-first, cloud-first world.”
“However, in an always-connected world where all information can be accessed more easily than ever, we also stand a greater chance of exposure to cybersecurity threats. The use of counterfeit software will expose users to dangers such as malware or personal information theft. This makes genuine software the ideal choice to ensure a constant stream of security features and updates as well as trustworthy data privacy in this new era,” added Ekaraj.
At a business level, Microsoft highlighted the significance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in line with the 2015 study by the Board of Investment Thailand (BOI), which indicated that SMEs make up 99.7% of companies in the Thai economy and account for 80.3% of total employment.
“A world where mobile and cloud technologies lead the way will bring about a game-changing environment where business size and experience are no longer indicators of competitive advantage,” said Tanapong Ittisakulchai, Small and Midmarket Solutions & Partners Lead at Microsoft (Thailand) Limited. “Cloud solutions such as Office 365 and Microsoft Azure can transform how small businesses operate. With the cloud, there is no longer any need to invest heavily in infrastructure. With greater flexibility to respond to market conditions, your business can choose to invest in areas that have more direct impact on your bottom line. Microsoft’s business customers span the entire range from small startups to international companies, such as Dusit International, that need to compete against domestic and international rivals. Our technologies allow all businesses to offer superior experiences that are more in line with expectations in this digital era. We empower Thai businesses not just to adapt to this new world but also step up to become proud symbols of Thailand’s strengths.”
Microsoft is also announcing its new “SMEs IT Pack” campaign to offer 1,000 GB storage space in the cloud, company email addresses and website domain names, along with other special offers such as Microsoft Office Online courses by SkillLane – all starting at only 6 Baht per day. The offer is available from today until 26 December 2016. The first 500 SMEs participating in this campaign will also receive a free domain name. In addition, all participants will be entitled to special discounts on Office 365 Business Essentials for a minimum subscription of 3 users. For more details, please contact 02 263 6888. Additional information on Microsoft solutions can be obtained via Microsoft’s authorized partners or https://www.microsoft.com/th-th.
On this occasion, Microsoft Thailand is also officially opening its new-look office for members of the press for the first time. Designed under the concept of ‘Intelligent Workplace,’ the new Microsoft Thailand office seeks to foster a flexible workstyle where employees have no designated seats and can choose to collaborate with any colleague. Four types of collaborative rooms – meeting, focus, phone, and open spaces – empower teams to work together and deliver their best work. Each meeting room is equipped with a variety of connectivity options designed for remote collaboration and teleconferences – including real-time image or video presentation via Skype for Business. Furthermore, employees can answer calls to their desk number from any location as each number is directly connected to devices such as laptops and smartphones. While staff can choose to keep their personal belongings in provided lockers, valuable documents are safely stowed online in the cloud. With SharePoint, employees are empowered with the ability to view, work together on, and share various documents from anywhere with no security concerns. These innovative workplace practices are designed to empower employees, enable remote work, and improving productivity. With a Desk Sharing Ratio (DSR) of 1.6:1, the new office allows employees to seek out each other at work with the Find Me app, which provides visual reports on desk usage in real time.