Microsoft Sri Lanka creates new opportunities for partners
Tuesday, 17 September 2013 00:28
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Friday the 13th this month was a night of triumph for key players in the IT industry, who gathered at the Cinnamon Lakeside, Colombo to participate in Microsoft’s annual partner awards. Partners from both Sri Lanka and the Maldives were present at the event.
For Microsoft Sri Lanka, it was an evening of celebrating longstanding relationships and strengthening ties with their wide reaching partner network. The Partner Awards was attended by Microsoft dignitaries Asia Pacific SMS&P General Manager Stanimira Koleva, South East Asia New Markets SMS&P Lead for Bharat Mirchandani and Desk Top & Devices Regional Lead Christopher Perez Estonina.
It was a night of victory for Hirdaramani Group’s H-One Limited who bagged the most number of key awards. The Company won best O365 Partner of the Year, Best Dynamics Partner of the Year, the Best Partner led competitive Win back of the Year as well as the best Large Account Reseller Award, which was one of the three main awards presented at the event.
But the winners of the night were many, with Trident Corporation Ltd. winning two awards: the best ‘Attached at Source’ COEM Distributor of the Year and Best Distributor of the Year; Metropolitan Office Ltd., the Best COEM Partner of the Year, Microimage Mobile Media Ltd., best ISV Partner of the Year; NetAssist International Ltd, best Learning Partner of the Year; MS Technologies Ltd., best Public Sector Partner of the Year and Open Systems Integrators Ltd. best Reseller of the Year. The best Country Partner Award of the Year went to Millennium Information Technologies Ltd., whilst the best Partner of the Year Maldives was won by MAXCOM Technologies Ltd.
There were several special awards made this year, in recognition of valuable contributions made to Microsoft. HSBC was awarded in recognition of their partnership to empower rural youth. Individual awards were given to Dhammika Weerakoon of MIT and Prasad Jayamaha from H-One who were recognised for their outstanding contributions towards Microsoft Business in FY 13.
The new Country Manager for Microsoft Sri Lanka and the Maldives, Imran Vilcassim, addressed the gathering saying that new and exciting opportunities are awaiting partners in the next Financial Year. He thanked everyone for their support towards Microsoft’s success in FY13. “Over three major companies have shifted to the use of Office 365 as well as Yammer for which you alone are responsible. On our side Microsoft is playing an important role in the technology evolution of Sri Lanka. An unprecedented number of Apps have been developed which has local relevance and these Apps are going to drive a lot of momentum in the Sri Lankan software market. We as a team are deeply committed to your business. Microsoft Sri Lanka is a young and new team butwe are hungry, eager, and passionate to grow with you,” he said adding that change is the only thing that is constant in this world, and they needed to work together to create opportunity.
A highlight at this year’s partner awards was a testimonial to Microsoft Sri Lanka’s efforts in technology advancement to rural Sri Lanka. A special tribute was paid to Microsoft and their community partner Sarvodaya Fusion, by Nimalan, a resident of Jaffna who went up on stage and explained how Microsoft had made a difference in his life. “I did not have any idea how to use a computer so I decided to follow a basic computer course which led me to win a Microsoft scholarship for a diploma in computer science through Sarvodaya Fusion. Before that I did not have a job, and now I am employed as an Accounts Clerk thanks to Microsoft.”
Koleva made a presentation on the overall business strategy and leading programs that deliver value for enterprise customers (corporate accounts), small-and medium-sized businesses and the big opportunities that are available for Microsoft partners in Sri Lanka and the APAC region.
Other presenters including Bharat Mirchandani, Christopher Estonia talked of the move Microsoft was making towards capturing market leadership in Mobile, Devices and the Enterprise Social segments. A demonstration by Christopher showed how these devices can work not merely as touch devices but also in the enterprise sphere with the superior advantage of Windows 8 and 8.1.
Microsoft Sri Lanka also highlighted the four key priorities for partners to concentrate on in the coming year, which consisted of Cloud, Mobility and Device, Big Data and Enterprise Social. The user friendly features of Windows 8.1 were also demonstrated, showing how it can be used both on a touch screen surface as well as a desktop.
