SEA New Markets General Manager Michelle Simmons, Microsoft Sri Lanka & Maldives Country Manager Brian Kealey, Microsoft Asia Pacific (Windows) General Manager Guenther Weimer & Microsoft Asia Pacific (Application & Services) General Manager Byron Radar - Pic by Bhanuka Kirinde

By Shehana Dain

Newly appointed Microsoft Country Manager for Sri Lanka and Maldives Brain Kealey shared the tech giant’s future intentions to collaborate with the Government to help achieve the good governance goals.

Kealey also highlighted the company’s interest to uplift the local Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector and to improve ICT literacy in the education system and rural areas. He expressed his views at the launch of Windows 10 and Office 2016 on Tuesday.

“We have continuously partnered with state sector organisations to help them take advantage of trends like cloud computing and mobility to truly deliver the good governance ambition. Projects like the megapolis represent opportunities for Sri Lanka to connect with other cities around the globe. We believe technology like the internet of things and cloud computing will make the difference in these projects,” he added.

Speaking to the Daily FT he noted that with Microsoft’s experience around the world, bringing transparency and improving governments, the company is looking forward to the partnership.

He revealed that the company is currently having discussions with them concerning devices and wireless infrastructure in regional areas. “The prime intention is to bring the best of what we see around the world to the Government, to help them understand areas they may not have seen,”

He further highlighted that the previous Microsoft Country Manager for Sri Lanka Imran Vilcassim who relinquished his duties recently, had requested him to continue the project to drive the SME sector.

“Thanks to cloud computing and options like Office 365, our SME customers can have the same capabilities the largest global companies have access to and those technologies are more affordable than ever today.”

Highlighting the areas the Sri Lankan ICT sector should improve in order to facilitate new technology, he stressed: “The world is changing very fast and it changes faster every day. Lot of SME’s are focused on running their businesses and delivering today rather than what they can do in the future. So I think the opportunity and space for the adoption of cloud computing and mobile devices is critical.”

“There’s no Trip Advisor for Colombo businesses to be easily found. So I think there’s some opportunity for tech companies too, to work on that idea.”

Speaking about the company’s contribution to take ICT to the rural areas of the country, he stated: “We have already deployed teams to rural areas of the country to collaborate and train our local partners and local businesses in the area so that they won’t be stuck in that dot matrix printer era. In the last month, my team had been to Maldives and also Galle and three cities in Sri Lanka conducting training camps and boot camps.”

Microsoft reinvents productivity with Windows 10 and Office 2016

Microsoft Sri Lanka launched Office 2016 in tandem with Windows 10 on Tuesday (22) while their new generation operating system was unveiled earlier in July 2015. 

The two platforms together according to Microsoft is the most complete solution for perfuming daily IT routines. The Office 2016 apps run beautifully on the best Windows ever, including the new Sway for Windows 10 to create shareable, interactive stories that look great on any screen.

Windows Hello logs you into Windows and Office 365 in one simple step. Office Mobile apps on Windows 10 empower on-the-go productivity, including use with Continuum so you can use your phone like a PC.

Office 2016 apps are the latest addition to Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based subscription service that helps people do their best work, together. The company also announced new and enhanced Office 365 services that further demonstrate how Office has expanded to become a powerful suite of integrated apps and services built for team productivity.

Windows 10 offers a safer, innovative and updated experience for the supported lifetime of a device and is expected to mark the beginning of a more personal computing era in the mobile-first, cloud-first world.