Microsoft Sri Lanka to recognise top players in IT industry
Wednesday, 11 September 2013 00:01
-
- {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Microsoft Sri Lanka will hold their annual partner awards 2013, to appreciate and celebrate outstanding performances by their loyal partners through the year. The partner conference, which is one of the most important dates in the Company’s event calendar, will take place at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel on 13 September, with the participation of top-rung members of all Microsoft partner companies, who are also lead players in the country’s IT industry.
The performance of Microsoft partner companies belonging to two main categories – Enterprise partners and distributors – will be assessed and appreciated at the conference. Based on a comprehensive evaluation, awards will be presented to them under various categories such as Best Large Account Reseller (LAR), Best Distributor, Best Partner – Maldives and Best ‘Attached at Source’ COEM Partner.
The best LAR award recognises a partner that has demonstrated leadership, commitment, and strong performance driving Microsoft Annuity Revenue in Sri Lanka. The ‘Best Partner – Maldives Award’ will be presented to the most outstanding partner based in the Maldives.
The partner ecosystem constitutes an integral part of Microsoft’s business in Sri Lanka, with the company’s business model focusing on its partners driving business goals. Partners receive a wide range of direct support and training services from Microsoft throughout the year and in turn, they deliver Microsoft technologies to end-users. In this engagement, a strong focus is given to ‘quality of service’ and the ‘Partner Conference and Awards’ will drive partners towards achieving higher standards.
Special time for Microsoft
“This is a very special time for Microsoft not just in Sri Lanka but globally. There are some big and exciting changes happening. Microsoft’s transformation to a devices and cloud services company has enabled our partners to build new business models aligned with customer demands to help him to grow profitability. At the core, our products are designed to be sold, built on, and deployed by partners and we are committed to engaging with our partners deeply to ensure they grow their business with us,” says Microsoft Country Manager Imran Vilcassim. He says that in the Microsoft ecosystem, Partner Profitability is based on two aspects – top line – enabling them to participate in the expanded market opportunity in which they play by providing cloud, as well as hybrid, on premise and hosted solutions; and bottom line, reducing their costs of sale through various business models, taking advantage of Microsoft’s investment in training.
“We are in a great position to grow aggressively in the next three years. Our focus around Cloud based services, Enterprise Social, Big Data, Devices and Mobility puts us in a strong position to capitalise on the shifting demands of our customers. Microsoft’s mission is to provide opportunities for partners of all sizes to participate in the cloud opportunity by providing solutions on-premise, online and in hybrid environments, offering choices for customers; our services were designed for partners to build on with their solutions, while ensuring the industry’s leading security, interoperability and SLAs. The cloud has enabled a new breed of ‘Born in the Cloud’ partners to emerge, who have differentiated their solutions on the Microsoft platform. Services such as Windows Azure enable partners to build applications and services in the cloud with faster time to market and lower investments. There is a fast growing group of companies in this category.”
Rewarding distributors
Although the company introduced the LAR award for the first time this year, they also place special emphasis on their distributors who will also play a prominent role in the Awards. Microsoft greatly appreciates Tech One Global which has partnered them as a distributor for the last nine years and now as a LAR. Trident Corporation is another key distributor which has been a part of the partner eco system for the last five years.
Speaking on behalf of the partners, Zillione Technologies Director and Chief Operating Officer Kanchana Silva said that they had a great year with Microsoft, having achieved a 25% growth in terms of finances. “Zillione is the most awarded partner for Microsoft and that track record itself gives us impetus in the market. Also, we are their oldest partner and the support we received over the past 10 years has been tremendous,” the Director said.
This year, Zillione also became a Premier Partner of Microsoft, which he says gives them the full backing of Microsoft Premier Services. “With that, we have access to round the clock support of the Microsoft product team and that has elevated the level of our service, giving us a significant edge over other competitors.” In addition, he says, Zillione also conducts workshops for high-end customers with the support of Microsoft’s product team.
N-Able (also a LAR of Microsoft) Managing Director/Chief Executive Peter Almeida, extended his gratitude to Microsoft, for the support provided throughout the year.
“We are a fast growing company with a clear view towards creating value. For us, Microsoft, which we consider a very important strategic partner, is a great strength,” he said.
Almeida says there are two main aspects of support they get from Microsoft. “On the one hand, its presence in Sri Lanka and the capability of the team. We, as partners, get their close attention and that helps us deliver a better service. On the other hand, with Microsoft technology, we are able to deliver business relevant solutions, rather than technology based solutions. Businesses actually need business relevant solutions, and not technology based solutions. Technology based solutions are for tech teams, not for business.”
Having achieved all their desired targets last year, N-Able is ahead of their numbers this year. The CEO adds that N-Able’s current plans would take the company towards a speedier growth over the next three years.
H-One, the IT arm of Hirdaramani Group, another LAR and a Premier Support Partner of Microsoft, has ended the year on a winning note.
“Our growth last year was 66%,” said H-One CEO Samath Fernando. “As the lead cloud service partner of Microsoft, we have a very strong relationship with the company and its team. We also set our targets parallel to those of Microsoft and that, I think, is our success secret. For instance, when Cloud technology was introduced, we in no time decided that we would embrace it. We were able to sign 16 Enterprise Agreements during the last financial year and that was a significant milestone. The proactive approach with which we worked with Microsoft helped us in achieving high results.”
LAR, MillenniumIT has also had several exceptional achievements throughout their partnership with Microsoft. MIT Head of Microsoft Business Sanjaya Dayananda, said his company won ‘Best Partner of the Year’ last year from Microsoft Worldwide. MIT also became the LYNC Premier Support Partner of Microsoft last year.
“Such recognition gave us more confidence. This time, there was a 25% year on year growth in our revenue, and we achieved our internal targets, although we didn’t have a commitment with Microsoft in terms of numbers. However, it has been a good year and we had great support from Microsoft. We provide Microsoft solutions such as Lync, Cloud, SharePoint, collaboration and messaging solutions.”
With such endorsements from most of their key partners, Microsoft Sri Lanka looks forward to another dynamic partner conference, which will celebrate successes and strengthen existing bonds to meet the ever-increasing demands of a highly challenging market.
