Microsoft Partners Come Together to Accelerate Digital Transformation Opportunities in Emerging Markets in Southeast Asia

Sri Lanka wins Six Microsoft Partner Awards at the Southeast Asia New Markets Partner Summit in Bangkok, Thailand   Colombo, September 27, 2017 –  Microsoft held its second annual Southeast Asia New Markets Partner Summit in Bangkok, Thailand earlier this month, bringing together 138 attendees from 9 markets –Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and Sri Lanka – as well as partner leaders from Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand.   With the theme ‘Connect, Collaborate & Win together’, the summit gave partners a platform  to discuss, learn and collaborate on how they can re-envision their business model to engage their customers, empower their employees, optimize their operations and transform their products with Microsoft. The company’s partner mission – “One Team” – celebrates partner successes, and focuses on helping them transform their customers’ operations with Microsoft solutions.  The two-day session also gave partners the opportunity to engage with Microsoft’s APAC leadership team, and gain insights into Microsoft’s latest product roadmap, programs and tools available to partners to accelerate their business.   A key highlight of the Partner Summit was the Partner Awards celebration night, which took place at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit hotel. Microsoft APAC leaders, including Michelle Simmons, General Manager of Southeast Asia New Markets, Valerie Beaulieu, General Manager of Small and Midmarket Partners Solutions Group, and other leaders attended the event.   The Sri Lankan partners who were recognized this year included: N-ABLE (Digital Transformation Award for Sri Lanka), Trident Corporation (Distributor Award for Top Revenue & OEM Award for Best Device Distributor-OEM & FPP), Tech One Global (Distributor Award for Top Cloud Growth), V S Information Systems (Reseller Award for Top YoY Growth) and H-ONE (LSP Award for Top Cloud Growth).   “I am delighted by the innovation and impact our partners have been delivering, and would like to congratulate all the winners at this year’s Partner Awards on their achievements,” said Michelle Simmons. “Our research has shown that just 44 percent of ASEAN business leaders believe they have a complete digital strategy in place, despite 91 percent saying they believe it is important to have an agile data-driven business. The 4th Industrial Revolution will bring profound change to Southeast Asian economies and we believe Microsoft, together with our partner ecosystem, has a unique opportunity to help businesses and organizations in their transformation journey, so as to empower millions of people in our region to achieve more.”   “It is immensely encouraging that so many of our partners were recognized at this year’s Awards Night. It serves as a testament to each company’s dedication towards pushing technology and digital transformation, reflecting Sri Lanka’s growing ICT industry. We have a strong partner ecosystem here in Sri Lanka, with over 100 partner organizations helping us to take our varied technologies to home users, businesses as well as public sector organizations and SMEs,” said Hasitha Abeywardena, Country Manager Microsoft Sri Lanka and Maldives.   From Left: Michelle Simmons, General Manager of Microsoft, Southeast Asia New Markets; Valerie Beaulieu, General Manager of Microsoft, Small and Midmarket Partners Solutions Group; Duminda Seneviratne – Head of Sales Enterprise Business, N-ABLE; Sri Shankar Chandrasegar – Technical Manager MS Business, N-ABLE; Peter D’ Almeida – CEO/ Managing Director, N-ABLE; Hasitha Abeywardena, Country Manager Microsoft Sri Lanka and Maldives; Bin Ru Tan, Small Medium Corporate Sales Lead Microsoft, South East Asia New Markets.   Photograph from the Southeast Asia New Markets Partner Summit