Microsoft Services Asia

History

The Microsoft Services division was established in 1990 to provide professional services for its enterprise customers. The introduction of client–server model and client server technologies created opportunities for an explosion of corporate desktops and a need for a dedicated enterprise strategy division within Microsoft. The growth of the internet in the nineties and the subsequent rise in corporate spending fueled the growth of this sector as well.

Microsoft Services

The Microsoft Services organization provides IT consulting services and solutions through a network of IT professionals all around the world. It has billions of customer and partner interactions per year through onsite, phone, web, community and automated tools, helping organizations plan, deploy and run their current and future IT investments in support of their business goals. It also provides consumer customers and business partners with end user support services. A range of services, such as high level program and partner management services, is available for Microsoft's portfolio of offerings by audience segments: Enterprise, SMB, Consumer, Advertiser, Developer, and Partner.

Its Microsoft Dynamics business applications, which supported Microsoft's largest Dynamics enterprise resource planning (ERP) deal in Australia and Microsoft SharePoint.

In addition, Microsoft Services provides IT support and solutions to government bodies. In 2011, the organization established a partnership with Brunei to develop the country's e-government objectives. This was achieved through the Microsoft Academy, a mentorship and training programme that develops the IT skills of government employees. In July 2012, the first batch of trainees successfully graduated from the Microsoft Academy program.

There are 3 major service offerings: Enterprise Strategy, Consulting and Premier Support.

Enterprise Strategy

Enterprise Strategy provides high-level consulting services where an employee, called an Enterprise Architect (EA), is attached to the customer to provide strategic consultations regarding the company’s IT architecture. The EA assesses the customer’s IT infrastructure from a business perspective, before engaging with the customer to come up with a strategic plan to manage their IT investments and support the customers’ business goals.

Consulting

Consulting Services consist of Architecture and Planning, Technology Optimization Services, Business Productivity Services and Industry Services across the solution life cycle from planning to deployment. The Consultants assist with the adoption and deployment of Microsoft technologies employed, especially in areas of technology optimization and business application services.

In 2012, Consulting Services entered a strategic alliance with IT Infrastructure provider Microland to provide cloud computing solutions to large enterprises in the Indian market.

Premier Support

Premier Support caters to different IT environments and needs by offering different levels of service. There are five levels of Premier Support offered – Foundation, Standard, Mission Critical, Plus and Ultimate - ranging from proactive services to problem resolution services.

Broad Customer Service and Support

Microsoft Services Asia provides commercial and consumer support, customer service, and call center program support.

Enterprise Customer Support consists of a 24-hour support team that is available online, or through email and telephone, to resolve the customer’s problems. There is also self-help and community content available on the Microsoft Support website for a variety of Microsoft products and services. It also provides hands-on assistance to enhance the customer’s IT investments and the knowledge of its IT staff.

Microsoft Services Asia has three Business Customer Support Centers. These are in Shanghai, China; Tokyo, Japan and Bangalore, India, Isloo, Pakistan

There are also eleven Consumer Customer Support Centers in Asia. These are in Shanghai and Wuxi, China; Taipei, Taiwan; Manila, Philippines; Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Seoul, South Korea; Hyderabad, India; and Sapporo, Tokyo, Okinawa, Karachi, Pakistan and Yokohama in Japan. On 26 July 2013, Microsoft announced the official opening of a new Customer Support and Service Site in Wuxi to deliver technical services and support to customers in China, and non-voice English support worldwide. Microsoft will invest approximately CNY$300 million and hire 550 employees from the region in the next three years.

In 2009, the Microsoft Asia Pacific Greater China Service and Support team received two Customer Relationship Excellence awards from the Asia-Pacific Customer Service Consortium. The awards were for "Global Support Services of the Year", and "Customer Satisfaction Quality System of the Year".

Microsoft Services Global Delivery

The Microsoft Services Global Delivery (MSGD) is the delivery arm of Microsoft Services worldwide, with a pool of co-located consulting-led delivery professionals who deploy solutions for Microsoft customers across industries and geographies. The Microsoft products and technologies include Office 365, Windows 7 deployment, Windows Azure and Data Center Services, among others, and aim to promote productive use of Microsoft software and services.

The Global Delivery organization was awarded the Capability Maturity Model Integrated (CMMI) Level 5 certification by the Software Engineering Institute from the Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. They were also awarded the ISO 27001 certification by the British Standards Institution.

The Global Delivery organization has offices in India - Hyderabad, and Bangalore and nearshore centers in Warsaw, Poland; Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Tokyo and Chongqing.

On 29 May 2013, Microsoft Services in China announced that they had signed an agreement with the Chongqing Municipal government to establish a Microsoft Global Service Delivery Center in the Chongqing Economic and Technological Development Zone, Microsoft's first delivery center in China. The facility will provide consulting, application, development and delivery services, and will have 500 employees within the next three years.

Key Players

Raymond Yates, Vice President, Asia

David Vander, General Manager, Enterprise Services, Asia Pacific

Yen Tseng, General Manager, Enterprise Services, Greater China Region

Jaspreet Singh, Group Director, Enterprise Services, India

Jean-Philippe Grenet, General Manager, Enterprise Services, Japan

John Nielson, General Manager, Asia Global Business Support Delivery

Amit Sircar, General Manager, Global Delivery