28 October 2015, Johannesburg – Over the course of the year, various technology trends such as cloud computing, Internet of Things, and social networking have disrupted established business models, as well as global and local markets, while forever changing the way and speed at which people communicate and work together. This technological evolution has given rise to changes in customer and employee behaviour, values, as well as expectations, and also presented forward-looking organisations with an opportunity to invest in technology that would enable them to become more agile and gain competitive advantages over competitors.
Microsoft South Africa recently announced the winners of the Microsoft Partner of the Year Awards 2015, honouring the best companies within its thriving partner network who supported their customers in their journey towards digital transformation.
“There are a number of our partners who have really embraced our new strategy – and are really succeeding in helping our customers to transform and embrace the new technologies that are going to empower them to achieve more in this cloud-first, mobile-first world,” says Microsoft SA Managing Director Zoaib Hoosen.
New Microsoft, new opportunities for partners
Within the digital era, Microsoft’s new mission is to empower every person and organisation on the planet to achieve more by reinventing productivity and business processes, building the intelligent cloud platform, and creating more personal computing.
For partners, these ambitions translate into an opportunity to be the market maker and to help organisations invest in resources and technologies that align to their customers changing behaviours and expectations. No award encapsulates this drive, leadership, and commitment to customer excellence and service as much as the MD Award.
Hoosen explains: “The winner of the MD’s Award is a company that has made tremendous strides in helping us drive our cloud ambitions. Through this alliance, we landed some truly transformational cloud deals, both in the Office 365 and the Azure space, and have furthermore enabled rapid deployment and adoption of the solutions by our customers. I would like to thank and congratulate Avanade, who together with our alliance partners, Accenture, have really driven our local cloud strategy in over the past year.”
While change and disruption have characterised the operating environment for Microsoft’s partners, what has not changed is the company’s commitment to this partnership, which has yielded some truly world-class solutions for customers in South Africa and around the globe.
See a complete list of the winners below.
Award winners:
Business Category
• Application Development Partner of the Year Award – Intervate
• Cloud Excellence Partner of the Year Award – BUI
• Licensing Solution Provider of the Year – EOH
• Volume Licensing and Cloud Distributor of the Year – AXIZWORKGROUP
• Managing Director’s Partner of the Year – Avanade
Competency Category
• Collaboration and Content Partner of the Year – Intervate
• Datacentre / Private Cloud Partner of the Year – BUI
• Data Platform Partner of the Year – Ascent Technology
• Dynamics CRM – Karabina Solutions
• Dynamics ERP – Just Dynamics
• Hosting Partner of the Year – Business Connexion
• Learning Partner of the Year – LGIT Smart Solutions
• Messaging and Communications Partner of the Year – Galdon Data
• Software Asset Management Partner of the Year – Blackhill Solutions
• Volume Licensing Partner of the Year – First Technology