Malta is no longer an emerging market." This is the assessment of Andrew Lund, regional communications sector director for Central and Eastern Europe at Microsoft, who spoke to i-Tech at the fringe of a recent training session organised by Microsoft for around 200 sales people from Central and Eastern Europe and held in Malta.
"The Maltese market is ready for new services as in the UK for example. People are mentally ready to use a new wave of multi-play products. I expect to see more convergence of home and business services thanks to mobility devices which allow people to work from home and continue working while they are on the move."
Mr Lund explained to i-Tech the various strategies adopted by Microsoft in the field of communications, where the software giant is providing different business software solutions. These include new Telco Business Solutions for new mobile and internet providers as well as alternative or non-traditional suppliers, such as cable companies that have moved into fixed-line or mobile telephony.
Microsoft's three Communication Sector business areas are meant for Telecommunications companies, for Media and Entertainment companies, and for Hosting companies.
Asked why traditional telco companies had to provide new forms of communication, Mr Lund was quite clear.
"They had to do it!", he insisted. "For example Cable operators have to be vigilant to get new revenues, the most agile companies tend to be the smallest ones. The large Telcos are still getting good revenues from old business but the market is changing quickly and they need to move quickly to capitalise from this; we want to work together to enable them to achieve this."
The transformation of established companies into communication providers and the emergence of new small providers led Microsoft to create a solution that fits the needs of these players.
"Telcos have large CRM (customer relationship management) solutions but new entrants do not want to pay millions for this. Microsoft's business solutions come in with a NET-based technology. Microsoft's Customer Care solution is made of different building blocks, including CRM, billing etc. SMEs seek this modular approach and the desire that the technology is interoperable. They do not want constraining back-end systems.
"What is exciting for me is that Microsoft tends to sell things that are quick and easy to deploy compared to other companies and this is more attractive to small telecommunication providers," he admitted. Asked about how these solutions can be applied to different business sectors that rely on communication, Mr Lund gave an example based on travel and tourism, one of the pillars of Malta's economy.
A Belgian systems integrator, City Live, came up with the concept that visitors to a city would need information on that city. City Live, together with Microsoft and local authorities provided information services and made a pilot launch in the small Belgian city of Hasselt.
"The tourism market drives a lot of take-up. I see a lot of opportunities in that area as well. Now we are looking to take the concept to other cities." Asked about the challenges and opportunities that modern businesses in the communication and media sectors are facing, he mentioned the time factor.
"Communication technology is ubiquitous and we have mash-ups of information and content through different means like TV, mobile and PC. The biggest challenge is how to deliver the services to customers quickly and dynamically. The biggest opportunity for Telco operators is built on their strong relationship with customers through the billing and usage information; Telco need to utilise this customer information in a similar way to Google!"
"The Maltese market is ready for new services as in the UK for example. People are mentally ready to use a new wave of multi-play products. I expect to see more convergence of home and business services thanks to mobility devices which allow people to work from home and continue working while they are on the move."
Mr Lund explained to i-Tech the various strategies adopted by Microsoft in the field of communications, where the software giant is providing different business software solutions. These include new Telco Business Solutions for new mobile and internet providers as well as alternative or non-traditional suppliers, such as cable companies that have moved into fixed-line or mobile telephony.
Microsoft's three Communication Sector business areas are meant for Telecommunications companies, for Media and Entertainment companies, and for Hosting companies.
Asked why traditional telco companies had to provide new forms of communication, Mr Lund was quite clear.
"They had to do it!", he insisted. "For example Cable operators have to be vigilant to get new revenues, the most agile companies tend to be the smallest ones. The large Telcos are still getting good revenues from old business but the market is changing quickly and they need to move quickly to capitalise from this; we want to work together to enable them to achieve this."
The transformation of established companies into communication providers and the emergence of new small providers led Microsoft to create a solution that fits the needs of these players.
"Telcos have large CRM (customer relationship management) solutions but new entrants do not want to pay millions for this. Microsoft's business solutions come in with a NET-based technology. Microsoft's Customer Care solution is made of different building blocks, including CRM, billing etc. SMEs seek this modular approach and the desire that the technology is interoperable. They do not want constraining back-end systems.
"What is exciting for me is that Microsoft tends to sell things that are quick and easy to deploy compared to other companies and this is more attractive to small telecommunication providers," he admitted. Asked about how these solutions can be applied to different business sectors that rely on communication, Mr Lund gave an example based on travel and tourism, one of the pillars of Malta's economy.
A Belgian systems integrator, City Live, came up with the concept that visitors to a city would need information on that city. City Live, together with Microsoft and local authorities provided information services and made a pilot launch in the small Belgian city of Hasselt.
"The tourism market drives a lot of take-up. I see a lot of opportunities in that area as well. Now we are looking to take the concept to other cities." Asked about the challenges and opportunities that modern businesses in the communication and media sectors are facing, he mentioned the time factor.
"Communication technology is ubiquitous and we have mash-ups of information and content through different means like TV, mobile and PC. The biggest challenge is how to deliver the services to customers quickly and dynamically. The biggest opportunity for Telco operators is built on their strong relationship with customers through the billing and usage information; Telco need to utilise this customer information in a similar way to Google!"