KUALA LUMPUR (1 October 2013) — As part of a measured and phased approach to support the growth of its Surface business, Microsoft Malaysia welcomed six new authorized resellers to the Microsoft Devices Program. The program establishes a newly designated group of authorized device resellers in Malaysia to support the growing demand by Malaysian businesses for the Surface device, hailed for its productivity capabilities in a consumer-friendly form factor. The newly appointed commercial resellers, which will be ready to transact today are:
- Alphamatic Systems Sdn Bhd
- CTC Global Sdn Bhd
- Felda Prodata Systems Sdn Bhd
- Jardine OneSolution Sdn Bhd
- Night Electronics (M) Sdn Bhd
- Sistem RKK Sdn Bhd
It was further announced that Ingram Micro Malaysia Sdn Bhd would serve as the sole distributor to the authorized commercial device resellers.
Today’s commercial expansion is in line with Microsoft’s continual commitment in bringing improved productivity and mobile services to businesses with Surface. With the addition of Malaysia, the total markets that have announced commercial channel availability for Surface is now 29 countries, including the latest countries – Hong Kong, Korea, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand in the Asia Pacific region.
“Microsoft is proud to announce that these new partners can transact today, and we’ll be working with them to scale their sales and marketing capabilities in the coming months. This phase of authorized resellers were selected because of their extensive knowledge, services and support they’re able to bring to the Surface family,” said Azizah Ali, Director of Small and Medium Solutions and Partners, Microsoft Malaysia, at a press conference announcing the appointment of these new commercial partners.
In addition to offering Microsoft’s extended warranty and accidental damage, these partners bring a variety of value-added services to the Surface family such as asset tagging, custom imaging, kitting, onsite service and support, device recycling, and data protection.
“The addition of these authorized resellers greatly expands the reach of the Microsoft devices-and-services strategy, extending the company’s family of devices enabled by cloud services to more organizations,” said Azizah. “This is very much in line with what we’ve been striving to do since the launch of Surface – to provide avenues for businesses to harness the power of Surface, and today, Malaysian businesses will have more commercial options in terms of purchasing Surface, allowing them to concentrate on what matters most – building their businesses.”
A growing demand by businesses for the right technology
One such example of how businesses are turning to Surface as well as other Microsoft devices and services to grow their business can be seen in JAC Photography, which specializes in events and portraitures. Chris Choong, entrepreneur and co-founder of JAC Photography & PhotoMe.my, was on hand at the event to explain how they adopted Microsoft’s devices and services – with the Surface RT at the epicenter – to give them a differentiating appeal to their customers and allow his company to focus on the details that matter.
“The advances in camera technology have given rise to a new generation of photographers who can more readily monetize their work. Today, many pick up a DSLR camera and start envisioning their own photography studio – which, of course, provides a challenge for traditional studios such as us. We needed to come up with a new and unique service proposition for customers that sets us apart from the competitors out there. What would benefit our customers, improve efficiency, and if possible, make us cool too? We found the perfect answer in Microsoft,” said Chris.
Chris then demonstrated how they leveraged a configuration of Surface RTs along with Windows 8 laptops and Microsoft’s free cloud storage service, SkyDrive, to create an entirely new enhanced event experience for their customers. “It took us awhile to come up with the idea and to devise a configuration that enables it, but going with Microsoft has made it a worthwhile investment. For example, at a typical wedding banquet, our photographer will shoot photos of guests at registration during the pre-dinner reception. With Wi-Fi connectivity, these photos are transferred to a Windows 8 laptop for quick editing and enhancement, and subsequently uploaded to SkyDrive. Then, a Surface RT will upload these photos when guests can tag themselves via social media tagging to be featured on the company’s Facebook page. The same photos will be simultaneously projected as a slideshow in the ballroom. Our customers and their guests think the concept of tagging themselves on a Surface RT as a very cool experience and it provides them an almost ‘live on the red carpet’ feel. We have had tremendous positive response to this new concept and, in fact, providing this feature as a service has opened up additional revenue streams for us,” Chris enthused.
Apart from satisfied customers and a growing reputation, a simplified workflow also means increased efficiency for the business. JAC Photography has seen as much as a 15% increase in efficiency that has led to higher productivity and a better return on investment. With less manual work needed to complete each transaction, JAC Photography is getting more done, with less. As a result, customer satisfaction is on the up.
“Now, imagine what it could do for other businesses and enterprises!” quipped Chris.
Azizah rejoined that this was exactly what businesses can expect to see when they leverage on Microsoft’s devices and services, saying, “Microsoft strongly believes that businesses should focus squarely on the success and growth of their business, while we help them achieve this through our technology. With Surface and other Windows devices, as well as services such as our cloud-based Office 365 and SkyDrive, businesses and enterprises can become truly revolutionary while focusing on driving efficiency, productivity and profitability. It’s a winning formula that we are delighted to help our customers discover through our commitment to transforming Malaysia together.”
“Chris’ example today underscores a growing demand by businesses for Surface and reaffirms our decision to appoint our six new commercial resellers to support this need. We look forward to working closely with our partners, both now and in the future, to better serve our commercial customers,” she concluded.
Malaysian consumers will still be able to purchase their Surface devices through the following authorized retailers: Challenger Technologies, Harvey Norman Malaysia, SNS Network and Thunder Match Technology, along with the newly appointed Aone Plus Supplies & Services, IT One Superstore, Machanics, MTCS Group, PC Image, SenQ and Viewnet Computer System. This now brings the total number of authorized consumer retailers in Malaysia to 11.
Additional details on Surface are available at http://www.Surface.com/my, the Surface Blog and Surface on Facebook.
