For a better tomorrow
Microsoft is charting a novel course in the region with its business initiatives and social endeavours. Mayank Singh reports

We are a passionate company which believes in doing things in an imaginative way,” says Charbel Fakhoury, general manager, Microsoft Gulf. If passion is the leitmotif of Microsoft, then Fakhoury is its best exponent. Having joined Microsoft Corporation in December 1998 as the business development manager for Eastern Mediterranean countries covering Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus, Syria and Malta he was promoted in January 2001 as country manager for the region. In March 2002 he opened a representative office in Jordan followed by the opening of an office in Cyprus. In 2001 he was awarded with the MGS (Microsoft Global Summit) Award for his outstanding contribution to Microsoft from Steve Ballmer, CEO, Microsoft Corporation. In June 2002, Eastern Mediterranean region became one of the five Middle East sub-regions based in Lebanon. Fakhoury was promoted as the general manager of the newly established subsidiary in January 2003. His responsibilities included demonstrating how Microsoft could help local economies benefit from the digital evolution process.

Promoting ICT awareness
Having started operations in Oman in 2001 the company has been working towards fostering a digital society in the sultanate. The corporation is partnering the government on a number of initiatives. As a part of a K12 programme, Microsoft trains students from kindergarten to high school. In 2004 Microsoft signed a five year old Partners in Learning agreement with Oman’s government. The five-year agreement encourages school teachers, staff and students to use ICT to improve the learning process and it supports teachers in raising their awareness level. The agreement includes programmes to help provide cost effective software and learning resources for communities throughout Oman. Says Fakhoury, “Microsoft is a strong believer in knowledge transfer as a better skilled younger generation can contribute more to industry and society.” Microsoft’s Partners in Learning initiative, launched globally in September 2003, recognises the educational value of technology in schools. Global in scope and local in implementation, this initiative provides a significant investment of software and more than $253mn in cash grants worldwide.

“We are tackling the issue of promoting ICT in higher education through Imagine Cup, the competition is not a Microsoft agenda but promotes a culture of innovation,” says Abdullah Nasser Lootah, country manager – Oman, Microsoft. Imagine Cup challenges students to imagine a better world enabled by their own talent and also to contribute directly to the future of technology, software and computing. Teams develop innovative technological and digital media projects that offer real-world solutions to real-world problems. Talal al Rahbi, chief of information and awareness division, Information Technology Authority (ITA) is the Omani representative and judge for this years competition. The initiative has attracted 460 applications from Oman this year.

Growth drivers
On the business side Microsoft’s multicore business has been concentrating on four areas. One, innovation and solutions for desktop products. Second, enterprise servers and solutions which includes windows, virtualisation solutions, security etc. Third, online services like Internet clubs, live advertising and searches. Says Fakhoury, “This is an area that has been growing significantly over the last ten years because of the investments going into R&D and we have a big marketshare in this.” Four, the devices business like X-box, media player etc.

Microsoft has been growing at over 20 per cent in Oman year-on-year. The company is confident that it will continue this growth in the coming years due to a number of factors. Firstly, there is a commitment on part of the sultanate’s government to make Oman a digital society. Second, Microsoft is upgrading its capacities to meet the country’s future ambition. For example, in the last one year its staff strength has grown from eight to over 20 (this excludes its staff working at the Innovation Centre). Says Lootah, “Our last quarter results have been better than the corresponding quarter’s result in the last three years. The government is doing a good job though there is still room for improvement.”

While the growth potential of the market cannot be disputed, Oman has its own set of challenges. For example, the level of software piracy in the sultanate according to Business Software Alliance (BSA) stands at 62 per cent, the highest in the region. Comparatively, in the UAE the level of software piracy is 34 per cent. Says Fakhoury, “There is a good commitment on the part of the government to check piracy.”

Microsoft’s vision is to take the power of the Internet services and deliver services across devices. Its Vista operating system for example comes equipped with the highest level of security. Vista is also conditioned to save power consumption – another important idea at Microsoft. “We are constantly working on making Microsoft a greener company,” says Fakhoury. In its effort to reduce carbon footprints it has tied up with Dubai Municipality for the Microsoft Authorised Refurbisher (MAR) Programme. The MAR’s programme works with refurbishers to provide legally-installed Microsoft operating systems on donated computers to eligible recipients.

The primary goal of MAR’s programme is to increase the number of donated and low-cost computers available to charitable organisations, academic users and other Microsoft approved recipients. In addition, MAR’s benefits the environment by helping keep serviceable computers out of landfills. In collaboration with Dubai Municipality and Mohammed Bin Rashed Al Maktoum Humanitarian and Charity Foundation, Microsoft has refurbished more than 2500 PCs that have been distributed to different eligible organisations in the Gulf region as well as in different countries like Sudan.

On a personal level too the company encourages employees to contribute to society. Every employee gets three days paid leave to do community work every year. “Our effort is to encourage local talent and add to their skills,” says Lootah.

Financial meltdown
The global financial crisis does not seem to be a major cause of concern for the company right now. The company though is keeping a keen eye on the way events are shaping up. “We have not seen any major crisis or bankruptcies in the region, neither has there been any slowdown in the number of projects taking off,” says Fakhoury. The company is satisfied with the way the software industry has shaped up in the region in the last three-to-five years and is looking at better years ahead.