Microsoft New Zealand news stories

The Microsoft New Zealand Partner Awards are coming up again — and Microsoft has kick-started the fanfare today with an official announcement of the finalists.

With the achievement of the Cloud Security Advanced Specialisation, which recognises capability and expertise with Azure Security services, DEFEND is the first company in the world to achieve all four Microsoft Advanced Specialisations.

"The personal features in Teams will provide users the ability to better connect, plan, coordinate, and share together online." 

Microsoft has announced the New Zealand findings from its first annual Work Trend Index. 

Quesnel comes into the new role off the back of over three years as AI business group lead for Microsoft Azure New Zealand, where he was ‘instrumental’ in building Microsoft NZ’s business. 

"This appointment has taken us a while due to COVID19 and our commitment to only hiring the best of the best talent."

The company made $27.3 million in profit for the year ended June 2020, compared to a loss of $3.8 million the prior year.

According to newly published survey results, 85% found innovation to be hard before COVID-19, while now just 40% express the same sentiment.

“I am delighted and grateful for the opportunity to lead the Specialist Team Unit at Microsoft."

Microsoft New Zealand has announced the expansion of its senior leadership team, with the appointment of Nigel Parker to the newly created role of customer success unit lead.

The move will see the dairy giant migrate a large portion of its operations and critical data from on-premises data centres to Microsoft Azure once the ground-breaking data centre region is launched.

Microsoft's bombshell announcement last month to build a data centre region in New Zealand made waves with the country's enterprises. Graham Dwyer and Ray Deklerk discuss the wider implications and benefits.

"The digital transformation of the economy is driving demand for tech-enabled jobs across almost every industry and with it demand for people with digital skills."

The country’s successful fight against COVID-19, and its status as a ‘standout nation’ as characterised by the Fletcher School’s Digital Evolution Index, means New Zealand remains an ‘attractive market’ for continued investment, according to GlobalData.

Microsoft is calling the announcement a ‘major milestone’ towards delivering enterprise-grade cloud services locally.

No stranger to Microsoft, Bain spent seven years at the tech giant working with both enterprise customers and partners. 

Microsoft’s AccountGuard service aims to strengthen cybersecurity for those campaigning for the election, or for government organisations involved in political education or analysis.

Current Microsoft New Zealand enterprise director Vanessa Sorenson will succeed Shears as NZ general manager from April 1.

“Public sector is such an important sector for us, and we wanted to make sure we had the right person leading the team. Thankfully, we didn’t need to look far."

Local ExpressRoute services will initially be provided by Megaport, Vocus, Spark, Kordia and Devoli.

Microsoft New Zealand director of commercial and partner business takes new role across the Tasman. The search for his replacement has begun.

"The tool is a fantastic example of how AI is being used for good – in this case, delivering large-scale, grassroots solutions to our growing litter problem in New Zealand."

The increase only affects commercial online services priced in New Zealand dollars and is limited to cloud products only.

Fundamentally AI is used to help automate repetitive tasks within businesses, however, it’s not always quite as easy as flicking a switch.