Microsoft ups Thai investment

Microsoft Asia Pacific president Emillio Umeoka, who oversees operations in 12 countries including Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Southeast Asian countries,  said the next chapter of the investment plan in Thailand will start with increasing the number of human resources at the Bangkok office from 260 to 520 people across departments, such as research and development, marketing and sales, within the next three years.

"Thailand is an important country for Microsoft. We have been in the country for the past 15 years. We plan a long-term investment in whichever country we target," Umeoka said.

The company also plans to support and encourage Thai software companies to get CMMI certification. Under the plan, it will work with the government, universities, and local software associations and offer the certification at a subsidised cost.

"Local companies need to get at least a CMMI level-3 certification to be able to export their software. Getting the certification takes about 24 to 30 months and costs about Bt1.5 million. We will offer consultation services and a subsidy to help them get certified," Umeoka said.

Currently, the company is working with the Association of Thai Software Industry, the Software Industry Promotion Agency and the Software Park Thailand to establish the programme.

"We cannot confirm the amount of subsidy right now but in Brazil we had offered about a 30-per-cent subsidy reduction. So far, about 100 companies have shown interest in the programme. We will hold discussions with our partners to shortlist from them," Umeoka said.

Another area of investment is the expansion of Microsoft Innovation Centres in provinces. Umeoka said the centre will work with the government and local research centres to provide facilities for conducting research and development and help their software get export certification.

"We hope to develop about four to five Microsoft Innovation Centres in the next couple years," Umeoka said.

The company will also continue its Microsoft Unlimited Potential programmes, which will target the education sector.

The programme aims to double the number of existing teachers to 100,000 and increase the current 6 million students to about 12 to 15 million students, within the next five years.

"More investments in research and development for the healthcare sector and in localisation laboratories are expected to come from  Microsoft," Umeoka said.