Author's entries

Leading telecommunications provider will deploy Microsoft Office 365 and Yammer as part of a strategic initiative utilizing IT for better business results and a competitive edge.

Lagoa Secondary School in Portugal, is making learning more accessible to students with disabilities while bringing some fun. One creative step Lagoa took was to incorporate into their curriculum Microsoft Kinect for Xbox 360 – an advanced gesture-based gaming system. Basically, no controller is required and this has been a key factor in the Lagoa administration’s decision to adopt Kinect...

ABBA is not having a reunion, but fans can now interact with the band thanks to ABBA The Museum! Stockholm's new museum is set to open its doors today May 7th – ABBA The Museum at Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. ABBA The Museum has developed part of the exhibition's content together with Microsoft. The new museum is expected to be one of Stockholm's major tourist attractions and also make...

Finnair’s customers soon will be the first airline passengers in the world to have the opportunity to try the Windows 8-powered HP ElitePad 900 tablets as in-flight entertainment.

In the battle of the buzzwords, “big data” is about to render “guestimation” obsolete.

Seventy-nine percent believe they could save at least 500 hours per year through smarter management of personal to-do lists. Less than half say they fully take advantage of technology to free up time.

As always on our website, we try and bring you a wide variety of opinion pieces from external specialists on our key topics . One such topic is Intellectual Property (IP) protection, which we consider as a very important driver of innovation and growth in the digital economy.

A network of hospitals and health care facilities in Germany used cloud computing to increase their access to files in a reliable and secure way while lowering IT costs.

In this case study you can read about how through cloud computing, SIVECO Romania’s solution helped the Ministry of Education lower costs and offer new and more reliable services to the public.

In this case study, you can read about how IEG4 used cloud computing to help local UK governments deliver services faster and minimize costs.

As always on our website, we try and bring you a wide variety of opinion pieces from specialist guest bloggers from both the private and public sector.

In this case study, you can read about how Aer Lingus scales up their operations with cloud computing and improves customer experience to drive revenue for the company.  

In this case study, you can read about Belgacom, a telecommunications company being able to focus on increasing competiveness after unifying its IT systems with cloud computing.  

In this case study, you can read about London Borough of Newham’s leading example of utilizing cloud computing in public sector services and sharing technology with neighbouring boroughs which has resulted in improved service delivery and digital engagement with its citizens.  

Kiel University of Applied Sciences, founded in 1969 in northern Germany, has six faculties and 5,600 students. It has a reputation for innovative degree courses with intensive modularized learning in small groups, and is known to tailor their curriculum to meet industry needs.

In this case study, you can read about the Irish Music Rights Organisation (IMRO), a non-profit that has not only gained transparency with its operations through cloud computing, but has also helped protect music rights of musicians and producers who are an integral part of the SME economy in Ireland.

In this case study, you can read about innovative entrepreneurs that opened the doors to Italian small business in helping ministries with commercial waste management.

In this case study, you can read about a partnership between Microsoft and the Spanish company, Telefónica in creating a solution for software developers to minimise their business risk by simplifying revenue collection.

Looking for web-based teaching tools to prepare its students for the future, Kello School in Finland deployed Microsoft Live@edu to give students a rich online learning experience, foster peer collaboration and enable students to work away from school all within a secure online environment.

We had the great pleasure to chat with Julie Meyer, one of the leading champions for entrepreneurship in Europe, at this year’s Microsoft BizSpark Summit. Julie talked to us about the business ideas that get traction with investors, gave us some tips and tricks on successful entrepreneurship, and the role of cloud computing in driving business and economic growth in Europe. Julie introduced the...

In this case study, you can read about how a Madrid based company has developed a cloud solution to enable its 17,000 residents help the city council maintain its 245,000 trees and keep the city green, with the help of an innovative SME – Tecnigral.

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing helps the Hungarian Water Rescue Service free up more than 1,500 man-days to focus on saving more lives, with the help of an innovative SME - Central Europe On-Demand (CEOD).

In this case study, you can read about Procore, a Dutch company setting precedence for other SMEs with its flexible, forward thinking business model and way of work with the smart use of cloud computing.

In this case study, you can read about how Partners HealthCare has enabled increased accessibility of healthcare by making health data and communication between patients and providers possible virtually through cloud computing.

Continuing my cloud conversation with Microsoft International’s president Jean-Philippe Courtois, we now talk about the ongoing availability of cloud technologies for citizens.

In this case study, you can read about the Lincoln Specialists Schools Group (LSSG) which is making advanced and specialised school courses available to students in Lincoln through cloud computing, and fighting the decline in student population in rural UK – with the help of an innovative SME - F1 Group.

In this case study, you can read about how TradeFacilitate, an Irish company successfully scales-up its operation to serve a larger market without proportionally adding more personnel and technology resources.

Cloud computing brings great benefits to Europe’s start-ups and SMEs in terms of cost benefits, ease to up-scale their businesses and efficient computing capabilities. Besides using the cloud power to operate their own business, SMEs also have the opportunity to widen their portfolio and innovate by building new applications and services on the cloud platforms.

Following the recent economic downturn, public sector administration across Europe have had to make some tough financial decisions, whilst still ensuring high quality and cost effective services for the ever more digital citizens in Europe.

SMEs working in the ICT arena  are very aware and started to take advantage of the significant benefits in cloud computing - particularly how it can help drive efficiencies and make products and services available to a wider audience.

In this case study, you can read about how students and staff at the University of Bologna can now collaborate and learn anytime and anywhere, thanks to cloud computing.

In this case study, you can read about how the shift to cloud computing has enabled up to 60% cost savings in Italy’s largest paediatric research and treatment centre, freeing up more resources to be invested in research.

In this case study, you can read about cloud computing has enabled the Government of Catalonia to expand its IT infrastructure to support 144,000 users in a cost-effective way.

Middlesex University serves 33,000 students, with campuses in London and Dubai.  The university was using an on-premises e-mail system based on Microsoft Exchange Server that it wanted to expand to meet the growing volume of e-mail and to offer students a variety of online tools for collaboration.

Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist on ICT, Rob Bernard, passed through Brussels again last month. I had the chance to continue from our  previous discussion on how ICT can contribute to a cleaner economy, and get his views on how cloud computing can reduce a European company's environmental footprint.

In this case study, you can read about how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) collaborated with Microsoft in developing an interactive application to engage citizens in the exploration of Mars.

In this case study, you can read about how a French software development company is managing to stay competitive in the gaming industry by having an easily scalable IT cloud infrastructure that can meet demands of the unpredictable social, casual gaming market. Headquartered in Paris, France, Kobojo is a software development company that produces social, casual games that customers can access...

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing has provided the Associated Press (AP) with new opportunities to open its revenue streams and find new customers for its content. The Associated Press (AP) provides up-to-the-minute news and information for newspapers, radio, television, and the Internet, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

In this case study, you can read about how the European University Institute (EUI) overcame limitations in storage space of its previous email system with cloud computing, achieving 100 times more storage and 43% in cost savings. The European University Institute (EUI) was set up in 1972 by the six founding Member States of the European Communities to provide advanced academic training to...

Valentine’s Day isn’t the only day in the year to show someone you care! My colleague Claire Lee spoke with one of our partners, ParcelGenie, and learned how they make gift giving simple.

It’s a humbling experience talking with CEOs of European start-ups, particularly in the ICT sector.

In this case study, you can read about how HCL Technologies is enabling enterprises to easily monitor its carbon footprint which is helping businesses and governments’ better account and manage carbon emissions.

In this case study, you can read about a Catalonian centre which is helping Spanish businesses become more productive through collaboration with Microsoft in providing Microsoft Office 365, an enterprise-class, cloud-based solution.

We had the chance to chat to Peter Jungen, the President of the SME Union and Chairman of Economic Policy council of EPP at the European Parliament. He shared with us his view on European innovation and entrepreneurship.

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing helps a Nordic hotel chain save up to 3 million SEK on IT maintenance costs annually.

It’s a clear message my colleagues gave me at a recent event: the ICT industry and cloud computing are key components in helping to reduce the carbon footprint in Europe.  But of course ICT people would say that, I hear you cry!

In this case study, you can read about LoveCleanStreets, a cloud-based application that helps London authorities manage street care with the help of crowdsourcing – supported by an innovative SME bbits.

In this case study, you can read about an Italian company providing flexible, cost-effective communication and collaboration solutions to businesses, especially timely during tough economic times.

How can small businesses succeed in a market as internally varied as Europe? Will current EU regulation further help the growth process for businesses?

This is another really nice piece on the power of cloud computing. My colleague Mark Drapeau, Director of Social Engagement talks about the massive energy boost this ‘pay as you go’ approach to IT offers anyone moving to the cloud. And he literally means anyone: from the one-man start-up, through to small and medium size businesses, universities and schools, as well as public administration....

In this case study, you can read about the cloud solution developed by a French SME currently deployed to more than 3500 users in 300 offices around France.

In this case study, you can read about how MiniLiner, an air-cargo firm is managing chaos caused by scaling up and saving up to €50,000 annually by switching to a cloud-based communications solution for its employees.

In this case study, you can read about cloud provides a simplified communications solution for a Spanish company who went virtual, helping them boost competitiveness and reduce costs.

During the BizSpark Investor Summit in Paris last month our Chairman for Microsoft Europe, Jan Muehlfeit, was interviewed by CNBC to give his views on the opportunities for small and medium-sized companies to grow in today’s “gloomy” economic climate in Europe.  The fast-paced interview also touches on cloud computing, software for devices market and the growing problem of piracy in...

Watch my colleague Niels Soelberg, Vice President Public Sector Sales, Microsoft speak about the need for sound collaboration between industry and government in the interest of better healthcare provision.

In this case study, you can read about how Chronorace, a logistics company, handled huge demands for accessing multimedia on its Brussels Half-marathon website after the event with Windows Azure, the Microsoft cloud platform.

In this case study, you can read about a small Danish business, able to adopt enterprise-class messaging and collaboration software and grow with the help of cloud computing.

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing helps a German company expand its service offerings in new ways, opening new doors and creating new opportunities for growth. Computacenter is one of Europe’s leading independent providers of IT infrastructure services.

In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing helps Dutch orthopaedic centre help 30% more patients and scale up without worrying about continuously expanding or managing escalating IT expenses. Annatommie is an orthopaedic diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation centre in the Netherlands. With ambitious plans to open 14 offices, annatommie needed to automate manual processes to...

In this case study, you can read about YouSAAS, a software vendor who achieved an increase of over 20,000 users in six months due to cloud computing. Founded in 2006, YouSAAS is a Microsoft® Gold Certified Partner that offers its reseller and independent software vendor partners a shared platform to sell hosted solutions.

We were at the Go digITal event during eSkills week earlier March and spoke to a number of ICT students present.

In this case study, you can read about how the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) worked with Active Web Solutions (AWS) to develop a cost-efficient, cloud-based application to help them save more lives at sea. High numbers of deaths at sea is a major concern for anyone in the fishing industry, with an estimated 24,000 crew members drowning worldwide each year. To try and prevent these...

In this case study, you can read about the partnership between the European Environment Agency (EEA) and Microsoft to develop the “Eye on Earth” application on cloud to give Europeans data on water and air quality. An agency of the European Union, the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides independent and reliable information on the environment for policy makers and the general...

In this case study, you can read about how Aviva, a global organisation who unites its operations in 28 countries with cloud computing. Aviva is a global life and general insurance services company built around the needs of its customers. It has offices in 28 countries with 54,000 employees serving 50 million customers, and first started operating more than 300 years ago.

In this case study, you can read about how the Swedish Red Cross (SRC) has boosted communication within its organisation by 50%, after implementing the Microsoft Online Service cloud offering. The Swedish Red Cross (SRC) is the largest humanitarian voluntary organisation in Sweden. Their work improving conditions for people requires a great deal of coordination across the organisation, especially...

  In this case study, you can read about how cloud computing has enabled a Dutch hospital to switch to a cost-effective email solution to comply with changes in regulation in a quick and seamless manner.

In this case study, you can read about how a French SME was able to provide a flexible, hosted, and worry-free communication solution for its consultants through cloud. Based in Lyon, France, Peaks is an IT company with a mobile workforce of consultants deployed at customer sites. Peaks wanted better messaging and collaboration tools for its consultants to share data and expedite service. It...

In this case study, you can read about the Royal Mail Group has improved their efficiency by giving its employees reliable & simple ways to access information through the adoption of Microsoft’s cloud solution. In the United Kingdom the Royal Mail Group has expanded their IT services agreement with CSC to include Microsoft’s Business Productivity Suite from Microsoft Online...

Last week I published a video interview I conducted with Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer, where he explains his vision of cloud computing.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s Chief Research and Strategy Officer, when he was last in Brussels.

As part of its drive to foster innovation and the knowledge economy in Europe, the Commission has designated 2009 as the Year of Creativity & Innovation.

The President of Microsoft International, Jean Philippe Courtois, was recently interviewed in the back of a cab (of all places). In a 3 minute interview you can hear Jean Philippe’s views on how all business and jobs are ultimately the result of innovation via cooperation between the worlds of academia, science, business and finance. The result is the creation of enabling technologies which will...