Launches Office 365 cloud technologyGLOBAL software giant, Microsoft, has solicited the support of the Federal Government in the fight against piracy and intellectual property theft among other vices in the technology ecosystem of Nigeria.Microsoft, which linked piracy to increasing poverty rate, stressed that it has become very important to fashion out ways of curbing the menace if Nigeria's in order to avoid wanton economic losses.Speaking through its Nigeria Country Manager, Mr. Emmanuel Onyeje, in Lagos at the weekend, Microsoft said piracy was currently hindering positive activities from the country's software sector; movie industry; music industry among others, describing it as a limitation for the country's growth economically.A report released in May this year by Business Software Alliance put the commercial value of unlicensed software installed on personal computers in Nigeria at $251m (about N38.9bn) in 2011, stressing that 82 per cent of software deployed on PCs during the year was pirated.Onyeje, who stressed that there was need to have stronger anti-piracy law that would further allow the copyright commission to bite and perform its duties better, said there was also need to create more awareness on the dangers of piracy in the country, 'piracy is the fastest way by which international cybercrime cartel perform their operations. They invest several millions of dollars on piracy. They invest in malware, spamware to break into may corporate organizations data.'Speaking on the launch of Microsoft Office 365, Onyeje said the product was a next-generation cloud productivity service for businesses of all sizes in Nigeria.According to him, Office 365 was made commercially available in Nigeria in June, adding that the service will serve the hundreds of thousands of small and midsize business customers in the country.'We are evolving from the information age to the collaboration age, where the ability to take action on information will set successful businesses apart from the rest. The launch of Office 365 in Nigeria will accelerate that evolution by delivering enterprise-grade collaboration for all businesses - large and small', OnyejeSpeaking at the media launch, Information Worker Business Group Lead for Microsoft Africa, Marc Israel, said the introduction of Office 365 to Nigeria has the potential to fuel business and economic transformation across the region by delivering cost-effective, flexible access to enterprise-class IT, adding that it provides the productivity backbone for modern businesses in Africa.'Office 365 brings together Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Exchange Online and Microsoft Lync Online in an always-up-to-date service, at a predictable monthly cost. The service was introduced in limited beta last year with enthusiastic response, particularly among small and midsize businesses. Over a few months, more than 10,000 organizations around the world, many of which were small and midsize businesses, signed up and began testing Office 365, creating one of Microsoft's largest global beta programs for businesses', he stated.Describing it as a game changer, Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer, ATB TechSoft Solutions, Abiodun Atobatele, said moving to the cloud with Office 365 doesn't require a business to change the way it works, because the service is based on familiar productivity tools people know and trust, including Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Access and more. He said employees get new ways to work together with ease, on virtually any device or mobile phone, and businesses get the reliability, security and IT controls they need in the cloud, even without a dedicated IT staff.'We thoroughly evaluated other cloud productivity offerings in the market before choosing Microsoft. Office 365 is the right choice to help our company support the way people work today and encourage a more mobile work environment. With the service, we have the added benefit of working together with familiar tools on almost any device and can make quicker decisions when needed', he stated.
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