Ralph Haupter, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and CEO of Greater China Region, speaks before an audience in Changchun, the capital city of northeast China's Jilin Province. (Photo : www.wantchinatimes.com)
Ralph Haupter, Microsoft Corporate Vice President and CEO of Greater China Region, expressed confidence on the potential growth of China’s economy in an interview with China Daily.
Haupter said that as part of the company's readjustment move to the new Chinese economic policies and realities such as the "new normal" and the Internet Plus initiatives, they will continue with carrying out the transformation of the business, adding that the strategy is to innovate with China.
The company also plans to work together with customers, partners, academia and government to identify challenges and provide innovative solutions together.
The executive also enumerated their three business goals, namely, to provide intelligent cloud services in China, forge close partnership with industry partners and developers, and engage with government and communities to empower social development.
During the interview, Haupter also revealed that Microsoft will take advantage of the Internet Plus initiative by providing a cloud computing service to connect business with IT, which they will do by offering services in big data solutions, artificial intelligence applications and IoT (Internet of Things) to help businesses increase productivity and efficiency.
The executive also expressed confidence on China's economic performance in 2014 and expects more success in the future. He added that in 2014, their cloud platform Windows Azure was successfully launched in China and has now more than 50,000 clients, including MNCs, SOEs, SMBs and startups.
They have also successfully built CTE ecosystem with 46 CTE partners developing Windows devices that are now available in more than 175 retailers in 53 countries, he added.
Haupter further said that China's future development lies in becoming an innovation center and that the new engine for the country's economic growth would be its innovation-driven development.
He added that China's industry giants such as Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent have created a large number of successful and innovative startups. He sees the country's energetic ecosystem, down-to-the-market companies and forward-looking talents as factors that will shape the landscape of global innovations, which will form a vital part of Microsoft's global business.
Haupter has served nine years at Microsoft. He is responsible for the strategic and operational leadership of Microsoft GCR, and tasked to fully optimize, integrate and capitalize on Microsoft's business and investment in China to ensure sustainable growth and success.
