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Media Release
6 November 2003
Microsoft Office System Poised to Save Singapore up to S$1.7 Billion a Year
Singapore's information workers could save 92 million productive hours a
year
Singapore - Microsoft today officially launched the new Microsoft Office
System in Singapore, heralding a new era of productivity for Singapore's one
million information workers. In its biggest launch ever, Microsoft Singapore
introduced over twenty new and upgraded products with the potential to save
Singapore businesses S$1.7 billion worth of productive time each year.
A recent study by US-based Navigant Consulting* has shown that information
workers who use the Microsoft Office System can reap an average of two more
productive hours each week. In Singapore that could add up to a staggering
92 million productive hours a year, or S$1.7 billion of useful time based on
average wages of S$3,000 a month.** Navigant's study also revealed that the
median period in which businesses could expect to recoup their investment in
the Microsoft Office System was just eight months.
In Singapore, local early-adopters such as ST Engineering, DBS Bank,
Singapore Management University, Nanyang Technological University, Siemens,
Temasek Polytechnic and Ren Ci Hospital and Medicare Centre are already
using the Microsoft Office System and reaping significant benefits from it.
At the corporate launch event, Andy Pickup, Director, Business and Marketing
Organization, Microsoft Singapore, said, "Productivity gains can add up
rapidly, and that's important at a time when Singapore's businesses are
under pressure to make the most of every dollar. The Microsoft Office System
enables people to collaborate and to manage a growing flood of information
more productively, which is great news for Singapore's one million
information workers and the companies that employ them."
Strong Singapore support for the Microsoft Office System
The Microsoft Office System is gaining momentum and positively impacting
organizations in Singapore, with several local customers across diverse
industry sectors already using a range of Microsoft Office System products.
Singapore Management University is Singapore's leading business-focused
university, founded in 2000 with a mandate to nurture a new generation of
creative entrepreneurs. SMU instructors are using the Microsoft Office
System to design a completely new approach to classroom instruction.
Chairman of SMU's Faculty IT Advisory Board, Associate Professor Leong Kwong
Sin, said, "Office 2003 has greatly enhanced the faculty and students'
productivity and increased the quality of our course delivery. The feedback
from the students is that they believe their learning experience has been
enhanced by our use of technology."
Singapore Technologies Engineering is using the Microsoft Office System's
XML capabilities to build new solutions to enable people to visualize
information and act on it quickly. XML is a system for defining information
that enables programs to share data easily. ST Engineering Chief Information
Officer Mr Teo Chin Seng said, "We succeed by making decisions faster than
our competitors and by getting better products to market sooner. We need to
be able to visualize information in real time, and enable people across our
organization to collaborate and manage information effectively. The
Microsoft Office System has the promise to help make that possible."
Debut of new Microsoft Office System
The Microsoft Office System launch event introduced an audience of more than
2000 IT professionals, technical and business decision makers to the entire
range of programs, server software and solutions comprising the Microsoft
Office System. Many of Microsoft Singapore's partners were also on hand to
demonstrate powerful new business solutions created around the Microsoft
Office System.
Along with the widely anticipated Microsoft Office 2003 productivity suite,
three entirely new Microsoft Office System products generated notable
interest at the launch. Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 is a flexible note
taking and information management program. Microsoft Office Live
Communications Server 2003 brings industrial strength, real-time instant
messaging to businesses. Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 enables companies to
easily design and build powerful XML (extensible mark-up language) forms.
The Microsoft Office System products launched in Singapore today are:
* Microsoft Office 2003 Editions
Microsoft Office Word 2003
Outlook 2003, Excel 2003
PowerPoint 2003
Access 2003
* Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003
* Microsoft Office Project and Project Server 2003
* Microsoft Exchange Server 2003
* Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003
* Microsoft Office Live Meeting
* Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003
* Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003
* Microsoft Office OneNote 2003
* Microsoft Office Publisher 2003
* Microsoft Office Visio 2003
Also in the Office System are the Microsoft Office Solution Accelerators,
enabling technologies, such as Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services and
Microsoft Windows Server 2003 that enhance the features and functionality of
products in the Microsoft Office System.
Full product details and pricing information are available at
www.microsoft.com.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business
computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed
to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any
device.
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Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
*Navigant Consultants, 2003. Process Goldmine: Microsoft Office System
Integrated Solutions Deliver Business Value. This report is available at:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/e...esystemlaunch/
**Singapore Ministry of Manpower, 2003. Labour Market Statistics web site.
Available online at:
http://www.mom.gov.sg/MOM/CDA/0,1858...1----1,00.html
