Microsoft has selected software design and development partner, Provoke Solutions, and licensing specialist, Insight, to drive a comprehensive education and awareness campaign about Microsoft cloud solutions, which will unfold over the next six months.

Called ‘Take a Closer Look’, the campaign focuses on four key areas where the cloud can impact business.

According to the tech giant, the areas include, Innovation and Speed to Market, Development and Testing, Business Continuity and Storage and Future Proofing and Scalability.

The campaign launched on March 10 with an online hub – closerlook.co.nz – run by Provoke Solutions, which contains resources, calculators and business use cases designed to educate the market about Windows Azure (Microsoft’s flexible cloud platform) and Office 365, the online Office service.

The campaign will also deliver resources from Insight to provide guidance around optimising licensing of Microsoft products, aligned to specific business needs.

Richard Penny, Chief Marketing Officer at Provoke, says the campaign will show how Microsoft’s products have continued to evolve and transform to provide greatest benefit to the market.

“The Closer Look theme connects with the real need for Kiwi organisations to review their cloud strategies and prepare for the inevitable cloud revolution, and in doing so, consider how new developments in Microsoft’s products might form their cloud technology platform,” he says.

Microsoft Server & Tools Business Group Lead, Bradley Borrows, says partnering on this campaign was an obvious choice; “We are pleased to have the support and business intelligence that Provoke and Insight will provide as core elements of this campaign.”

Penny says the closerlook.co.nz hub will also be supported by a programme of targeted advertising and complemented with a series of events, workshops and technical deep dives.