Flying High On The Cloud: Microsoft's New Regional Head

In his first interview since taking on the role of general manager for the GCC, Sayed Hashish outlines changes in Microsoft’s organisational structure and why he is bullish about regional growth.

- Aarti Nagraj

Global technology giant Microsoft recently reported strong figures for its fiscal year ending June 2017, with net profit for the period surging by 26 per cent to $21.2bn. Revenues during the year also grew around 5.4 per cent to $89.9bn.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella attributed the positive results to “innovation across its cloud platforms”, and also confirmed that the company remains on track to reach the goal of earning $20bn in commercial cloud revenue in the fiscal year 2018.

Microsoft has been buoyed heavily by its cloud-first strategy worldwide, and even in the GCC region the company is now focussed on growing its cloud business in a bid to meet the rising regional appetite for new technologies and smart solutions.

And it has already started seeing success in the region, asserts the regional general manager of Microsoft Gulf, Sayed Hashish.

Hashish, who took over the job just over two months ago, is currently transitioning into his new role, having previously served as the general manager for the public sector in Middle East and Africa.

A veteran Microsoft employee – he has been with the company since 1998 – the new GM says the GCC countries’ drive towards embracing new technologies and innovation is being led by the public sector to a large extent – unlike many countries internationally.

One of his main focus areas is figuring out how Microsoft can improve competitiveness through digital transformation in government and commercial sectors.

“The cloud will be the platform to achieve that,” he says.

“The possibilities and opportunities that the cloud creates have made many things a reality – even things considered science fiction. Things are now achievable and at costs that are not out of this world,” he adds.