Microsoft ups ante with ad community

Hong Kong - Gregg Albright, senior director multinational & global accounts at Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, said advertising will be a critical part of the company's future success.

Albright, speaking at the annual Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions Business Conference, told a room of senior advertising and media buying executives that advertising now sits at the centre of the company's operations.

"We stand today and I believe to my soul, there is no business more important to Microsoft's future than advertising," Albright said.

"We absolutely must have a major presence in this business and you would not even fathom thinking that 10 years ago at this company. What we have gone through in the past 10 years has changed our strategy, it's changed our focus and it's changed our plans forever. It's changed the company forever."

Albright said today, Microsoft is a US$40 billion business, growing at about 20% each year.

But he added that the pace of change in the digital and online world was changing the company's structure.

"It is forcing us to rethink [our] model. Things are getting bigger and they're moving faster and the impact this is having on the business is dramatic.