Microsoft recently launched online tools for Small and Medium Sized Businesses. The sales pitch – Online E-mail, Calendar, Collaboration, Productivity Software can Reduce IT-related Costs by Upto 10% to 50%. In a press release, Microsoft stated that all customers can log on to www.microsoft.com/india/onlineservices and experience the online service. The commercial launch is set to be on October 20009. Microsoft Online Services is a part of Microsoft software plus services strategy which provides flexibility and choice of accessing and using software on premise and on Internet as a service.
Mr. Sanjay Manchanda, Director, Microsoft Business Division said “Over 80 percent of the businesses in India are SMBs that are increasingly looking to use world class IT for better business productivity. With tools such as email and collaboration becoming increasingly a must-have in this segment, the pay-as-you-go affordability and freedom from IT administration, Microsoft Online Services offers the much needed respite from financial and logistical hurdles. We encourage businesses to make the best of the free trial opportunity we are launching – and experience the powerful impact of Microsoft Online Services.” The list of products is here.
Through this, Microsoft’s strategy is seen as embracing cloud and promoting its Azure platform. Microsoft seems to be going cloud in a big way, with it also launching Office Live (possible competition to Google Docs). However, Office Live, as commented in this article holds little promise for Medium and Large based customer services and contains several hidden costs.
Now, at WATBlog, we’ve covered Cloud Computing and in a recent article, I gave my opinion why the browser may be the future of computing, but it may take time to catch on in India – the reason – poor connections. We are still quite dependent on the phone-line for our Internet, and though broadband is widespread, it’s not nearly as pervasive or inexpensive as we could wish it to be. That could once more, be the difficult point for Microsoft’s online tools.
A lot of small Indian companies are also housed within one roof and though the concept of a virtual team situated across the world is progressing, most businesses in India (especially non-IT ones) promote conventional methods of team and networking. The SMS is still more popular than the Tweet. Similarly, they might pay more for Office (or use the pirated versions which are so easily accessible), but Indian companies going cloud? Seems like Castles in the Air, as of now.
