Business Applications- Microsoft Reclaimed its Lost Glory

Microsoft has been the industry leader in providing an entire range of end-to-end business applications for the enterprises and SMBs in the country. This shows the kind of support it has received from the solution providers all these years, which has put the company at the top spot on the chart, with an outstanding score of 86.1. Apparently, in the business applications area, the company has got a fairly large number of partners across the country, who believe that Microsoft certainly scores in technological leadership, security aspects of the products, and innovative offerings. Though Oracle leads the pack in overall product reliability, Microsoft's dominance in this domain is definitely justifiable. Even the company's technical expertise, richness of online resources offered, and price of the offering has fairly impressed the solution providers.

However, there are a few gray areas where Microsoft needs to tighten up its strategies. It not only lacks in the market development programs and allocation of funds for marketing, but also in fairness on claim settlement, having an interactive site for resolving queries, and being consistent in honoring commitments made by its personnel to the partners. Despite all the odds, the good part here is that the company has been very consistent and effective in its communication with the solution providers.

While IBM is not far behind the leader, it has really exceled in its product and service demonstration. It has also managed to garner partners' support in terms of responsiveness and availability of its service personnel, credit facility, and carrying an effective online partner portal that has proved quite interactive for resolving any of the queries of the solution providers. It is quite laudable to see the way IBM manages disruption due to its change in personnel and maintains consistency in honoring commitments.

Meanwhile, Oracle has scored 100% in allocation of funds for marketing, besides scoring quite high in terms of its turnaround capabilities in case of any disaster/crisis. While its products and solutions are quite convenient in installation and adoption, the solution providers also appreciate the company's efforts towards keeping fairness on claim settlement and flexibility of commercial terms. On the other hand, Oracle has to give a little attention towards providing online support to its partners.

One area where SAP has scored over all its competitors is the commercial terms. Though there is slack in response towards price of the offering and credit facility, the company has certainly won the hearts with its clarity of pricing contract and promptness with which it communicates the schemes/incentive programs with its solution providers.