Microsoft outlines SMB strategy

Microsoft Corporation India has announced its plans to address the burgeoning
SMB segment in India. It has articulated a three-pronged strategy focused on
increasing product relevance, extending partner reach and strengthening customer
relationships to address the needs of its SMB customers in India.

Microsoft hopes to extend its reach from 16 cities to 32 cities across India
by the end of this year. Discussing this focus on the SMB segment Neelam Dhawan,
MD, Microsoft Corporate India said, "There is a huge section of small and
medium sized companies that can benefit from tailor made IT solutions, which
positively impact not just the bottom line but also the top line of the company.
The SMB segment is a big priority for us and is clearly among the top three
engines for growth over the next few years."

Elaborating on Microsoft value proposition for SMBs in India, Rajeev Mittal,
Group Director, Small and Medium Solutions and Partners said that their
solutions were built ground-up to suit the needs of a small and medium business.
They are out of the box, and leverage the Outlook interface - which most
customers are familiar with. "This reduces the need for training, and
allows the users to hit the ground running. It also allows our customers to
derive greater ROI from their existing investments in products such as Office
and Windows," he added.

Microsoft has also launched Open Value a new licensing program aimed at the
SMB segment, and announced the broad availability of Microsoft Business
Solutions Navision 4.0, its integrated Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP),
Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Supply Chain Management (SCM)
solution for the SMB segment. It is a new software-licensing program for
the small and mid-market customers.

Similar to an Enterprise Agreement (the licensing program available to
Microsoft customers in the enterprise segment), Open Value allows SMB customers
to pay for the software they purchase from Microsoft over a period of three
years. The program includes Software Assurance, which ensures that customers can
stay current with the latest versions of Microsoft

software.

Under the program, SMB customers will be able upgrade to new versions of
Microsoft software at no additional cost.

DQC NEWS BUREAU