Microsoft Office Live is
making it easy for partners to build and showcase Web-based and hybrid
solutions and services that specifically address the unique needs of small
businesses, opening a door to a hard-to-reach market segment. This new
program offers a Microsoft Office Live developer platform, the Microsoft
Office Live Marketplace, a new Microsoft Office Live Affiliate Network
Pilot and greater access to the Microsoft Office Live customer base.
"There are 25.8 million small businesses in the U.S. alone, according
to the according to U.S. Small Business Administration," Koopmans said.
"That represents a huge potential market segment for Web developers and
designers, IT support providers, and our sales and marketing partners.
However, because small businesses are such a diverse group, smaller
companies have traditionally been difficult for our partners to reach. The
Office Live Partner Program helps enable our partners to have direct access
to this large, growing market."
The following are among the new and enhanced features in the Office
Live Partner Program:
- Microsoft Office Live developer platform. Based on research and
feedback from partners that participated in the Early Adopter Program,
Office Live has further invested in the technical platform and
resources to support partners during the training and development
cycles.
- Microsoft Office Live Marketplace. The recently unveiled Microsoft
Office Live Marketplace enables
developers to market their solutions and services to more than 400,000
existing customers and prospective customers and promote their unique
offerings. Microsoft Office Live features more than 50 offerings
worldwide in the marketplace and hopes to expand that number over the
next year.
- Greater access to Microsoft Office Live customers. Beginning in January
2008, Microsoft Office Live will extend the solution and service
platform capabilities to the complete Microsoft Office Live customer
base of more than 400,000 customers that use the advertising-supported
and subscription-based products.
- Microsoft Office Live Affiliate Network Pilot. A new affiliate program
will be available to Small Business Specialist Community partners as
well as Microsoft Certified Partners and Microsoft Gold Certified
Partners in 2008, allowing them to share in Microsoft Office Live
subscription revenue and advertising spending by referring new
customers.
- Partner case studies. The Microsoft Office Live platform, built on
Windows(R) SharePoint(R) Services 3.0, allows partners to tailor their
existing solutions and services for the small-business community, build
new industry-specific ones for key verticals, or offer targeted,
horizontal solutions. Since its debut in November 2006, Microsoft
Office Live has captured the attention of more than 400,000 small
businesses in five countries with its Web hosting and business
management tools.
"Microsoft Office Live is an ideal platform for us because it enables
real-time, central storage of data and the security of hosting on Microsoft
servers," said Joe McDermott, managing director of Solution Canvas Ltd.
"With our new Office Live solution, justia, small law firms can now get
access to a sophisticated practice development solution usually reserved
for larger firms."
Microsoft Office Live also provides an opportunity for Web designers to
help small businesses design their Web site, enabling them to overcome the
existing barriers to the online world such as lack of time and IT support.
One such partner is WebSite Pros, which enables customers to outsource
their Web site design to a professional design and marketing services
agency.
Partners attending WWPC will include the following:
- KnowledgeLake Inc. is a Microsoft Gold Certified independent software
vendor with document imaging and capture software for Microsoft
SharePoint Services. It creates a simple desktop scanning solution for
Office Live. The award-winning Fujitsu ScanSnap integrates its scanning
capabilities with the highly functional KnowledgeLake Connect capture
software and allows small businesses to scan their paper documents
quickly into an Office Live Customer Workspace.
- PC Rescue of Texas has created a new solution to help real estate
agents and brokers keep all their account information in one
security-enhanced location. Building on the Microsoft Office Live
platform, this solution ensures access to client-critical information
from anywhere with Internet access. It also enables agents to rest easy
that their sensitive data is stored centrally, no matter what happens
to their computer.
- RingCentral Inc. is helping small businesses stay connected with their
customers. Integrating with Office Live, the company's fully featured
phone and fax service provides users with a single entry point to
manage their business, including toll-free and local numbers with
multiple extensions and dial-by-name directory, click-to-call,
worldwide call routing, visual voicemail, Internet Fax, and much more.
The RingCentral service is affordable and easy to use, requires no
hardware, and can be activated instantly at http://www.ringcentral.com.
- Solution Canvas is a Glasgow, Scotland-based Microsoft Gold Certified
Partner that uses the Microsoft Office Live platform to host justia, a
powerful practice management system for small legal firms. justia
offers a cost-effective solution that provides improved financial
control and an umbrella view of client activities for smaller law firms
that are trying keep costs down.
Source: Microsoft
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