Ballmer Pushes Plan for Software Plus Services
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Partner conference keynote lays out roadmap for transition from a traditional software company.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft partners introduced to the company's software-plus-services strategy this week at its Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) applauded the plan, though they noted a few challenges as the company makes the transition from selling business software to offering more hosted and Web-based services. Microsoft used its annual partner conference, held this year in Denver, as a coming-out party for the strategy, with CEO Steve Ballmer outlining the plan for the first time after other executives have been discussing it publicly for more than a year. It seemed fitting that the company's top executive was the one to deliver the message to thousands of partners who play a significant role in the company's success. "I had no idea how partner-focused Microsoft really is," said Linda Gillis, a first-time attendee of the WPC and director of marketing for Squirrel Systems, a British Columbia company that provides restaurant point-of-sale software and services. This dependency on partners is a double-edged sword for Microsoft as it moves to a more Web-centric services business model versus the software license model it has used successfully for years. The company not only has to revise its strategy, remaining several steps behind competitors such as Google that started business on the Web and have no traditional software business, but it also has to help its partners make changes, too. To do this, Microsoft has been slowly ramping up its hosted services portfolio with a series of both consumer and business services. Executives also said at the WPC that those services will eventually become a full-fledged development platform, being both an OS and platform for new applications on the Web in a similar way that Windows is on the desktop. Gillis said that moving toward offering more services for business in addition to software is the right direction for both Microsoft and its partners. "The addition of services helps to create long-term customer relationships and a recurring revenue stream," she said. Most partners agreed with this sentiment, but some noted challenges that both Microsoft and partners will face as they make the switch. Jay Blazensky, vice president of business development for RingCentral, a Microsoft partner that provides voice services, including click-to-call, agreed that creating repeatable revenue is a definite benefit of the plan. But he noted that a challenge for Microsoft and its partners is to convince sales people to "forgo the larger up-front commission in lieu of a recurring annuity." "Those that buy into the model and are successful -- and patient -- have the opportunity to be enormously successful," he said. Another partner, Joe McDermott of Solution Canvas, said Microsoft's strategy of transitioning services in a calculated and deliberateÂ manner is the only way to make the change, which is necessary because it is what customers are demanding. Solution Canvas has built a service for small law firms using Microsoft's Office Live hosted service. "I think the strategy is the way forward strategically for both Microsoft and [partners] ... because in the end the marketplace will dictate and demand," he said. "End-users are who ultimately matter, and now that we have new Web technologies like AJAX and a rapid application development platform in Office Live, the barriers to powerful online applications are gone." At the same time, McDermott acknowledged that some Microsoft partners will have to learn new skills to take advantage of the new services approach, though the company's "considered pace" for moving to services will help them in that endeavor. While McDermott praised the technologies that enable more hosted services, one of them -- reliable access to broadband -- remains a hindrance not only to Microsoft's services plan but also its competitors' plans, RingCentral's Blazensky said. "It's an industry-wide challenge ... [but] it's maturing every day," he noted.
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The company plans to release Power Pack 1, a collection of fixes, enhancements, and features to its software for servers in the home.
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Microsoft Corp. partners introduced to the company&#39;s software-plus-services strategy this week at its Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) applauded the plan, though they noted a few challenges as the company makes the transition from selling business software to offering more hosted and Web-based services.
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The partners will develop new services including a hosted payments system.
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Microsoft chief provides a few more details on company's effort to build a set of services in the Internet cloud.
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Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said innovation and customer responsiveness should be top priorities for ISVs, even as Microsoft itself last week admitted that the next version of Windows will fall short of the mark when it hits the shelves in 2006.
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This fourth priority&#39;s main focus has been improving or obtaining CRM and ERP software for the past year and a half. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has ruled out acting as the white knight for business software
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New Delhi, Nov. 16: Microsoft chief Steve Ballmer today asked the Indian government to spend more on information technology (IT) while showcasing the software giantâs efforts to promote technology in the country.
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As Microsoft Corp.   Chairman Bill Gates prepares to step back from the company he  founded, the task of finding new sources of growth for the  world&#039;s largest software company falls to Chief Executive Steve  Ballmer.
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Move is part of company's plan to create industry-specific versions of its WebLogic software.
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Perhaps lost in the acquisition discussion is how it could help Microsoft with its software-plus-services strategy for delivering business apps over the Internet.
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The company hopes the server software will help it move into unified messaging, where voice mail, e-mail and fax come together.
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ORLANDO, Fla.âWindows users said actions speak louder than words when it comes to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer&#39;s promise that Microsoft will fix the various security vulnerabilities in his company&#39;s computing platform.
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Mobile phones play an important role in Microsoft's software-plus-services vision, CEO Steve Ballmer told the CTIA show in San Francisco today.
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Microsoft said today it would make the service pack 1 software update available this month to some customers.
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SAN FRANCISCO  - IBM, Intel, Microsoft and other tech companies are increasingly betting that the health care industry will help them grow as their traditional markets mature. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is to kick off a health care tech conference in New Orleans today. The health care Information and Management Systems Society show is expected to draw 900 exhibitors and 25,000 doctors, hospital staffers and others.