<
Event Summary
At
the end of September, Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS), an enterprise
applications division of Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), the largest
software company in the world, fleshed out the contents of its seemingly well
crafted and diligently thought-out product and services strategies aimed primarily
at the small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) applications market, consisting of
many intriguing value propositions such as an indication of simplified no-frills
pricing and enticingly mitigated financing. A central component of Stampede
2002, MBS' annual event for global partners and value added resellers (VARs),
the two-hour session, showcased MBS' recent extensive development efforts across
its new and existing business applications.
By
unveiling its threefold development strategy:
- Expanding and
enhancing current solutions,
- Creating new
solutions that complement existing offerings, and
- Delivering next-generation
business applications — MBS provided a comprehensive roadmap for its vision
for "connected solutions that will transform business processes for customers,
partners, suppliers and employees". The product strategy session featured
a series of solution demonstrations that reflected MBS' threefold development
efforts.
This
is Part One of a four-part note on Microsoft's strategy for its MBS division.
Parts Two and Three will cover the Market Impact and Challenges, and Part Four
will make User Recommendations.
1. Expanding and enhancing solutions
By
deepening integration points with the Microsoft Office desktop applications
suite, MBS attempted to demonstrate to its global partners how they can close
near-term sales and add incremental revenue. In addition to sharing upcoming
solutions, the demonstration highlighted new integration capabilities available
in the next version of SharePoint Team Services portal solution and Excel
spreadsheet solution. The demonstration of Small Business Manager (SBM)
7.0 focused on effective inventory control and streamlined sales and
purchasing processes, while other features highlighted included the SBM Commission
Wizard in Excel, the built-in cashflow calendar, Office integration capabilities,
and integration with Microsoft bCentral, hosted services for small business.
Advanced
distribution functionality designed to improve the inventory and order management
capabilities of both general businesses that fulfill products and wholesale
distributors will be added to Inventory and Order Processing modules
of MBS Great Plains solutions. Global partners learned to that end that
blanket purchase order support, inter-site transfers and pick/pack/ship workflow
functionality are a few of the new features that will be added. Moreover to
that end, MBS announced at Stampede 2002 the acquisition of the following Myridas
software modules from its European Solution Developer of the Year, UK-based
Trinity Computer Services:
- Advanced Distribution
- Advanced Picking
- Available To
Promise
These
modules will be incorporated for general release with Version 8 of Great
Plains. With immediate effect these modules for Version 6 & 7 will be
available directly from Trinity along with the seventeen other Trinity modules
for distribution. Trinity Computer Services had long been a former Microsoft
Great Plains Business Solutions' partner dedicated to meeting the needs
of the distribution sector, and its Myridas software modules have been developed
specifically to add important distribution functionality to former Great
Plains Dynamics and eEnterprise, recently rolled into a single MBS
Great Plains brand. Also, through the Trinity Partner Program, other
MBS partners have the opportunity to obtain Myridas modules, software development
and consulting services to help their own customers create specific distribution
capabilities in their business systems.
2. Creating new solutions that complement existing offerings
Recently
announced Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (Microsoft CRM)
(see Microsoft
Paints CRM Landscape On Lately A 'Still Nature' Business Applications Scenery)
product's availability in North America was confirmed for the fourth quarter
of 2002. It will be sold and implemented through MBS' reselling partner channel,
and partners and former Microsoft Great Plains' customer support team will provide
support. The solution will be available on-premise or as a hosted solution through
select partners, and the software will be accessible either through a browser
or through Outlook. Highlights of the demonstration included the solution's
integration with MBS Great Plains and its use of eXtensible Markup Language
(XML).
Microsoft
Business Network (MBN) is aimed at connecting small and medium-sized
businesses with their trading partners, improving ease of operations and access
to business-critical information. To that end, an NFL team customer demonstrated
the team's potential use of online trading services via MBN to develop and distribute
customized catalogs selling merchandise with their logo to local retailers of
all sizes. Further, the Bank One Direct PayChek Card from MBS should
allow companies to work exclusively within their enterprise resource management
(ERM) system from account setup through payment and ongoing maintenance. With
Direct PayChek Card, no changes are reportedly needed on existing MBS
Great Plains or MBS Solomon applications.
MBS
also announced it will deliver two new industry-specific solutions, MBS Professional
Services Automation (PSA) and Microsoft Retail Management System
(RMS). These seemingly feature-rich and customizable products represent
significant additional investments toward providing small and mid-market businesses
with the industry-specific solutions they need to operate efficiently and competitively.
With these additions, MBS has embarked on providing a range of powerful industry
solutions for manufacturers, distributors, retailers and professional services
organizations. The new industry solutions could also offer significant opportunities
for MBS' reselling channel partners and independent software vendors (ISVs).
Resellers should gain the ability to extend their reach into thousands of small
and mid-market retailers and professional services businesses in the US and
Canada, whereas ISVs can use the industry solutions as a foundation to create
customized applications.
MBS
PSA was devised to provide new ways for a project-driven organization to improve
its project efficiency and profitability and adapt quickly to changing conditions.
Based on MBS Project Accounting -- Solomon and the Microsoft
Project 2002 platform, this integrated business solution combines best-of-breed
functionality with great flexibility, allowing project-driven organizations
to serve their customers better. The solution brings together resource management,
project management, knowledge management, time and expense (T & E), project
accounting, financials, and reporting and analytics into one tightly integrated
solution. The Stampede demonstration of the new offering showcased project management,
resource management, project accounting, time entry and profitability reporting
features as used by project managers, accounting managers and team members.
Microsoft
Retail Management System, built on the award-winning QuickSell line of
products, now offers a complete solution that automates a retailer's operations
from the cash register right through to the company headquarters. RMS is a comprehensive
solution that integrates point-of-sale (POS) and retail management applications
with MBS Great Plains and MBS SBM financial applications, bringing a sophisticated
yet easy-to-use and cost-effective offering to small and medium-sized retail
businesses. This solution offers POS, inventory management, pricing and promotions,
reports, and analysis, all with tight integration to the back-office financial
applications. To that end, the Stampede session demonstrated the new integration
with the MBS Great Plains product, as the store operations system handled POS
and back-office functions such as inventory control and CRM.
3. Delivering next-generation business applications
MBS
intends to build, in a long term, a common foundation framework on top of Microsoft
.NET framework that will serve as an integration platform for vanilla'
application components stemming from all MBS' solutions, which will then be
enhanced vertically or in any other way by third-party vendors. The first piece
of the initiative to develop a next-generation product line based on .NET technology
was the new Microsoft CRM product. The goal is to eventually have a single code
set that can be configured to address all of the various product and market
areas.
In
parallel with that effort, MBS will continue to support and enhance all of the
existing products from former Great Plains and Navision. As next-generation
capabilities become available, they will be integrated into the current products
and begin to replace some of the existing functionality. In order to somewhat
streamline the marketing and product positioning, the following product brands
have been rationalized:
- Former Navision
Attain will from now on be called MBS Navision
- Former Great
Plains Dynamics and Great Plains eEnterprise will be merged into a single
product line called MBS Great Plains.
- Solomon and
Axapta will retain their brands under the MBS umbrella brand, while Navision
XAL will be rolled into Small Business Manager.
- Dynamics and
Solomon products running on Pervasive platform will from now on be called
Great Plains Select and Solomon Select respectively.
Furthermore, driven by its vision of achieving global leadership in business applications, a vision built on innovation, steadfast customer support and an extensive partner network, MBS announced bold new initiatives developed to help its worldwide network of partners and customers quickly and affordably realize their full business potential. The company also unveiled a key component of its enhanced service strategy for partner education. The new learning management system will reportedly allow a more feature-rich learning experience through customization flexibility, the ability to accommodate individual learning paths, and skills gap analysis options. The initiatives address the following:
- Customer
financing program — MBS will offer a financing program developed specifically
for small and medium-sized businesses that will make it easier to purchase
end-to-end solutions. Microsoft Capital will provide financing, offering
both term loans and operating leases that should maximize customer flexibility
while reducing the amount of cash required at the time of initial purchase.
The financing program will be available to customers through authorized MBS
reselling partners.
- Customer-choice
purchasing and packaging — MBS' new approach to selling and packaging
is aimed at delivering maximum value to customers regardless of the size and
complexity of their business. Solutions will be scaled according to the number
of users, enabling thereby customers to purchase technologies and services
that best meet their needs. Price breaks will be incorporated at several points
for customers buying in higher volume and/or user seats. In addition to the
new need-based model, new naming and product branding mentioned earlier will
be put in place.
- Consistent
and visible pricing practices
— MBS pledged to begin publishing prices, simplifying thereby the purchasing
process and emphasizing the "pay only for what you need" value of the new
packaging model. Benefits to partners should include a shortened sales cycle
and "no haggle" pricing, eliminating thereby the time and cost of more complex
pricing models.
This
concludes Part One of a four-part note on Microsoft's strategy for its MBS division.
Parts Two and Three will cover the Market Impact and Challenges, and Part Four
will make User Recommendations.