This book is not technical, nor was it ever intended to be.  It is aimed squarely at those who see IT as a business and revel in the constant challenges of an industry that never ceases to innovate and amaze.  For people who make decisions and advise others about strategy and business direction and choices that affect the future profits of a business this book is for you.

 

MS Online has broad appeal to small and large enterprises as well as the public sector and so presents many opportunities for Microsoft partners.  For example:

• You are a business advisor/consultant and looking out for growth opportunities for your own business.

• You are a member of the Small Business Specialist Community (SBSC) [from October 2010 to be named ‘Small Business’ competency within the SMB category of the MPN ].  Your customers are particularly cost-conscious and looking for ‘more for less’ answers to their IT needs.  Is MS Online part of that answer?

• You are a Medium Business Solution Provider and your customers want a partner that deeply understands their business process, infrastructure needs, and future growth costs.  If your customers want to know more about how MS Online can meet their requirements are you ready to lead that discussion?  

• You have public sector customers and their business decision making is often driven by policy and you will want to either be helping shape that policy or understand how the policy decisions affect your business conversations.  We reveal a few surprises from the lips of public sector policy makers in the book.    

• You have an installed base of customers with Microsoft products and are involved with their IT strategy and planning and you need to brief customers about MS Online – but not before you understand the implications for your business.     

• You are a business owner and make decisions about investment that you make in IT to support the business.  Is MS Online right for your business?

 

This book is intended to be a catalyst for action.  Here are a few examples of the people who might be interested?

 

Owner, President, CEO

You have a responsibility to shareholders (that may be you), investors as well as employees to look into the future and make the right bets.  You value your business relationship with Microsoft but may not fully understand the impact of the Cloud and in particular what MS Online means to your business.  This book will help you work out the answers that you need to make the right decision for your business.

 

Your interest is financial

You may have heard that software licensing for software delivered over the Internet is different and impacts revenue and margins - it will.  New subscription based pricing (pay as you go) needs to be assessed for its impact on cash flow.  That is the financial impact and you will want to understand the market conditions that your sales and marketing team are wrestling with to compete for business.  They have their own challenges too. 

 

Your interest is technology

You know the Internet, Web 2.0, Azure and need to keep on top of the pressure the business puts on IT to deliver ‘more usually for less’.  The recession has put IT in the cross hairs of the finance team; we need savings what can you do this quarter to deliver 10%?  You may have that pressure just as your customers do.  

 

There has been a significant explosion of acronyms  recently; IaaS, PaaS, SaaS, and your customers’ senior business executives read in the business pages about the Cloud as the ‘fix’ for IT.   

 

Along comes MS Online as a multi-tenant or dedicated tenant offer (more about these later) and you need to help your sales and marketing team understand the impact and how to proposition MS Online to customers among the other products and services you offer.  What will be your strategy to support your sales team’s customer conversations?

 

Your interest is sales

You want to maximize revenue and margin from every sale.  Your sales team is increasingly facing customer conversations about the Cloud and their need to reduce costs.  Do you wait for your customer to mention MS Online or do you take a proactive position and engage customers?  The stakes are high.

 

Your interest is customer service

The reality is that the Cloud puts service at the heart of the customer relationship because the customer is paying a subscription with a renewal date that is their option to cancel, and a Partner of Record (PoR)  assignment they can change.  The service they receive and their satisfaction is going to determine their decision.  Service; easy to say and usually hard to do but increasingly recognized as a significant way to differentiate your business and earn customer loyalty.