Microsoft Office 365

[SmithFamilyDesigns]

The web apps seems like a great idea who's time is now. A customer of mine was showing me some of the web based Office apps that are now in hotmail (I despise hotmail so I had no idea that it was there). If the Office suite is optional/included, then this idea is fantastic and I see it working out well for MS.

[Tony_Scarpelli]

Originally Posted by 16k_zx81

I give disk/local based installs primacy for 5 years max. in developed countries.

Everything will be cloud based, imminently. The only variable here is broadband infrastructure and locality.

Countries with high-speed internet will adopt faster (I'm looking at you, Korea and Japan). They will be picking up this technology NOW, as we speak. I'm not talking about this product specifically, but about using a cheap, thin client to access the Net and to use remote machines for storage and computing power.

Those with slower infrastructures will have a take up rate in accord with that. (I'm in Australia. Our broadband sucks, and wont be much better within the next 5 years)

The notion of installing software locally will fast be extinct. Its an inefficient and dated notion.

I just had a look at the pricing here for Office 365 Its $7.90 AUD per month. I think MS have got that aspect spot-on, and can see this being popular fast.

While I agree that many will move quickly to the cloud. I think mostly big companies will do it and small companies will have lower adoption rates.

I see too many businesses who will never put their accounting or information on the web. Probably mostly smaller businesses who don't understand or trust the cloud. But then again they do understand the cloud and just don't trust others with their privacy.

Once you put your docs/accounting/invoicing on the web how do you know if it is being turned over to the IRS/ FBI or anyone else. While I don't believe many people need to worry about this I believe almost everyone does worry about this.

Problems with the cloud:

For both legitimate and illegitimate reasons people are not always open with their personal or business data.

Privacy and confidentiality of records.
Changes to a Quick books file can be undone with a cloud restoration of any previous date which the owner of the data may not want. Owners may change their historical records and not want previous copies to be available TO ANYONE EVER.
Attorneys in law suits might begin a raid on your documents to find evidence of wrong doing.
Prosecutors may raid your data.
Documents may be used against their owners in cases such as emails used against corporations today. (is it Sawbones Oxley)
Corporations regularly destroy documents. Once they are put on the cloud, it is out of their control as third party is not likely to destroy their backups to accommodate a single client.
There may be many legitimate reasons that people want or need to protect their privacy.
Some guard their health records - insurance companies already deny insurance to some illnesses. If you get the DNA testing you may not want it available to anyone else. For example google just closed their health records cloud and I don't think that MS is doing much better.

Last night we had a power outage and it lasted four hours. I couldn't access my data as my internet was down. With a laptop I could work on my self controlled data and previously downloaded email.

If I buy Office 2000, I can use it for 4 years, or 8 years or 12 years. No one can force me to upgrade it so long as I do not want the new options that come with the upgrades. Therefore I can control the cost of that technology. $200/4 or 8 or 12 years. With a monthly subscription, I keep current but I am also forced into upgrades as the asp sees fit. I am also locked into their fee schedule. Today google is free for up to 10 users but that won't last for long. Then $72 per year, then $144 per year and then $288 per year. I have no control of costs once I have depended on all my applications from the cloud.

Not control costs but control my environment. Some companies like Intuit Qbooks change their user interface with every upgrade and it is very aggravating to people who have to unlearn old ways of doing something to relearn it every year with the new arrival of the software engineers idea of what it should be. By staying with 1999 Quick books, (after all physical aspects of accounting never change) I can lower my cost and increase my control over my usage. This is all given away to others when we move to the cloud.

[LAconsult]

How do yo make money with this as the solution provider?
Are you charging your client $12/mo per user, and paying Microsoft for them, is Microsoft paying you as the partner, is profit only made by charging them to implement it or a combination of the three? Thanks!

[Tony_Scarpelli]

You don't make money with it. You can help implement it and then get shown the door.

[LAconsult]

Originally Posted by Tony_Scarpelli

You don't make money with it. You can help implement it and then get shown the door.

There was a commission structure with BPOS so there has to be one with 365.. Did a search but this is all I could find so far.. http://community.office365.com/en-us...793/43833.aspx
Probably not all that much but every little bit helps

[Tony_Scarpelli]

I disagree. Why cut off your foot for tiny %.

You can eat steak or you can eat leftovers.

[Appleby]

Everything will be cloud based, imminently. The only variable here is broadband infrastructure and locality.

.........

Those with slower infrastructures will have a take up rate in accord with that. (Im in Australia. Our broadband sucks, and wont be much better within the next 5 years)

The notion of installing software locally will fast be extinct. Its an inefficient and dated notion.

I agree.....except unless a new affordable high speed, nation wide wireless technology is implemented, it will not happen in the US. People who live in the big cities just have NO concept of the millions upon millions of people who have no access to high speed internet access, except maybe crappy $80/month satellite internet access.

[trendless]

You make money by signing up to be a partner (similar to BPoS, I've heard... they've got a whole commission structure based on initial seller and who gets what if they go with another partner in the future). I've done it, it's not terribly difficult. You also get a bunch of seats on Office 365 to use in-house. You can also get onboard with Windows InTune which provides a companion suite to 365 (Win7 software assurance and antivirus/remote-support). Gets kinda pricey tho', gotta be a good salesperson or have cutting-edge-type clientele. I'm also a Google Apps reseller and it's significantly cheaper and offers at least as much if not more functionality. So far, as much as I've wanted to move to using/reselling 365 as my mainstay, Google's price, features, kickbacks (20%), billing model, etc have been holding me back. The only customers I've encountered that are interested in 365 are those who're enamored with MS' way of doing things.

PS: on the mobile front, Android adoption vs WP7 adoption makes Google's suite a much better fit for more companies going forward. I have a decent sized biz who runs blackberrys, and they all work fine too (google sync & imap do a fine job).

[YeOldeStonecat]

Originally Posted by dbdawn

So MS released pricing for professionals and small businesses (under 25 employees). $6 per month/employee

How do you think this will fare?

Hey Dawn....

We recently became a reseller of this product.

Let me back peddle a bit...
The small company we have, we focus on Small to Medium Business sized clients (approx 10 to 100 employees) for our target clients. The most money is to be made here...dealing with servers, active directory, etc. Naturally Microsoft Small Business Server was our bread and butter, something we could command 5,000 or 7,500 dollars for our consult fees to set one up for a client. Did fairly well with that in the SBS2000 and SBS2k3 days.

Started to get worried about "the cloud"...as that buzz term began flying around a few years ago. Was worried about not many more nice server setup jobs.

However, just last month..I had a client that left the business he managed (I also did the IT support for that business). He started his own little design group, 4x guys, and he wanted the stuff that SBS had..Sharepoint, Exchange, etc. However, a good server was out of his budget. So...we signed up for the Office 365 program with Microsoft....as a reseller, and got him setup on it.

Did the 24 bucks a user package...gives them unlimited storage, support, and basically software assurance licensing for MS Office (so each user gets licensed for MS Office..and as each new version comes out). Yeah 24 bucks a month is more expensive, but factor in the cost of MS Office for each user. Since..you want all your employees using O365 to be at the same version of Office just like any business should. Plus...support!

As a reseller, you get a little commission from MS for what you sell. So start building this up, and your recurring income each month starts to rise.

You can still charge for your setup fees...to "tune up" the end users computers, take care of their networks, etc.

Takes the stress off of your back of worrying about backups, or the health of their "server".

Regarding Tonys statement..."eat steak or eat leftovers"....well, I wish we could keep going with doing 10 or 15 or 20 thousand dollar server sales with 5 or 7,500 or even 10 thousand dollar consulting fees. But the facts are...."the cloud" has come to stay...and our clients know about that cloud, and its cost effectiveness for them. Your steak analogy makes sense to me...I'm a huge fan of steak...and I'm talking about huge expensive cuts of steak. Usually once a month I'll take the wife to go eat at a famous steak house (I'm talking like Mortons in NYC, or Octagon in CT, or Peter Lugers in NY....250 to 300 bucks for two peoples dinner there..that's the kind of affection I have for steak). So yeah...I'll prefer my huge steak, no shaved steak leftovers.

You don't get shown the door BTW, you continue to receive income from your sales...build your O365 users, build your residual income.

But the facts are...this cloud stuff is here to stay.
Our clients (or potential clients) are aware of it
Todays economy...clients are not spending like they used to. We used to do at least one good server project per month. Those days are diminishing rapidly.

There is a line by Clint Eastwood that I like to live by....
"Adapt and Overcome!"

I'd rather make some money each month..through Office 365 sales, than nothing at all. I may have to cut my steakhouse spending at least in 1/2 as these tough times slow down our income...instead of once a month, may have to drop to once every other month, or every 3 months....(hopefully not). But...gotta keep going! Some money (through O365 sales) is better than no money. Hopefully as our O365 client base grows...that monthly income from MS will start to get decent.

[phaZed]

Pretty soon, no one will own anything, we can just pay for the "service" all the time.. and when the bills come due and your down on your luck you will realize how important it is to "own" instead of "lease".