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Personally or professionally, ask any small business owner about their business and
they’ll respond the same way: "It’s not small to me." And it’s
not small to Microsoft, either.It’s
an area in which our software is simplifying routine tasks and streamlining operations to
allow business owners more time to focus on the important things – enhancing customer
service, developing new business, and making better business decisions. Even, now and
again, getting home on time. Ask Rob Worden at Associated Imports and he’ll tell you
he can now literally show specific patterns and stone types – online – to his
suppliers in Italy, which means the job is right the first time. Talk to Gail Duncan at
Jerome-Duncan Ford about what her relationship with Microsoft means to her dealership and
she will tell you that it has added a completely new dimension of convenience and ease for
her customers.
Our focus for small business is on two
mutually supportive ideas. First, as always, we are listening closely to customers.
It’s essential in finding ways to make our systems and software become more
intuitive, more productive and better integrated, so that we can add functionality and
keep our products affordable. Second, we’re helping Value Added Providers (VAPs) build their own
businesses. That equates to hundreds of thousands of professionals, independent of
Microsoft, whose sole purpose is to help small businesses install and maintain their
information systems.
There are 22 million small businesses in
the U.S. alone, and they represent such a diverse variety of needs, issues, and
opportunities that we are making an extra effort to understand those needs and problems in
very specific terms. Only then can we create products that successfully address
flexibility and ease of use. Microsoft
BackOffice Small Business Server offers just such features. Its unique console
interface was specifically created to simplify installation and management of a complete
network solution. Wizards simplify the most common tasks like adding or deleting users,
managing printers, faxes, and e-mail, or making back-ups of vital information. It makes
connectivity with the Internet easy while also making implementation as efficient as
possible. To make support almost automatic, Small Business Server effectively provides our
customers with an in-house help-desk.
And even more functionality is being built
in. From the ability to manage remote users to the efficiency of sharing modems across the
office, Small Business Server also works easily with Office and
other leading applications so that information can be integrated from almost any source
into the company’s desktop PCs. These are all examples of our focus on making
software simple. Which means that the power big business has come to expect from their
systems is now available to small business.
That new level of opportunity is probably
most visible in the growth of electronic commerce and the Web. Just as the Sidewalk™ city guides and Expedia have changed the way
people plan and book events and travel, CarPoint is
transforming the way people shop for and buy cars with online reviews, pricing
information, and the ability for consumers to shop from home and specify the car they
want. Electronic commerce is growing at a rate that is almost impossible to measure,
leveling the playing field and eliminating boundaries. And because Microsoft is always
listening to customers and looking ahead, our products are designed to support and
encourage growth. That’s the work of all our product groups, and especially our
Interactive Media Group and its focus on discovering and creating meaningful business
opportunities in the Internet space that work in both directions: improved experience for
consumers and increased opportunities for businesses.
It is a spirit of goal-oriented innovation
extending from Microsoft to the productivity and communication gains small businesses
experience through technologies as basic as e-mail, as effective as connecting their
internal network to the Internet, and as powerful as developing, hosting, and managing
their own Web sites. Together, our tools and the expert support of VAPs are providing
small business with the infrastructure to run like big business while tailoring their
services and products to each of their customers. It means that a company designing and
manufacturing custom home fixtures in Boston can present their products to a customer in
Seattle, without ever leaving the office. It means that businesses can find new customers
in ways that cost less and accomplish more than at any time in the history of commerce. It
is technology that doesn’t limit the opportunity for growth, but enables it in both
qualitative and quantitative terms. It even means some small business owners might be
getting home a little earlier every day, and spending a little more time with the kids. |
