Re: Competition

Excellent comments, thanks Costas.

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]


"Costas" <cpstechgroup@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:O6DpQwBEIHA.4752@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
There is no disagreement that when it comes to Microsoft Applications, "productivity" and "integration" are two areas that no other product comes even close. And I personally prefer to deal with these applications than anything else. But I we take these two elements and try to make a business case to the customer that it's to their advantage to go with MS Office Apps, the "cost" element will reappear as the number one obstacle.

Not all small businesses have the budget to justify expenses of the size that an Office suite require and I definitely believe that if we say: "...but look how more productive you can become", the owner will turn back and respond: ".. I just want to write a letter or print an invoice, nothing more than that". Tough sell after that....

"Integration" though.... that's where the answer lies in my opinion. Microsoft Word, or Excel as standalone products are great, but can be easily be replaced with OpenOffice Write and Calc in an environment where simple word processing and spread*** calculations are the only requirements. But if we take Word and Excel and we add to the mix SharePoint, the whole picture changes.

Demonstrating how SharePoint works with the latest Office products will definitely make the business owner, think twice before saying: "... is there anything else?" In that scenario, the selling of the Office Apps will be much easier, assuming that there is a business need for a SharePoint solution within the prospects business. The value proposition is in how SharePoint gives to the Small Business tools to run the business that were never before available to that segment of the market. And via SharePoint, Microsoft Office Applications are an easier sell for the consultant.

I don't know, I could be wrong.. but the same way we demonstrate RWW and OWA as a selling point to a prospect, think how clients might react when they see a WSS 3.0 document library with 5 custom fields, 3 different views, that contain all their docs, that can be linked to Outlook, previewed from within Outlook using Word 2007, taken offline etc..etc...

At that point, the client's decision would have to be whether they need the solution (software + services) to run the business more efficiently, instead of thinking that they can find something cheaper


--
Costas


"Les Connor [SBS MVP]" <les.connor@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:D2BDE47D-446B-453D-9243-6A182FC174D2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Thanks so much for the replies so far, folks. These are invaluable, being from the real world.

I'm not a "microsoft shop". Meaning, I'm happy to look at other platforms where a better offering exists. I don't see a better offering than SBS out there for the small biz customers - anywhere - so I deploy SBS.

I agree that MSOffice suites, on face value, are a large ticket item for a small business - especially so if they don't purchase via OEM. But the integration and productivity *is* hard to beat. I'd love to hear your thoughts on how we might demonstrate value (cost/benefit) of Office apps.

I believe the end user wants MS Office Apps, and that consultants would like their customers on Office apps (easier to integrate/support) - so in order to make that happen we need to find a way demonstrate the value.

Please keep the replies coming :-).

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]


"Les Connor [SBS MVP]" <les.connor@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:6FFC14F6-E657-4E9C-B9A2-4FB3F25EE9EB@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
For those folks here who are consultants - in the SBS sized businesses you serve, do you have to compete against - or do your customers ask about - non MS platforms? (sendmail, Alfresco, Google, linux, netware?)

How about larger businesses, does the answer change?

--
Les Connor [SBS MVP]





.

Quantcast