Infotech Lead India: Targeting SMBs in India, Microsoft announced a 90-day free trial of Office 365 Plan P1 for up to 10 users.
The special offer includes the small business versions of Microsoft Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, & Lync Online. This solution is designed for small businesses 1-25 users with no IT infrastructure.
Microsoft on Monday said companies can sign up for this new free offer through the end of February.
Moreover, Indian SMBs that purchase and activate a copy of Microsoft Office Home & Business 2010 or Professional 2010, they will receive a 90-day trial of Office 365 Small Business Premium for up to 5 users. Office 365 Small Business Premium combines the power of Office 365 small business services plus Office software for PCs or Macs.
Recently, InfotechLead.com reported that Dell is offering Microsoft Office 365 in the United States for a starting price of $9 per user, per month for the Small Business Plan. Dell will also be announcing additional pricing options and bundle packages with other solutions coming soon.
Microsoft says 90 percent of Office 365 customers are SMBs with 50 or fewer employees. Office 365 is on track to become one of the fastest growing offers in Microsoft history.
The software giant is seeing great traction for Office 365 in India.
For instance, cement sheet manufacturer Visaka Industries has deployed Microsoft Office 365 across its India offices.
The company selected Office 365 over Google Apps to improve employee productivity, boost team communication and collaboration, and save money. Before deploying Office 365, Visaka Industries faced challenges including intermittent and unpredictable issues owing to IT infrastructural bottlenecks, leading to downtime, considerable IT overhead and productivity loss.
Besides Visaka Industries, Indian customers who have adopted Office 365 are Dabur, FICCI, Adhunik Group, Infiniti Retail, ACME Tele Power, Unilog, Gavs Technologies, among others.
Recently, mobile service provider Airtel has partnered with Microsoft to deliver Office 365 to SMBs by provisioning the service through its cloud platform, and thereby, address the growing ICT needs of SMB segment.
