Microsoft is preparing to add online appointment scheduling to its suite of services for its upcoming software-as-a-service strategy, according to sources. Microsoft quietly bought WebAppoint.com, a privately held Santa Clara, California-based company, for an undisclosed sum in October. The acquisition was announced only in Microsoft's most recent quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The addition of WebAppoint, which allows for online scheduling for such items as car repair or dentist appointments, is a crucial element in Microsoft's ambitious software-as-a-service strategy. WebAppoint links consumers and companies and offers extra features, such as confirmation of appointments via phone or fax. The start-up's service was launched in the fall 1999. Microsoft is expected to advance the WebAppoint technology and initially launch it later this year as one of its services on Microsoft's bCentral small-business Website, according to sources. Company representatives confirmed on Wednesday the purchase of WebAppoint.com.
Microsoft already has two pilot projects in place where it is testing WebAppoint, said Satya Nadella, vice president of Microsoft's bCentral.
Microsoft plans to field a text version of WebAppoint by the end of the second quarter, he said. "WebAppoint already exists as a service. It already exports appointments into Outlook as a form," Mr Nadella said. "Now we're doing a bunch of work to integrate WebAppiont with our other (bCentral) services, especially our customer contact management and CRM," or customer relationship management. Microsoft hopes to attract interest on at least two fronts for WebAppoint: customers interested in using an online scheduling tool as part of a larger CRM service, and those interested in using WebAppoint as a time-management tool in its own right. He said Microsoft expects WebAppoint to appeal to small-business owners. Meta Group analyst Will Zachmann said Microsoft's Web services puzzle is gradually being pieced together. "Web services is the third generation of the Internet. It's all about exposing interfaces that do something other than just serve up information," Mr Zachmann said. "And .Net is about exposing Webservices.
BCentral and MSN are instances of Microsoft exposing Web services that are now or will be connected somehow with .Net." Microsoft already offers a number of online services on its bCentral site. These include free services, such as Business Auctions business-to-business auction and its FastCounter Web-site traffic monitor. Microsoft also offers a number of fee-based services on bCentral, such as its recently introduced Commerce Manager and Customer Manager, which are software applications available on a hosted, rental basis.
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