Getting out of the box: Microsoft has solutions strategy for India

Ashu Kumar in New Delhi

In what can be seen as a paradigm shift in its market strategy, Microsoft is going beyond selling mere out-of-box products and planning to enter into enterprise software solutions business.

The company is gearing up its activities in India to provide enterprise solutions which would be developed and sold by Microsoft itself and would be implemented with the help of partners. The solutions would be available to all segments including small, medium and large business.

The solutions would be aimed at providing integration of Microsoft platforms with other technologies and applications. A similar solutions strategy has recently been launched by Microsoft in US to integrating suppliers with customer’s procurement system.

Speaking with The Financial Express, Microsoft India managing director Rajiv Kaul said the company had set up a separate team to explore the posibility of launching these solutions in India.

“Microsoft will front end the solution along with the support of solutions partners, system integrators and independent software vendors (ISVs). The idea of offering software solutions is part of Microsoft’s global initiative and would be rolled out in other parts of the world depending on the market conditions and resources of the local teams,” said Mr Kaul.

“I am quite excited about this. We are currently collecting the necessary resources and training our team members on different technology and application and may launch the solutions sometime next year,” claimed Mr Kaul adding that the solutions will also help the company demonstrate real-life implementation of chairman Bill Gates’ .NET strategy.

Microsoft has recently announced the availability of its ‘Microsoft Solution for Supplier Enablement’ in US.

The solution enables suppliers to connect to any customer’s e-procurement system or marketplace. The solution is built to maximize suppliers’ existing IT investments, reducing integration work and allowing suppliers to achieve faster return on investment, the company had claimed in a press note issued at the time of launch.

According to Microsoft, the solution was developed by combining the strengths of the company’s .NET Enterprise Servers with public Internet standards such as XML. The solution also comes with architectural guidance and complete solution support, so the implementation effort is significantly reduced.