Entrepreneurs and Experts Reveal Big Ideas at Microsoft's Small Business Summit 2008

March 24, 2008; 07:20 AM

REDMOND, Wash., March 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Microsoft Corp.
today kicked off its third annual Microsoft Small Business Summit,
broadcasting live from Microsoft Studios to an expected crowd of 200,000
online participants nationwide. Over the next four days, more than 50
entrepreneurs and industry experts will define ways in which small-business
owners can work smarter by revealing the latest trends and best practices
for those who wear the many hats of the self-employed. Cindy Bates, general
manager for U.S. Small Business at Microsoft, opened the event by
acknowledging how Microsoft is working with customers to continually
deliver innovation to the small-business community.

    (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO)

    "Since the inception of the Small Business Summit, in 2006, we have
delivered more than 20 products and services specifically designed to
empower small-business owners," Bates said. "Recognizing that companies
with 50 or fewer employees may have limited IT resources, we look to
deliver customer-driven innovation and solutions that enable self-employed
people at any stage of growth to focus on running their small business.
Today marks another milestone of our efforts to work with small-business
owners to bring the right solutions to market with the upcoming
availability of voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) on the Microsoft
Response Point phone system."

    The availability this summer of a free feature update, Service Pack 1
(SP1), to Microsoft Response Point phone systems will enable U.S. small
businesses to take advantage of VoIP. With Response Point SP1,
small-business owners will have the flexibility to easily transition from
traditional analog service to digital voice service, and within a few mouse
clicks, can help improve their communications and cut business costs.
According to small-business research firm Access Markets International
(AMI) Partners Inc., a small business with 10 to 19 employees can save an
average of $8,000 in the first year by purchasing an IP-based phone system
such as Response Point.

    "Prior to the installation of Microsoft Response Point we had to call
an outside technology expert, wait several days and pay a fee even for a
simple addition such as adding a staff member," said Neil Chasan, Response
Point customer and owner of the Sports Reaction Center. "With Response
Point we can make changes to our configuration simply and quickly."

    The rising adoption of software-as-a-service solutions among U.S. small
businesses is being driven by the need for IT solutions that are easy to
use, implement and maintain with limited resources. Microsoft's software
plus service approach brings together the best of desktop, mobile, server
and Web environments to help maximize choice, flexibility and capabilities
for customers.

    These new Internet service-based offerings from Microsoft scale to meet
the needs of small businesses without access to professional technical
expertise as well as larger organizations with more system management
requirements. Customers can custom-tailor Microsoft Dynamics solutions to
deliver the optimal deployment of business processes that meet their needs
through on-premise, partner-hosted and Microsoft-hosted on-demand
offerings. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live, which will be broadly available in
spring 2008, will extend Microsoft Dynamics CRM applications to the Web.

    Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live will join Microsoft Office Live Small
Business, Office Live Workspace and Windows Live OneCare for Server to
provide small-business customers with a new generation of rich, seamless
experiences that are personalized, compatible and available online
virtually anywhere. Microsoft Office Accounting 2008 is a blend of software
plus services, offering an on-premise accounting software application with
online services such as eBay and ADP.

    Windows Small Business Server 2008 is another anticipated release due
later this year showcasing Microsoft's software plus services strategy. The
new version adds a range of features and capabilities to the current
Windows Small Business Server 2003 R2 product, including enhanced security
and data protection technologies, compatibility with Microsoft Office Live
Small Business for electronic marketing, and more tools to allow employees
to work and collaborate while away from the office.

    About Microsoft Small Business Summit 2008

    Dell Inc., Bank of America Corp. and AT&T are sponsoring Microsoft
Small Business Summit 2008, recognizing it as an unparalleled opportunity
to provide valuable resources to the small-business community. This year's
event features speakers such as Donny Deutsch, chairman of Deutsch Inc. and
host of CNBC's "The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch"; John Jantsch, author of
"Duct Tape Marketing"; Maria de Lourdes Sobrino, successful CEO of LuLu's
Dessert Corp.; Cameron Johnson, author of "You Call the Shots: Succeed Your
Way -- and Live the Life You Want"; and Jane Applegate, founder of SBTV.com
and author of "201 Great Ideas for Your Small Business" and "Strategies for
Small Business Success." On day one of the summit, Microsoft will also
announce this year's Total Technology Makeover $100,000 grand prize winner
from finalists chosen among more than 400 entrants. More information is
available at https://www.sbsummit.com.

    About Microsoft

    Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.