Microsoft has announced the first update to its “Big Easy” program, which offers discounts, through partners, to companies with up to about 500 employees.The program, which was introduced in February, is a repository of rebate programs and incentives aimed at small and mid-sized companies.
“Before Big Easy, at one time we actually had 22 separate offers around different products,” said Eric Ligman, senior manager, U.S. small business community engagement, Microsoft. “But in talking to our customers and partners, they said it was hard to keep track, so we included all offers into Big Easy—still providing a wide variety, but allowing customers to get bigger discounts as they add multiple products.”
To get an advertised rebate or incentive, customers must buy the specific product by the date posted and then redeem the offer at www.microsoftincentives.com/bigeasy/. Microsoft will then send the customer a check made out to a Microsoft partner the customer specifies, and the customer can spend that money on additional services and products within 90 days.
This week’s announcement offers higher subsidies on the Windows Server operating system and Small Business Server products; Open License and Software Assurance coverage for SQL Server, Windows Server and Small Business Server products; and Open License for Office Project. The new offer, which rebates 10 to 22% of the purchase price to spend with a Microsoft partner, is good on purchases made until June 27, 2008.
Ligman said the latest additions, as well as the Big Easy program in general, were designed to help smaller customers buy Microsoft equipment at reasonable prices.
Some, however, would go further.
Today’s tight economic times may be spurring Microsoft to spruce up its SMB offerings, said Charles King, principal analyst at Pund-IT of Hayward, Calif.
“It’s a matter of making sure people keep coming through your door,” he said. “Grocery stores use loss leaders to bring people in the door with the assumption that once they get them in the door, they will buy T-bone steak. Providing a price incentive when small businesses buy a Microsoft product and a participating partner product keeps the ball rolling.”
Competition in the marketplace may be another driver.
“In a 50-person company, the fully-loaded $60,000-a-year cost for a junior IT person amounts to $100 per desktop per month, and that’s in addition to whatever you're paying to buy and upgrade server hardware and server software,” said Paul DeGroot, an analyst with independent Microsoft consultancy Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, Wash. “You can get Google Apps plus Saleforce.com for less than that. They never go on vacation, probably do a better job on backup, can be provisioned for a new user in a few minutes, are accessible from anywhere in the world, and keep you upgraded for free.”
As broadband becomes more ubiquitous and reliable, people want to commute less, and these services improve in quality, this approach could, at minimum, stall Microsoft server growth, DeGroot added.
A program like Big Easy can keep the ball rolling for Microsoft and its partners, which depend on deployment, configuration, and ongoing management of Microsoft technology for their livelihood, he said.
Another reason for the new Big Easy offers might be an attempt by Microsoft to keep companies interested.
“In programs like this you’ll often see vendors spruce them up and change the offerings around to keep interest high,” King said. “It’s a way of ensuring that existing customers keep buying and that new customers become interested.”
