Microsoft Announces 'People-Ready' Business Vision

Microsoft Announces 'People-Ready' Business Vision

March 17, 2006

Company Previews Innovative Software Solutions Enabled by New Product Pipeline

    NEW YORK, March 17 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft
Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) CEO Steve Ballmer today outlined the
company's vision for how people, armed with the right
software, are the key to driving business success. Called
"People-Ready," this vision for business is the
backdrop for a series of innovative solutions in new and
existing categories that Microsoft will bring to market
over the next year.  Addressing more than 500 business
customers, Ballmer showcased new business solutions and
explained how they are enabled by the integration across
the company's forthcoming versions of the Windows Vista(TM)
operating system, the 2007 Microsoft(R) Office system,
Windows Mobile(R) software and the next version of
Microsoft Exchange Server, as well as infrastructure
offerings such as Windows Server(TM) 2003 and SQL
Server(TM) 2005.

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

    "Twenty years ago this week, Microsoft -- armed
with our belief in the power of software to change the
world -- was listed as a publicly traded company.
People-Ready is a natural extension of our founding vision
of empowering people through software.  Today we take this
to the next level by showing how these tools now work
together in new ways to enhance innovation and drive
greater value for business," Ballmer said. 
"Fueling our vision is a series of software solutions
resulting from a $20 billion R&D investment over the
past three years that is producing new innovation in a
range of categories. From business intelligence to the
mobile work force, from collaboration to communications,
and from CRM to enterprise search, the opportunity for
software to deliver even greater customer value is
limitless." 

    The company's People-Ready vision is based on the
belief that people are the ultimate drivers of a business'
success. A business that is People-Ready gives its people
software tools that enable them to collaborate and work
together globally, to contact and serve customers
instantly, and to streamline and reinvent processes
intuitively.  Along these lines, Microsoft previewed new
software solutions that will deliver even greater customer
value.  Ballmer said that in the coming year Microsoft will
apply its product portfolio and provide differentiated
offerings to a much broader set of customer needs in the
following categories:

    -- Unified communications and collaboration. Microsoft
is extending the rich capabilities of software to improve
and advance business communications. The next release of
the Microsoft Office system will extend desktop
capabilities though new server technologies. For example,
with Microsoft Office SharePoint(R) Server 2007, Microsoft
enables new categories with easy-to-use customization tools
designed for people, workflow, and easy integration of
popular collaboration tools such as wikis and blogs. In
addition, technologies such as Exchange Server, Microsoft
Office Live Communications Server and Microsoft Office
Communicator will break down today's silos of communication
(e-mail, phone, instant messaging, Web conferencing) and
bring them together into an intuitive experience that helps
people and organizations communicate simply and effectively
while integrating seamlessly with business applications and
processes. 

    -- Enterprise search. Microsoft's enterprise search
technologies are moving beyond empowering people to create
documents by enabling them to better manage the information
they need to be successful.  Through powerful new software
solutions that take advantage of richness of both the
client and the server such as Windows Desktop Search and
Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, people will have
instant access to their most pressing information whether
it is on their desktop, server or across their company --
all from a single, intuitive and familiar user interface. 

    -- The mobile work force. The world of work is
increasingly mobile. Microsoft's comprehensive approach to
mobility that spans devices, software and networks
addresses the needs of business in a way that no point
solution provider can. Specifically, the next version of
Exchange Server revolutionizes access by offering a
speech-enabled and unified messaging platform that
integrates e-mail, fax and voice mail in the user's inbox
with support for a variety of clients, including
traditional and mobile devices.  The integration between
Windows Mobile, Exchange Server and the 2007 Microsoft
Office system enables entirely new scenarios for businesses
to turn their work force into a mobile work force without
having to manage additional server infrastructure, hire
expensive consultants or relinquish their data to
third-party providers. 

    -- Business intelligence. One way to increase the
impact that people can have in an organization is to give
them access to the information and insight they need. Until
now, business intelligence (BI) software has been too
complex, costly and disconnected from the software tools
people use every day to do their jobs, but that is
changing.  Microsoft is significantly increasing, aligning
and broadening its investment in BI with SQL Server as the
foundation and with the Microsoft Office system playing an
increasingly integral role. In addition, deeper integration
between the next version of Microsoft Office Excel(R) and
SharePoint Server will make it easier for non-technical
users to access hard-to-find corporate data and analyze it
with simpler tools including new visualization technology.
New solutions, including Microsoft Office Business
Scorecard Manager 2005 and enhancements to the familiar
Microsoft Office Excel software, transform BI into a
mainstream technology for the most novice user by providing
an easy user experience for accessing and working with
business information so that decision-makers at all levels
within an organization can drive better performance. 

    -- Customer relationship management (CRM). With the
Microsoft Dynamics(TM) line of business management
solutions, Microsoft is unifying the previously separate
worlds of business process automation (such as CRM and ERP)
with the world of productivity.  For example, designed to be
a natural extension of Microsoft Office Outlook(R), the
Microsoft Dynamics CRM user experience provides workers
with a familiar and intuitive environment that results in
every person in a company being able to begin using such
tools for managing sales, services and marketing processes.
Microsoft CRM also adapts easily to a business' existing
workflow and processes as a direct result of the innovation
Microsoft has applied with respect to service-oriented
architecture (SOA) and Web services.  Thus Microsoft CRM is
tailored to suit people's roles and meet the specific needs
of businesses today.

    -- Infrastructure. While infrastructure is not
something that employees typically think about, a
significant portion of Microsoft's R&D over the past
three years has gone into providing world-class,
security-enhanced, and manageable software and server
infrastructure to seamlessly support many of the new
innovations coming to market later this year.  For
instance, new innovation in the already released SQL Server
2005 and the next version of Windows Server will play a
significant role in delivering the underpinnings for all of
these integrated solutions in a way that is transparent to
workers. 

    "Getting the most out of their people is on the
mind of every business leader I speak with," Ballmer
said.  "Successful businesses understand that people
drive business success and growth.  At Microsoft, we
understand that and are passionate about the idea that the
right software can provide the tools to empower workers to
become the drivers of business success."

    Ballmer also said the company would be aligning its
global sales and marketing organization and its worldwide
partner network to execute against the People-Ready vision.
 The company also announced a series of investments
including a $500 million global marketing and sales
campaign designed to broadly communicate the company's
software value proposition for business.  Microsoft also is
making it easier and more economical for businesses to
access software that works together and enables
comprehensive solutions for their collaboration,
communication and corporate compliance needs.  The new
approach provides an easier path for customers to purchase
and use Microsoft software so customers can now deploy it
on their own schedule and scale as required; ensure the
tools are there when the business needs them; and, gain
earlier access to more training and support for new
technologies as well as desktop deployment planning
services.

    People-Ready Business Customers

    Ballmer was joined on stage by representatives from
Bank of America N.A., one of the world's largest financial
institutions.

    "At Bank of America, we embrace the People-Ready
vision because our success is driven by our associates who
interact with customers every day," said Tim Huval,
CIO of Bank of America's Global Wealth & Investment
Management (GWIM) Group.  "One way Microsoft software
helps associates drive success is through our Client
Connections platform, which enables our associates to
obtain a 360-degree view of our customers, from bank
accounts to stock portfolios.  Client Connections drives
higher customer and associate satisfaction."

    Partner Support for the People-Ready Business

    More than 640,000 Microsoft enterprise and middle
market partners around the world are being mobilized to
help customers assess their status and next steps for
becoming a People-Ready Business and determine which
solutions are best and most relevant to their needs.  UGS
Corp., a leading global provider of product life-cycle
management (PLM) software and services with nearly 4
million licensed seats and 46,000 customers worldwide, is
just one of those Microsoft partners committed to this
mission. 

    "UGS is excited to work with Microsoft in
delivering to customers People-Ready solutions specifically
designed and aligned to help businesses innovate and solve
problems they care about the most," said Tony Affuso,
CEO of UGS. "With arguably the broadest and deepest
portfolio of software offerings for business, it's a great
time for Microsoft and its partners to revitalize efforts
to most effectively enable people to collaborate with
technology to drive business results."

    More information about the new initiative can be found
at http://www.peopleready.com .

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

    NOTE:  Microsoft, Windows Vista, Windows Mobile,
Windows Server, SharePoint, Excel, Microsoft Dynamics and
Outlook are either registered trademarks or trademarks of
Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other
countries.

    The names of actual companies and products mentioned
herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

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SOURCE  Microsoft Corp.