Sprint to Offer Office 365 Through Its Business Solutions
posted Saturday Aug 4, 2012 by Scott Ertz
Microsoft is in the process of reinventing its productivity tools, namely Office. In addition to the next generation of the full installed version of the apps, they have been enhancing their online, cloud-based solution, Office 365. Part of this enhancement is teaming with the 3rd largest wireless provider, Sprint, to deliver the service to small and mid-size business customers.
The goal for Sprint is to bundle the Office 365 service with value-added services from the company to enhance the service and add enterprise-level features that a small business could never afford on their own. They believe that, by offering this bundled enterprise-style solution at a lower cost, small businesses will have a greater ability to grow without worrying about infrastructural cost. Sprint will combine this with their existing Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings, such as support and field productivity services.
Hit the break to find out what both companies have to say about the new partnership.
John Dupree, senior vice president - Business Sales, Sprint, said,
Sprint's open approach to cloud includes teaming with trusted industry leaders, like Microsoft, with proven solutions with which businesses are very familiar, to enable them to achieve greater agility to compete in today's economy. Our focus on seamless integration of mobility with cloud services allows companies to extend our reliable and secure networks to their mobile workforces, so they can confidently use hosted services anytime, virtually anywhere and from any device.
Kirk Gregersen, general manager, Microsoft Office Division, said,
Combining Sprint's wireless data plans, access through its 3G and 4G networks and scalable services with Office 365 will provide businesses with the tools needed to grow. We're delighted to join with Sprint in offering this compelling set of cloud solutions to small and mid-sized businesses.
Both companies seem excited about the partnership. Now, the only test left is to see how Sprint is able to handle expanding its SaaS offering and whether or not companies will buy from Sprint instead of directly from Microsoft.
