Microsoft Canada Co. Helps Small Businesses Better Leverage Existing Technology and Help Increase Productivity with Free Online Resource
Microsoft Small Business + provides one place for small businesses to access relevant market research, business and technology training tutorials and technical support
MISSISSAUGA, Ontario - January 31, 2006 - Microsoft Canada Co. announced today the launch of Microsoft Small Business +, a free online resource www.microsoft.ca/sbplus that provides access to business and software training, Canadian small business market research and customized technical support and content. Canadian small businesses can use this online resource to better plan their technology investments, enhance their technology skills, and help increase their productivity.
Small business customers that enter their business and technology profile online will have access to a library of software training that can help them do more with the software they already license such as Excel spreadsheet software, PowerPoint presentation graphics program, Outlook messaging and collaboration client and Word. Current course offerings include: Performing Calculations on Data using Microsoft Excel, Changing the Appearance of Documents Using Microsoft Office Word, and Finding and Organizing E-mail Messages Using Microsoft Office Outlook.
"I have never seen anything like Small Business + before and am excited that Microsoft is taking initiative and really helping small business get a handle on how they are using technology and providing business training too," says Beth Stefaniuk, Vice President, Administration - Group Client Services, Blevins Insurance Group. "We have just started to use this resource but found the training modules helped us do more with the technology and Canadian market research will help us make more informed business decisions and technology decisions in the future."
Microsoft Small Business + provides business skills training that focuses on finance, marketing and technology management to help small business owners further develop their expertise and help give them a competitive edge. The training is personalized based on the user's profile and features topics such as forecasting and improving cash flow, help increase sales, identifying your best customers, backing up and restoring your data, and maintaining virus protection. In addition to this training, small business customers can also access market research traditionally not available to them. Microsoft Canada is collaborating with IDC and CFIB to make available research and that will help small businesses better grasp technology and market trends affecting their business. A particularly innovative resource is a benchmarking tool that will allow small businesses to understand the average spend of hardware, software, services and telecommunications for a business in their industry and employee size. These resources were designed to help businesses make even more informed business and technology decisions.
"A recent Ipsos Reid report indicates that over 82 per cent of small business owners agree that adopting technology is the key to increasing productivity and competitiveness, however, for small businesses, finding the time to think about how technology can help them increase productivity is an ongoing challenge," said David Willis, Vice President, Small and Mid-Market Solutions and Partners, Microsoft Canada Co. "Microsoft Small Business + aims to help small businesses overcome this hurdle and provide them with an online resource for relevant, personalized training and support that will help take their business to the next level."
A key challenge for small business owners is being able to access technical support when they need it. The Microsoft Small Business + self guided support delivers knowledge-based articles, security bulletins, service packs, newsgroups, webcasts, and self-help information on the software that is highlighted in the small business customer's online profile.
With Small Business + training and support options for customers, partners have more flexibility in ensuring their customers' training and support needs are being met. Partners can also focus their business on capturing new opportunities with their customers and providing greater differentiation for their business. Partners can make more training and support options available to a customer, which helps improve overall customer satisfaction and further strengthens the partners' role as a trusted technology advisor.
"Small Business + is a valuable resource that will help partners increase their customers overall satisfaction and further strengthen the partner's role as a trusted technology advisor," says John F. Payes, Director Microsoft Global Alliance, Nakisa Inc. & President IAMCP. "It will also provide Microsoft technology partners with more flexibility over the support services they choose to offer and allow them to focus on providing higher value, specialized offerings to their customers."
Microsoft Small Business + is currently available to English-speaking small business owners, with a French site set to be launched in December 2006. For more information or to sign up, please visit: www.microsoft.ca/sbplus
About Microsoft Canada
Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Co. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Microsoft Canada is headquartered in Mississauga, Ontario with MSN.CA offices located in Toronto and eight regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. Visit Microsoft Canada's web site at www.microsoft.ca
©2006 Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
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