What do you need to be successful? What can Microsoft, its partners and other vendors in the software industry do to better equip and enable you with the tools, technology and information you need to maximize your impact in your business?

We’ve spoken to thousands of customers recently about this very question. Based on your input, Microsoft is committing to a core set of promises to you. These promises are focused on enabling you to meet the key IT challenges and achieve the business goals you’ve told us are top priority for you.

Manage Complexity, Achieve Agility

While most executives realize that technology is crucial to the running—and the success—of their businesses, many will admit that the state of their IT systems is less than optimal. Microsoft offers guidance in the form of the Infrastructure Optimization Model, which outlines steps companies can take to analyze where they are today and to plan for and create an IT environment that is well managed, secure, and efficient.

Key Issues

• IT complexity, which makes IT management more expensive and prone to problems; increases the risk of security vulnerabilities; leads to IT governance and compliance issues; and decreases business agility

• Inefficient use of IT resources

• Where to make IT investments to gain the most benefit

What can you do today?

Learn about solutions for core infrastructure optimization that can help enterprise organizations and midsize businesses maximize agility, manage complexity, and provide more secure and controlled access to information resources.

Protect Information, Control Access

Microsoft is committed to providing a comprehensive set of security and access solutions that will enable IT to address the ever-changing landscape of threats and compliance demands while providing users access to business critical information.

Key Issues

• Providing access to appropriate data and resources without compromising security

• Traditional defenses inadequate

• Fragmentation of security technology and products

• Fragmentation of management

• Difficult to use and deploy

What can you do today?

Consider implementing a security infrastructure based on the Microsoft Forefront line of business security products, which help provide protection for client machines, server applications, and the network edge.

Advance the Business with IT Solutions

The Microsoft application platform provides a trusted and scalable foundation that empowers development teams and IT professionals to accelerate the delivery of business solutions and insights to maximize business advantage in today’s competitive marketplace.

Key Issues

Companies need a flexible, connected, and secure application platform to accelerate and improve business results.

• Downtime, stability or security of core business applications can mean that IS does not support the business adequately

• Siloed islands of information across the company, with applications and data stores not connected

• Untimely or poor business decisions due to information not being on hand for business decision makers

• Development and deployment takes too long or is too difficult—redundant work, delayed development times and lack of processes or tools to implement new solutions faster

What can you do today?

Learn how organizations of all sizes can optimize their infrastructure by creating a flexible, scalable, and adaptable application platform based on of Microsoft Visual Studio, Microsoft SQL Server, and Microsoft BizTalk.

Amplify the Impact of Your People

Microsoft will provide IT professionals and development teams with tools and technologies that enable them to supply the infrastructure to meet and support the maturing demands of today’s mobile and collaborative workforce.

Key Issues

• The move from corporations to confederations. That is, the change work from the traditional—working within organizations—to working outside firewalls.

• Individual productivity evolves to team impact and innovation. End user productivity is expected, IT is now tasked with how they can amplify employee impact and innovation through greater collaboration and business insight

• Work in the office evolves to work, personal life convergence. Easy access to technologies for communication adds more to shareholder value than any other people practice according to a recent Human Capital Index Study.

• Manufacturing-based economy evolves to global, services-based economy. Manufacturing to services-based economy, requires greater collaboration across timezones, firewalls

• Homogenous workforce changes to NetGen workforce. Everyone works the same way to NetGen embracing technology, but place greater demand on IT.

• PC-based communications evolves to proliferation of devices. IDC estimates devices will outnumber PCs 2:1 by 2012, anywhere access demanded

• From information overload to information an asset. Need to expand organizational intelligence, but problem with information overload—information should be relevant, targeted.

What can you do today?

See how you can use technology to accelerate returns on your biggest investment—your people.