IT shops need direction from Microsoft on reaching cloud
Ed Scannell, Executive Editor
Microsoft inched closer to delivering Office 365 with the recent release of its first public beta. But IT shops need more details about
how the company will help them transition from on premises and hosted applications to
software-as-a-service and cloud-flavored versions of products in that suite before it can be
seriously evaluated.
It isn't just transitioning to Office 365 that causes
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concern for IT managers. It is also
Microsoft’s plan for moving enterprises off other core server products and onto SaaS and
cloud
computing platforms. Given growing competition from smaller, faster moving competitors armed
only with cloud-based offerings, IT shops think Microsoft doesn't have much room for error.
"I am looking at my options for cloud (offerings) and what I see Microsoft doing so far is
taking these half steps with things like its ERP products,” said a technology director with a large
New York City-based retailer. “I am not getting the whole picture of how I go from my existing
infrastructure to what [Microsoft is] talking about with Office 365 and Azure."
While Microsoft escaped significant damage when it failed to shift smoothly between key
application and operating systems platforms in the past, it may find making such mistakes in
the services-age less forgiving.
"[Microsoft] got away with bad transitions like the one from Windows XP to Vista, but you don't
get to make those kinds of mistakes in the online world,” said Dana Gardner, principal analyst at
Inter-Arbor Solutions in Gilford, N.H. [Microsoft] needs to make this transition flawlessly in
terms of simplicity, cost and technical aspects. I am not seeing that yet."
Gardner and others say that if Microsoft bungles this transition to the new age, it will be easy
for competitors, such as Google and Salesforce, to add on commodity capabilities such as messaging,
calendaring and collaboration to their existing core products already designed from scratch for
SaaS.
"Most of Microsoft's products aren't architected for SaaS, multi-tenancy, or have a common code
base where you can layer services across them like a services oriented architecture," Gardner
said.
With or without a technical roadmap it could be a painful transition, according to Wes Miller,
research vice president of server applications at Directions on Microsoft, a Kirkland, Wash.-based
consulting firm. Exchange alone represents the "cardiac system" for most businesses
today.
"The transition plan for core pieces like Exchange and SharePoint becomes more important the larger an organization,
whether you are going from a cloud to cloud, on premises to a cloud or taking your datacenter up
into the cloud," Miller said. "But Microsoft has some best practices stuff, things it’s learned
from BPOS, and is making good prescriptive suggestions for people to get started."
Double charging for Office?
IT pros and analysts who advise enterprise shops said they also need more clarity on the
various licensing options for Office 365. The company laid out those options earlier this year for
its Office 365 flavors (see chart below). But in two of the four options, where it offers Office
Pro Plus as a standard component, IT managers with existing enterprise licenses for Office were
concerned about the possibility of paying for Office twice.
| E1 |
$10/mo/user |
IM & presence, conferencing, collaboration with SharePoint sites, email,
calendar, AV/AS/ personal archive |
| E2 |
$16/mo/user |
Web Apps |
| E3 |
$24/mo/user |
Office Pro Plus, voicemail and advances archive capabilities, Access/Excel/Visio
services |
| E4 |
$27/mo/user |
Voice |
"There's little chance I'll buy into the E3 option (for Office 365) if I have to pay for the Pro
Plus version. The other two lower end options don't particularly appeal to me," said the IT
executive with the New York City-based retailer.
Asked if Microsoft would discount the monthly rate for users selecting the E3 version, a
Microsoft spokesman said he wasn't aware of any plans to offer discounts to existing Office desktop
users who didn't want Office Pro Plus in the two higher-end offerings.
With E3 however, you do get the full fledged version of Office, which is $499 off-the shelf, and
you would get all that for $24 a month.
Earlier this month, Microsoft made the first public beta of Office 365 available, disclosing two
different programs: one for small businesses that have up to 25 employees; and another for mid-size
companies and enterprises.
The beta program for smaller companies comes with Office Web Apps, Exchange Online, SharePoint
Online, Lync Online and an external website. The one for midsize shops and enterprises includes
email, voicemail, enterprise social networking, conferencing via voice and video, Web portals, and
the subscription-based copy of Office Professional Plus.
Besides the two beta programs, Microsoft announced Office 365 marketplace, which helps customers
personalize Office 365 by giving them access to 100 applications and 400 different professional
services.
Microsoft did not add any major features to the public beta. It focused mainly on improvements
to Office 365’s overall usability, speed and performance.
With the first beta, a little over 70% of customers who signed up were small businesses,
with the remaining 30% coming from larger companies, according to Microsoft officials. Some
observers said they believe that mix will change, with the more widely distributed public beta and
finished product expected by the year's end.
"It is most appealing to small and mid-size companies now because they can turn on a dime to go
to the cloud,” Miller said. “Enterprises have more considerations like pilot projects, testing in
complex environments and rollouts. The enterprise is where Microsoft wants to go, but the smaller
companies are the ones clambering for it now."
Ed Scannell is Executive Editor of Data Center and Virtualization Group. He can be contacted
at escannell@techtarget.com.
