Currently, more than 2 million customers have websites up and running. Among them are small business owners with a wide range of specialties such as a couple who started a business manufacturing decorative pet feeders, a company that designs and manufactures glass tiles, a fishing trip guide, a chiropractic center, a dance studio, a jewelry designer, and a company that provides padding for poles in parking garages.
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Michael Schultz
Director of Marketing
Microsoft Office Live
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To get more information about all the features of Office Live and how small businesses can benefit from it, I interviewed Michael Schultz, director of marketing for Microsoft Office Live, when he was in New York City recently.
Business Know-How: Michael, How are small businesses using Microsoft Office Live Small Business?
Schultz: You probably know this better than I do, but still half of all small businesses don't have a website. A lot of those people are local-based businesses - they don't think that they need one, but the reality is, is that you really do need a website when you're starting out.
So, we're finding that the website piece is the biggest piece that people are starting out with. We provide a free website and up to 5 GB of storage on that website. Users also have the option of upgrading to a custom domain [yourwebsitename.com]. And with Office Live Small Business, you get up to a hundred e-mail accounts, each one with 5 GB of storage. So, right out of the gate, you've got a presence for your business. You pay for the custom domain name registration, but most of the tools for building the website and the hosting are free. It's been awesome to see the websites users have created.
Business Know-How: One of the features I really like about Office Live Small Business is the free document storing and sharing capability in Workspace.
Schultz: We added Office Live Workspace about a year ago. It provides a way to share and store files for free, either directly to the web from Microsoft Office or from any web browser, so you are able to take your files with you. Over five million people have signed up for workspace just within the last year, so it's really been great!
Business Know-How: Wow!
Schultz: Storing and sharing files, accessing them from anywhere... It's really been great not only for small businesses, but individuals, too. My wife uses Workspace for PTSA, and I use it for Cub Scouts, and it's just a great way to make sure that everyone's on the same page, everyone has access to the same information. It's kind of one of those things that people don't think of Microsoft for all the time. You know, they think of us for Word and PowerPoint and Excel, not realizing that we've got a lot of great services that we've got millions and millions of people using every single day.
Business Know-How: That's fantastic, because if you've got a sales force out there and you want them to have the latest presentation, you can create it back in the office and upload it to Office Live Workspace and everyone's using the same presentation and has the latest information. Catalogs...
Schultz: Real estate... We've seen a lot of attraction with real estate agents. What they'll do is they'll post all the documents everyone needs right to an Office Live Workspace, and you can see the latest files that you need to go sign, or the latest changes that need to happen. Whether you're a contractor building a house -- you could put architectural plans in there... sales teams - there's another great example that you raised. So there's a lot of great uses that people have been able to find for Office Live.
And then we have something coming out later this year in beta called Office Web Applications, which is basically Office on the web. So, you'll be able to access, edit and store Word, PowerPoint, Excel -- the applications that you know and love--, really from anywhere."
Business Know-How: Can you synchronize between your private computer and an Office Live Workspace or keep track of versions? One thing I'm thinking of is how I use thumb drives to store things I'm working on when I travel and then I wind up with multiple versions… one on the thumb drive, one on the laptop, one on the office computer…....
Schultz: There are a number of things we're doing, both today and in the future that are pretty exciting. Today, we hear from a lot of students using Office Live Workspace who say things like " I don't have to take my thumb drive with me. I get to have access to my files wherever I am." And so, what we're finding is, a lot of people are using their Workspace as that central point, so all of their files are in sync, all the time and they don't have multiple versions going on.
The other thing we do as part of Office Live Workspace is revision tracking, so you actually know when you last updated a document, or know if someone edits or comments. You always have, not only the latest version, but you can also revert back to see some of the changes that you or others have made. So it's pretty exciting.
Business Know-How: Office Live Workspace would make a good place to store documents you can't afford, to lose, too.
Schultz: Yes, we had someone post to our Facebook page "Thank you, Office Live. You saved my thesis. Her computer crashed but her file was in the Workspace and she's been very good about making sure that she saved it to the workspace because she wanted to make sure that no matter where she was, she always had access to that file. And that's definitely something we're hearing a lot more from customers that they're looking for. I have probably three flash drives sitting in my briefcase today that I... I have no idea what's on them anymore. I lose them but if I know I have a file stored somewhere, I feel a lot better. And again, no matter if I'm on a PC or a Mac or a mobile phone, I have access to my mobile information, my documents.
And then some of the things we're working on, going forward, have the ability to actually work on some of the peer synchronization things that you're referencing. As Microsoft, we've been working with technology called Live Mesh for awhile, that's been in beta. It's available at LiveMesh.com today. You indicate what folders you want to synchronize and it keeps all your files in sync across multiple – devices not only computers. We're always trying to build that functionality into our products going forward.
Business Know-How: Is there anything else new planned for Office Live soon?
Schultz: The biggest thing that we have upcoming is our Office Web Applications. We announced it about six months ago and everyone's been asking when is Office coming to the web? We're very excited about this because some of the things that we've been hearing are people work on the web. They don't always work on their computer, they work on mobile devices, too. We need to make sure that we can extend the office experience to the web and into mobile devices.
A great example of that is, you are asked to go look at a proposal as a salesperson, or a pitch to a customer. You notice that there's a problem but you're not at your computer. You'll still be able to edit that document on the web, be able to make changes, save it, and you don't lose any of your formatting, everything is updated. It really provides some great enhanced value. So we're very excited about the web applications and how it will really help enhance the online experience.
Business Know-How: Where can small businesses learn more about Microsoft Office Live Small Business?
Schultz: Go to http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/ to learn how you can use Office Live in your business.
Editor's Update:
- "Microsoft Office 365 will replace Office Live Small Business as the comprehensive Microsoft productivity service for small businesses. The Office Live Small Business service will continue to run as it does today through at least October 2011."
- Office Live Small Business customers will be offered 3 months free of the Office 365 service should they choose to transition their account to Office 365.