By Varun Aggarwal
Microsoft India is readying its partners for the launch of its software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering called Business Productivity Online Suite (BPoS). Slated for a commercial launch in October in India, BPoS is already available for free trials on the company’s website. BPOS has been commercially available for over a year in the US.
“We’ve already reached out to many Indian partners for selling BPoS, and are working closely with them to help formulate a sales strategy. We see plenty of business opportunity for partners in providing SaaS,” said Allison Watson, Corporate VP, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft.
The software-vendor has created a rebate program that provides partners with 12 percent commission on the SaaS business in the first year, and 6 percent for the following years on renewals.
Microsoft is offering free tools to the partners to sell SaaS. "We will offer free seats of BPoS to each partner for their internal use. When they use BPoS and understand its benefits, they can sell it with ease,” opined Watson.
The company is also providing an order-on-behalf tool that enables partners to embed their information into the web marketing or direct marketing. "When any of the partner's customer, using our trial program, purchases BPoS subscription online, the partner will automatically be informed about it and will also get the sales commission credited in his account," explained Watson.
There is also a sales tracking tool with a dashboard that helps partners keep track of their trial customers and sends automatic reminders to them for upgrade. In addition there is also a margin calculator built in which gives partners information about the commission they have earned. |