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Microsoft® bCentral™
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Overview
Why bCentral?
Small businesses are important because they represent a large part of our economy. Here in the US, nearly half of the population works for a business that has 100 or fewer employees and 1/3 of our gross domestic product is derived form these businesses. The global opportunity is huge as well, with more than 85 million small businesses existent worldwide.
The web has great potential to dramatically change how small businesses operate. It can allow a business to go from selling locally, within a small community, to selling globally. We’ve seen it with antique dealers moving from selling at a local antique show to selling on eBay. They increase their market potential by tenfold, get better prices, and can grow their business in ways that were unimaginable before.
And the possibility isn’t just limited to expanding the customer base. Nearly 1/2 of small businesses believe that the internet can provide them with cost savings.
No one has yet “gotten it” for small businesses on the web today. There is not one place where they can go to find all that they need to turn the possibility of the web into reality.
When small businesses reviewed some of the small business web sites out there today they told us that they weren’t too crazy about them. They find the current web offering for small businesses confusing, not easy to use, lots of services that aren’t integrated. They have to sign in and remember all these passwords. Many of them said that much of what they saw was a static, text book kind of information that might have been useful the week they started their business, but isn’t very useful for really running their business everyday.
But small businesses are hopeful that better things are coming. Fully 41% of them expect to take their business online in the next 12 to 24 months.
The Scope of the bCentral Opportunity
- Home Office aggregate spending - $28 billion
- Projected Small Office and Home Office entities with Internet access - 12 million
- Small Office and Home Office with web sites - 5 million
- Multi-billion dollar opportunity
- Home Office annual spending on computer services (ISP & software) - over $200 (Forrester)
- Small Office annual spending on internet access & e-mail - $1000 (Cyberdialogue)
What is bCentral?
Microsoft bCentral is the leading place for small businesses to go to leverage the Internet to drive their business forward. Small businesses will be able to use bCentral to set up a web site and bring their business online. Once they have an online presence, they will be able to market online, reaching thousands of new customers they could not afford to reach before the Internet.
Small businesses that use bCentral will have comprehensive reporting on the effectiveness of their online marketing programs, so they can make informed decisions about marketing investments. They will be able to save time and money on a variety of management tasks, from booking travel to buying health insurance to selecting & purchasing computer equipment.
Microsoft bCentral will be the dashboard by which growing small businesses will manage their online business. It will become an indispensable everyday business tool where getting things done is the major focus. Above all, it will offer a seamlessly integrated set of products and services in clean, simple and functional environment.
Benefits
Get Started Online - Users can easily connect to the Internet with Microsoft Internet Access and build a business Web site.
Promote a site - Identified as the most important online need by small businesses, promoting a Web site is an effective way to find new customers and generate awareness for a growing company.
Manage a business - Users can effectively leverage the Web to save time and money when purchasing office supplies, booking travel, checking credit references, and handling a variety of daily management tasks.
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