Cloud vs non cloud software sales
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@Dashrender said:
Do you see O365 more about getting Office 2013 on your local machine or more about email and sharepoint? If you leave the local install of Office out of the equation it's completely a cloud based solution (i.e. on the internet).
I don't see it as either. Office 365, as I've spoken about at events on Microsoft's behalf, is purely a subscription licensing model from Microsoft. Microsoft offers traditional retail licensing models, their blended volume licensing model (perpetual + subscription) and their pure subscription (Office 365) purchasing models. When you say Office 365, the only thing you are guaranteeing that you are speaking about is subscription pricing.
Now within that, I think that most likely the hosted services are the bigger piece but it has to be close as the on-premises pieces are much more expensive per purchase. Lots of people think of it as only one or the other, the thing that unites them all is the subscription-ness of the whole thing.
IF you leave off the biggest portion of the service AND discount the name of the service... then sure. But likewise, if you leave off the Exchange, Sharepoint and about to be discountinued Lync portions you have a purely on-premises solution. And if you look at the freebies, it's the hosted bits that are free to non-profits and the "real" portions that you pay for are mostly the on-premises portions.
Also, even the hosted portions, if you want things like AD, still require an on-premises component.
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There is no doubt that the hosted portion is more groundbreaking, as the other is just a different charge-back model. But the hosted portions are just the "backing" for the on-premises portions. Hosted Exchange is just a loss leader for selling Outlook. Hosted Sharepoint is just a loss leader for selling Windows and MS Office. Sure you can use them on their own, from a Mac even, but their core value does not exist until you add in the on-premises only MS Office components that really make them shine.
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@scottalanmiller said:
There is no doubt that the hosted portion is more groundbreaking, as the other is just a different charge-back model. But the hosted portions are just the "backing" for the on-premises portions. Hosted Exchange is just a loss leader for selling Outlook. Hosted Sharepoint is just a loss leader for selling Windows and MS Office. Sure you can use them on their own, from a Mac even, but their core value does not exist until you add in the on-premises only MS Office components that really make them shine.
You don't think over time customers will migrate away from the locally installed apps and use the online version primarily?
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@scottalanmiller said:
Hosted Exchange is just a loss leader for selling Outlook. Hosted Sharepoint is just a loss leader for selling Windows and MS Office.
Really? I've never heard that.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Hosted Exchange is just a loss leader for selling Outlook. Hosted Sharepoint is just a loss leader for selling Windows and MS Office.
Considering this, @scottalanmiller do you know how the percent of people who use O365 that buy full Office vs web only?
And if the $5/user web only option is a loss leader, what happens when the majority move that direction and away from a local install?
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Hosted Exchange is just a loss leader for selling Outlook. Hosted Sharepoint is just a loss leader for selling Windows and MS Office.
Considering this, @scottalanmiller do you know how the percent of people who use O365 that buy full Office vs web only?
And if the $5/user web only option is a loss leader, what happens when the majority move that direction and away from a local install?
I don't think that will ever happen. Of the ~70 users that I have on Exchange Online... maybe 4 of them use the web interface on a day-to-day basis... all the others are adamant that they need Outlook to do anything productive with email, to the point where they won't check the web interface remotely.
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@coliver said:
I don't think that will ever happen. Of the ~70 users that I have on Exchange Online... maybe 4 of them use the web interface on a day-to-day basis... all the others are adamant that they need Outlook to do anything productive with email, to the point where they won't check the web interface remotely.
Pretty much this.
Eventually it will change, but not yet.
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@coliver said:
I don't think that will ever happen. Of the ~70 users that I have on Exchange Online... maybe 4 of them use the web interface on a day-to-day basis... all the others are adamant that they need Outlook to do anything productive with email, to the point where they won't check the web interface remotely.
I know people want to use what they know, but unless there is a plug in for Outlook, what is better about Outlook vs the online version?
If management made them give up Outlook, would they still be able to get their job done?
I agree with JB, eventually we'll get there, though it will probably be 10+ years...
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@Dashrender said:
@coliver said:
I don't think that will ever happen. Of the ~70 users that I have on Exchange Online... maybe 4 of them use the web interface on a day-to-day basis... all the others are adamant that they need Outlook to do anything productive with email, to the point where they won't check the web interface remotely.
I know people want to use what they know, but unless there is a plug in for Outlook, what is better about Outlook vs the online version?
If management made them give up Outlook, would they still be able to get their job done?
I agree with JB, eventually we'll get there, though it will probably be 10+ years...
Outlook has some addition functionality that is easier to get to. But the web interface is 99% there. If we had to give up Outlook everyone could easily get there jobs done... of course my head would be on a stake as a warning to other IT Pros.... but they could get their job done.
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@coliver said:
Outlook has some addition functionality that is easier to get to. But the web interface is 99% there. If we had to give up Outlook everyone could easily get there jobs done... of course my head would be on a stake as a warning to other IT Pros.... but they could get their job done.
I don't use it BUT most people still do. Functionality being better wouldn't make them switch.
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@Dashrender said:
I know people want to use what they know, but unless there is a plug in for Outlook, what is better about Outlook vs the online version?
I use OWA only and I think that it is better.
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@Dashrender said:
Considering this, @scottalanmiller do you know how the percent of people who use O365 that buy full Office vs web only?
No way to know. They don't need full Office, only Outlook or some other subset. It's a lot. I have never seen a shop that didn't buy MS Office for use with it. But somewhere, someone must not buy it.
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@Dashrender said:
And if the $5/user web only option is a loss leader, what happens when the majority move that direction and away from a local install?
Hosted Exchange is only $4/month. You are thinking of Google Apps which is a bit more expensive.
What's your concern? Microsoft wants EVERYONE on Hosted Exchange. They don't want a single local install to exist anywhere, ever. Local installs are "moves to Google" just waiting to happen.
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Out of the 75 customers we have done migrations to O365 for in the last 6 months we have had one that uses it only for email and doesn't have MS office in their environment at all. They use Libreoffice instead.
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But they are a garage and don't need to do any documentation at all really. Everything is done via their software that garages use to track everything (does their invoicing and a million other things for them).
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@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
And if the $5/user web only option is a loss leader, what happens when the majority move that direction and away from a local install?
Hosted Exchange is only $4/month. You are thinking of Google Apps which is a bit more expensive.
What's your concern? Microsoft wants EVERYONE on Hosted Exchange. They don't want a single local install to exist anywhere, ever. Local installs are "moves to Google" just waiting to happen.
On which plan is Exchange $4/month? or is that a version that does not include Sharepoint, etc? Im' paying $5/month for Exchange office apps online and sharepoint and ODfB.
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@Minion-Queen said:
Out of the 75 customers we have done migrations to O365 for in the last 6 months we have had one that uses it only for email and doesn't have MS office in their environment at all. They use Libreoffice instead.
Was that because you could not convince them that the web apps were probably completely usable for them?
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@Dashrender said:
And if the $5/user web only option is a loss leader, what happens when the majority move that direction and away from a local install?
Hosted Exchange is only $4/month. You are thinking of Google Apps which is a bit more expensive.
What's your concern? Microsoft wants EVERYONE on Hosted Exchange. They don't want a single local install to exist anywhere, ever. Local installs are "moves to Google" just waiting to happen.
On which plan is Exchange $4/month? or is that a version that does not include Sharepoint, etc? Im' paying $5/month for Exchange office apps online and sharepoint and ODfB.
Exchange Online is 4$ a month, the upgraded one with apps and the like is 5$ a month or more. We are another organization who only has email even though ODfB and Sharepoint would work well for some of the stuff we are doing.
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@coliver said:
Exchange Online is 4$ a month, the upgraded one with apps and the like is 5$ a month or more.
Hosted Exchange is $4
Hosted Exchange + SharePoint is $8
Hosted Exchange + SharePoint + MS Office 2013 is $20 -
@Dashrender said:
Was that because you could not convince them that the web apps were probably completely usable for them?
Which Web Apps are you referring to? There is only OWA that is an alternative to the on premises Office 2013.
