Innovation through Collaboration with ISVs

Greetings!

My name is Persio and I manage Microsoft’s relationships with several of the leading ERP, CRM and Enterprise Search ISVs.

In earlier blogs, my colleagues (Karl and Raj) talked about how to partner with Microsoft and why Microsoft is interested in partnering with ISVs.  I am going to show you an example of how partnerships drive innovation and increased business value to our joint customers.

One of the coolest things about partnering with our ISVs is the ability to accelerate innovation through technology collaboration. A good example is Office Business Applications (OBA), the emerging class of applications that integrates the power of the Microsoft Office system with traditional ERP solutions and other line of business applications.

One of the neatest examples of OBAs today is Epicor Information Worker (IW). IW allows Epicor users to access business data stored in Epicor ERP applications directly from within Microsoft Office 2007—enabling users to keep their familiar Microsoft Office user interface and consequently increasing their productivity. Users can also take their data offline using disconnected access and then synchronize their activities (new documents, updates, etc) once they are back online. Check out this recent Channel 9 Inside Out interview with Epicor as they discuss the interoperability of Epicor IW and OBA.

As you can see, the innovation scenarios are unlimited and customers benefit from the collaboration between Microsoft and our partners. In my next blog, I will highlight additional examples of how Microsoft and ISVs are driving innovation and increasing business value to end customers.

In the meantime, I would welcome your thoughts and feedback.

Cheers, Persio Afonso – Global Business Development Manager, Microsoft