Microsoft Office 365 Cloud Now $1 Billion Business

Grazed from TalkinCloud. Author: Editorial Staff.

Microsoft’s Office 365 cloud is now a $1 billion business, according to the software giant’s Q3 2013 earnings statement. For Microsoft, that milestone proves Office 365’s momentum is accelerating. And that’s also a big win for Channel Chief Jon Roskill, who wants partners to back the suite. But there’s more work to be done when it comes to the Office 365 channel partner program. Here’s why. First, the progress. According to Microsoft’s earnings call with analysts today, Office 365 has:

• a $1 billion annual revenue run rate;
• strong increase in net seat adds; up 5 times;
• 1 in 4 enterprise customers now have cloud seats with Microsoft;
• over 75 of Office 465 enterprise seats are running premium (i.e, higher-priced) versions; and
• recent wins include City of Chicago and the International Federation of Red Cross.
• Office 365 Progress and Partner Challenges…

Talkin’ Cloud and its sister sites believe Office 365 largely turned the corner with channel partners and customers somewhere in late 2012 or early 2013. Microsoft’s decision to kill Windows Small Business Server development was among the recent moves that forced partners to really evaluate their cloud strategies. And the recent Office 365 Open launch allows partners to manage end-customer billing — a key capability that many customers crave…

Read more from the source @ http://talkincloud.com/saas-software-service/microsoft-office-365-cloud-now-1-billion-business