Microsoft Issues Business Portal 2.0
Microsoft's Business Solutions unit has announced the general availability of Business Portal 2.0. Business Portal 2.0 assimilates code acquired from Great Plains into the company's broader product portfolio. As part of this overall transition, Microsoft Office SharePoint Services serve as the foundation of the release.
In addition to being further integrated into the Microsoft product family, changes have been made to enhance the Human Resource Management (HRM) Self Service Suite.
SharePoint Web Parts allow customers of Microsoft Business Solutions to configure their portals to: share, edit and store documents; display calendars; create portal pages; track meeting notes; add Excel graphs to pages; display announcements; and connect to external data sources. Third party modules can be plugged into SharePoint to offer up unique organizational scenarios for centralized employee access to information and services.
Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft Solomon business applications rest on top of the SharePoint underpinnings. The HRM suite includes new options available only to US customers of Microsoft Great Plains such as Multi-Level Direct Reports and Performance Review functionality. Microsoft Solomon includes a new payroll and attendance module, allowing users to swipe timecards through the portal.
While Microsoft continues to concentrate on the small and midmarket segment, some industry analysts see the breath of higher aspirations.
"Right now, Microsoft is courting the mid-market segment with these products, carving out space for an eventual move to bigger businesses, which would put the company more in direct competition with larger enterprise resource planning or client relationship management vendors," Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox told BetaNews.
Although Microsoft currently uses its network of Business Solutions resellers to push and plug its wares, it is unknown whether that trend will continue, or if Redmond will opt for a direct approach to sales and marketing. A list of top partners were relayed to the media at the Worldwide Partner Conference last October.
Current pricing of Business Portal 2.0 ranges from $20 to 40 USD per seat, with a $40,000 USD price tag set for the unlimited option. Availability extends outside of the US to Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, South Africa, the Middle East, and Latin America.