Microsoft's South African business software division aims to reach average year-on-year revenue growth of 40% in the next three years. One of its target areas is software-as-a-service - if SA's broadband capacity will allow for it.
Microsoft Dynamics, which has seen revenue grow at about 30% year-on-year for the past four years, should reach 40% compound annual growth rate by 2010, says its new head. Tracey Newman, business group executive for the division, says the company is benefiting from refresh cycles since its relaunch.
The division, which targets small to large companies, is Microsoft's recently re-branded business solutions division. It provides products to the financial, supply chain and customer relationship sectors. Microsoft Dynamics also aims to grow into the mid-market, as well as push ERP and CRM solutions.
Early days
The division is piloting a software-as-a-service project to ensure broadband will not prove to be a constraint, says Newman. The project, at a large corporate, involves incrementally moving users to an off-site hosting facility, hosted by Internet Solutions, to test broadband needs.
Eugene Hunt, sales and channel lead for the division, notes: "The business case is there; the question is: is the bandwidth there?"
Newman says the aim is to offer customers the choice of on- or off-site hosting and payment models, and to alleviate the need for companies to hunt for skills in a market that is already battling to fill staffing needs.
She adds that, so far, the client has saved half its licence costs, but is hopeful that increasing demand for the service should offset this revenue loss.
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