A common question and concern in the vendor community is the impact of Office 365. On the surface, Office 365 facilitates the notion of doing more with a lot less. That’s not good for OEMs selling servers and other vendors whose business models are predicated on growth. But there bright spots:
Pictured: IT Pros looking at Office 365-ready devices at a Windows 8.1 device bar at a recent workshop in Toronto, Onatrio Canada
One License Supports Five Devices
Office 365 supports up to five devices with a single license. It’s one of its greatest selling points and drives a lot of its messaging. A lot of people know this, but then forget about it. This “fiver” approach implicitly drives hardware consumption. If you can leverage your Office 365 license across five devices (something the on-prem Office 2013 FPP and OEM SKUs don’t do) then you are strongly encouraging the customer to buy more stuff.
More Stuff
The easiest example surrounds devices. Ideally, you’d have everyone using Office 365 on at least three devices: computer, mobile phone and tablet. But then there is a convenience factor. Why not buy a second computer (perhaps a laptop) to supplement your traditional desktop PC? So that’s good for OEMs selling hardware. I’d offer the printer manufacturers such as Epson and OKI do better in an Office 365 scenario. Office 365 inherently emphasizes mobility and create a mobile workforce. So in addition to having a main office (like my company SMB Nation), we are also supporting ten remote offices (e.g. people efficiently working from home). Ergo – we need ten printers plus the “mamma jamma” monster printer in the main office.
You can extend the “more stuff” mentality to ISVs who need to protect more devices: security, backup, threat management, BYOD monitoring, etc.
Basically what I’m asserting is a blue ocean argument of abundance, not a red ocean scarcity line of reasoning.
MSPs Benefit Too
While the game is changing for MSPs, the reality is that there could be new workflows you haven’t considered. More devices should appeal to MSPs, not to mention the opportunity to do more. Granted, this doing more will be dramatically different from server babysitting but that’s a whole ‘nother story.
Readers will recall that I play the financial channel CNBC on my office TV all day as background white noise. In Wall Street talk – the server market is a “hold” in my opinion (versus “accumulate”). I support the argument that the “truth is in the middle” and we’re all headed to hybrid computing with an on-premises server-side infrastructure supporting Office 365. That my belief. So if I were HP, Dell, Lenovo and other server OEMs, I’d suggest that “flat is the new normal,” and a major win. I just don’t see the server fleet doubling or tripling in the Office 365 era. Go ahead – reply back and prove me wrong. :)
PS – I look forward to meeting you at the Office 365 Nation conference in late September in Redmond, WA. Learn more at www.o365nation.com.
