Microsoft has acquired Great Plains, a software company
specialising in business management apps for small firms. Great
Plains will remain a self-contained division within Microsoft but
its applications look set to form part of the bCentral portal
offering to SMEs.
Jeff Raikes, vp at Microsoft's business services group said: "As
[Microsoft and Great Plains] talked about the next generation of
Internet-enabled .NET software services, we came to the realization
that we see the future of business applications for small and
medium companies in the same way."
Great Plains sells through a 2000 strong network of solution
providers and is likely to adapt its suite of financial and
supply-chain management software for delivery via the web and
remote hosting, as well as the traditional in-house solution.
The Great Plains suite includes finance, distribution,
enterprise reporting, manufacturing, payroll, human resources, and
service management modules.
The billion dollar tie-up with Microsoft will place this
software at the centre of Microsoft's remote services push into the
small business arena.
"A family-owned business that employs 35 people will have access
to – and will be able to afford – the same kinds of technology
purchased by a multi-national corporation," said Raikes.