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Why did Microsoft decide to move into the small business software market?

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Why did Microsoft decide to move into the small business software market?

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It’s a very large opportunity, with emerging markets around the world in Asia and Eastern Europe. This is a big market that is still very fragmented and it is under-served. Microsoft is already a big player in SMEs but its revenue is mainly from software such as Windows or Office. Why did you buy two different companies? When Great Plains was approached by Microsoft, there was already substantial consolidation going on in the industry. I said to Microsoft: “There’s consolidation in this market which will continue, so if you buy us, you really should buy at least two players because Microsoft has a global strategy.” To complete the strategy and give the foundation for growth it was necessary to make that second step, and that was Navision. You inherited two products from Navision, one from Great Plains, and now there’s CRM. Isn’t it confusing to customers to have so many different offerings? The situation in the UK is unique. When we acquired Navision, 80 per cent of its revenue was fro

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