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Released: June 28, 2011

Microsoft takes to cloud to ward off rivals

Source: Steve Lohr, N.Y.Times (Free Registration)

People like Tom Conophy are stirring anxiety — and action — in Microsoft’s executive offices these days. Mr. Conophy, the chief information officer of the InterContinental Hotels Group, decided earlier this year to begin moving nearly all the company’s 25,000 office workers off Microsoft’s e-mail and Office productivity applications and onto Google’s Web-based alternatives. About 6,000 employees in the hotel management company have converted so far, Mr. Conophy says, and things are going well. The savings, he estimates, will add up to millions of dollars a year. And Google’s online offerings, he said, have improved steadily since it entered the business market four years ago. Halting such defections is a top priority at Microsoft. Its response arrives Tuesday, when the company begins selling Office 365, a cloud-based version of Microsoft’s e-mail, whiteboard collaboration software and word processing, spreadsheet and presentation programs.

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