Microsoft takes aim at Google with O365 SMB offer

Microsoft extends FastTrack resources to customers with as few as 50 users

Microsoft has taken a pop at Google as it unveils details of a new offer designed to help SMBs move to Office 365.

As of this week, Microsoft is offering Office 365 customers with between 50 and 149 users access to its Microsoft FastTrack programme, which provides resources and dedicated engineers to help them get up and running on the service. In the past, this was only available to customers with at least 150 users.

On top of this, the company is extending its FY16 Adoption Offer, which means that Microsoft partners with customers with as few as 50 users will be eligible for a $25 per user payout. In the past, partners could only cash in if customers had more than 150 seats.

Microsoft said the changes will make it easier for SMBs to move to Office 365.

In the blog post announcing the changes, the firm took a swipe at Google, citing Gartner research which it claims finds Microsoft is leading Google in the cloud email space. It added that "many SMBs understand first-hand the challenges with Google Apps" and went on to quote a partner and a customer who talked up its offering compared with Google's.

Microsoft partner RedPixie's chief executive Mitchell Feldman concurred that Microsoft is thrashing Google in the space and said that of the seven customers his firm moved to Office 365 in January, four were ex-Google Apps customers.

"The feedback we're getting is that Google is not keeping up pace with the rapid changes Microsoft are going through - they are just not able to keep up," he said. "The coolness of Google has worn off and people now want business tools."