Microsoft Launches Office Partner Subsidy Program

In a post on Microsoft's Small Business Community blog, Eric Ligman, senior manager for small business community engagement at Microsoft, announced that customers that buy Office through the Open Value and Open License programs will receive a check from Microsoft to pay partners for installation, deployment, and training services.

Open License is a volume licensing plan aimed at organizations with less than 250 PCs. Open Value targets the same segment, and includes Software Assurance maintenance and support.

Microsoft in late June closed a campaign that paid cash rebates directly to customers under the Open Value program.

The offer applies to Office Enterprise Edition, Office Professional Plus, and Office Small Business licenses. To qualify, customers must buy a minimum of five (5) Office licenses or licenses plus Software Assurance (L&SA), with a maximum of 200 Office licenses or L&SA total per customer.

The Partner Subsidy Promotion for Microsoft Office is slated to run from August 1 until January 31, 2008. Partners can receive up to $30,000, and the amount is determined by how many licenses the customer buys and which program they purchase it through, Ligman wrote.

For example, customers that buy Office Enterprise Edition through Open License will receive $60 in partner subsidy funds per license, while those who buy through Open Value will get $150 per license.

"As you can see, adding Software Assurance increases the subsidy amount and acquiring through Open Value provides the highest partner subsidy," wrote Ligman.