Microsoft Office Accelerators: Take Two

The Redmond, Wash., software giant has launched a version 2.0 program, due to go into effect in 2005, that returns the responsibility for code development to solution providers and ISVs.

In its first solution accelerator program for Office, launched in 2003, Microsoft developed roughly 75 percent of the solution accelerator code and allowed partners to handle the remaining 25 percent of the customization work, partners said.

As part of its revised Solutions Showcase program, Microsoft will give partners and customers the source code for the existing solution accelerators. In addition, Microsoft will build guidance and reference implementations that address job roles and vertical industries, creating fewer solutions that compete with their Office ISVs.

One solution provider said it strikes the right balance between the software vendor, service partners and ISVs. "This won't be as far reaching as the first accelerators, but that's OK," said Ken Winell, president of Econium, Totowa, N.J. "Microsoft can support it easily. It levels the playing field between partners and allows partners to add value and complement each other."

The first generation of solution accelerators, developed in conjunction with solution providers, gave customers precooked code for implementing solutions that addressed specific requirements such as Sarbanes-Oxley and Six Sigma, as well as horizontal needs such as recruiting and sales proposals.

But the approach didn't work.

Customers expected incorrectly that the accelerators would work out of the box. ISVs saw some accelerators competing with their own business applications. And some of Microsoft's solution providers frankly didn't want to be accountable for code developed by Microsoft.

Partners say the revised model resolves all three issues.

"It's moving from Microsoft-led solutions to partner-led scenarios," said Adriaan Van Wyk, CEO of SourceCode Technology Holdings, an ISV in Redmond, Wash. "The missing piece was getting ISVs involved and drawing a line around the value proposition.

"The other problem was Microsoft was writing 75 percent of the code, and it was extra difficult for a partner to take ownership of the code, alter it, manage and maintain it. It's tough to take someone else's code," Van Wyk said.

William Rogers, CEO and President of CorasWorks, McLean, Va., added, "Microsoft's proposal management accelerator was trying to compete with us. This new strategy accelerates us into the solutions stack because we're off-the-shelf IP. Partners can take what we have and build more complex solutions for verticals."

The version 2.0 approach also gives Microsoft's ISV partners closer ties into the solution provider ecosystem. CorasWorks, for example, engages with 50 Microsoft-certified partners, including RDA Associates, IBIS and Greystone Solutions.

"Microsoft cannot scale into building a thousand business solutions for hundreds of verticals," Rogers said. "We first make business solutions easy on top of Office, and then the next thing the customer wants to do is integrate it with their external applications. That's where classic Microsoft partners come in. That's the ecosystem."

For Microsoft, the benefits of the new program include lower costs and more time to address business needs. In its first year, for example, Microsoft delivered code for about a dozen solution accelerators for Office. In 2005, it expects to deliver as many as 48, partners say.

Microsoft will institute a two-tiered model that focuses on verticals such as financial services, health-care, retail, pharmaceutical and government. It also plans to provide solution guidelines for finance, sales and human-resource professionals. Microsoft said it initially expects to ship 20 of the new solution accelerator guidelines in the first year.