Microsoft Debuts Online Resources For Small Businesses

www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness Microsoft's Small Business Center

Personalized software training courses provide tips for small businesses to more fully utilize Microsoft Office applications such as Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook. Also available is a training library developed by third-parties to help small-business owners and their employees improve marketing, technology management and financial management.

"We view small businesses as critically important, and we are investing significantly in bringing products and resources to market to help them grow and thrive," said Cindy Bates, small business general manager for Microsoft.

A Small Business Help Desk provides both self-help and assisted support offerings, including a single place for customers to find answers to common support questions, find the latest service packs for their products, or watch Webcasts on common support issues. Small Business Quick Advice is a live-chat service designed to answer a broad range of questions from basic troubleshooting to how-to-use questions. Small Business Expert Help provides more advanced technical issue problem-solving such as networking or server challenges, and includes combinations of both live chat and phone based support. Although Small Business Expert Help costs a fee to access, customers who register can get a 45-day free trial.

Microsoft also announced its Small Business Summit, which will take place on March 14, 2006. The summit will feature Microsoft executives, industry experts, IT consultants, and small-business owners, and will cover topics ranging from sales and marketing and financial management to productivity, mobility, and computer security. You can learn more about the Small Business Summit at www.sbsummit.com