Microsoft Fast Pricing Strategy Hint
March 8, 2009
A news release issued in South Africa with the title “3fifteen Gets Inside Track on Microsoft Enterprise Search Expertise” here is a ho hum Certified Partner bag of buzz words except for one statement. The comment in the news release that caught my attention was:
“Given the price tag, and strong focus on the technology sets, Microsoft is clearly investing heavily in information access and representation as the next technology wave that businesses will need to increase business productivity and profitability in many instances.”
The conjunction of “price tag” and “clearly investing” was interpreted by my addled goose brain as “low cost” and “buying market share”.
One of the threats Microsoft poses to established vendors such as Autonomy and Endeca is making Fast search technology an item included with larger Microsoft SharePoint and server buys. With this one action, no money conscious company will turn up their nose at Microsoft’s assurances that Fast ESP (enterprise search platform) is the greatest thing since SharePoint.
A low price deal for Fast ESP would put significant pressure on the more expensive solutions. Most organizations are deeply dissatisfied with their search solutions, so giving a low cost product a spin makes perfect sense.
If the 3fifteen wording is just breezy writing, that’s one thing. If the 3fifteen statement is meaty, I think a price skirmish probe may be likely. Many search and content processing companies are working overtime to hit their revenue targets, a bargain in enterprise search could affect a number of companies in the present financial thunder storm.
Not too much stability in the SharePoint search sector in my opinion.
Stephen Arnold, March 8, 2009
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