Software-plus-Services

Overview

Software-plus-Services is an industry shift - combining Internet services with client and server software to deliver more compelling opportunities and solutions. Comtel Integrators Africa in partnership with Microsoft are dedicated to helping its consumer and business customers and partners in Africa take advantage of this approach by uniting multiple industry phenomena including software-as-a-service, service-oriented development, and the Web 2.0 user experience under a common umbrella.

Recognising that ultimately, customers need solutions optimised for their specific needs, it has become clear that by marrying the advantages of Internet services and client or server software, we can deliver new capabilities and offer new levels of utility, convenience and flexibility.

Comtel Integrators Africa helps its customers and partners capitalise on the opportunities presented by the evolution to Software-plus-Services by Microsoft. Microsoft’s platform uniquely supports all classes of the services manifestation — services delivery (Saas), services composition (SOA) or the services experience (Web 2.0) — across a range of devices in addition to the PC, the various types of browser clients, servers in data-centers and Internet services. It will provide multiple ways to monetise the results through the familiar model of software licensing, offering services by subscriptions, leveraging Microsoft's industry-leading advertising platform or the less familiar micro-payments of Microsoft Points.

Comtel Integrators Africa is dedicated to delivering new software and services that improve the consumer’s experience of Microsoft’s technology. It needs to be enjoyable, seamless, and consistent. Leveraging technology to allow consumers to more effectively participate in social groups (family, friends. etc.) while protecting their digital security and privacy is important to consumers.

Business technology needs to weigh the ability to innovate rapidly upon a dynamic IT infrastructure against business imperatives including governance, compliance and security as it recasts its IT infrastructure between key, highly differentiating on-premises applications and services that may be run more effectively by 3rd parties. Much focus has been on reducing costs, but the true benefit is from the increased agility that results as resources are freed from activities that maintain the business to activities that drive business performance.

The Microsoft Business Productivity Online Services that Comtel Integrators Africa will be hosting East and Central Africa includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online and Office Communications Online that complement the Microsoft Office system and provide Microsoft’s business customers with the flexibility to balance their deployments of the Office servers across on-premise and Online instances. Microsoft has begun to offer its line-of-business applications as software and as a service in East and Central Africa through Comtel Integrators Africa. Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides a platform upon which Microsoft’s customers and partners may develop new applications. Today’s offerings are a prelude to a portfolio that will include services analogs for every Microsoft server product.

Software-plus-Services (S+S) represents the next step in the evolution of computing. Individuals, businesses and service providers that capitalize on the opportunities that arise from the transition will be the winners. Microsoft, its customers and its partners are ideally placed to capitalize on the move to Software-plus-Services because of the capabilities, choice and flexibility of its platform.

Go to www.comtelafrica.com/serviceproviders to learn more about the Online Services and other fascinating solutions offered for Service Providers in Africa, or call your field sales representative to discuss how you can expand your business opportunities through software + services (S+S) and subscription-based computing on +256 312 211 500.