Software companies cater to small businesses
CRM Assist | at | by Mike
Microsoft is leading a stampede to mine one of the software industry's few potential treasure troves: small and midsize businesses. The No. 1 software maker last week said its No. 3 executive, sales czar Orlando Ayala, will head a new $2 billion small and midsize business group. Its target: retailers, manufacturers and real estate firms that increasingly use computers and software for customer data, payroll and accounting.
''We see a broad opportunity for growth in what has been an underserved, fragmented market,'' says Ayala. He predicts Microsoft will glean $10 billion in annual revenue by 2010 from the market. That is equal to about one-third of its fiscal 2002 revenue.