Microsoft Office 365 introduced in India at Rs. 4199

NEW DELHI, INDIA: Software giant Microsoft today introduced its 'innovation-driven' next-generation Office 365 in the Indian market. The company, with its new offering, bets high on business sector, and said that it amplifies productivity for organizations with cloud for all businesses.

Priced at Rs. 4,199 per year for consumers, new Microsoft Office 365 ranges between US$ 6 per month to US$ 22 per month for business customers. Office 365 has intelligence-driven functionalities that include Quick Analysis, and is backed by Office Store apps.

Microsoft Chairman Bhaskar Pramanik said that mega trends such as mobility, social cloud and big data are driving the businesses today. "We have been announcing a slew of innovations around these trends for quite some time," he said. Pramanik feels that business analytics is giving additional competitive advantage to enterprises.

Microsoft, besides open license and FPP availability, has also has a syndicate partnership with Airtel along with the latter's broadband offering. The software major, however, didn't rule out possibility of tying with other telcos.

Microsoft Office Division GM Ramkumar Pichai said that they have been getting phenomenal response from the large businesses in India. "One of the five businesses worldwide adopts Office 365 today," he informed. The company said that its SMB segment demonstrates 150 per cent Y-o-Y growth.

"We are enabling workforce across all devices' form factors. None of our competitors have such a value preposition," Pichai said. The new Office 365 has multiple capabilities that include messaging, content management, enterprise Web 2.0, voice and video, and reporting and analytics.

The company has also integrated new social entrant Yammer and Lync with SharePoint. With its new offering, Microsoft said that it'll maximize IT flexibility, accelerate innovation and empower employees. "We help customers to deploy as well as manage hybrid or in-premise cloud," Pichai added.