Microsoft targets Google users with expanded Office 365 offer

Microsoft has added a new weapon to its arsenal against Google Apps by expanding its FastTrack program to make it easier for SMBs to migrate to Office 365.

Starting this week, customers with 50 to 149 seats will gain access to FastTrack, a suite of free tools to migrate clients to the cloud. Previously, only organisations with 150 seats or more were eligible for the program.

Microsoft is also expanding its FY16 Adoption Offer for partners, offering them a $25-per-seat payout for customers with 50 to 149 seats.

The vendor will also offer qualifying customers free data migration from file shares or Google Drive to OneDrive for Business and SharePoint Team Sites.

Microsoft introduced FastTrack in 2014 to accelerate uptake of its cloud suite.

The program faced some resistance from partners, which had typically charged for services such as mailbox migrations to Office 365.

Last year, the program was rebranded from Office 365 FastTrack to Microsoft FastTrack to reflect the addition of Enterprise Mobility Suit and Skype for Business.

Loryan Strant, CTO of Microsoft partner Generation-e, applauded the latest change, which he said would more encourage more customers to get value from Microsoft’s services.

“SMBs are probably one of the most popular areas for Office 365, but the uptake of the service hasn’t been as popular among partners,” said Strant. “FastTrack aims to alleviate that and get the full value out of services that customers are buying."

Strant was pragmatic about FastTrack representing a competitor to partner services.

“Mail migration is dead, we’re passed that now. If you want to make money out of it, you’re already a dinosaur. While partners can still make money out of that, it’s made us focus on higher-value services like business consulting and SharePoint.”

In launching the offer, Microsoft also took opportunity to boast that it has overtaken Google in cloud email in nearly every metric, citing a recent Gartner report.

The two cloud giants have been firing shots at each other for years in an attempt to win market share of their respective office suite tools.

Google started offering its Apps for Work suite for free to businesses locked into enterprise agreements with Microsoft. Google will also put up US$25 per user to subsidise the cost of creating a new Apps account.