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Windows Small Business Server 2003

OUT-OF-THE-BOX ROI FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.

Small business owners face constant pressure to do things faster, better, and cheaper. Technology investments allow little margin for error. New IT solutions not only have to be simple to install, operate, and maintain but they must start paying for themselves straight out of the box.

For emerging businesses, return on investment (ROI) is not a mathematical abstraction; it is a matter of survival. This white paper describes a survey of 25 United States–based users of Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003 and quantifies their ROI through both traditional valuation methods and through their user experiences.

The results clearly demonstrate that Microsoft Windows servers deliver the simplest affordable network solution for small businesses.

Overview and Summary

Adoption of productivity-enhancing server technology by small businesses has been hampered by concerns about costs, security, and complexity.

Windows Small Business Server 2003 was designed to address these issues head-on. The result is a full-featured, multipurpose network operating system that provides small businesses with all the great features the big guys use-e mail, secure Internet connectivity, business intranets, remote connectivity, support for mobile devices, file and printer sharing, backup and restore capabilities, and an application platform for collaboration—at an affordable cost with none of the hassle.

Available in two editions-Standard and Premium-Windows Small Business Server 2003 has everything that businesses with fewer than 50 PCs need to secure their networks and communicate and collaborate, both internally and externally.

The Standard Edition includes Windows Server 2003; Microsoft Exchange Server 2003; Windows SharePoint Services, and the Microsoft Shared Fax Service. The Premium Edition includes everything in the Standard Edition plus Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server 2000, Microsoft SQL Server 2000, and Microsoft Office FrontPage 2003.

To quantify how Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2003 is providing benefits to early users, Lawrence Associates LLC conducted business value studies at 25 businesses over a three-week period in August and early September 2003. This user survey produced dramatic findings.

Although Windows Small Business Server 2003 is new, customers are extremely pleased with the advantages and value they have achieved as a result of deploying the product. They are also very enthusiastic about the future potential value and advantages they will realize. For the small and midsize companies surveyed, Windows Small Business Server 2003 is providing:

ROI for the surveyed companies averaged 947 percent and ranged from a low of 63 percent to a high of more than 2,000 percent.

Many companies recover their software investment in less than one month. Most were able to recover their hardware and software investments in less than 2.5 months.

Many customers stated that they expect an increase in revenue because of the ability to respond more quickly and more effectively to customers as a result of SBS 2003.