Now that Microsoft has finished campaigning to move individuals “to the cloud”, they are turning their focus to small business. We’ve all seen those slightly ambiguous Microsoft commercials showing different groups of people going “to the cloud” to solve whatever minor problems they had going on at the time. Recently, Microsoft has launched Office 365, a cloud-based service directed at small business.

Many are probably still wondering what a cloud is. In short, it’s that mystical Internet world where information is stored, seemingly floating over our heads like a cloud. According to USA Today, Microsoft’s hope is that this will take their already existent technology and make it easier for businesses to access by storing their information on the Internet and not just on computers or servers. For a small, monthly fee businesses can own and operate Microsoft 365 with the hope that doing business away from the office will be much easier.

“Over half of small businesses will adopt Office 365 within 10 years,” said Kurt DelBene, president of Microsoft’s Office Division.

Where is the other half going? To other cloud-based services already available to the public. Google is a big competitor with their Google Apps and Docs, and Apple released their iCloud not long before Microsoft 365 was launched. Plus, smaller companies are also moving in with their cloud-based programs, and are competing well with mega-company clouds.

Since so many companies already operate with Microsoft programs, the hope is that cloud technology will catch on quickly. “Small businesses don’t want 10 different solutions,” said Cindy Bates, Microsoft’s vice president of U.S. small business. “They want integrated applications, and Microsoft’s are incredibly powerful.”

To read the full USA Today article, please click here.