14 DAY TRIAL // With comprehensive communications being one of the critical aspects of any successful business strategy, it shouldn't come as a surprise that Microsoft is placing a strong focus on delivering such capabilities to its customers. The third annual Microsoft Small Business Summit was the stage where the company unveiled plans to offer Service Pack 1 as a feature update to its Response Point phone systems adding voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) functionality. Users of the Microsoft Response Point phone systems will be able to download SP1 for free and improve their communications via VoIP capabilities.
"Small businesses rely heavily on the phone to communicate with customers and want a solution that allows them to reliably reach as many customers as possible at a low cost. Response Point SP1 will make it easy to transition from traditional analog service to the promise of digital voice services," stated Xuedong Huang, general manager for Response Point at Microsoft.
Response Point is the answer provided by the Redmond company to the communications needs of small businesses. Microsoft revealed that while its Research division was building the solution it used the same organizational tactics as a business startup. The Redmond company delivered no word as to the specific date when it planned to offer the Service Pack, but pointed for the summer of 2008 as an estimative deadline.
"The environment within Microsoft Research has allowed the team to stay focused on solving the customer problem while developing creative solutions. Response Point Service Pack 1 is a testament to Microsoft's focus on rapid but pragmatic innovation. Not only has the team listened and responded to their customers, but they have also done so with amazing speed and agility," added Sanjay Parthasarathy, corporate vice president of the Startup Business Accelerator at Microsoft.