14 DAY TRIAL // Small business customers haven’t really been crowding to a phone system developed by Microsoft specifically for companies with less than 50 employees, and, come September 2010, they won’t get a chance to do so anymore. Response Point will be nixed in just three months, with Microsoft indicating that it doesn’t make sense to keep up the sale, development and support efforts in the context of slow demand. Small businesses will still be able to access communication offerings from the Redmond company, such as Office Communications Server.
“Despite favorable initial response from customers and channel partners since launch, we have not seen the necessary demand materialize to sustain Response Point as a viable standalone business. To continue to support the needs of the small business community, we expect to consolidate our efforts and offerings in this space around Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS),” an excerpt from the company’s official announcement reads.
For the next three months, Microsoft Response Point will continue to be available from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). At the same time, the systems already deployed will continue to work. Microsoft revealed that discontinuation on its part should not affect the way that systems functioned in any way. At the same time, the official Response Point website will be kept alive until November 1, 2010. Response Point customers will be able to run their systems even after the August 31 discontinuation deadline per the agreement they inked with the OEM or the retailer.
After transitioning Microsoft Response Point to engineering maintenance status a year ago, Microsoft has made the decision to discontinue the sale, support and development of the Response Point phone system for small businesses, effective from August 31, 2010. Current customers will be able to continue to use their Response Point product(s) as per their equipment manufacturer purchase agreement.