Microsoft Business Network
Overview
Doing business with a variety of
trading partners probably means handling your
transactions in a variety of ways. The too familiar
result: paper checks, stacks of mail, phone message
confirmations, printed reports, rolls of faxes,
packages from couriers, handwritten notes, and
whatever else it takes.
Microsoft Business Solutions has
launched Microsoft Business Network, a new product
that will help small and mid-sized businesses turn
chaos into order. It streamlines the way your
business connects with customers, vendors, and other
business partners and helps consolidate your
business documentation in digital form in one
central location.
On This Page
Integrating with On-premise
Applications
Microsoft Business Network
integrates with Microsoft Business Solutions
applications and Microsoft Office Professional
Edition 2003, turning Microsoft Office Outlook® 2003
and Microsoft Office Excel 2003 into business
workhorses.
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Outlook
2003 becomes the centralized location for
viewing all business documents exchanged
with trading partners. |
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Excel
2003 enables you to create business
documents such as orders, invoices, and ship
notices, as well as view document history. |
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Microsoft Business Solutions—Great Plains®
collects your transaction data and
integrates it into your general ledger. |
Connecting to Business Partners
Microsoft Business Network uses
process templates to allow you and your trading
partners to exchange business documents, regardless
of individual technology preferences.
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Smaller
trading partners can use Outlook 2003 and
Excel 2003 to interact with you. |
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Mid-size
trading partners can also use Outlook 2003
and Excel 2003 or Microsoft Business
Solutions to interact with you. They can use
Microsoft BizTalk® Server to connect with
non-Microsoft back-office applications. |
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Large
trading partners can interact on the
Internet using Web services or BizTalk
Server. |
Lowering the Total Cost of
Ownership
Easy to install and use, Microsoft
Business Network can lower the total cost of
ownership.
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You get
everything you need with one low purchase
price and an affordable annual subscription
for only the people in your company who use
the system. |
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It can
be installed and working in a matter of
days, complete with access to a network of
trading partners. |
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Microsoft and Microsoft Certified Partners
will help you expand your trading community
if you desire. |
Lowering Risk
Microsoft Business Network is
already serving the needs of customers. It has been
processing transactions with a broad set of trading
partners in Mexico, where initial research and
development took place, for two years. The Microsoft
Business Network currently has 25 of the largest
retail trading partners in Mexico online, as well as
4,000 smaller trading partners.