Communicate and manage your business just like the big guys

Introducing Microsoft Office Live

Related Links • Get the Microsoft Office Live Fact Sheet How to get the Microsoft Office Live Beta Get more information and register for the Microsoft Office Live beta. For information about system requirements, click on the link below for the product you want: • Microsoft Office Live Basics • Microsoft Office Live Collaboration • Microsoft Office Live Essentials

Many new technology offerings today are about file-sharing and managing your business from most any location; easy, secure ways to collaborate on both documents and projects; and simple ways to develop a professional, online presence. But, for smaller businesses without expensive servers and IT departments, many of these tools and technologies can feel out of reach.

Large companies have secure file-sharing sites, robust Web sites, and all the tools they need to run their businesses from any just about any computer, anywhere in the world. How can everyone else possibly compete—or even communicate—at the same level?

If this question sounds familiar, you are going to love Microsoft Office Live.

Office Live is a new service currently available in beta in the United States, providing Web hosting, Web design, password-protected file-sharing, and a wide range of business management tools. During the beta, all of the services you are going to read about in this article are completely free. And, after Microsoft Office Live is released, many will remain free as well.

Note:  Microsoft Office Live is a set of online services. Use of your own Internet connection is required. See the links at right for additional system requirements.

On This Page

	Get your own domain name and create a professional Web site in minutes (really!)
	Share files, projects, and other business information with colleagues or customers
	Manage your growing business without reinventing the wheel

Get your own domain name and create a professional Web site in minutes (really!)

You want a Web site where you can promote your business and communicate with customers. But, as a small business or even an independent contractor, the prospect of creating a Web site can be daunting. Even if you know how to go about it, when will you find the time to get it done? And, if there are no Web developers in the family, designing a professional-quality site is likely to be expensive.

•	The task: Create a professional online presence for your company.
•	The challenge: Without dedicated staff to undertake such a project, the time and cost of creating and managing a Web site are simply prohibitive.
•	The solution: Sign up for Microsoft Office Live Basics to get a free Web site and e-mail with your company’s domain name, along with tools to help make the site exactly what you need it to be.

How to get it done:

When you sign up for Microsoft Office Live Basics, much of the work is done for you. The following components are free both during and after the beta:

•	A domain name of your choice (based upon availability). For example, Coho Winery might want to use the domain name www.cohowinery.com for its Web site. Microsoft will pay to register one domain name for you and will continue to renew it at no cost for as long as you are a Microsoft Office Live customer. If you already own the domain name you would like to use, you can transfer it to your Microsoft Office Live account. Get a new domain name or transfer one in just four steps.
•	Up to five e-mail addresses using your chosen domain name (such as yourname@cohowinery.com), each with 2 GB of inbox space.
•	A Web site, hosted by Microsoft, with 30 MB of storage space.
•	Simple tools that can help you build a professional Web site in just minutes. The Site Designer helps you build a professional Web site, customized for your industry, from over 50,000 design options including templates, layouts, and color schemes. In addition to the Site Designer shown here, the Web site building tools give you the ability to customize the content and layout of every page on your site, add images and even documents (such as brochures and pricing), and provide you with step-by-step guidance for each task.
•	Reports that enable you to see how much traffic your Web site is getting, such as number of visitors to your site along with which pages are the most popular. View site reports to learn about the traffic to your Web site, including insight into those who are visiting your site.

Note:  If you are wondering how all of the services in Microsoft Office Live Basics can be available for free even after the beta, the simple answer is online advertising. In the Microsoft Office Live Member Center, where you will access your e-mail, Web site tools, shared sites, and business management applications, you will see advertising that is relevant to your business. Ads will appear in one pane on the page, never as pop-ups, and no advertising will appear on your Web site.

Share files, projects, and other business information with colleagues or customers

You have sample files that your clients needs to see right now, but the files are too large to send by e-mail. Perhaps you have a colleague in another city with whom you need to share and continually update contact and client information. Or, maybe you need to be able to access and manage your business while traveling. You might be surprised at how easy and accessible each one of these tasks can be.

•	The task: Share and collaborate on documents, projects, and business management from multiple locations, in real-time.
•	The challenge: You are a small business and do not have the server, the staff, or the budget to get this done for yourself.
•	The solution: Use Microsoft Office Live Collaboration for fully-hosted, password-protected Web sites where you can manage your business as well as share, collaborate on, and even back-up important documents, contact information, and other project content.

How to get it done:

When you subscribe to Microsoft Office Live Collaboration, all the tools you need to accomplish any of these tasks are available in one location and hosted by Microsoft to save you money and time.

•	Shared Sites are online workspaces that enable you to save and share documents and project management information with designated colleagues or clients. Working on your own? Store documents and other important content on a shared site as a backup location for your essential business information.

Note:  You can also create separate password-protected customer or vendor workspaces for any individual business contacts, with access to calendar, contacts, documents, and project management information such as timelines and assigned tasks.

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Five sets of online business applications, including tools for managing customers, employees, projects, sales, and your company, are all available from a single, consolidated dashboard. The Today Dashboard gives you one-stop access to all of your Microsoft Office Live business management tools, as well as your shared sites, e-mail, and Web site. Customer applications include contact management tools for you and customer service for your clients. The project applications provide a simple but robust set of project management tools, including the ability to develop and manage a project timeline with milestones, tasks, and related issues. The sales applications help you track and manage sales and marketing campaigns with features such as competition tracking, an estimates tool for managing proposals, and revenue/cost analysis. The company applications provide you with a group calendar and related tools for scheduling and managing events, a database for tracking company assets, a team-based to-do list where you can assign and track tasks, and a document library for storing general business documents such as an employee handbook. Employee applications enable you to keep an online employee directory, and manage common employee-related tasks such as tracking work hours or submitting expense reports.

Microsoft Office Live Collaboration is free throughout the beta period and available on a subscription basis thereafter. You can also purchase additional storage space and shared site user accounts, as needed.

Manage your growing business without reinventing the wheel

Sure, you like the idea of having your own domain name and e-mail addresses to go with it, but you have more than five users. Maybe you want a hosted Web site that you can build yourself, but you need a bigger site with more than 30 MB of available storage space. Microsoft Office Live Essentials is a third option among the new Microsoft Office Live services that combines both the Office Live Basics and Office Live Collaboration packages and gives you additional room for your growing business, including:

•	50 MB of storage space for your Web site
•	Up to 50 e-mail accounts, each with 2 GB of inbox storage space
•	More advanced Web site traffic reports
•	Support that enables you to use Microsoft Office Front Page, if desired, for advanced Web site design

Similar to Office Live Collaboration, Office Live Essentials is free during the beta period and will be available on a subscription basis thereafter, with the ability to expand as your business grows.