I saw this and just had to blog it..

The graphic on the left has amazing information – 41 of Interband Top 100 run on Microsoft’s cloud productivity services. 90% of Office 365 customers (not the seats, but the customer count) are SMEs with less than 50 employees.  You can guess the big customers from the stats.

The PR can be found at Microsoft Cloud Services Get Major Service Updates, New Customers: New features in Microsoft Office 365 and updates to sharing in Microsoft SkyDrive make it easier for people to work together.

One last thing I like, since I’ve been hearing people say “SharePoint is hard for file sharing” – SkyDrive works with Office 365 too.  This is simple, drag and drop and works natively with Office!

Snippets from the PR statement:

Small Businesses and Big Brands Bet on Office 365

More and more large global companies are choosing Office 365 to enable their employees and customers to work together in the cloud. In fact, more than 40 per cent of the global Interbrand list of the 100 top brands use Office 365 or related cloud productivity services from Microsoft. Among the new customers are Campbell Soup Company and Groupe Marie-Claire, which have recently chosen Office 365 to reap the benefits of cloud productivity.

“Office 365 is key to our plans to propel our employees to next-generation innovation in productivity technologies, at a very rapid pace,” said Joe Spagnoletti, senior vice president and chief information officer at Campbell Soup Company. “We’re betting on the cloud — and Office 365 — as we prepare to build a highly collaborative workplace where employees across our global offices can all work together and communicate in a seamless fashion.”

Groupe Marie-Claire, a leading fashion magazine published in more than 30 countries, will use Office 365 to modernize the company’s email and collaboration capabilities, while moving away from a costly and inefficient legacy technology. Employees at Groupe Marie-Claire will be able to access email and share documents on a PC, Mac or various mobile devices with Office 365.

“We thoroughly evaluated other cloud productivity offerings in the market before choosing Microsoft. Office 365 is the right choice to help our company support the way people work today and encourage a more mobile work environment,” said Philippe Chapier, IT manager for Groupe Marie-Claire. “With the service, we have the added benefit of working together with familiar tools on almost any device and can make quicker decisions when needed.”

Rapid Cloud Evolution

Microsoft is also making more than 30 new updates to Office 365 to enhance collaboration and communication, and for SkyDrive, adding simple app-centric sharing for Office, powerful file management and easier uploads with HTML5 based largely on customer feedback. Key new features and enhancements include the following:

• Support for Lync for Mac. Mac users can now use instant messaging, presence and videoconferencing through Office 365.
• New SharePoint Business Connectivity Services, which allow people to connect to information in their company’s critical line-of-business applications, such as customer relationship management or SAP software.
• Support for Windows Phone 7.5. Starting today, people can access and update documents in SharePoint Online from anywhere using their Windows Phone.
• SkyDrive gets simpler app-centric sharing for Office, powerful file management and easier uploads with HTML5. Share any Office document in one click. Work together more easily with any contact — across email services and connected networks such as Facebook or LinkedIn. Powerful tools to manage and organize files quickly. Drag and drop multiple files to upload across browsers on PC and Mac.
• “Today’s news illustrates how we’re executing like never before in the cloud with more customers, capabilities and commitment than anyone in the industry. All this while others search for their focus,” said Takeshi Numoto, corporate vice president, Microsoft Office Division.

About Office 365 and SkyDrive

Office 365 brings together Microsoft Office, SharePoint Online, Exchange Online and Lync Online in an always-up-to-date service, at a predictable monthly cost. Businesses can try it for free for 30 days by signing up at http://www.office365.com or from their local Microsoft partner. Follow Office 365 on Twitter (@Office365), Facebook (Office 365), LinkedIn (Office 365) and the Office 365 blog at http://community.office365.com for the latest information and updates on the service.

SkyDrive is Microsoft’s personal cloud storage service. With your personal content in the sky, you can always access it from all the devices you use. SkyDrive works seamlessly with Microsoft Office and Office Web Apps so you can access or share documents anywhere. Sign up for free at http://www.SkyDrive.com. Follow SkyDrive on Twitter (@SkyDrive), Facebook (SkyDrive) and the Inside Windows Live blog at http://windowsteamblog.com/windows_live.

Give it another go, trials are available and partners can get free use.

ttfn

David