Great Plains Acquisition Signals Move into Verticals

The acquisition of Great Plains marks a new direction for Microsoft in that, rather than addressing a specific technology niche or market, as it did with the recent purchase of game software publisher Digital Anvil (to ensure game titles for the Xbox), the purchase of Great Plains brings a suite of vertical application software to Microsoft and puts the company in direct competition with several partners.

Existing partners may see this action as one of Microsoft firing a warning shot across their bow—a message that Microsoft will no longer resist competing in vertical markets if they will help Microsoft transition from packaged software to a software services business.

Great Plains Software

Many people simply think of Great Plains as a publisher of accounting software for small businesses, but Great Plains has grown, through its own development efforts and acquisitions, to supply a comprehensive line of business applications. The Great Plains products includes financial, distribution, enterprise reporting, project accounting, e-commerce, human resources and payroll, manufacturing, sales and marketing management, and customer service and support software for small to medium-size businesses (defined by Great Plains as those who book up to US$500 million in annual revenues).