Microsoft Canada launches campaign to help small businesses cut costs

MISSISSAUGA, ON, Dec. 3, 2015 /CNW/ - Microsoft Canada announced the arrival of "Microsoft Saves You Money," a campaign designed to help Canada's small and medium-sized businesses cut costs with the use of modern technology. For this campaign, Microsoft has joined up with celebrated technology journalist Marc Saltzman to create a series of video "episodes" sharing cost-effective solutions that help resolve typical small business pain points, such as unreliable email, outdated servers and weak security.

Sue Borden, SMB Customer Marketing Lead at Microsoft Canada, explains: "Research tells us that many of Canada's 1,000,000+ small and medium-sized businesses struggle with the role of technology in their business, often sticking with outdated solutions to avoid the perceived cost of upgrading. Our campaign shares practical and cost-effective best practices to help growing businesses unlock their potential with the cloud."

The "Microsoft Saves You Money" campaign launched with five episodes available immediately at www.MicrosoftSavesYouMoney.ca:

• Episode 1: How to get Microsoft Office and email for less than you think
• Episode 2: How to help reduce your IT costs, fast!
• Episode 3: How to market your business on a shoestring budget
• Episode 4: How to upgrade your business' digital security for free
• Episode 5: How to help avoid downtime, data loss and costly hacks

Each campaign episode combines short videos, full-length articles and related resources (such as free upgrade offers, trials and e-books) created for the cost-conscious, non-technical business owner in mind. The episodes highlight contemporary Microsoft solutions, such as Office 365, Windows 10 and Microsoft Azure, and are inspired by the real-world success stories of Canadian businesses using modern tech.

For example, Mabel's Labels—a Hamilton, Ontario-based manufacturer of durable, waterproof kids' labels—modernized their IT mix with Office 365 and saw their total software licensing costs drop from $21,000 to $7,000 per year. Their cost-cutting move to the cloud is the type of small business best-practice shared in each episode.

"The average small or medium-sized business owner," Ms. Borden continues, "just doesn't have the time to research new technology. They're too busy running their business! So we've tried to demystify some of the tech concepts and avoid the jargon in favour of a straight-forward, friendly and useful approach. That's why we worked with Marc—he's all about translating the geek speak into street speak."

Freelance journalist, author, lecturer, consultant and radio and TV personality Marc Saltzman specializes in consumer and business technology. Along with his weekly syndicated column with USA TODAY/Gannett, Marc currently contributes to more than 40 prominent publications, makes frequent appearances on CNN and CTV, and has written 16 books. He writes and hosts "Gear Guide"—a tech-focused video that runs nationally at Cineplex movie theatres—as well as his weekly "Tech Talk" and "Tech It Out" radio shows.

The "Microsoft Saves You Money" campaign can be found at www.MicrosoftSavesYouMoney.ca and #MSFTsavesUmoney

ABOUT MICROSOFT CANADA

Established in 1985, Microsoft Canada Inc. is the Canadian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation (Nasdaq "MSFT") the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential. Microsoft Canada provides nationwide sales, marketing, consulting and local support services in both French and English. Headquartered in Mississauga, Microsoft Canada has nine regional offices across the country dedicated to empowering people through great software - any time, any place and on any device. For more information on Microsoft Canada, please visit www.microsoft.ca.

SOURCE Microsoft Canada Inc.

Microsoft Canada: Veronica Langvee, PR Lead - Commercial, 289-305-0247, [email protected]; Sue Borden, SMB Customer Marketing Lead, 289-305-9495, [email protected]