Removing Migration Barriers One (Lotus) Note at a Time…

Switching From Lotus Notes to Exchange and SharePoint Just Got Easier With New Migration Tools and a Free Training Offer for Notes Professionals

Edited January 15, 2009: added the organizational share data source

In my job, I’m privileged to spend a lot time with current and prospective customers. In the last six months, as I’ve met with companies switching from Lotus Notes to Microsoft, I have consistently heard two requests: “How can you make it easier for me to migrate to Microsoft?” and, “How can I get smarter on Microsoft’s technologies?”

Lotus Notes professionals are some of the most experienced information technologists in the world, but more and more they are finding themselves applying their talents to a shrinking canvas. Every credible independent third party source and industry analyst validates this trend. In fact, two new pieces of evidence underscore this:

· At Indeed.com, a job search site, you can see that the percentage of Microsoft Exchange and SharePoint-related job postings has skyrocketed, more than doubling in the past four years while the number of Lotus Notes and Domino-related job postings declined by nearly half for the same time period.

· Ipsos, an independent researcher, found that IBM’s e-mail market share in the United States has shrunk to less than 10% among businesses with more than 500 people – and the picture is not much brighter in the rest of the world. (There is a +- 4% margin of error on these figures.)

              Data source: World-Wide Email Share Research November 2009, survey of 3442 IT professionals, conducted by Ipsos Research, Microsoft primary research

So, in this environment, some Lotus professionals are looking to the future.

Microsoft Skills Builder: Complimentary Training to First 500 Lotus Notes Professionals

Today, I’m happy to announce a training offer for Lotus professionals to help them meet the growing demand for expertise with Microsoft business productivity technologies. This training offer is available to 500 Lotus professionals at no cost on a first come, first served basis. To qualify, Lotus Professionals can e-mail msb@microsoft.com with their name and valid e-mail address. Participants can select from a menu of Microsoft Office, Exchange, SharePoint and Office Communications Server training classes to update their skills – at no cost to participants!

Easier Migrations

In an effort to make migration painless and more accessible, we’re working closely with three of the best companies in the business: Binary Tree, CASAHL Technologies and Quest Software. These three partners have migrated over 35 million users from Notes to Microsoft in the last decade, so their expertise is second to none. Each of them is announcing new solutions over the next several days to help customers migrate more easily and more cost effectively.

Julia White
Director, Exchange Product Management