Microsoft Brings Back Big Easy (Again)

Lumbering to the end of another fiscal year, Microsoft has once again revived the popular Big Easy subsidy offer to help partners drive some end-of-year business.

This time, the program for U.S. partners applies to sales between May 2 and June 30. Under the Big Easy offer, customers who make qualifying Microsoft software purchases receive a check for a portion of the total made out to the partner of their choice. The checks can be used for additional Microsoft software, hardware and services.

Products included in the offer are Microsoft Office, Exchange Server, Lync Server, SharePoint Server, Forefront, Windows Server products, Dynamics CRM, Visio, SQL Server, Project, Expression and Visual Studio.

Customers must apply for their subsidies within 30 days of the purchase, and the subsidy checks are valid for 90 days after they are issued. Partners have applauded the subsidy in the past because the subsidy checks often lead to additional work worth several times the amount of the check. At the same time, Microsoft officials have recently acknowledged that the complexity of some partner promotions may be hampering their effectiveness.

The details for the Big Easy are available here.

Posted by Scott Bekker on May 16, 2011 at 11:58 AM