Microsoft Corp.’s business-software unit expects to get at least $1 billion from Web versions of its Office and e-mail programs in the next three to five years, said Stephen Elop, head of the division.
Over that period, Microsoft predicts about half its customers for e-mail and collaboration software will switch to so-called cloud versions of the programs, which are stored and run from Microsoft’s server farms.
The rising revenue will mean Micro soft can increase profit at the unit, Microsoft’s largest, even as analysts predict margins will narrow, Elop said. The company is readying Web-based versions of word-processing and spreadsheet software to match Google Inc. Redmond, Wash.-based Micro soft also is pushing cloud versions of its Exchange e-mail program and SharePoint. Microsoft wants to use that software to lure users from International Business Machines Corp.
