Yell forms strategic alliance with Microsoft
Phone directories business Yell Group (LON:YELL) is getting together with Microsoft Corporation to jointly supply small and medium-sized firms in Europe and America with online marketing services.
Yellow currently provides print and digital marketing services to more than 1.3 million customers across the US, the UK, Spain and Latin America. By exploiting growing consumer usage of Microsoft's Bing and Yahoo search engines, the two companies hope to offer "compelling search, mobile and local advertising solutions to small and medium businesses [SMBs] and to make the most of emerging business models delivered through the cloud". ("Cloud computing" involves using several computers via a digital network as though they were one computer).
Under the plans, Yell will also offer the full suite of Microsoft's SMB productivity and business software and cloud services, including Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and emerging SMB-focused communications solutions. In addition, Microsoft will assist Yell to accelerate its new cloud-based services, which will provide Yell's customers with access to these digital offerings.
According to a recent study, the global digital services market for SMBs will be US$235 billion in 2011 and is expected to grow to US$350 billion by 2015 (source: Booz & Company).
Yell's chief executive officer said that small and medium-sized businesses are looking for digital solutions to help them grow their businesses, transact with their customers and help them become more efficient. He added: "Our plans to form a global strategic alliance with Microsoft will help us launch our local, cloud-based marketplace, serving the growing needs of our customers by providing comprehensive digital advertising, productivity and business solutions at scale, bringing small and medium sized businesses ever closer to consumers and bringing reduced costs and competitive capabilities to SMBs that have, to date, only been available to larger enterprises."
By 8:26 this morning, Yell's shares were up 13.3 percent at 10.75 pence each.
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