Microsoft has invested several million more dollars into an incentive program it recently unveiled for small businesses, hoping to make it easier for customers in that market to run their businesses using Microsoft products.

Microsoft has increased its already $10 million investment in a program it calls the Big Easy by about $3 million, the company said Thursday. Through the program, unveiled in February, small businesses purchasing certain products through authorized specialist partners get a certain percentage of money back that they can use to buy other services from those partners.

For example, using the program, a small business would get back a maximum of 22 percent of the money it spends if it buys six or more products that are on the approved list. Microsoft has said that the average return will be about 15 percent to 17 percent on purchases for small businesses.

Much of the $3 million added investment is going to customers who buy Windows Server, according to Microsoft.

So far, the company has gotten positive feedback from customers about the program and expect small businesses to take more advantage of the subsidies before the program ends June 27, Microsoft said. It defines small businesses as those with 50 employees or fewer, saying companies usually start hiring IT management above 50 employees.

Products available for subsidies under the Big Easy program include Microsoft Office, Exchange Server, Forefront Security for Exchange Server, System Center Essentials, Project, Visio, Office SharePoint Server, Forefront Security for SharePoint, and Internet Security and Acceleration Server 2006, among others.

More information about the program and the changes can be found on Microsoft's Big Easy Web site.