Software giant Microsoft has announced the availability of its Office 365 software in nine more markets across Africa.

Angola, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mauritius, Rwanda, Senegal and Zimbabwe have been added to this list of African nations where the software is available for sale.

Prior to this announcement, Office 365 has been on sale in Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Egypt. The offering is sold through the cloud and through Microsoft resellers.

Microsoft says that for technical and legal reasons, it’s only available for sale in Africa in the countries mentioned above.

Meanwhile, Office 365 is the next iteration of the company’s flagship Office product line, which is made available for consumers, businesses and educational institutions via the cloud.

Microsoft says it is particularly targeting small to medium businesses in Africa with the likes of its Office 365 Small Business Premium offering, which is designed for companies with between 1 and 10 employees.

“One of the biggest challenges SMBs face in today’s harsh economic conditions is finding technology that meets their needs without breaking the bank,” says Marc Israel, Office division group lead for Microsoft West, East and Central Africa and Indian Ocean Islands.

“Just because your company is smaller, it does not mean you should have to compromise on the type of technology available to you,” says Israel.

Microsoft further says that it uses a ‘pay-as-you-go model’ that it says can “save customers between up to 20% of their software budget, without them having to compromise on the technology they have within their organisations.”

The software giant says that mobility is also key in the African context, and Office 365 allows users to access functionality across multiple devices at no extra charge.