Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Company Information
 Year founded:
1984
 Ownership: Public (Nasdaq: MSFT)
 Number of employees: 71,000 (hosted CRM product staffing not disclosed)
 Annual revenues: $44B USD (hosted CRM product revenues not disclosed)
 Target market: Small business
 Vertical markets: Various micro-niche type products delivered by third party channel
 Company locations: Redmond, Washington (headquarters)
Locations worldwide
 Awards: No hosted CRM product awards identified
 Certifications: None identified
 Partners: Various; Strong Microsoft Business Solutions partner network
 Partner programs: For Live CRM, Microsoft annually compensates partners 10% margin for the customers that the partner signs up. For 2008, Microsoft is offering a promotional sweetener of 15% margin or referral fee for client sign-ups.
 Web site: www.microsoft.com
Product Information
 Subscription pricing CRM Live Professional Edition is $44.00 USD per user per month; this version includes SFA, customer support, customization and workflow - this product will actually be offered without charge through the end of 2007, then priced at $39 USD per user per month in 2008 and then $44 USD thereafter.
CRM Live Enterprise Edition is $59.00 USD per user per month; this version extends the ondemand product to include offline use and synchronization - not expected for delivery until April 2008
Pricing also offered by Microsoft partner at varying rates per partner
 Multiple distribution choices: Unlike most Microsoft business solutions products (e.g. Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta), Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision), Dynamics SL (formerly Solomon) and Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains), CRM Live can be purchased and hosted directly by Microsoft without partner involvement.
However, for the near term early access program occurring in later part of 2007, Live CRM client acquisitions will be partner led and clients will therefore initially be required to go through Microsoft business partners.
 Add-on charges: Yes, varies by partner
 Hosted and/or on-premise Hosted and on-premise; Also hosted directly by Microsoft in their Virginia data center or hosted by a variety of Microsoft partners.
 Underlying technology Microsoft .NET (C#) and SQL Server
 Product name Product code name is Titan
 Product modules Sales Force Automation (SFA)
Marketing Automation
Customer Service
Hosted Delivery
Service Level Agreement (SLA): TBD
SLA guarantee TBD
SLA financial guarantee TBD
Support Programs: 24/7 help desk, self service portal, partner network
About Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live
Microsoft is new to the hosted CRM market and their first hosted product, code named Titan, is a respectable CRM solution, however, does not provide the hosting architecture or maturity of the existing pure-play hosted CRM solutions.

Things we like about Dynamics CRM Live:

  • Nice user interface; able to access CRM Live through either a browser or Outlook
  • Strong integration to MS Office programs, particularly Outlook
  • We expect an improved integration to Microsoft's ERP product lines (Great Plains, Navision, Solomon, Axapta)

Things we don't like about Dynamics CRM Live:

  • The product is limited to small business organizations
  • Very immature product in the hosted environment
  • Product claims of building customizable workflow rules using Windows Workflow Foundation seem very exaggerated
    (we were not able to do it after multiple tries)
  • The Microsoft partner channel does not entirely endorse the hosted offering

 

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