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Microsoft CRM: Friend or Foe?
Destination CRM - Feb 15, 2007
In addition, Microsoft's Great Plains division, which was set up when the company acquired accounting software maker Great Plains in December 2000, currently resells and comarkets Siebel Systems Inc. 's enterprise CRM offering. Microsoft made its foray into the CRM space official on February 25 by unveiling plans to deliver Microsoft Customer Relationship Management, a CRM solution built on its. Slated for release by the end of the year, Microsoft is aiming the CRM solution at small and medium-size businesses. The product, which Microsoft has not yet announced pricing for, will initially be sold through the Microsoft's Great Plains division. Most analysts estimate that pricing will start at $500 per user... Microsoft made its foray into the CRM space official on February 25 by unveiling plans to deliver Microsoft Customer Relationship Management, a CRM solution built on its. Slated for release by the end of the year, Microsoft is aiming the CRM solution at small and medium-size businesses. The product, which Microsoft has not yet announced pricing for, will initially be sold through the Microsoft's Great Plains division. Most analysts estimate that pricing will start at $500 per user.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=2229
Microsoft picking up rivals' CRM users
Computerworld Australia - Feb 15, 2007
Global Comfort Systems plans to replace its Siebel call center application with the latest Microsoft CRM software for its integration with the other applications and its relatively lower cost, said Andrew Fralick, Information Technology Director at Global Comfort unit Webasto Product North America. Global Comfort, based in Stockdorf, Germany, expects the cost of installing Microsoft CRM to be about the same as it would be to upgrade its Siebel call center software, he said. Fralick's own unit has been using the Microsoft CRM software for about two years through multiple versions; He called the newly installed Version 3. 0 an enterprise class product. Fralick said the Fenton, Mich. unit's sales force did suffer through the defects of earlier versions of the software. "The [initial] product wasn't a flop... Despite the cost of licensing, end user retraining and data cleansing associated with the cutover, it was "worth it in the end," said Kretchman, a panelist at the Convergence conference. He said customization of the Siebel software by sales personnel led to IT support problems. The more rigid Microsoft CRM process improved the efficiency of its 60 users, Kretchman said. Wilson intends to upgrade to Microsoft CRM 3. 0, most likely this fall, Kretchman said. Helene Cole, CEO of Altara, a Basking Ridge, N.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;1516427329
Salentica Systems First CRM Partner to Join Microsoft's Insurance...
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Feb 15, 2007
DistributorDesk allows insurance industry users to work with Microsoft CRM in a manner that reflects their normal business dealings within all their sales channels -- supporting proprietary or non-proprietary sales distribution models. Whether a distributor, broker, captive or non-captive agent, or part of the management team, the Salentica industry-specific modules, will allow access to all the information that you need. "Our intent with Salentica and Microsoft has always been to expand our deep domain expertise to develop effective, easy-to-use, client management solutions which make a difference in the financial services marketplace" said Bill Rourke, President Salentica Systems. "We are very pleased to be a partner in the Insurance Value Chain as it enhances our relationship with Microsoft, adds further depth to our solutions and therefore our customers.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2006/12/prweb487182.htm
Elucid Software Triggers Eight-Week Payback for Axminster Power Tools
PR Web - PR Web (press release) - Feb 15, 2007
L) and was formed out of the Enterprise Resource Planning software division of Kewill Systems just after 2000. As software authors for ERP and accounting software, K3 has approximately 1600 customers in the UK and abroad. SmartVision CRM, based on the standard Microsoft CRM application, is a product specifically developed for the manufacturing and supply chain industries over and above standard Microsoft CRM. Elucid software is the UK�s market leading, multi channel business solutions with 1,100 users across the UK. Elucid has specialist functionality to support companies that have multiple channels to market covering catalogues, web, call centres, retail outlet, direct mail and much more. All Elucid products are developed around core Microsoft technology. For more information please visit.
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2004/11/prweb178446.htm
Best Buy Selects Microsoft
EFYTimes - Feb 15, 2007
�Microsoft technologies such as Windows Mobile are playing a key role in enabling Geek Squad to deliver on its fundamental commitment: to give the customer a superior service experience,� said Rich Christensen, vice president and business information officer at Best Buy. �It provides our field personnel with rapid and constant access to comprehensive real-time customer information, an obvious competitive advantage over businesses that don�t. �Best Buy also recently decided to add Microsoft Dynamics CRM to its own IT services and solutions offerings. This will enable Best Buy For Business customers to benefit from the same features and functionality within the product that the major retailer uses in managing its customer relationships. Best Buy also offers Microsoft Dynamics � Point of Sale, an easy-to-use, affordable single-store application that enables small retailers to track and manage sales, inventory and customer information. Microsoft Dynamics � Point of Sale 2. 0 will be demonstrated in select Best Buy For Business stores.
http://www.efytimes.com/efytimes/fullnews.asp?edid=16284
TECH ED - Microsoft begins to ship Dynamics AX 4.0
Computerworld Australia - Feb 15, 2007
While he estimates that the "majority" of the Dynamics AX installed base runs the software on Microsoft's SQL Server, some users still run the applications on top of Oracle's rival offering so Dynamics AX 4. 0 includes support for the Oracle 10g database. While Microsoft has talked up hosting capabilities for its Dynamics CRM 3. 0 software of late, the vendor hasn't been so vocal about hosting for its ERP applications. However, McKee pointed out that Microsoft partners Unisys and OneNeck IT Services have been hosting Dynamics AX 3. 0 for a number of customers since July. Computerworld Buyer's Guide - Vendors Matched to this Article.
http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;726466261
Survey: What (Potential) Apex Developers Want from Salesforce
eWeek - Feb 15, 2007
"By making the Apex platform and programming language available, Salesforce. com is enabling the ecosystem to lead the way for the next level of innovation in on demand. "
The Apex technology will, if it takes hold, propel Salesforce from an on-demand CRM supplier into the realm of platform provider. Appirio's Weinstein believes that what Salesforce has today is "very appropriate" for developers. "It's a matter of more and more incremental capabilities," he said. But the cost of those services is still in question—and it's a key point for ISVs [independent software vendors] looking to build a business around Salesforce's platform... Net or J2EE nowhere on the site does it say, 'made by Microsoft,' or 'made by Sun. ' Nor are users charged every time they click on that site. As it stands now, that's not the case with Salesforce development. "That matters to our clients," said Fox. As one of Salesforce's largest system integrators with a mainline into customers who may also consider Apex as a development platform beyond CRM, Fox said he is looking for Apex to have the same level of development tools that he would find with Java.
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2095479,00.asp
Invensys Gives Baan CRM Another Chance
Destination CRM - Feb 15, 2007
Whereas Aurum once competed to set the standards in sales automation, Invensys CRM employs Microsoft Outlook as the contact management front-end. Karulf admits up front that Invensys will have to compete in a "best of breed" rather than total solution role. He highlights patented technologies in mobile database synchronization and configurators as potential advantages to developing a true PRM (partner relationship management) system ahead of the competition. The improvements in the first (version 4. 2) Invensys release of the former Baan FrontOffice suite are modest, with better integration between the pricing and marketing functions, expanded international language support, some bug fixes and performance optimizations.
http://www.destinationcrm.com/articles/default.asp?ArticleID=1108
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