Companies Automate Financial Operations, Ecommerce, Sales and Customer Service at Lower Cost and Pain
SAN MATEO, Calif., July 26 /PRNewswire/ -- NetSuite Inc., a vendor of on-demand, integrated business management application suites that provide ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and e-commerce functionality for small and medium-sized businesses and divisions of large companies, today announced that more midsized companies continue to migrate to NetSuite from Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly named and commonly referred to as Great Plains) solution. Companies that recently switched from Great Plains to NetSuite span a spectrum of industries including manufacturing, wholesale/distribution, and computer software. Among the companies making the move from Great Plains to NetSuite are Marshall Industries, PeopleNet, TTI, Inc., Mountz, Inc. and H.T. Maddocks, Ltd. These companies stated that they switched for a variety of reasons including ease of use; reduced cost due to NetSuite's software on-demand delivery model; and NetSuite's one-system, financial management approach which integrates ERP, CRM, and e-commerce.
For more information, please visit http://www.netsuite.com/greatplainsswitch
The software applications utilized by most midsized companies do not allow business data to move easily across departments. Most mid-size companies manage their business on separate, unintegrated software packages-one for accounting, one for warehousing, one for sales force management and one for customer support-and then spend even more money to tie them together. The cost of implementation, integration and on-going application maintenance in such environments can be many times the cost of the software itself.
NetSuite is designed to help solve these complex challenges. Because NetSuite ties ERP, CRM and e-commerce together in a single, hosted application, midsized businesses don't waste time and money integrating disparate applications. NetSuite is also delivered as an on-demand Web-based service, eliminating on-going costs for maintaining and upgrading the application. NetSuite's integration, advanced functionality, relative ease-of-use and Web-based delivery are some of the key reasons mid-sized companies choose NetSuite over applications like Microsoft Great Plains.
Marshall Industries, Inc. (http://www.marshallind.com), Salt Lake City Installation of communications equipment for hospitals, schools and churches
"NetSuite is more powerful, customizable and flexible than Great Plains -- that's why we made the switch," said Steve Shelton at Marshall Industries. "In our business, our parts on sales orders are released in phases, and we had a hard time doing this ourselves in Great Plains.
NetSuite is more flexible in allowing us to release parts in phases as the project goes along. Also, with NetSuite, it's easier to build reports and make changes to information globally. And with NetSuite we were trained on customizing the software ourselves so we don't have to spend all that money with an outside consultant like we did with Great Plains."
PeopleNet (http://www.peoplenetonline.com), Chaska, Minn.
Mobile communications and fleet management solutions "Our first inclination was just to replace our CRM, but when we discovered NetSuite's ERP capabilities as well, including usage-based billing, we saw that we could go to one provider with a pre-integrated solution for all these functionalities," said Ron Konezny, CEO of PeopleNet. "We have saved time and money by replacing Great Plains, Onyx, and Crystal Reports with NetSuite, giving us one centralized view of our business."
TTI, Inc. (http://www.ttiglobal.com), Williston, Vt.
Wholesale/Distributor of industrial instruments "To keep using Great Plains we would have had to upgrade our version of SQL Server, our SQL Server hardware and our version of Great Plains," said Brian Leffler, Vice President, TTI, Inc. "This turned out to be so expensive that we took the opportunity to look at other software systems to run our company. NetSuite is a better fit for our business than Great Plains. Our workforce at TTI has taken to NetSuite very well and I surely do not miss those servers!"
Mountz, Inc. (http://www.mountztorque.com), San Jose, Calif.
Manufacturing and servicing of high quality torque tools "We switched from Great Plains for a couple reasons: first, we wanted to avoid the IT costs associated with keeping Great Plains functioning; and second, NetSuite was able to maintain our data and allow us to leverage our information across all our departments, without multiple entries, which is
important to maintain efficient operations as we grow our business," said Gregg Johnson, CFO, Mountz, Inc.
H.T. Maddocks Ltd. (http://www.europart.co.uk), Abercynon, Wales; Dorset, England (UK)
Supplier of domestic appliance white goods and spare parts since the 1970s "For a number of years we used Great Plains for our enterprise system and another product for our Web store database - but we had no interface
between the two and had to re-key information," said Eddie Hutchinson, Financial Director, H.T. Maddocks Ltd. "Plus our CRM system seemed virtually non- existent. Now with NetSuite we have a better system without spending more money, and this system touches every part of the business."
For more information on NetSuite, visit http://www.netsuite.com
NOTE: NetSuite and the NetSuite logo are service-marks of NetSuite, Inc. Other marks are the property of their respective owners.
SOURCE NetSuite, Inc.
Monday, July 30, 2007
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
New MBS Chief: Partners Need Stability
Microsoft partners anxious about the new MBS (Microsoft Business Solutions) chief got their chance to meet him at the vendor's Worldwide Partner Conference July 10 to 12 in Denver.
Kirill Tatarinov, the new Corporate Vice President, Windows Enterprise Management Division and head of the MBS division, said the message he has heard from partners is that they need stability and continuity.
Tatarinov, who joined Microsoft five years ago, assumed his new post July 2. He spent a good part of his time at the conference in Denver meeting with MBS partners, many of whom had expected MBS long-timer Tami Reller to get the post.
Tatarinov, who helped lead Microsoft's DSI (Dynamic Systems Initiative) did his best to reassure what can be an insular group that he has their best interest at heart.
In Tatarinov's view, his DSI work, which aims to make applications and systems more easily and more automatically manageable, can inform MBS products and strategies.
"There are a huge amount of synergies. The work we did with DSI primarily addressed enterprise customers but spreads beyond that (to other types of customers) and is also oriented around a partner ecosystem," he said. "The message there was to build manageable systems, to get the whole ecosystem to work together. For us to help businesses run themselves well, we have to implement business processes. The ecosystem is very, very similar coming from one job to another."
"After meeting with partners for two days non-stop, (it's clear that) the ecosystem in business solutions is much broader and the partner is the strategy…working with them to enable this ecosystem in business solutions is the number one attribute in this job."
The fact that MBS will be headed by someone who has been outside the group is probably a good thing, said one long-time partner, who spent time with Tatarinov. "This shows that MBS is part and parcel of Microsoft and there is no more 'Fargonaut' vs. Redmond stuff going on," he said.
MBS grew out of Microsoft's 2001 purchase of Great Plains Software, based in Fargo, N.D., and has been most closely associated with former Great Plains CEO Doug Burgum and his crew. Burgum left Microsoft officially as of July 1, but was on hand at the WPC, squiring Tatarinov to meetings, interviews and parties.
While Microsoft execs have signaled that MBS' CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) wares will increasingly be pitched to enterprise accounts as well as to SMBs, Tatarinov downplayed that angle.
"Customers of all sizes want our software but I wouldn't say there's a bigger emphasis on enterprise sales…From a strategic point of view our emphasis remains strongly in the mid-market," he said.
The enterprise and SMB angles are big ones for Microsoft. While it partners and collaborates with enterprise software giants SAP AG and—to a lesser extent—Oracle to ensure interoperability between key customer software, MBS also competes with their ERP and CRM offerings. That competition is growing stronger as Oracle and SAP each step up its own mid-market pushes.
Other huge issues beckon MBS going forward. For example, it is still up in the air whether the company's "Live" push will extend into ERP. While the upcoming "Titan" CRM release is the poster child for the company's "software plus services" plan—in that it will be available in on-premises, partner-hosted and Microsoft-hosted flavors—no decision has been made yet on whether ERP will follow suit.
Reller and Tatarinov said that, should ERP also go "live," partners will not be disenfranchised. ERP partners are spooked at that prospect, given that ERP margins on license sales and implementations tend to be fatter than those on CRM, and much fatter than those on non-MBS Microsoft products. The prospect of inexpensive Microsoft-hosted ERP sparks fear of further price and margin erosion.
"There is such a huge amount of opportunity for partners across Live activities, across the board in both CRM, in future work in ERP and in Office and Windows Live. As we evolve our strategy, partners will continue to play a very strong role," Reller said.
Should Microsoft host the technology in its data centers, there will be room for partner customization work and the resulting margins, she said.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and chief software architect Ray Ozzie—whose absence at WPC was noted by partners—have said that the company will make applications available to customers in whatever way they demand them. The advent of Salesforce.com and its hosted CRM, forced the company to look into new delivery modes, partners said.
And, some partners at the show, including Spinnaker Networks' Founder and President Mitchell Cannady, said the fact that Microsoft has a clear roadmap for CRM Live delivery gives his company something to sell customers who are leaning towards Salesforce.com.
Cannady added that these smaller customers might otherwise be lost to his company, which is based in Irvine, Calif., and which specializes in Microsoft and Sage Software CRM.
One bright spot, even for partners spooked by Microsoft-hosted CRM Live, is that they will get margins on customers they bring in and additional margins if those customers move to partner-hosted or on-premises CRM over time. For the first year of CRM Live availability in 2008, partners will get a 15 percent margin on partners they bring into CRM Live. After that, the margin will fall to 10 percent, Microsoft said at the show.
Reller acknowledged that the company will have to look at implementing some sort of dashboard that will let a given solution provider track his or her customers, whether they're using on-premises, partner-hosted or Microsoft-hosted CRM.
Partners have "requested a full dashboard and that's fair feedback. Partners need to understand their full business model and see the full customer set across delivery models," she noted.
She also reiterated that the planned applications "marketplace" for CRM Live, will rollout in phases, sometime after CRM Live goes live early next year.
Microsoft Set To Show Off Hosting Tools, Apps
Microsoft said it will provide users with a look at several new technologies that it plans to include or support in its forthcoming Windows Server 2008 server operating system.
Microsoft this week is set to demonstrate a number of key new hosting technologies that will enable service providers to offer up some of the company's tools and applications over the Web. At the HostingCon 2007 conference in Chicago, Microsoft said it will highlight new hosting-related development tools and applications for the first time.
Among other things, Microsoft said it will provide users with a look at several new technologies -- such as integrated health management for Web services, Windows optimized PHP, and delegated administration controls -- that it plans to include or support in its forthcoming Windows Server 2008 server operating system.
On Monday, Microsoft disclosed that cPanel, a developer of Web hosting control panel software, will later this year produce a version of its product for Windows Server 2008. The company has traditionally developed hosting automation tools only for Linux and FreeBSD environments.
Microsoft is ramping up efforts to offer some of its products as hosted services -- either directly or through partners -- in an effort to keep pace with Web specialists like Google and Yahoo. Microsoft CRM, Exchange Server, and 40 applications from the Windows SharePoint Services suite are among the products the company has already made available as hosted services.
Microsoft also recently released a beta version of Internet Information Services 7.0 -- a Web server built into Windows Server 2008 that features a number of new online publishing and security technologies.
Under a so-called Go Live license, users can now deploy ISS 7.0 into production environments accessible to customers. The caveat: Microsoft says it's not responsible for any problems the beta software might cause.
Microsoft plans to release the full version of Windows Server 2008 in February.
informationweek.com
Microsoft this week is set to demonstrate a number of key new hosting technologies that will enable service providers to offer up some of the company's tools and applications over the Web. At the HostingCon 2007 conference in Chicago, Microsoft said it will highlight new hosting-related development tools and applications for the first time.
Among other things, Microsoft said it will provide users with a look at several new technologies -- such as integrated health management for Web services, Windows optimized PHP, and delegated administration controls -- that it plans to include or support in its forthcoming Windows Server 2008 server operating system.
On Monday, Microsoft disclosed that cPanel, a developer of Web hosting control panel software, will later this year produce a version of its product for Windows Server 2008. The company has traditionally developed hosting automation tools only for Linux and FreeBSD environments.
Microsoft is ramping up efforts to offer some of its products as hosted services -- either directly or through partners -- in an effort to keep pace with Web specialists like Google and Yahoo. Microsoft CRM, Exchange Server, and 40 applications from the Windows SharePoint Services suite are among the products the company has already made available as hosted services.
Microsoft also recently released a beta version of Internet Information Services 7.0 -- a Web server built into Windows Server 2008 that features a number of new online publishing and security technologies.
Under a so-called Go Live license, users can now deploy ISS 7.0 into production environments accessible to customers. The caveat: Microsoft says it's not responsible for any problems the beta software might cause.
Microsoft plans to release the full version of Windows Server 2008 in February.
informationweek.com
Microsoft CRM Partner Wins in East Region
TMCnet Contributing Editor
Customer Effective, a Microsoft (News - Alert) Gold Certified Partner and provider of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, recently won the East Region U.S. Partner Award for Teamwork at the annual Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference held in Denver.
The Teamwork award reflects Customer Effective's "continued commitment to partnering with Microsoft and other members of the partner community" to provide "business products centered on deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and complementary application technologies," according to company officials.
The Teamwork award reflects Customer Effective's "continued commitment to partnering with Microsoft and other members of the partner community" to provide "business products centered on deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and complementary application technologies," according to company officials.
This teamwork approach was recently demonstrated through the "Integrated Innovation" series of seminars conducted with Microsoft partners OmniVue and ThoughtBridge. During these product seminars, role-based customer service, marketing and sales management scenarios were demonstrated through an integration of Microsoft technologies including SharePoint, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Outlook, Excel and Performance Point Server.
Microsoft East Region Dynamics Director Jamie Tozzi said partners like Customer Effective "play a critical role in delivering customer success with Microsoft CRM."
Earlier this month Microsoft announced more about offering its CRM as a hosted product, as they revealed the launch is set for later this quarter -- for North America at least.
The battleship Microsoft might be finally turned around, and be ready to pick off those pesky upstarts who zipped into the field and have been consolidating the market for the past eight years. Should be an interesting battle.
It'll be called Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM, and the professional version is slated to start at $44 per user per month, and close to $60 for the enterprise version, available next April.
It'll be called Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM, and the professional version is slated to start at $44 per user per month, and close to $60 for the enterprise version, available next April.
Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, said the Professional Edition, which will basically be the Titan software, is free through the end of this year, will cost $39 per user per month during 2008 and settle in at $44, with an early access release shipping by October.
At the company's Worldwide Partner Conference 2007 in Denver company officials threw Europe a sop, saying its ERP software aimed at smaller businesses, Dynamics Entrepreneur Solution, will be rolled out in Europe first, before its global availability, according to industry observer China Martens.
"The software will provide smaller organizations with finance, purchasing and sales and marketing software. It's aimed at companies employing up to 49 staff and tops out at five concurrent users," Barb Edson, director, Microsoft Dynamics said, in Martens' words.
tmcnet.com
tmcnet.com
Friday, July 20, 2007
Microsoft CRM to Salesforce.com: It’s Lunchtime
Microsoft unveiled pricing at its Worldwide Partner Conference today for its on-demand CRM offering, and in the process sent an absolutely clear message that, from now on, basic on-demand CRM is all about price.
With a range of offerings priced from $44 per user per month to $59 per user per month for a “professional” version, Microsoft has set the bar significantly lower for its CRM on-demand package than market-leader Salesforce.com, which “starts” its professional pricing at $65 per user per month. Do the math, that’s a lot of Benioff-bucks that Microsoft expects to head to Redmond instead.
Of course, Salesforce.com is being coy, telling Reuters that the battle won’t be on price alone. But what else is there in a commodity market but price? Sure, there’s more to Salesforce.com than mere commodity functionality — like all those must-have add-ons that are enriching AppExchange partners and the customers who are using them? I’m still having trouble finding that rich core of AppExchange apps that are driving new sales of Salesforce.com: AppExchange is still not big enough and important enough to provide Benioff any appreciable cover now that Microsoft is playing low-ball with on-demand CRM. It’s for this and other reasons that I think Salesforce.com is the next Siebel.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has a rather interesting value-prop for the mid-market companies that — despite Benioff’s best efforts — still make up the core of Salesforce.com’s customer base. Take CRM on-demand from Microsoft, and Microsoft will provide integration to a pretty good set of back office ERP systems — Dynamics AX, GP, and NAV, to be precise. That deep integration is what will truly make long-term, stable customers for Microsoft, and Salesforce.com’s inability to offer a similar back-office suite makes its offering look even weaker.
Finally, there’s the Microsoft partner model to contend with: Microsoft is offering a very sweet 10 percent margin to its CRM on-demand partners, which pretty much guarantees that they being trying to be in every deal they can find. That new, and potentially enormous, competitive front is going to further drive up Salesforce.com’s already high cost of sales and further complicate Salesforce.com’s profitability picture. Up until now, Salesforce.com has had really no legitimate competition. Now they have to go toe-to-toe with the ultimate competitor, Microsoft, and it ain’t going to be pretty.
And this is hardly the only bad news that Salesforce.com is facing. Don’t think that SAP and Oracle are just sitting on the sidelines watching. 2007 will end with more big news in on-demand CRM, and none of it will be good for Salesforce.com. With today’s and other announcements to come, I think 2008 promises to be the real year of on-demand CRM: It’s Salesforce.com’s market to lose, and, unless something changes dramatically in their favor, lose it they will.
blogs.zdnet.com/Greenbaum
With a range of offerings priced from $44 per user per month to $59 per user per month for a “professional” version, Microsoft has set the bar significantly lower for its CRM on-demand package than market-leader Salesforce.com, which “starts” its professional pricing at $65 per user per month. Do the math, that’s a lot of Benioff-bucks that Microsoft expects to head to Redmond instead.
Of course, Salesforce.com is being coy, telling Reuters that the battle won’t be on price alone. But what else is there in a commodity market but price? Sure, there’s more to Salesforce.com than mere commodity functionality — like all those must-have add-ons that are enriching AppExchange partners and the customers who are using them? I’m still having trouble finding that rich core of AppExchange apps that are driving new sales of Salesforce.com: AppExchange is still not big enough and important enough to provide Benioff any appreciable cover now that Microsoft is playing low-ball with on-demand CRM. It’s for this and other reasons that I think Salesforce.com is the next Siebel.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has a rather interesting value-prop for the mid-market companies that — despite Benioff’s best efforts — still make up the core of Salesforce.com’s customer base. Take CRM on-demand from Microsoft, and Microsoft will provide integration to a pretty good set of back office ERP systems — Dynamics AX, GP, and NAV, to be precise. That deep integration is what will truly make long-term, stable customers for Microsoft, and Salesforce.com’s inability to offer a similar back-office suite makes its offering look even weaker.
Finally, there’s the Microsoft partner model to contend with: Microsoft is offering a very sweet 10 percent margin to its CRM on-demand partners, which pretty much guarantees that they being trying to be in every deal they can find. That new, and potentially enormous, competitive front is going to further drive up Salesforce.com’s already high cost of sales and further complicate Salesforce.com’s profitability picture. Up until now, Salesforce.com has had really no legitimate competition. Now they have to go toe-to-toe with the ultimate competitor, Microsoft, and it ain’t going to be pretty.
And this is hardly the only bad news that Salesforce.com is facing. Don’t think that SAP and Oracle are just sitting on the sidelines watching. 2007 will end with more big news in on-demand CRM, and none of it will be good for Salesforce.com. With today’s and other announcements to come, I think 2008 promises to be the real year of on-demand CRM: It’s Salesforce.com’s market to lose, and, unless something changes dramatically in their favor, lose it they will.
blogs.zdnet.com/Greenbaum
Rivals respond to Microsoft's CRM plans
Competitors were quick to respond to Microsoft's latest plans for hosted CRM.
Microsoft's pricing was clearly aimed squarely at Salesforce.com, which was quick to dismiss Microsoft's entry into the market, noting that the company has been talking about its plans for sometime without actually releasing the product.
"I think that Microsoft has announced this service more often than Roger Federer has won Wimbledon," Bruce Francis, Salesforce VP of corporate strategy, said in a statement.
Another rival, SugarCRM, took issue with the notion that rivals don't offer the option of moving from a hosted to an on-premise model, saying that it offers just that choice.
"SugarCRM has been providing the ability for customers to swap deployments from on-demand to on-site and vice versa since December 2004, and we have had dozens of customers who took advantage of this," Tara Spalding, SugarCRM's vice president of corporate marketing, said in an e-mail.
news.com.com
Microsoft's pricing was clearly aimed squarely at Salesforce.com, which was quick to dismiss Microsoft's entry into the market, noting that the company has been talking about its plans for sometime without actually releasing the product.
"I think that Microsoft has announced this service more often than Roger Federer has won Wimbledon," Bruce Francis, Salesforce VP of corporate strategy, said in a statement.
Another rival, SugarCRM, took issue with the notion that rivals don't offer the option of moving from a hosted to an on-premise model, saying that it offers just that choice.
"SugarCRM has been providing the ability for customers to swap deployments from on-demand to on-site and vice versa since December 2004, and we have had dozens of customers who took advantage of this," Tara Spalding, SugarCRM's vice president of corporate marketing, said in an e-mail.
news.com.com
Salesforce.com's Benioff Responds To Microsoft CRM Live
Just as the Zune lags behind the iPod, Microsoft CRM won't win on price, CEO Marc Benioff argues.
Microsoft on Tuesday provided some details of CRM Live, a new software-as-a-service offering that it'll price at about half of what market leader Salesforce.com charges. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, however, shows no signs of shaking in his boots.
Benioff said Microsoft customers are already paying prices similar to what Microsoft announced today for hosted CRM software through partners. "These 'new' prices are their market prices today -- there is no difference," said Benioff in an e-mail interview. "When you have an inferior product you have to have an inferior price. That is why Zune is priced below iPod. And why Windows CE is priced below BlackBerry. And why Microsoft CRM is priced below Salesforce.com."
Microsoft said its Enterprise Edition of CRM Live, due out later this year, will be priced at $59 per user per month, about half the industry average, while the Professional Edition will list for $44 per user per month and available at the promotional price of $39 per user per month in 2008.
Microsoft isn't really new to the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market; its customers already can pay monthly fees for Microsoft Dynamics CRM hosted by partners. Microsoft said that CRM Live, to be hosted from a Microsoft data center in Virginia, will likely cost customers less than what they're paying for partner-hosted CRM. But Benioff and Bruce Francis, Salesforce's VP of corporate strategy, say the pricing Microsoft is advertising is similar to what companies are now paying for hosted Microsoft CRM with typical discounts. Yet those low prices haven't yet made Microsoft a major force in the market, they note.
"Microsoft CRM still lacks many of the key features customers demand today, which is why Gartner ranks them below both Salesforce and Siebel on the 2007 [Gartner] Magic Quadrant out last week," Benioff said.
True, but Gartner also notes that Salesforce.com's premium price could be a problem. In its report on the salesforce automation market, Gartner ranks Salesforce.com and Oracle Siebel CRM as market leaders. Among Salesforce.com's strengths, Gartner notes, is high customer and revenue growth, good usability, straightforward deployments, use of a services-oriented architecture, and "thought leader" on the SaaS model.
"Cautions" (apparently a nicer word for weaknesses) include high costs ranging between $125 and $195 per user per month, need for better relationships with IT organizations (many of its deals are done directly with business units), and lack of a best-of-breed vendors in its AppExchange Ecosystem.
And, as Benioff notes, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is not particularly known for the quality of its functionality. Gartner calls it a challenger, and among its strengths cites its viability as a large vendor, Microsoft Outlook integration, strong leverage of .Net and Microsoft infrastructure, and one of few vendors getting interest by large enterprises. Cautions include lack of best-of-breed functionality in some areas, not enough "proof points" for integrating with SAP(SAP) and Oracle enterprise-resource planning systems, and few implementations of more than 750 users.
informationweek.com
Microsoft on Tuesday provided some details of CRM Live, a new software-as-a-service offering that it'll price at about half of what market leader Salesforce.com charges. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, however, shows no signs of shaking in his boots.
Benioff said Microsoft customers are already paying prices similar to what Microsoft announced today for hosted CRM software through partners. "These 'new' prices are their market prices today -- there is no difference," said Benioff in an e-mail interview. "When you have an inferior product you have to have an inferior price. That is why Zune is priced below iPod. And why Windows CE is priced below BlackBerry. And why Microsoft CRM is priced below Salesforce.com."
Microsoft said its Enterprise Edition of CRM Live, due out later this year, will be priced at $59 per user per month, about half the industry average, while the Professional Edition will list for $44 per user per month and available at the promotional price of $39 per user per month in 2008.
Microsoft isn't really new to the software-as-a-service (SaaS) market; its customers already can pay monthly fees for Microsoft Dynamics CRM hosted by partners. Microsoft said that CRM Live, to be hosted from a Microsoft data center in Virginia, will likely cost customers less than what they're paying for partner-hosted CRM. But Benioff and Bruce Francis, Salesforce's VP of corporate strategy, say the pricing Microsoft is advertising is similar to what companies are now paying for hosted Microsoft CRM with typical discounts. Yet those low prices haven't yet made Microsoft a major force in the market, they note.
"Microsoft CRM still lacks many of the key features customers demand today, which is why Gartner ranks them below both Salesforce and Siebel on the 2007 [Gartner] Magic Quadrant out last week," Benioff said.
True, but Gartner also notes that Salesforce.com's premium price could be a problem. In its report on the salesforce automation market, Gartner ranks Salesforce.com and Oracle Siebel CRM as market leaders. Among Salesforce.com's strengths, Gartner notes, is high customer and revenue growth, good usability, straightforward deployments, use of a services-oriented architecture, and "thought leader" on the SaaS model.
"Cautions" (apparently a nicer word for weaknesses) include high costs ranging between $125 and $195 per user per month, need for better relationships with IT organizations (many of its deals are done directly with business units), and lack of a best-of-breed vendors in its AppExchange Ecosystem.
And, as Benioff notes, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is not particularly known for the quality of its functionality. Gartner calls it a challenger, and among its strengths cites its viability as a large vendor, Microsoft Outlook integration, strong leverage of .Net and Microsoft infrastructure, and one of few vendors getting interest by large enterprises. Cautions include lack of best-of-breed functionality in some areas, not enough "proof points" for integrating with SAP(SAP) and Oracle enterprise-resource planning systems, and few implementations of more than 750 users.
informationweek.com
Microsoft's Weapon In Web Apps: Keep 'Em Cheap
Lagging Salesforce and others in the hosted CRM market, Microsoft will try to win customers with lower pricing.
Microsoft slowly is getting its software-as-a-service act together. At the company's Partners Conference in Denver last week, executives outlined plans to compete with Salesforce.com, Oracle's Siebel, and RightNow in Web-based CRM applications. Potential customers will have to be patient, though. Microsoft's CRM Live apps won't be available until sometime next year.
Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner got a laugh from the crowd during a demonstration of the service when he asked Dynamics CRM general manager Brad Wilson about Microsoft's newest competitors. "Salesforce? Siebel?" Turner quipped. "There's an opportunity there?"
The opportunity is for Microsoft, a laggard in hosted applications, to catch up, which it will try to do by offering its apps at lower rates. The enterprise edition of Microsoft's CRM Live, which includes offline access, will be available for a monthly fee of $59 per user, about half the going rate, while a more basic professional edition lists for $44 per user each month and will be available for $39 per month through 2008. "Microsoft is the last one" to the market, says RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte. "Welcome to the party."
Analysts rate Microsoft's CRM efforts behind those of the market leaders. Microsoft's Dynamics CRM 3.0 doesn't match the features of competitors, according to Gartner. Indeed, Microsoft wasn't specific about which features will be available in CRM Live. A First Albany Capital report last week predicted that Microsoft's products may end up resembling Salesforce's lowest-tier apps. "When you have an inferior product, you have to have an inferior price," jabs Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff in an e-mail interview.
Despite the lack of product clarity and the fact that it's late to the game, Microsoft poses a challenge to Salesforce and the others. Businesses may go for a Microsoft alternative, says Forrester Research analyst Bill Band, pointing to easy integration with Outlook and other Microsoft apps as a strong selling point.
CRM Live will include a full spectrum of marketing, sales, and service capabilities, which sales-focused vendors like Salesforce and service vendors such as RightNow lack. Even though Gianforte says RightNow doesn't expect to see Microsoft in competitive bids, he might. Microsoft's improved its CRM software significantly, and Gartner now ranks Microsoft as a "challenger" in the sales force automation market.
CRM Live professional edition will include customization, sales, workflow, and service features, while the enterprise edition adds the ability to work offline with leads, service campaigns, and contacts, and synchronize data automatically when a user goes online. More is in the works. Microsoft is developing a "broad range of service offerings," Wilson says.
SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE
Microsoft is aiming CRM Live at small and medium-sized businesses, but it's not ruling out large companies. Wilson says CRM Live will scale, that Microsoft's on-premises CRM software is finding success in big companies, and that the company might soon announce some large customers. They're "the most quickly growing sector of our business," Wilson says.
CRM Live represents a threat to Microsoft's partners, some of which already host custom versions of Dynamics CRM. On stage, Wilson insisted partners could continue their involvement through consulting, by generating customer-specific data models, and by developing add-on software similar in concept to those available on Salesforce's AppExchange. Live CRM will be based on Microsoft's next-gen CRM code base, Titan, which serves as a software development platform. So Microsoft will try to keep its partners happy, even as it competes for the same customers.
informationweek.com
Microsoft slowly is getting its software-as-a-service act together. At the company's Partners Conference in Denver last week, executives outlined plans to compete with Salesforce.com, Oracle's Siebel, and RightNow in Web-based CRM applications. Potential customers will have to be patient, though. Microsoft's CRM Live apps won't be available until sometime next year.
Microsoft chief operating officer Kevin Turner got a laugh from the crowd during a demonstration of the service when he asked Dynamics CRM general manager Brad Wilson about Microsoft's newest competitors. "Salesforce? Siebel?" Turner quipped. "There's an opportunity there?"
The opportunity is for Microsoft, a laggard in hosted applications, to catch up, which it will try to do by offering its apps at lower rates. The enterprise edition of Microsoft's CRM Live, which includes offline access, will be available for a monthly fee of $59 per user, about half the going rate, while a more basic professional edition lists for $44 per user each month and will be available for $39 per month through 2008. "Microsoft is the last one" to the market, says RightNow CEO Greg Gianforte. "Welcome to the party."
Analysts rate Microsoft's CRM efforts behind those of the market leaders. Microsoft's Dynamics CRM 3.0 doesn't match the features of competitors, according to Gartner. Indeed, Microsoft wasn't specific about which features will be available in CRM Live. A First Albany Capital report last week predicted that Microsoft's products may end up resembling Salesforce's lowest-tier apps. "When you have an inferior product, you have to have an inferior price," jabs Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff in an e-mail interview.
Despite the lack of product clarity and the fact that it's late to the game, Microsoft poses a challenge to Salesforce and the others. Businesses may go for a Microsoft alternative, says Forrester Research analyst Bill Band, pointing to easy integration with Outlook and other Microsoft apps as a strong selling point.
CRM Live will include a full spectrum of marketing, sales, and service capabilities, which sales-focused vendors like Salesforce and service vendors such as RightNow lack. Even though Gianforte says RightNow doesn't expect to see Microsoft in competitive bids, he might. Microsoft's improved its CRM software significantly, and Gartner now ranks Microsoft as a "challenger" in the sales force automation market.
CRM Live professional edition will include customization, sales, workflow, and service features, while the enterprise edition adds the ability to work offline with leads, service campaigns, and contacts, and synchronize data automatically when a user goes online. More is in the works. Microsoft is developing a "broad range of service offerings," Wilson says.
SMALL, MEDIUM, LARGE
Microsoft is aiming CRM Live at small and medium-sized businesses, but it's not ruling out large companies. Wilson says CRM Live will scale, that Microsoft's on-premises CRM software is finding success in big companies, and that the company might soon announce some large customers. They're "the most quickly growing sector of our business," Wilson says.
CRM Live represents a threat to Microsoft's partners, some of which already host custom versions of Dynamics CRM. On stage, Wilson insisted partners could continue their involvement through consulting, by generating customer-specific data models, and by developing add-on software similar in concept to those available on Salesforce's AppExchange. Live CRM will be based on Microsoft's next-gen CRM code base, Titan, which serves as a software development platform. So Microsoft will try to keep its partners happy, even as it competes for the same customers.
informationweek.com
Vista Incompatibilities Still Gnaw
by Doug Barney
As editor in chief of Redmond magazine, I should be embarrassed to admit that I don't yet use Vista. In fact, I used to feel that way.
As editor in chief of Redmond magazine, I should be embarrassed to admit that I don't yet use Vista. In fact, I used to feel that way.
But the more I hear from real IT experts (translation: you, the Redmond Report reader), the more I think I'm actually on the leading edge by sticking with good, old XP Service Pack 2. My printers and external hard drives still work, and it has performance I can live with.
Vista users are having less luck. Hardware drivers are lagging behind the operating system like me in the Boston marathon (I'm not exactly svelte).
Many believe a service pack will do the trick, but service packs are for bugs and performance. Drivers are an entirely different matter. Give some news about Vista by writing dbarney@redmondmag.com!
Learn more from this fine report from the Associated Press.OneCare Upgrade Prepped
Like Vista, OneCare has seen its share of problems. This consumer security bundle was roundly criticized by users (including a Redmond magazine staffer who had no end of problems) for installation troubles and what some claim is substandard anti-virus protection.
Now, Microsoft is prepping OneCare 2.0, which can protect multiple computers and offers centralized backup for networked computers.
OneCare 1.0 might not have been God's gift to computing (for me, that would be craigslist), but name one 1.0 product from Microsoft that has been top-notch. Word, Excel, Windows, even NT had growing pains.
Because Microsoft is such a patient company, OneCare (version 3.0, at least) is still something that Symantec et al should be very worried about.
Citizens on Journalism Patrol
The rise of blogs was supposed to fundamentally reshape the world of journalism. No longer would you need a degree from j-school (of course, I have the rare honor of a degree in Marxian economics, which is now useful only in North Korea and Cambridge, Mass.!).
No, news was to be driven by those closest to it: real, actual citizens.
Unfortunately, these citizen journalism sites were about as effective as Eugene Tackleberry on patrol.
The latest casualty is community news Web site Backfence, which recently called it quits, citing "business issues." What could those business issues be? No traffic and no ads?
Live CRM To Go Live
Those who think that Microsoft has no Software as a Service strategy (SaaS+S) must not have heard of Dynamics Live CRM, a hosted version of Microsoft's current CRM offering announced last week at Microsoft's annual partner conference.
Now, before you get too excited, I have a bone to pick with the name. Microsoft's original CRM product was called, I believe, simply "Microsoft CRM." Then it became "Microsoft Dynamics CRM." Now that everything that has anything to do with the Web is somehow called Live, it's now "Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM." That sure rolls off the old tongue!
Of course, if you are really hardcore, you can buy Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Professional or Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Enterprise!
Interestingly, but not surprisingly, Microsoft is undercutting Salesforce.com on price by a pretty big hunk.
redmondmag.com
Battle coming over mid-market CRM
With Microsoft's CRM Live about to debut, the struggle over on-premise versus on-demand is heating up
So far, customers preferring on-demand CRM haven't shown a preference in the way they want to buy it, Herbert said in an interview, though there's no doubt it's hot. Sales of online CRM accounted for only two per cent of the market three years ago and have been soaring since. But SaaS will only account for 22 per cent of all sales in the segment by the end of this decade, she said.
That may be due in part to pricing. While online CRM has an advantage of being available over the Web anywhere and offers fast start-up, some vendors insist customers buy licences, which could trim expected cost savings over their on-premises counterparts.
Microsoft isn't the only vendor with a new release this year. Maximizer Enterprise 10 is scheduled for the fall, while U.K.-based Sage
Software will celebrate its 20th anniversary with “something fun and big,” said Bergera.
So far, customers preferring on-demand CRM haven't shown a preference in the way they want to buy it, Herbert said in an interview, though there's no doubt it's hot. Sales of online CRM accounted for only two per cent of the market three years ago and have been soaring since. But SaaS will only account for 22 per cent of all sales in the segment by the end of this decade, she said.
That may be due in part to pricing. While online CRM has an advantage of being available over the Web anywhere and offers fast start-up, some vendors insist customers buy licences, which could trim expected cost savings over their on-premises counterparts.
Microsoft isn't the only vendor with a new release this year. Maximizer Enterprise 10 is scheduled for the fall, while U.K.-based Sage
Software will celebrate its 20th anniversary with “something fun and big,” said Bergera.
Analyst warning
How they see Microsoft CRM Live varies. Microsoft partners, like FrontRange, shrug. Greg Anderson, its senior product director, believes the software giant's target is the enterprise.
Interestingly, Frank Falcone, Microsoft Canada's CRM product manager, says the target is small to mid-size companies.
Brodie, whose company is both a Microsoft and Maximizer partner, sees CRM Live appealing to smaller companies that lack IT infrastructure. She doesn't worry it will take away sales from her firm.
But Forrester's Herbert cautions that CRM Live will be a “major factor” in the market.
“It will definitely shake up the way people buy,” she said, because if organizations want pay as you go, quick implementation and someone else hosting, they can get it direct from Microsoft instead of smaller parties.
Her advice to VARs: “You're not going to be able to differentiate on simple hosting or implementation,” especially as CRM systems get easier to set up, easier to manage and more vendors are offering SaaS.
“Partners who will have the most success in the future are ones who will focus on verticals and vertical best practices, or certain processes - like a sales process - they can become an expert in. That will differentiate them,” she said.
itbusiness.ca
Golf Ventures Selects OmniVue Business Solutions to Implement Microsoft Dynamics GP
Golf Ventures, Inc. has chosen OmniVue Business Solutions to bring the power and efficiency of Microsoft Dynamics GP to its business and IT systems. The new technology will handle key financial and operational management processes for Golf Ventures, including forecasting, reporting and analytics as well as vendor and service management.
Based in Lakeland, Florida, Golf Ventures, a subsidiary of Meadowbrook Golf, a premier golf course management and supply company, chose OmniVue Business Solutions for their depth of Microsoft Dynamics GP knowledge and demonstrated technical expertise. OmniVue exhibited a thorough understanding of Golf Ventures’ internal business processes and was able to tailor Microsoft Dynamics GP to improve upon their current set up and create a foundation for future growth and innovations.
“The ERP selection process for Golf Ventures was very complex – we were looking for a complete solution that would enhance our ability to manage inventory, streamline internal business and sales processes, and most importantly, improve customer service levels,” said Paul Walker, Chief Information Officer, Meadowbrook Golf. “We looked long and hard at the industry “standard” platforms, but in the end, OmniVue’s proposed Microsoft Dynamics GP implementation was clearly the best choice for Golf Ventures.”
“Microsoft Dynamics products provide the greatest potential for our clients, along with an architecture that enables us to put our knowledge and experience to work for Golf Ventures and our other clients,” said Kevin Armstrong, Director of Sales, OmniVue Business Solutions.
“Microsoft invests heavily in our partners to ensure they have all the latest information and resources at their fingertips to develop the world’s best solutions for our shared customers,” said Michael Park, corporate vice president for U.S. Microsoft Dynamics at Microsoft Corp. “OmniVue has demonstrated know-how helping Golf Ventures and its other clients generate business value with Microsoft Dynamics products.”
About OmniVue
OmniVue is the provider of choice for businesses looking to automate and streamline financial and customer relationship management to help drive business success. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, OmniVue specializes in the selection, implementation, hosting and support of financial and operational management software – Microsoft Dynamics GP, SL and CRM. OmniVue was built from the ground up as a services firm, focused on building trusted relationships with our clients by providing exceptional service over the lifetime of their software investment. OmniVue is one of a select group of Microsoft Dynamics Partners offering Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM in a hosted environment, offering businesses a choice in how they deploy their business management software, providing the flexibility to change as growth or needs dictate.
About Golf Ventures, Inc.
Golf Ventures, since its inception in 1986, has been Florida’s one-stop maintenance supply company for the golf course industry. Golf Ventures joined the Meadowbrook family in 1998 and has the industry advantage and leadership to be the premier provider and partner for the Meadowbrook Golf properties as well as the National Golf Course industry. Golf Ventures, always on the cutting edge of technology, promotes its website, golfventuresonline.com, as an electronic catalog providing up-to-date agronomic support to the golf industry.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Microsoft Business Solutions: an expert view
Microsoft is well known for products like Windows and Microsoft Office, but for organisations looking for Microsoft business solutions, Microsoft has developed a single product line called Microsoft Dynamics, which replaces the former Microsoft Business Solutions line.
The Microsoft Dynamics family includes applications that cover financial management, supply chain, customer relationship management and enterprise resource planning.
The Microsoft Dynamics family includes Microsoft Dynamics AX (formerly Axapta); Microsoft Dynamics GP (formerly Great Plains); Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision); Microsoft Dynamics SL (formerly Solomon); and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
Microsoft’s business applications compete with the likes of Oracle and SAP, but tend to appeal to small and medium-sized businesses.
To extend their functionality, Microsoft business solutions such as Microsoft Dynamics AX or Microsoft Dynamics GP can be used with third party or other Microsoft business solutions such as Windows Server 2003, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Microsoft Exchange Server 2003.
Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 is part of the Microsoft Server System line of server products, which also includes Microsoft SQL Server, BizTalk Server, and Windows Storage Server.
So, for example, it is possible to expand the functions of Microsoft Dynamics GP, which helps with managing and integrating finances, and carrying out e-commerce, supply chain, customer relationships, and human resources functions. By using Microsoft Dynamics GP with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, it is possible to add improved workflows, search, and business intelligence.
Microsoft encourages users to consider a combination of its Microsoft Dynamics applications and Microsoft’s relational database Microsoft SQL Server 2005, and Microsoft has developed links between the products to facilitate this.
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