In the News
Bo LykkegaardOctober 30, 2009
This report by analyst Bo Lykkegaard focuses on Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM news at Convergence 2009. Lykkegaard highlights Kirill Tatarinov’s keynote, new partner initiatives such as flex licensing, and how Microsoft supports the continuing specialization of the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem. |
Neil MacDonald, Michael Maoz, Christian HestermannAugust 3, 2009
Gartner's 2009 vendor rating for Microsoft evaluates its overall strategy and all its enterprise offerings.
Overall rating: positive. |
Nucleus ResearchAugust 2009
ISS Worldwide deployed Microsoft Dynamics CRM to streamline its CRM operations, increasing customer retention and cross selling while improving collections. ROI: 2266%, Payback: 2 weeks, Average annual benefit: €7,974,658 |
Rob DesistoJuly 22, 2009
With shrinking sales resources and market opportunities, investing in technology to automate critical sales processes may be the only alternative to still meet sales targets. The economy has affected vendors in different ways; some vendors on our 2008 SFA Magic Quadrant continued to see double-digit growth, while others dropped out of the market completely. |
Warren WilsonApril 2009
In the high-tech industry, one of the most fertile fields of innovation is TLAs - three-letter acronyms that describe some hot new category of software. Most are so obscure that they are meaningless unless presented in context. One that may prove to have staying power, at least if Microsoft has its way, is xRM - a category of “relationship management” applications in which “x” isn't fixed but a variable that stands for “anything.” |
Michael MaozApril 3, 2009
As a result of the economic slowdown, business leaders are focusing on the central role of customer service to simultaneously lower costs and build customer loyalty. Because the contact center is a key touchpoint for customers at the same time that it includes the Web site, some rethinking and re-engineering are required. The combination of three factors — business slowdown, the need to include Web site interactions and the need to lower customer service costs — is shaping business leaders' decisions. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of this Magic Quadrant. |
Natalie PetouhoffOctober 21, 2008
Microsoft Dynamics CRM shines by offering its infrastructure to enterprise organizations. Microsoft’s strategy for growth is to offer buyers a choice of both on-premise and SaaS service deployment, a flexible user interface, a choice of payment options, and a strong partner community. Buyer interest in Microsoft Dynamics CRM is high in the SMB market and is growing in the enterprise segment. |
Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a Leader in SFA. Sales analysis tools, opportunity management, and setup and configuration capabilities are the application's key sales strengths, as well as internationalization, usability, and versatile deployment capabilities. An added bonus is that the solution deploys quickly, giving buyers a fast time-to-value. Its low license and subscription costs make it an attractive sales application for enterprise and midmarket firms that are highly cost- sensitive. |
Josh GreenbaumSeptember 8, 2008
Coming to CRM Online this fall – and for the low low price of “free”, no less – is a new feature that lets Microsoft CRM customers track the success of their search word-based web marketing campaigns. I have to admit I love this idea, and wish there were some way to do this on a much broader base, because the bottom line is that Henry Ford’s old adage about advertising – half of what I spend is wasted, and if I knew what half it was I’d get rid of it – is very much alive and well in the online world. |
Josh GreenbaumSeptember 4, 2008
Microsoft is leading the pack with a strong hybrid on-demand/on-premise strategy that will become a major differentiator in the marketplace, absent some action from SAP or Oracle to counter its effect. This Software+Services strategy does a lot to support customer needs for choice when it comes to on-demand and on-premise deployments, and while very much in the nascent stage of development, the strategy looks good, and looks like it will potentially help move Microsoft, and its Dynamics enterprise software, further up the competitive food chain. |
Bill BandSeptember 2, 2008
Over the past five years, Microsoft has established itself as a major CRM player thanks to deep capital investment, a formidable strategy, and strong branding. The product is strong in SFA, internationalization, and usability. Arguably its greatest strength is its native Microsoft Office user experience. The solution is set up to look, feel, and function like Outlook. Sales analysis tools, opportunity management, and setup and configuration capabilities are the application’s key SFA strengths. The product also is available in multiple deployment options and is attractively priced below many of the alternative products in the market. The solution is built on the Microsoft .NET framework and integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft productivity tools, like Office, Outlook, and SharePoint. |
Bill BandAugust 26, 2008
Microsoft Dynamics CRM shines by offering flexibility to enterprise buyers. Microsoft is trying to exploit its desktop applications strength in large enterprises and promote its now-more robust business applications to this sector. Its strategy for growth is to offer buyers a choice of both on-premise and SaaS service deployment, a flexible user interface, a choice of payment options, and a strong partner community. Buyer interest in Microsoft solutions is high in the SMB market and is growing in the enterprise segment… Buyers have a full range of deployment options: on-premise, SaaS, on-premise hosted, or hybrid. The solution’s code is the same regardless of deployment choice, so migration from one deployment type to another is relatively easy… Buyers also like Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s usability, lower price, and its quick time-to-value compared with traditional CRM applications. |
Josh Greenbaum, ZDNetApril 18, 2008
Josh points out that Dynamics CRM Online is initially being targeted for the mid-market, and notes that the competition between Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics won’t be head-to-head just yet because Microsoft isn’t at the point where it’s targeting the top tier customer base Salesforce has been after. He does contend, however, that as Microsoft’s large SI partners (e.g., EDS) bring Dynamics CRM Online to their top tier customer base by hosting it in EDS’s data centers, other top tier folks will start to look more seriously at it. |
Chris Fletcher, Phil Fersht, AMR ResearchMarch 21, 2008
The partnership between Microsoft and EDS opens up client acquisition opportunities for both vendors in the burgeoning customer management and business process outsourcing (CM BPO) market. In an extension to the strategic relationship the two companies have had in place for some time, EDS has now also become a Dynamics CRM partner and will focus specifically on providing consulting and services for application areas, such as contact centers and sales force automation (SFA). |
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