By Chris Alliegro [bio]
Posted: Apr. 21, 2008

The following an excerpt of a Research Report published by Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy & technology. More samples of our content, as well as a list of upcoming articles and reports are also available.

Contributing Analysts: Greg DeMichillie

Dynamics CRM 4.0 is the latest release of Microsoft's customer relationship management (CRM) server application, which helps workers manage customer support, sales, and marketing and provides a platform for custom front-office solutions. This version delivers new features for hosting multiple organizations on shared servers and improved international support to better serve large, multinational organizations and service providers that host CRM solutions. However, service providers will soon be competing directly with Microsoft's own CRM online service, and large organizations will continue to need custom development to tailor the product to their businesses.

This report provides an overview of Microsoft's Dynamics CRM product for potential customers and partners and outlines the major improvements in CRM 4.0. It provides a primer on the product's development platform, explains the technical requirements and licensing of the product, and previews the most likely future developments, including Microsoft's plans to host an online CRM service.