An update to Dynamics CRM 3.0, Microsoft's customer relationship management (CRM) application, will ensure compatibility with Office 2007 and Windows Vista. The release, which is planned for Dec. 2006, could improve product usability and provide an early showcase for Office 2007 and Vista. However, CRM customers probably won't accelerate Office 2007 or Vista deployment because of the update.

Incremental Steps for Usability

The Dynamics CRM 3.0 update is primarily a compatibility release. It assures customers that the product will run properly with Office 2007 and Vista and will thus not interfere with plans to upgrade to those products.

Thanks mainly to features in Office 2007 and Vista, users will also find several usability enhancements, including the following:

Office 2007 ribbon add-ins. The Dynamics CRM Outlook client will be updated to use the new Office 2007 ribbon, a context-sensitive toolbar which appears in Outlook 2007 when users edit e-mail messages, tasks, and other Outlook items. (Dynamics CRM uses Outlook as its primary client application; a set of add-ins gives users access to CRM functions from within Outlook.) The ribbon could help workers more quickly find relevant CRM commands and menu options when working with those items.

Support for Excel 2007 PivotTables. Users will be able to generate Excel 2007 PivotTables automatically from Dynamics CRM data, such as sales data, allowing them to take advantage of Excel 2007's improved data analysis and visualization features. (PivotTables are a longtime Excel feature for analyzing multidimensional data that have gotten major improvements in Excel 2007.)

Desktop access to CRM functions. Compatibility with Vista will allow users to create "gadgets" for Dynamics CRM. Gadgets are small, desktop-resident programs in Vista that can provide fast access to application functionality, among other uses. For example, gadgets could give workers fast access to frequently used Dynamics CRM items (such as marketing campaigns) or reports, without having to open a CRM client and navigate to the items. Following release of the update, Microsoft will ship several free CRM gadgets that will provide a starting point for customers or partners to build their own.

Such features will benefit CRM users but will probably not be deemed significant enough to motivate companies to fast track Office 2007 or Vista deployments. Adoption of the CRM update will most likely follow a company's decision to move to Vista or Office 2007, rather than drive it. The effect on overall Office 2007 or Vista adoption will be negligible, since Dynamic CRM's base of about 8,000 customers is miniscule compared to that of Office and Windows.

Availability, Pricing, and Resources

Microsoft will ship the update to Dynamics CRM 3.0 in Dec. 2006, shortly after the release of Office 2007 and Vista to business customers in Nov. 2006. (The update will also work with previously supported versions of Office and Windows.) Dynamics CRM customers with active maintenance plans will get the upgrade for free.

The Dynamics CRM home page is www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm.

For more information on Dynamics CRM 3.0, see "New Features, Licensing for CRM Product" on page 12 of the Feb. 2006 Update.