Dynamics Live CRM, an online customer relationship management (CRM) service from Microsoft, will be available commercially in the first half of 2008 at lower prices than the competing Salesforce.com services. Aimed at firms that want flexible pricing and low startup costs for CRM, the service could appeal to many Dynamics partners, who can get an ongoing cut of Microsoft's service revenue and incorporate the service into more specialized offerings. However, some features won't be ready until after the launch of the service.

Live CRM will be based on the next version of the on-premise Dynamics CRM application, which is code-named Titan. Microsoft is currently taking applications for a free "early-access" trial of a prerelease version of the service. The trial, available to companies with five or more users, will run until the end of 2007, when the service goes into production mode. In the fourth quarter of 2007, Microsoft expects to release Titan and hopes that partner offerings will be available.

Ultimately, Dynamics Live CRM will have two editions:

Professional (US$44 per user per month) will support most features of Titan, but won't support offline access to CRM data through Outlook synchronization. Only Professional will be available in the early access trial and at the commercial launch of the service. Customers who buy a 12- or 24-month contract on Professional in 2008 get a US$39 per user per month price on the initial contract period.

Enterprise (US$59 per user per month) will support all the features of Titan, but will not be available until sometime in the first half of 2008.

The planned prices fall below those of Salesforce.com, which starts at US$65 per user per month for its Professional Edition and US$125 for Enterprise Edition. However, the capabilities of the offerings differ, and both companies will probably discount these prices depending on volume, making comparison difficult outside of a specific deal.

Initially, Dynamics Live CRM will be sold only through the same certified partners who also sell Dynamics CRM. Each customer will have a "partner of record" who receives 10% of the subscription revenue from the customer on an ongoing basis (15% in 2008).

For further information and to apply for the early access trial, see www.crmlive.com.