CRM Online Service Debuts

CRM Online, Microsoft’s hosted customer relationship management (CRM) service, opened for general sign-up in Apr. 2008, making good on the company’s promise to deliver the service in the second quarter of 2008. Previously called CRM Live, CRM Online has been running since the second half of 2007 with a set of trial customers. The service will initially target small and midsize organizations and could be the most significant challenge yet to hosted CRM market-leader Salesforce.com. However, not all CRM 4.0 features are available in CRM Online and the introduction of the service could change the game for ISVs and systems integrators.

What Is CRM Online?

CRM Online is a Microsoft-hosted CRM service that is based on Dynamics CRM 4.0, which shipped late in 2007. The service offers substantially the same set of features as Dynamics CRM 4.0 but could help customers get up and running faster and with a smaller initial investment than if they ran CRM 4.0 in-house.

As is true of CRM 4.0, workers can use a Web browser or a plug-in for the Outlook e-mail client to access CRM Online’s three main functional areas: