CRM Partners for Hosting, Helpdesk

Two partners are offering solutions based on Microsoft’s Customer Relationship Management (MSCRM) system. Application service provider Surebridge is offering CRM Online, a hosted service based on MSCRM, and ISV Network Associates announced a version of its Magic Solutions HelpDesk IQ product designed to integrate customer information from MSCRM with help desk information. Early partner successes are critical for Microsoft, as MSCRM has garnered some negative initial press, particularly in the areas of integration and customization.

Application Service Provider, ISV Sign On

MSCRM is a server application that helps sales teams and customer service representatives in small and mid-size businesses keep track of customer relationships and queries, and integrate this information with Outlook functions such as scheduling and e-mail. Although the current release of the product is not a threat to enterprise CRM vendors like Siebel, Microsoft hopes to capitalize on the largely untapped small to mid-size business CRM market. One way it plans to do this is by encouraging partners to build solutions for these businesses based on MSCRM.