MSCRM Goes International

An update to Microsoft Customer Relationship Management (MSCRM), previously available only in North America and only for U.S. English, adds support for an additional eight languages and will be sold globally. MSCRM 1.2 also simplifies setup and adds support for recent Microsoft server releases, notably Small Business Server 2003, which could help some small businesses with limited IT budgets and expertise overcome reluctance to deploy the product. With these changes, and the ability to engage sales channels outside of North America, Microsoft hopes to spur uptake of MSCRM beyond the roughly 1,000 customers that have signed-on to date.

More Languages, Modest Improvements

MSCRM is a server application from the Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) group that helps small and mid-size businesses manage customer relationships: sales and customer service personnel can record, track, and update customer interactions (such as sales leads or inquiries about service requests) using Outlook or a Web browser as the client. Although MSCRM is not a threat to enterprise customer relationship management (CRM) products from vendors like Siebel and SAP, Microsoft hopes to capitalize on the largely untapped small to mid-size business CRM market.