New Features, Licensing for CRM Product

New marketing and service management features could improve adoption of the latest release of Dynamics CRM (formerly known as Microsoft CRM), the customer relationship management (CRM) application for small and mid-size businesses from Microsoft Business Solutions. Released in Dec. 2005, the new version also streamlines product setup, includes a new edition designed for Windows Small Business Server (SBS) 2003, and adds a licensing model for service providers offering hosted CRM solutions. However, the product integrates out-of-the box with only one of Microsoft’s ERP products-Great Plains-and several factors could complicate upgrades from previous versions.

Features Updated, New Licensing Model

Originally released in Jan. 2003 as Microsoft CRM (MSCRM) and rebranded in Sept. 2005, Dynamics CRM offers base CRM capabilities using Outlook or a Web browser as the client. For example, sales and customer service personnel can record, track, and update customer interactions, such as sales leads or inquiries about service requests. The product has garnered about 6,000 customers to date. Microsoft originally planned to release a second major version of the product in the first quarter of 2005, but subsequently delayed that release to the last quarter of 2005 and said it would label the release version 3.0 rather than version 2.0.