Spread Payments, Discounts for Dynamics

New licensing options let Dynamics customers spread payments over three years with no interest charges. Announced in Apr. 2009, the options will reduce upfront costs for customers and could benefit sales partners in tough economic times, but will also slow the pace at which participating partners get paid. Microsoft also announced discounts for enterprise resource planning (ERP) migrations from some Sage and Oracle products.

0% Financing for Committed Customers

The two new spread payment options are as follows:

Business Ready Flexible Pay is offered to new customers purchasing Dynamics CRM or ERP products on the Dynamics-specific Business Ready licensing plan, and to existing customers upgrading from the Business Essentials editions of Dynamics products to the more expensive Advanced Management editions.

The terms resemble those of some other Microsoft volume license agreements that include maintenance coverage, such as Open Value and Enterprise Agreements. Customers purchase licenses with three years of Dynamics maintenance (Enhancement Plan) coverage and can spread the total cost of both licenses and maintenance over three years with no finance charges. Flexible Pay customers receive perpetual rights: after the initial three-year term, customers who leave the program can continue to use the product versions that shipped during that term. Customers can add licenses to a Flexible Pay agreement at any time, but must pay for the new licenses and their prorated maintenance when they order.