Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Demonstrates New Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Service at Convergence 2007
o Upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM will fuel new choices for customers and new opportunities for partners
SAN DIEGO, March 14 // -- In his keynote address at Convergence 2007, Microsoft Corp's biannual
event for Microsoft Dynamics(TM) customers, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave
customers their first look at the future of customer relationship management
(CRM) with a live demo of the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service.
The Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service is powered by the upcoming release of
Microsoft Dynamics CRM, code-named "Titan," which uses the same multitenant
code base to deliver both on-premise and Software as a Service (SaaS)
deployments, and allows customers to choose the right deployment model for
their needs at any time. Ballmer outlined the ways in which the Live CRM
service will help deliver new levels of companywide productivity to users as
well as the critical role of partners in the Live era that will fulfil
Microsoft's vision to help customers connect business vision with software,
people with processes, and companies with communities.
"Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a great example of how we're combining
software and services to create exciting new opportunities for customers and
partners," Ballmer said. "Users get a familiar interface that helps them be
more productive, and businesses get the freedom to run the software in-house
or buy it as a service -- and to change from one to the other if their needs
change."
"Titan" Extends Opportunities for Partners Worldwide
The "Titan" release is specifically designed to open up new opportunities
for Microsoft's global community of value-added resellers, independent
software vendors, hosting providers and system integrators, as well as to
provide a new platform for on-demand solution partners to plug into. "Our
global partner community has a tremendous depth of business and technical
expertise, and plays a key role in delivering successful CRM solutions to our
customers," said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
"With 'Titan,' our partners will be able to deliver innovative solutions
across on-premise, Live CRM and partner-hosted environments."
Today, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 offers a rich service-oriented
architecture (SOA) with metadata-driven configuration capabilities, allowing
businesses to quickly develop solutions that fit their specific needs. End
users can access role-based CRM capabilities that are most relevant to their
jobs through Microsoft(R) Office and Outlook(R), through a web browser, and
through a broad range of mobile devices. With the upcoming "Titan" release,
the core platform is extended to offer full multitenancy, a capability that
will be leveraged to enable high-volume hosting for the Live CRM service as
well as for partner-hosted CRM solutions. The same metadata-driven
configuration model is shared by Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 and the "Titan"
release, allowing partners and customers to easily build applications in
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 today that can be automatically upgraded to
"Titan."
As part of the rollout of "Titan," Microsoft will offer an extensive
online solution catalogue that allows partners to list their products and
capabilities that relate to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The online catalogue will
include partners that span the on-premise, partner-hosted and Live models for
Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This will make it easier for customers worldwide to
find Microsoft Dynamics CRM partners that offer solutions and components for
their specific industry, region or company size.
"Titan" TAP Programme Participants Move Full Speed Ahead
As part of the "Titan" pre-release programme, a Technology Adopter
Program (TAP) was launched earlier this year and will expand through the year
with partners from around the world. Hundreds of partners have already begun
building vertical applications, on-demand service mash-ups, integration
connectors and other extensions for the new release.
"As an SaaS provider, we've historically worked only with other on-demand
vendors; Microsoft is the first on-premise CRM provider we've done a packaged
integration with," said Peter McCormick, co-founder and vice president of
partnerships at ExactTarget, the market leader in on-demand e-mail software
for permission-based e-mail marketing. "We started working with Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 3.0 because customers were asking for it - bottom line. And as a
'Titan' TAP programme participant, we're already building out several
workflows in the next release to automate core marketing scenarios and help
our customers more effectively nurture leads. From the moment we put 'Titan'
in the hands of our developers and demonstrated how easy it would be to port
our 3.0 integrations to the new version, we knew we'd made the right choice."
Availability
Today, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 addresses the needs of small
businesses, midsize companies and large enterprises in more than 80 countries
and in 22 languages. The "Titan" release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is
currently planned to be available via the Live CRM service beginning in the
third quarter of 2007, with on-premise and partner-hosted versions becoming
available in the fourth quarter of 2007. A total of 24 languages will be made
available for the "Titan" release.
About Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of financial, customer relationship and
supply chain management solutions that helps businesses work more
effectively. Delivered through a network of channel partners providing
specialised services, these integrated, adaptable business management
solutions work like and with familiar Microsoft software to streamline
processes across an entire business.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise
their full potential.
About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)
Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft
employs more than 12,000 people in 60 subsidiaries, delivering products and
services in 138 countries and territories.
NOTE: Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics and Outlook are either registered
trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp in the US and/or other countries.
The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the
trademarks of their respective owners.
Web site: www.microsoft.com
Source: Microsoft Corp.
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