Microsoft Overhauls CRM Offerings

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At its annual Convergence CRM/ERP conference in New Orleans, Microsoft made a couple of major announcements related its Dynamics CRM software. The company is getting ready to release some major updates to Dynamics, and it will purchase social analytics firm Netbreeze to expand its CRM capabilities further.

Janet I. Tu with The Seattle Times reported, “Microsoft Business Solutions, the division that produces the Dynamics line of business management software, has plans for further growth. It announced today at its Convergence annual conference for customers and partners an acquisition as well as several new releases…. Microsoft is acquiring NetBreeze, a Swiss social media monitoring and analytics company. The acquisition is intended to further the company’s goal of embedding social monitoring capabilities across Dynamics CRM offerings. Dynamics CRM is Microsoft’s set of customer relationship management tools. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.”

CRM Buyer’s Erika Morphy noted, “Included in the update is a new version of Microsoft’s recently acquired app MarketingPilot — plus a MarketingPilot Connector that allows it to integrate smoothly with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Microsoft acquired MarketingPilot in November of 2012. The application is unique, Patton said, in that it combines capabilities that help marketers streamline and automate processes as well as track spend and manage budgets. It also supports the execution of campaigns across various channels, including social, email, direct advertising — even television and billboards.”

ZDNet’s Mary Jo Foley added, “The second update to Dynamics CRM will be out in the second half of 2013, officials confirmed today. This update, codenamed ‘Orion,’ will include the promised local CRM applications for Windows 8 and iPads, according to Microsoft officials.”

According to InformationWeek’s Doug Henschen, “Microsoft executives said Dynamics CRM is growing at a 30%-plus clip and now has more than 39,000 customers with 3 million users. Dynamics AX has surpassed more than 18,000 customers, with 50% growth in North America in recent quarters, according to Microsoft.”