BOSTON, June 19, 2002 — Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions and Crystal Decisions Inc. today announced that Crystal Decisions will provide the reporting, analysis and information delivery capabilities within Microsoft® Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The new OEM and reseller agreement will give Microsoft CRM customers access to Crystal Enterprise to gain insight into their customer data, identify high-value opportunities, predict short- and long-term revenue, and distribute information across their organization for better decision-making. Microsoft CRM will be available later this year; it is the first Microsoft business solution built on Microsoft .NET. The announcement was made at DCIs Customer Relationship Management Conference and Exposition.
“Were pleased to partner with Crystal Decisions to bring its great reporting capabilities to our customers,”
said David Thacher, general manager for Microsoft CRM at Microsoft Corp.
“Together with Crystal, Microsoft Great Plains provides great reporting and analytics, helping our customers be instantly productive with the 125 rich reports in the box, and through the additional powerful tools available in the special version of Crystal Enterprise.”
Accessible from Microsoft Outlook® and the Web, Microsoft CRM will enable small and medium-sized businesses to build more profitable customer relationships through increased sales effectiveness and more consistent customer service. Microsoft CRM is designed for rapid deployment, ease of use, and integration with Microsoft Office and Microsoft Great Plains® back-office solutions, increasing information reliability, employee usage and productivity.
Crystal Enterprise enables businesses to access data from virtually any data source or application, analyze it, create a report, and share the information with employees, customers and partners. Tightly integrated with Microsoft CRM, Crystal Enterprise delivers insight into customer data through a combination of operational and analytic reports, enabling companies to understand what is happening in their customer base and why.
“This agreement is another example of our recognition as the business intelligence vendor of choice for core business applications such as enterprise resource planning and CRM,”
said Andy Handford, vice president of product for Crystal Decisions.
“We are excited to extend our presence in the CRM space through this agreement, and we are thrilled to work with Microsoft on its first .NET business application.”
The agreement includes an OEM component through which a version of Crystal Enterprise, called Crystal Enterprise for Microsoft CRM, would be installed by default at no increase in price, providing customers with the ability to view, filter, print and export 125 predefined reports. The agreement also includes a worldwide reseller component through which Microsoft will resell enhanced Crystal Enterprise for Microsoft CRM licenses (for customers seeking to customize existing reports or create new reports), Crystal Reports Standard (with a custom data driver for Microsoft CRM), and other Crystal Decisions offerings, such as training and support, through its value-added reseller channel.
“Customer relationship management improves productivity by automating and tracking key sales and customer service processes. However, the incremental value of CRM systems that can differentiate a company is represented in the vast amounts of customer data they collect through these interactions,”
said Mary Wardley, director of CRM applications at International Data Corp. (IDC).
“Gaining insight into this data, through business intelligence, is what helps companies better understand trends and opportunities and assists in improved decision-making to help drive profitability. Microsoft and Crystal are providing the right ingredients to enable companies to do this from the start with Microsoft CRM.”
Microsoft Customer Relationship Management will be available as a standalone product and as an integrated solution within Microsoft Great Plains Dynamics™ , Solomon® and eEnterprise™
. It is expected to be available in North America in the fourth quarter of 2002. Availability outside North America will be phased and is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2003. Microsoft CRM will be sold and implemented through Microsoft Great Plains reselling partner channel. Support will be provided by partners and Microsoft Great Plains award-winning customer support team. The solution will be available on-premises or as a hosted solution through select partners.
About Crystal Decisions
Crystal Decisions, a privately held company, is one of the worlds leading information management software companies, with more than 11 million licenses shipped. Since 1984, Crystal Decisions has powered winning organizations with one of the fastest ways for employees, partners and customers to access the information they need to make the best decisions and, ultimately, reduce costs and increase productivity. The Crystal brand is among the most trusted names in enterprise reporting, and more than 290 independent software vendors (ISVs) have standardized on Crystal Decisions solutions. Headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Crystal Decisions has more than 20 offices worldwide and can be found on the Internet at http://www.crystaldecisions.com/ .
About Microsoft Great Plains
Microsoft Great Plains provides business applications that help small businesses, midmarket companies and midsize enterprises become more agile in todays interconnected economy by extending specific information and procedures to employees, customers, vendors and partners. The business applications automate end-to-end business processes across financials, distribution, project accounting, electronic commerce, human resources and payroll, manufacturing, supply chain management, business analytics, sales and marketing management, and customer service and support. More information about the solutions offered by Microsoft Great Plains can be found at http://www.greatplains.com/ or at http://www.microsoft.com/business/greatplains/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq
“MSFT”
) is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software any time, any place and on any device.
Microsoft, Outlook, Great Plains, Dynamics, Solomon and eEnterprise are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.
Great Plains Software Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Microsoft Corp.
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