DENVER — July 10, 2007 — At its Worldwide Partner Conference today, Microsoft Corp. announced the kickoff of its partner-led customer early access program for Microsoft Dynamics™ Live CRM, as well as detailed product and pricing information for the new on-demand service. In addition, new pre-configured vertical templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM were demonstrated for the public sector and manufacturing industries.
“We are excited to bring a whole new level of business productivity and value to the CRM market,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM at Microsoft. “The new Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service offers tremendous application configuration capabilities, allowing our customers and our partners to deploy on-demand CRM systems that work the way that each individual business does. Together with our on-premise and partner-hosted offerings, we give customers and partners the ultimate in choice and flexibility in how they deliver CRM capabilities to users.”
Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will be operated and managed by Microsoft within its datacenters and will offer Microsoft’s partners another fast and flexible way to address the unique customer relationship management (CRM) needs of each customer. Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will use the same code base as the on-premise and partner-hosted versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a strategy that reinforces Microsoft’s leadership in allowing customers to choose the best deployment option for their business and IT needs at any time.
“We’ve been working with Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM for several months through its partner pre-release program, and we couldn’t be more excited about what it offers to our business,” said Mitch Cannady, president and CEO of Spinnaker Network Solutions Inc. “It allows us to serve our customers’ needs through on-demand or on-premise deployment models, and enables us to reach new segments and new markets more quickly.”
Customer Early Access Program
The customer early access program for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will begin this quarter and will extend through the remainder of 2007. It will offer the Professional version of the service (see below) at no charge to customers during the early access period; at the end of the early access period, normal service fees will apply. The program is initially targeted at companies with five or more CRM users within the organization, and customer signup will be offered through Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s network of certified partners. Companies that are interested in the early access program can visit http://www.crmlive.com to apply.
Product and Pricing Information
Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will be available as a range of service offerings, with features and pricing designed to optimize value for different types of customers. The first two service offerings will be the following:
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Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Professional will offer full-suite CRM through Microsoft® Outlook® and browser clients, customizable workflow powered by Windows® Workflow Foundation, and rich configuration and extensibility capabilities. The price for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Professional will be $44 per user per month; however, during 2008 it will be offered to customers at a promotional price of $39 per user per month.
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Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Enterprise will offer all the capabilities of the Professional product as well as offline data synchronization. The price for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Enterprise will be $59 per user per month.
During the early access program, all customers of Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will use the Professional version of the service. The Enterprise version will be made available in the first half of 2008.
Partner Engagement Model
Microsoft also announced further details about its partner engagement model for the Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service.
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With the new Live service, partners in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM ecosystem will have new opportunities to deliver value to their customers and to drive revenue for their businesses by developing and deploying solutions across the three deployment options — Live, on-premise and partner-hosted models. For revenue in the new Live model, partners will be compensated on a recurring basis, not a one-time basis; each year they will receive 10 percent of the yearly Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription revenue for each customer for whom they are the partner of record. During 2008, a special incentive will allow partners to receive 15 percent of the SaaS subscription revenue for that year.
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At the conference, the vision for a new partner solution marketplace was demonstrated to serve as a focal point for partners to market and sell solutions. For example, it will allow Microsoft Dynamics CRM partners to market on-premise and on-demand solutions by product type, by region and by industry — and solutions presented in the partner marketplace would integrate seamlessly with Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM and provide customers with immediate benefits.
Vertical Templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Two new vertical templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the public sector and manufacturing industries are being showcased at the conference. The new templates include reference data models, pre-defined workflows, and roles-based user experiences that make Microsoft Dynamics CRM immediately relevant to customers in these industries. These templates are designed to work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 today, and will be updated for the upcoming release at the end of the year. The templates will be available by July 31, 2007, and will be offered at no charge to partners and customers. In addition, vertical templates for other industries will be delivered over the next 12 months.
Availability
Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM is based on the upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, code-named “Titan,” a fully multi-tenant application platform that supports deployments in on-premise environments, in partner-hosted environments, and via the new Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. More than 600 global partners are currently working with pre-release versions of the “Titan” platform as part of the company’s Technology Adoption Program.
The new release will first be deployed for customers via the Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM early access program in the third quarter of 2007, with on-premise and partner-hosted versions planned for the fourth quarter of 2007.
The next versions of on-premise and partner-hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM will be available globally in 25 languages. The Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service will initially be offered in North America, and plans for international expansion of the service will be announced at a later date.
About the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference
The Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference provides Microsoft’s partner community with access to key marketing and business strategies, leadership, and information regarding specific customer solutions designed to help partners succeed in the marketplace. Along with informative learning opportunities covering sales, marketing, services and technology, the Worldwide Partner Conference is an ideal setting for partners to garner valuable knowledge from their peers and from Microsoft. More information about the Worldwide Partner Conference is available at the virtual event site at http://partner.microsoft.com/digitalwpc. Visitors can watch select keynotes live or on-demand, register to view sessions, and learn more about the news and events coming out of the conference.
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 specialized 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 realize their full potential.
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