NEW ORLEANS — March 10, 2009 — Today at Convergence 2009, Microsoft Corp. released the latest service update to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, delivering an industry-leading uptime service level agreement (SLA) along with new features that provide customers and partners with more value at no additional cost.
“We continue to be focused on delivering the best value in the industry, and that premise has guided our development efforts for the March 2009 Service Update,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “By delivering best-in-class availability with new functionality that will help our customers and partners position themselves for long-term success, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online further solidifies its place as a leader in software as a service-based CRM.”
Notable additions and improvements in the March 2009 Service Update include the following:
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Financially backed 99.9 percent uptime service level agreement. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online now offers an industry-leading service-level agreement that provides a 99.9 percent uptime service level agreement to all customers. This SLA gives businesses a high level of trust and confidence in Microsoft that its operations will have access to mission-critical systems, or it will receive a credit equivalent to one month’s fees.*
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Internet lead capture. New Internet lead capture capabilities enable Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online customers to drive qualified leads into the sales pipeline. Wizard-generated landing pages enable marketing and sales professionals to quickly and easily create custom Web landing pages for large-scale marketing campaigns or localized sales representative campaigns, all without IT support. Sales and marketing users can drive sales productivity and improve conversion rates by previewing and qualifying captured leads using new lead staging functionality. In addition, new lead tagging functionality provides a closed-loop view into campaign and landing page performance.
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Cloud integration services. Cloud integration services provide customers and partners with security-enhanced authentication to integrate and develop on-premises or on-demand applications that work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. Developers and independent software vendors (ISVs) can obtain full access to data and metadata APIs so they can leverage a wide variety of integration capabilities with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
“The new cloud integration services approach provides flexibility without sacrificing security,” said Heidi Tucker, vice president of Business Development, Hoover’s Inc. “The new integration capabilities allow companies like ours to create a seamless and secure experience for the customer, regardless of where the application functionality or data is actually hosted.”
Quick-start. Already acknowledged as one of the world’s most user-friendly CRM solutions, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online offers improved usability by giving new users a set of new tools to help increase user adoption and familiarization. New users can familiarize themselves with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online quickly by using a new Getting Started page that provides tips on key functions, such as how to add users and import data into the system; a five-minute walkthrough that provides an overview of the different areas of the application; and a Top 10 Best Practices list that provides recommendations on how to get optimal marketing, sales and customer service results.
Businesses can learn more about the March 2009 Service Update and can sign up for a free 30-day trial of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online at http://crm.dynamics.com.
About Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is a full-service on-demand customer relationship management service, hosted and managed by Microsoft, that encompasses a comprehensive set of marketing, sales and customer service capabilities. By design, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, which can be accessed through Microsoft Office Outlook or a Web browser, is engineered to be fast, flexible, familiar and affordable. The service is a central plank in Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s core vision of giving businesses the power of choice. Customers can deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM either on-premises or on-demand (via numerous partner-hosted offerings or Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online), and because both options draw on a common code base, customers can switch seamlessly between them as their needs dictate.
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.
* Applies in the event of the service level agreement not being met for unplanned outages or system outages. Planned outages and scheduled maintenance times are not covered, nor are downtime of individual features or outages outside of the Microsoft-controlled infrastructure and network.
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