MBS adopts new plan for CRM launch
Microsoft Business Solutions, which sells Great Plains and Navision accounting software, has significantly changed its approach to the European launch of its customer relationship management software
Link: Microsoft offers Software Reassurance
The Redmond giant’s Business Solution unit has incorporated its CRM offering into its controversial Volume Licensing programme.
It will not begin selling Microsoft CRM in Europe until December, but now it will also not include the promised modules for dealing with multiple currencies and VAT.
Microsoft has also decided to tie potential customers into its Software Assurance plan, even though its Business Solutions unit currently sells Great Plains and Navision business software through a perpetual licence.
Microsoft would use sales of the new product ‘to give insight’ on the feasibility of extending its Volume Licensing programme to all its software, said Simon Edwards, UK country manager, Microsoft Business Solutions.
Although Microsoft CRM v1.0 is already available in the US, the first version to arrive in Europe will be Microsoft CRM v1.2.
Edwards explained that the missing modules are because the firm has changed its priorities, concentrating instead on incorporating enhanced integration with Microsoft’s Server 2003 products, such as BizTalk, Exchange Server and Office.