Now that it is sold under the Microsoft Dynamics brand, the company’s customer relationship management product will get a pricing change and lose one SKU.
Microsoft has started the push to get users onto its Dynamics CRM 3.0 platform. They have offered new purchasers of its current 1.2 version with one or more Professional modules full rights to 3.0 when it is released.
The policy, which runs through December 1, also applies to existing customers who have any Professional module and active Software Assurance or Maintenance agreements in force.
A couple of changes have been set for the 3.0 release, CMPnetAsia reported. The previous version was available in Standard, Professional, and Small Business Edition SKUs. Standard won’t be an option with 3.0.
Pricing should be a little better with 3.0. The report stated Professional’s pricing “will range from about US$1,250 to US$1,700 per server and about US$620 to US$880 per user. Separate connectors to back-end systems will cost from US$8,800 to US$12,500 per server, but will carry no client access license charge.”
Hosting options will still be a function of Microsoft’s partners, with a price of less than $25 per customer per month. That compares favorably with Salesforce.com, a top competitor in the hosted CRM space.
Reportedly, Microsoft has been working on hosting the product as a service called “CRM Live.” That would follow the company’s Windows Live and Office Live web service deployments. For now, Microsoft has focused on the installed versions of 3.0 in enterprises.
Salesforce.com currently has 351,000 subscribers to its hosted CRM service. CEO Marc Benioff dismissed Microsoft’s sea change to target web services: “Perhaps they should rename their entire Microsoft software product line, Microsoft Dead. It’s the analog to Microsoft Live, the new on demand offering that [doesn’t] even exist.”
As to Microsoft’s place in the CRM arena, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer told me in September, “I think we are there today” when I asked him who was the best at serving the SMB market now. If that is so, Dynamics CRM 3.0 should reinforce that position.
David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
