“We believe being named a Leader in the Forrester Wave is a reflection of the investment in our Microsoft Dynamics ERP industry road map, our support for two-tier ERP implementation scenarios and our Dynamic Business vision,” said Crispin Read, general manager, Microsoft Dynamics ERP. “By delivering on a market vision focused on simplifying the user experience, increasing productivity and delivering continuous innovation for customers, we are able to help them keep pace with the rapid rate of change in today’s complex business environment.”

Results From Forrester Research

According to Forrester, “Microsoft enters the Leader band for the first time based principally on the strength of its strategy, including a top three product and go-to-market strategy as well as market-leading ownership costs.”

The report also states, “Microsoft’s product strategy represents a compelling vision for end-to-end order management. As large and enterprise-sized companies continue to experience difficulty with existing systems, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 will play an increasing role as a key alternative for divisions and subsidiaries looking for lower-cost and more effective alternatives. Microsoft placed third of vendors evaluated for its corporate and go-to-market strategy due to strong customer reference and extended global reach through partnerships.”

Earlier this year, Microsoft announced plans to deliver a connector in the third quarter of 2010 that will accelerate two-tier ERP deployments between Microsoft Dynamics AX and SAP Business Suite.

A number of customers are using Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 to increase productivity and savings including Integrated Silicon Solution Inc. (ISSI), a fabless global manufacturer. ISSI evaluated SAP and Oracle solutions before selecting Microsoft Dynamics AX to integrate global operations, reduce inventory, improve productivity and be more proactive in decision-making.

The Forrester Wave: Order Management Hubs, Q3 2010 (August 2010) report is available here. Those interested in learning more about Microsoft Dynamics ERP should visit this page, follow the Microsoft Dynamics conversation here, and engage with the community.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of easy-to-use, integrated and adaptable ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to quickly respond to market shifts, take advantage of new trends, increase their competitive edge and drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics solutions are delivered through a world-class network of reselling partners providing specialized services and additional innovation to help customers excel in their industries.

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.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

“Although many CRM technology projects were deferred or cancelled in 2009, our latest research spotlights that organizations of all sizes are now investing again to improve the customer management capabilities they’ve neglected during the past 18 months. If you are a business process leader in a large [or midsized] organization, you’re challenged to pick the best CRM solution to enable your company to capitalize on the upturn,” wrote William Band, vice president and principal analyst, Forrester Research, in the reports. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM shines by offering flexibility for large and midsized organizations. As a result, Microsoft is pursuing its strategy for penetrating the CRM market through offering buyers the ‘Power of Choice’ so that companies may choose how to deploy, how to pay, and how to use the application.”

The Forrester Wave reports evaluated the strengths and weaknesses of 19 customer relationship management (CRM) suite solutions against 516 criteria reflecting the requirements of midsized organizations and 18 CRM solutions for large organizations against 516 criteria reflecting the requirements of large organizations. These criteria included, among other factors, offering a multifunctional CRM application suite, a solution targeted to multiple industries, and a product now in general release and in wide use by customers.

Forrester research found that large and midsized organizations have many technology options to sift through. In Forrester’s evaluation of multiple CRM solutions, Microsoft Dynamics CRM was one of the solutions to which the research firm gave high marks for ease of use and relatively fast deployment times. The report further states, “Microsoft owns a SaaS solution — Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online — and buyers value the solution’s native integration with Outlook and being able to work within the familiar Microsoft technology stack. Buyers also like Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s usability, lower price and its quick time to value compared with traditional CRM applications.”

“It is an honor to be recognized as a Leader in the CRM industry that is helping customers seize new opportunities and grow their businesses,” said Brad Wilson, general manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “We deliver innovation and value to companies around the world through our focus on end-user productivity, business process flexibility and agility, and the ability of our customers to leverage public and private cloud deployment models.”

The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites for Midsized Organizations, Q2 2010 and The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites for Large Organizations, Q2 2010 reports are available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/itanalyst/default.mspx. More about Microsoft Dynamics CRM is available at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics. In addition, people can follow the Microsoft Dynamics conversation daily and engage with the community at http://www.twitter.com/msdynamics and http://www.twitter.com/msdynamicscrm.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of easy-to-use, integrated and adaptable ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to quickly respond to market shifts, take advantage of new trends, increase their competitive edge and drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics solutions are delivered through a world-class network of reselling partners providing specialized services and additional innovation to help customers excel in their industries.

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.

Forrester Research Inc., The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites for Midsized Organizations, Q2 2010 (June 2010) and The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites for Large Organizations, Q2 2010 (June 2010)

PRAGUE — May 19, 2010 — As part of Microsoft Corp.’s commitment to providing leading enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions to midrange organizations worldwide, the company today unveiled Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 at Directions EMEA 2010. Because of the investment in architecture for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009, customers are able to take advantage of the benefits of the software-plus-services vision through the R2 release more quickly than scheduled, including built-in integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and online Payment Service. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 customers will benefit from the following:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration. Today’s fast-paced business environment demands instant access to customers and vendors. Microsoft is providing built-in integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Benefits of customer relationship management (CRM) integration include eliminating redundant data entries, keeping information up to date in both ERP and CRM solutions, and providing salespeople with the ability to quickly access detailed business information about contracts, pricing and product availability. Customers can choose between integration to on-premises Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online with the option to migrate to either option over time.

• Online Payment Service for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This enables customers to process payment transactions from the Microsoft Dynamics NAV interface across multiple channels, including e-commerce, point of sale and call center transactions. The Payment Service works with leading payment processing services and all major credit cards.

• RoleTailored interface access for remote or roaming users. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 supports direct access from the Microsoft Dynamics RoleTailored experience over the Internet. This allows for remote or roaming users to take advantage of the richness and Microsoft Office integration of the RoleTailored interface and the many integration features connected to local resources, such as the operating system and Microsoft Office. This reduces the complexity and overhead compared with using other applications such as Citrix Systems and Terminal Services, especially for hosting partners offering cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics NAV deployments.

• Microsoft Application Virtualization support. The Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 RoleTailored interface can be deployed using Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) technology, which is relevant for both on-premise and hosted solutions. This provides a better experience for the end user as all integration with local applications is done on the desktop. It also cuts IT costs by centrally managing Microsoft Dynamics NAV client installations with automatic deployment to the desktop after an update.

• Windows 7 user experience improvements. Through Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2, jumplists can be used to open recently accessed customers and vendors for increased business productivity and efficiency, and the icon overlay functionality provides information on system events and status streamlined with the Windows 7 user experience.

• Treemap visualization. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 showcases the possibilities around business data visualizations abilities in Microsoft Dynamics NAV through rich ad hoc data visualization. It provides treemap analysis that enables the comparison of any two values, for example sales and profits, which increases business productivity and business insight. The innovative client extensibility framework used allows partners to extend the user experience of Microsoft Dynamics NAV to integrate visualizations into any end-user scenario.

“We’re delivering this release in response to customer and partner feedback,” said Crispin Read, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics ERP at Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to continuously bringing forth innovation in our ERP solutions, including the integration with cloud services. These latest enhancements to Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 are an important step in delivering solutions that drive real business productivity.”

“The new features in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 improve our business opportunities and benefit our customers. The fact that Microsoft is able to deliver faster than planned reaffirms our decision to build our solutions on Microsoft Dynamics NAV,” said Christian Sega, managing director at agiles Informationssysteme GmbH, an industry solution provider and consulting company specializing in horizontal workflow solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 will be available in the fourth quarter of 2010.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of easy-to-use, integrated and adaptable ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to quickly respond to market shifts, take advantage of new trends, increase their competitive edge and drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics solutions are delivered through a world-class network of reselling partners providing specialized services and additional innovation to help customers excel in their industries.

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.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration. Today’s fast-paced business environment demands instant access to customers and vendors. Microsoft is providing built-in integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Benefits of customer relationship management (CRM) integration include eliminating redundant data entries, keeping information up to date in both ERP and CRM solutions, and providing salespeople with the ability to quickly access detailed business information about contracts, pricing and product availability. Customers can choose between integration to on-premises Microsoft Dynamics CRM or Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online with the option to migrate to either option over time.

• Online Payment Service for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This enables customers to process payment transactions from the Microsoft Dynamics NAV interface across multiple channels, including e-commerce, point of sale and call center transactions. The Payment Service works with leading payment processing services and all major credit cards.

• RoleTailored interface access for remote or roaming users. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 supports direct access from the Microsoft Dynamics RoleTailored experience over the Internet. This allows for remote or roaming users to take advantage of the richness and Microsoft Office integration of the RoleTailored interface and the many integration features connected to local resources, such as the operating system and Microsoft Office. This reduces the complexity and overhead compared with using other applications such as Citrix Systems and Terminal Services, especially for hosting partners offering cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics NAV deployments.

• Microsoft Application Virtualization support. The Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 RoleTailored interface can be deployed using Microsoft Application Virtualization (App-V) technology, which is relevant for both on-premise and hosted solutions. This provides a better experience for the end user as all integration with local applications is done on the desktop. It also cuts IT costs by centrally managing Microsoft Dynamics NAV client installations with automatic deployment to the desktop after an update.

• Windows 7 user experience improvements. Through Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2, jumplists can be used to open recently accessed customers and vendors for increased business productivity and efficiency, and the icon overlay functionality provides information on system events and status streamlined with the Windows 7 user experience.

• Treemap visualization. Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 showcases the possibilities around business data visualizations abilities in Microsoft Dynamics NAV through rich ad hoc data visualization. It provides treemap analysis that enables the comparison of any two values, for example sales and profits, which increases business productivity and business insight. The innovative client extensibility framework used allows partners to extend the user experience of Microsoft Dynamics NAV to integrate visualizations into any end-user scenario.

“We’re delivering this release in response to customer and partner feedback,” said Crispin Read, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics ERP at Microsoft. “Microsoft is committed to continuously bringing forth innovation in our ERP solutions, including the integration with cloud services. These latest enhancements to Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 are an important step in delivering solutions that drive real business productivity.”

“The new features in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 improve our business opportunities and benefit our customers. The fact that Microsoft is able to deliver faster than planned reaffirms our decision to build our solutions on Microsoft Dynamics NAV,” said Christian Sega, managing director at agiles Informationssysteme GmbH, an industry solution provider and consulting company specializing in horizontal workflow solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 will be available in the fourth quarter of 2010.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of easy-to-use, integrated and adaptable ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to quickly respond to market shifts, take advantage of new trends, increase their competitive edge and drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics solutions are delivered through a world-class network of reselling partners providing specialized services and additional innovation to help customers excel in their industries.

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.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

As part of their joint keynote address, Elop and Tatarinov announced the May 2010 service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online that delivers seamless integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP, new language support, portal accelerators and cloud-based developer tools that help improve business connectivity. They also disclosed the road map for the expected international availability of the next generation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to 32 markets worldwide. The executives also previewed Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, which will be generally available May 1, 2010, and announced a new promotion for Microsoft Dynamics GP customers to get a license for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online at a rate of $19 (U.S.) per user, per month.

“The true competitive differentiator for Microsoft is the value customers derive through a consistent and world-class user experience and well-designed interoperability across our solutions,” Elop said. “Our upcoming Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM releases light up this philosophy by delivering solutions that work well together and take advantage of existing IT investments.”

Offering New Innovations With Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Continuing on its commitment to deliver the best value in the industry to more than 22,000 customers and 1.1 million users, the May 2010 service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, available at no additional charge for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online customers, focuses on improving the connectivity of the business to other systems, data and people through developer tools and resources. Key details include the following:

• Expanded language support for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The May 2010 service update is the first wave for moving Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online into international markets with multilingual capabilities for North American customers who have departments or teams with French, Spanish or Brazilian Portuguese language requirements.

• New Portal accelerators. The service update adds new Portal accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. These accelerators include Event Management, eService and Partner Relationship Management and allow organizations to extend their reach and extend the power of CRM to external constituents.

• New developer tools and resources. The service update provides new developer tools in the updated Microsoft Dynamics CRM Software Development Kit (SDK) to enable the connection of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online with other on-demand and on-premises applications and services such as Windows Azure.

• Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration. A new built-in integration framework for Microsoft Dynamics GP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM enables customers to easily connect the two systems to help provide business insight and improve user productivity across financials, supply chain, and sales and service. The integration is supported with both on-premises and cloud versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0.

“We are very excited about the May 2010 service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online,” said Steven Bowles, president of Pelagic Solutions Inc., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. “With the new portal solutions, we can easily tailor Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to meet the unique needs of our customers and extend out the powerful capabilities to external audiences. We have already seen phenomenal growth with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and with these new capabilities we expect that growth to continue.”

Disclosing the road map for international availability, Microsoft announced that it is slated to expand the next release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to 32 global markets in the second half of 2010. In addition to the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico, those markets are Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Customers can get Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a service in those markets today, with solutions and consulting from an extensive network of Microsoft partners.

Delivering Enterprise Resource Planning Excellence

Convergence attendees also previewed Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, an easy-to-use ERP solution for midsize businesses that want advanced functionality, strong business intelligence reporting options and interoperability with other line-of-business applications. More information about Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/en/us/products/gp-overview.aspx.

Delivering even more value to Microsoft Dynamics GP customers, Microsoft is offering them a license for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online at a promotional rate of $19 (U.S.) per user, per month. Starting today, the promotion is available to all Microsoft Dynamics GP customers until June 30, 2010. More information about this offer can be found at http://crm.dynamics.com/CRMGPOffer.

“Data, information and analytics are at the heart of everything we do,” said Steve Diakowsky, president and CEO of The Allan Candy Co. Ltd. “Fundamentally, the design of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 will greatly facilitate putting information into the right people’s hands, including my own, so that we can make business decisions that are timely and accurate.”

Investing in key industries, Microsoft also disclosed that Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail, a new end-to-end offering designed for midsize specialty retailers, will be available in 16 countries on Aug. 1, 2010, with additional countries to follow early next year. In anticipation of this release, new and existing Microsoft Dynamics partners such as Avanade Inc., Columbus IT, Fujitsu, Hitachi Consulting Corp., Ideaca, Junction Solutions and Tectura Corp. are establishing new practices that focus on delivering retail solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Expanding Microsoft Dynamics Communities

Microsoft Dynamics, by bringing its customer community and partner community closer together to help them get more from their Microsoft Dynamics software investments, has established an alliance with the Microsoft Dynamics AX User Group, Microsoft Dynamics CRM User Group, Microsoft Dynamics GP User Group, and the Microsoft Dynamics NAV User Group, which are independent user groups based in the U.S. The alliance will allow members of those groups to seamlessly utilize the Microsoft Dynamics Community site and bring a significant amount of new, high-quality content and resources to benefit all community users, including nonuser group members. Customer feedback has allowed the alliance to also include the user groups that are driving most of the user-created content at Convergence 2010. Customers and partners can get involved by participating in their product user group at http://www.dynamiccommunities.com and the Microsoft Dynamics Community at https://community.dynamics.com.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of easy-to-use, integrated and adaptable ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to quickly respond to market shifts, take advantage of new trends, increase their competitive edge and drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics solutions are delivered through a world-class network of reselling partners providing specialized services and additional innovation to help customers excel in their industries.

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.

For nonprofits and NGOs interested in the on-demand deployment, the solution is available through Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online — an on-demand service hosted and managed by Microsoft. Pricing for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for qualifying nonprofits and NGOs is $9.99 per user, per month. Customizations for nonprofits and NGOs are offered free of charge.

“Nonprofits and NGOs are always challenged with doing more with less,” said Sarah Barnhart, senior program manager of community affairs at Microsoft. “We see technology being a key enabler of helping nonprofits to reduce administration and focus their resources on where they can have the biggest impact. Microsoft Dynamics CRM for nonprofits and NGOs includes customized features that simplify administration and management for organizations of every size.”

By consolidating an organization’s essential information in one place, Microsoft Dynamics CRM improves constituent insight and management, facilitates collaboration, streamlines business processes, reduces IT costs, and helps improve security in the following ways:

• Accessing information and improving constituent insight and management. No matter where people work in an organization, it’s now possible for them to have a 360-degree view of constituents and access tools to effectively nurture different types of relationships.

• Helping people collaborate. People across an organization can increase individual productivity by using technology that’s familiar, and by sharing information and repurposing existing campaign, marketing and customer service materials.

• Complying with various accounting, tax and reporting guidelines. Business processes and enforcement of content compliance procedures are streamlined.

• Reducing IT costs and helping improve security. Simplifying the management of the CRM solution helps improve accessibility and reliability while decreasing costs.

“Microsoft Dynamics CRM will provide greater efficiency and functionality of our donor management and database tools, which directly impacts the approximately 1,000 girls we serve annually by increasing the depth and breadth of individual donor giving that supports the work of our organization,” said Elizabeth Nye, executive director, Girls Inc. of NW Oregon. “In addition, we are excited about its capabilities to help us integrate and synthesize program-related data, further enhancing our ability to monitor and track program outcomes — something all donors care about deeply.”

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for nonprofits and NGOs is available in the U.S. and Canada. Those interested in more information and starting a free trial can visit the web site for more information.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of easy-to-use, integrated and adaptable ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to quickly respond to market shifts, take advantage of new trends, increase their competitive edge and drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics solutions are delivered through a world-class network of reselling partners providing specialized services and additional innovation to help customers excel in their industries.

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.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

The CTP software is available as on-premises software, as well as through pre-release versions of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online running in datacenters in North America; Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and Asia Pacific (APAC). The availability in international datacenters is in preparation for the global expansion of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service beyond the U.S. and Canada today and into EMEA, APAC and Latin America.

More than 400 select partners are engaged in the CTP3 program, and that number will be expanded in the coming months.

“We see Microsoft Dynamics CRM driving innovation and focus in the customer relationship management (CRM) marketplace. It continues to raise the bar on ease of use, and delivers real and measurable value to our customers,” said Aziz Virani, executive vice president of the Avanade Technology Solutions Group. “This next generation of the product provides us with more opportunities to create innovative solutions for our customers.”

“With this next version, Microsoft is continuing to drive new levels of user productivity and collaboration, giving customers deep core CRM capabilities, low total cost of ownership, and fast and easy deployment options for their CRM applications,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The next generation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM will support more than 40 languages, and will be offered as an online service, as on-premises software and via partner-hosted offerings. Availability of the new product will begin in the second half of 2010.

More information about “CRM5” is available at the Microsoft Dynamics CRM team blog at http://blogs.msdn.com/crm/default.aspx. More information on partner opportunities with Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be found at the Microsoft Partner Network Web site, https://partner.microsoft.com/global/productssolutions/dynamics/microsoftdynamicscrm.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of easy-to-use, integrated and adaptable ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to quickly respond to market shifts, take advantage of new trends, increase their competitive edge and drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics solutions are delivered through a world-class network of reselling partners providing specialized services and additional innovation to help customers excel in their industries.

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.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

MCFE, a company that manufactures, sells and distributes forklifts and related spare parts, was able to streamline order entry and processing, IT support requests, and dealer communications. This resulted in the company reducing the time for it to customize business applications from 35 to 10 days, saving development costs by 60 percent and improving order processing from five minutes to 90 seconds.

“Businesses need to deliver essential line-of-business applications more quickly and at a lower cost,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “We are honored that MCFE is recognized by Gartner and 1to1 Media for its project. This implementation is just one example of how our customers are unlocking new value from their existing Microsoft investments and delivering business solutions that are easy to design, easy to manage, and, for their users, easy to use.”

In addition to MCFE, a broad range of companies around the world are using xRM, the flexible application development framework of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, to accelerate the development and deployment of high-impact business applications — whether on the premises or in the cloud via Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

Customer successes include the following:

• The Arbor Day Foundation, a U.S. nonprofit organization, has designed 15 relationship management applications to organize charitable events, grant management and outreach for fundraising efforts. The foundation estimates that it reduced application development time by 300 percent, enabling more efficient and responsive interaction with partners and sponsors.

• CAPTRUST Financial Advisors, a U.S.-based financial services organization, has used xRM to design more than 20 business applications, including an online fiduciary management tool for its retirement plan sponsors. The company was also able to build a portal for financial advisors twice as fast than with any another development strategy.

• Comag Marketing Group, a U.S.-based marketing firm, has consolidated more than 40 disparate relationship management applications and is planning to consolidate another 80 applications. By standardizing on Microsoft technology, it has drastically reduced the cost of administering all these applications.

• Ensto., a manufacturer in Finland, has designed several applications, including a supplier relationship management and quality relationship management solution. With xRM, Ensto is able to save $138,000 (U.S.) with each solution it implements.

• Melbourne Business School, in Melbourne, Australia, has designed several relationship management applications to manage prospective students, alumni, donors, guest lecturers and other constituents. The school is able to process applications 50 percent faster, for 50 percent less cost.

• The New Zealand Ministry of Economic Development (MED) has developed several relationship management solutions, including a Consumer Affairs Reporting Tool, an Energy Safety Intelligence application and a Grants Information Management System. With the Microsoft Dynamics CRM business management solution already in use, it became clear that it offered a framework that could be extended cost-effectively to develop and deliver other new custom applications at an accelerated pace across other parts of the business.

• The North Carolina Department of Crime Control and Public Safety developed alcohol and lottery permit review applications that increased agent productivity by 80 percent and reduced the new application process time from five days to one.

• The Product Release and Security Services (PRSS) team at Microsoft designed product release relationship management solutions that increased product release compliance to 98 percent and accelerated product time to market across the company by up to 94 percent.

• Travel Dynamics International, a leading luxury cruise operator in North America, designed a reservation and booking relationship management system. It has experienced a 400 percent increase in productivity and projects an annual gain in sales volume of 10 percent.

• ValMark Securities Inc., a U.S. financial services firm, developed several custom solutions across several departments, including a policy relationship management solution known internally as the ValMark Back Office Support System (VBOSS). VBOSS has contributed to an 89 percent improvement in customer satisfaction and increased staff productivity.

“We set a time frame of 30 days from start to finish for building and rolling out an xRM application. We comfortably hit that target,” said Mike Ashley, IT director, Arbor Day Foundation. “We estimate that it would have taken three months or more to extend our old system in the same way.”

“Each client comes to us with a unique set of business problems and challenges to solve,” said Mark Barrett, managing partner at Ascentium Corp. “With xRM, we’re able to create specialized applications in as little as a day as opposed to months. We’re able to help our clients achieve their business goals quickly and increase our value as a partner to their business.”

Examples of how customers are benefiting from using Microsoft Dynamics CRM in new ways demonstrate Microsoft’s promise of the Dynamic Business, a vision for helping companies realize their full potential through the strategic use of flexible business applications that remain relevant as their business needs evolve.

More information about how customers are saving time and money while driving successful relationships with Microsoft Dynamics CRM through xRM usage can be found at http://crm.dynamics.com.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service update brings the following:
Fast online access. Organizations can get started with a trial or paid subscription to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in less than five minutes. Customers are able to access the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service through a Microsoft Outlook interface, via a Web browser or from a wide range of mobile devices — all at no additional charge.
Simple contact management. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online provides a single, unified view of customer information that helps sales people manage accounts and drive revenue. A new Get Started Pane delivers guidance, training and access to communities, and Microsoft Knowledge Base articles, allowing users of all skill levels to maximize their productivity. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online makes it easy to import data from other CRM applications.
Simple contact management. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online provides a single, unified view of customer information that helps sales people manage accounts and drive revenue. A new Get Started Pane delivers guidance, training and access to communities, and Microsoft Knowledge Base articles, allowing users of all skill levels to maximize their productivity. In addition, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online makes it easy to import data from other CRM applications.

Better economics. Microsoft has simplified and reduced its Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online pricing for all customers. All Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online offerings are now available at $44 per user per month, and include offline support, 200 custom entities, 200 workflows and 5 GB of storage.
In addition to its free 30-day trial, Microsoft is offering six months of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online at no additional cost to existing customers of Salesforce.com and Oracle CRM On Demand. This reinforces Microsoft’s focus on delivering more value at a lower cost than competing CRM vendors, whether through on-premises or on-demand CRM deployments. Eligibility requirements and other details of this offer can be found at http://offers.crmchoice.com/moreforless.
“Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is a perfect fit for our business,” said Laura Tantaros, sales operations specialist for Trion Group Inc. “We were able to get started and train our employees very quickly, largely due to the Microsoft Outlook user interface, and adapt the service to our specific business needs easily.”
“We’ve built our business on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and we’ve helped more than 75 companies adopt the service in the past year,” said Steve Bowles, chief executive officer of Pelagic Solutions Inc. “In our experience Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online simply delivered a lot more capabilities and value than other software as a service (SaaS)-based CRM systems, at a lower price.”
The new November 2009 service update will be available to all Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online customers by Nov. 15, 2009. Businesses can get started today by signing up for a no-cost 30-day trial by subscribing at http://crm.dynamics.com.
About Microsoft Dynamics
Microsoft Dynamics is a line of easy-to-use, integrated and adaptable ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to quickly respond to market shifts, take advantage of new trends, increase their competitive edge and drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics solutions are delivered through a world-class network of partners who provide specialized services and additional innovation to help customers excel in their industry.
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.
Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.

“Our implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM has made a significant impact on our business, such as reducing bill collection from 75 to 34 days, and helping improve customer retention to 90 percent,” said Bart Hermans, CRM manager at ISS Belgium. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM was affordable to purchase and easy to use and deploy, and has proved to be an invaluable part of our business infrastructure.”

“The CRM industry awards illustrate the market momentum of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and demonstrate the kind of value that it delivers to customers globally,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “With the power of choice, we can deliver flexible, cost-effective solutions based on each customer’s specific business needs.”

“To stay competitive in a challenging economy, companies must come up with innovative ways to improve their customer relationship efforts,” said David Myron, CRM magazine’s editorial director. “This is exactly what the recipients of the 2009 CRM Market Awards have done.”

The Nucleus Research annual ROI Awards recognize 10 end-user organizations whose deployments of technology solutions have achieved high return on investment (ROI) and delivered measurable financial and business results. The independent ROI case study, which details ISS Belgium’s ROI results of 2,266 percent, can be found at http://crm.dynamics.com.

“Demonstrating significant ROI with payback in just two weeks’ time, ISS Belgium is a good example of how to take full advantage of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and achieve business benefits,” said Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of research, Nucleus Research.

These awards, and ISS Belgium’s Microsoft Dynamics CRM enterprise implementation, are examples of Microsoft’s promise of the Dynamic Business, a vision for helping companies realize their full potential through the strategic use of flexible business applications that remain relevant as their business needs evolve. More information about how customers like ISS Belgium are saving time and money while driving successful customer relationships with Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be found at http://crm.dynamics.com.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of adaptable, easy-to-use ERP and CRM applications that enable business decision-makers to run their business efficiently and drive business success. 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.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft Web page at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass on Microsoft’s corporate information pages. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may since have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/contactpr.mspx.