Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Cloud Service launches today

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Cloud Service launches today

Media Release 18 January 2011

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Cloud Service Launches Today New customer relationship management service that delivers the 'Power of Productivity' for organisations worldwide.

Microsoft today announced the worldwide availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, which is the cloud service of the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 that delivers intelligent and connected experiences to drive new levels of productivity for sales, service and marketing organisations. The on-premises version, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will be available on 28 February 2011.

"Sales professionals are at the heart of almost every successful business, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM redefines productivity by offering an industry-leading product that is fully embracing the cloud," says Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's CEO.

"The things that make Microsoft Dynamics CRM an industry leader include giving sales professionals a familiar user experience, enabling greater collaboration, streamlining of processes and access to real-time data so they can improve their customers' experiences and effectively compete in the market"

More than 11,500 customers and 2,000 partners worldwide have used Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 as part of the beta programme, including customers that have switched from competing solutions. In New Zealand, a number of companies joined the beta programme with great success. For example, the Gemco Group based in Havelock North, which provides total construction solutions for large and small scale residential, commercial and industrial projects, changed to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in order to gain the flexibility to automate all of their business processes.

"With Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, we can track our sales process from start to finish in one application, including following up and making sure we've got a happy customer. The whole business cycle can be managed out of that one area," says Karl Johnson, General Manager of Gemco Trades.

"It looks so much like Outlook, so is a lot easier for people to use, and because it is cloud-based, we can more easily support sales staff who don't always work from the office. The most important benefit is the ability to capture and automate the sales process, giving us great efficiencies, with only one place to track our business processes, where previously we had three or four."

Action Traffic Control, an Auckland-based traffic management company, required an efficient CRM solution to match its significant growth the company had achieved over the last couple of years.

"It was important for us that CRM would work with our other standard office software, such as Microsoft Word, Excel and MYOB. The fact Microsoft Dynamics CRM integrates seamlessly with Outlook has been very important to us, as we use this extensively," says Andrew Seavill, Director, Action Traffic Control.

"We elected to take part in the beta test programme as I was keen to have our staff start with the most advanced CRM solution available. We employ a mix of people, so a solution that is highly intuitive and can operate in a similar way to other programmes they understand has been fantastic - the feedback has been very good, and I'm happy we've chosen this solution. Given the progressive shift of our systems to the Cloud, we have elected to use the Online version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM now it is launched."

Based on the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 release, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online delivers breakthrough productivity by offering the following: * Familiar experiences for sales, customer service and marketing users through a next-generation native Microsoft Outlook client, browser-based with mobile access, RoleTailored design and advanced user personalisation, improving adoption and giving users easy access to the information they need to be successful * Intelligent experiences through guided process dialogues, inline business intelligence for performance and goal management, and real-time dashboards, providing the most up-to-date information critical to enabling users to do their jobs effectively * Connected experiences through flexible cloud development, Windows Azure interoperability, contextual Microsoft SharePoint capabilities and the new Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace, making it easy for customers and partners to configure and customise Microsoft Dynamics CRM to meet specific business needs

For the first time, customers can access Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in 40 countries and 41 languages, and sign up for a free trial at http://crm.dynamics.com. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is available today at a promotional price of $52.50 per user, per month for the first 12 months of service to qualified customers that sign up by 30 June 2011.

Salesforce.com and Oracle customers that switch to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online between now and 30 June 2011, can take advantage of the 'Cloud CRM for Less' offer. Through this offer, eligible customers will receive up to $309 for each user, which can be applied for services such as migrating data or customising the solution to meet unique business needs. Details on the offer can be found at http://www.cloudcrmforless.com.

ENDS

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