CRM - July 2008 - (Page 23)

MICROSOFT & CRM hasn’t been a player in the voice end of the spectrum, adding that its voice capabilities are strong, but still proprietary—a major hindrance. In mid-March, Microsoft announced a plan for OCS interoperability. This strategy involves partnerships, including those with Nortel (announced last year), Polycom, Tandberg, and, most recently, Aspect Software. Interoperability injects life into OCS videoconferencing and telephony systems. At the March 18 announcement of the five-year Microsoft and Aspect alliance, Jim Foy, Aspect’s president and chief executive officer, was effusive: “With UC, we have the means of connecting individual agents with experts in the center to achieve firstcall resolution, which is so important,” he said. “We are certain that more than 10 percent of all calls within a contact center do not get resolved within the contact center and require other parts of the enterprise.” UC, the theory goes, will put an end to that hassle. While many are surprised by Microsoft’s recent focus on this space (see “Putting the Pieces Together in the Contact Center,” page 25), Pleasant is among those who see the merging of Microsoft’s UC and customer service efforts as a wise move, one that could have tremendous potential. Many see Aspect greatly benefiting from the alliance, but beyond the partnership basics, Microsoft hasn’t shown much transparency about its own long-term UC strategy. (Financial details of the deals were not disclosed.) Still, Pleasant believes that Microsoft may soon release its own “UC for the contact center” offering. (A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment on the rumor.) Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s UC group, says that, within a few short months, OCS saw tremendous uptake, with adoption by 174 of the Fortune 500. (Pleasant acknowledges that Microsoft may be the leading vendor right now, at least in terms of mindshare.) The Gartner Magic Quadrant for UC in 2007 maps Microsoft’s UC offering as leading the space in terms of ability to execute—but ranks the company’s efforts three rungs behind leader Siemens in the category of “completeness of vision.” One factor may be a lack of breadth. Pleasant says the most prominent— and most frequently used—features in the OCS are unified messaging and presence. Those are the features that enterprises are beginning to ask for, but they may want complex, integrated UC functionality down the road, and while she says Microsoft has strong Internet Protocol private-branch exchange (PBX) capabilities, the market won’t take off until companies realize it’s time to upgrade their PBX systems—and it remains to be seen if Microsoft can provide the nextgeneration solution. Perhaps that’s a concern for another day. Wainhouse’s Kelly says that the company’s current UC offering is visionary. “Microsoft’s participation has injected energy, product development, excitement, and media coverage of the market,” Kelly says, adding that the company is both legitimizing UC and building upon it. —Lauren McKay dice so many are guilty of.“It is Microsoft, so we’re cynical. But it’s picking up.” Beyond the platform itself, one of Microsoft’s selling points is price. The company’s product announcements have used thinly veiled language to compare MD CRM Online’s pricing to that of Salesforce.com—and company executives have explicitly acknowledged, on and off the record, the specific competition they’re gunning for. “Microsoft is definitely targeting Salesforce.com,” McCabe says. That may be about to change. Microsoft isn’t merely charging a smidge less per seat than Salesforce.com; it’s massively undercutting the cost, something observers suggest Salesforce.com would be hardpressed to match. Competing on price is often a sign of oversaturation or commoditization, but McCabe doesn’t see it that way.“Price competition doesn’t worry me,” she says.“We know how much Sales- force.com is spending on marketing, so there’s a lot of markup for their service. We’re due for some price pressure.” Price isn’t the only form of pressure. CRM has come to comprise so much more than just contact management or sales force automation—there are aspects of business intelligence, customer service, and communications technology within the holistic view of CRM—and some CONTINUED ON PAGE 25 July 2005 Microsoft CRM 2.0 gets scrapped; a partner-hosted option is promised for 3.0. September 2005 All tools for midsize businesses are rebranded under the “Dynamics” label January 2007 Microsoft offers multitenant CRM to partners January 2008 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 available in international markets April 2008 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online goes live—ironically, just weeks after the company decides CRM doesn’t belong under the umbrella of its “Live”-branded applications July 2006 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live Roadmap Announcement December 2005 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is made generally available December 2007 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Dynamics CRM Live reach RTM (release to manufacturing) SOURCES: MICROSOFT, WAGGENER EDSTROM, CRM ARCHIVES http://Salesforce.com http://Salesforce.com http://Salesforce.com http://Salesforce.com http://Salesforce.com http://Salesforce.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CRM - July 2008

CRM - July 2008 Contents Front Office Reality Check Customer Centricity The Tipping Point CRM’s a Social Animal SAP Looks to ‘Change the Game' CRM on Twitter CRM to the Max A Prescription for Satisfaction Required Reading Cover Story: Is Microsoft Winning the CRM Race? Jumping into the SaaS Pool Say What? Another Bright Idea Out of Edison A Small Biz Blossoms Biting Off the Right Amount Something for a Rainy Day Connect Re:Tooling Pint of View

CRM - July 2008

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