CRM - July 2008 - (Page 25)

MICROSOFT & CRM CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23 argue that Microsoft may be one of the few large enough to try to tackle it all. Steve Ballmer, the company’s chief executive officer, said as much in our exclusive interview with him: “Some of the most exciting things I see going on would never fall in[to] the classic definition of, quote, CRM…. I mean, everything has a tracking- and-relationship aspect to it.” (For more, see “The Man Behind the Management,” page 24.) Sidebars throughout this feature examine Microsoft’s efforts in just a few of those fields—but some have openly aired the notion that the company’s overall efforts would be better directed elsewhere. The 451 Group, for one, released a March report suggesting Microsoft would be better served by withdrawing from CRM altogether: “Despite spending more than $2 billion on deals—plus untold tens of millions on [research and development] over the past half decade—this product line continues to lag rivals significantly, particularly at the high end of the market.” “Watching Microsoft Dynamics’ business makes you question their commit- Putting the Pieces Together in the Contact Center Microsoft looks to extend its efforts in customer service deployments A side from Dynamics CRM 4.0, Microsoft had another unveiling this spring: the launch of its Automated Service Agent (ASA). The ASA is designed not only to enable improved customer service experiences (by providing customers with targeted answers), but also to aid in other business applications such as online self-service, training, information, and cross-selling—and company executives say they consider the ASA another option in Microsoft’s expanding menu of contact center–specific offerings. “[ASA] is another piece of the puzzle—Microsoft has the enterprise applications, the Dynamics line of various backoffice applications, CRM, SharePoint, portal products, CRM online—there are a lot of pieces that are coming together,” says Mary Wardley, vice president of enterprise applications and CRM software at industry-research firm IDC. The question remains, however, as to when that’ll happen. Speaking about ASA’s place among Microsoft’s contact center offerings, Clinton Dickey, the vendor’s director of program management, says the focus right now is on going to market with ASA before looking at long-term plans. Analysts agree that Microsoft can move up and serve large-scale contact centers with a more complete suite of solutions—but, they say, Microsoft’s just not there yet. This may not be a knock: “It’s a great alternative for companies that want to just fix that customer service and support just for the contact center and they want a CRM solution, and are not looking to go to the extreme of a Kana or Siebel [from Oracle],” explains Sheryl Kingstone, director of enterprise research at Yankee Group. If Microsoft does plan to move up, there could be some issues. “[Microsoft] just doesn’t have any proof points that they can handle larger contact center operations,” she says. Kingstone believes Microsoft is taking steps to become more attractive to larger contact centers with an expanded partnership with EDS and Microsoft’s separate efforts toward providing unified communications (UC) within its CRM platform (see sidebar, “Now ‘UC’ It,” page 22). According to Kingstone, EDS—which recently agreed to be acquired by Hewlett-Packard—can bring expertise into performance management, UC, and other contact center–specific applications. Kingstone believes Microsoft can pull it off—but not right away. “[This] would be around a three-to-five-year roadmap,” she says. “At least.” She’s not alone. Ask Michael Maoz, a Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst, about Microsoft’s spot as a “visionary” in his firm’s latest Magic Quadrant on contact centers—and the potential to move up to “leader” status— and you’ll hear the same tune. “Leaders not only provide leadership to a single industry or two, but are more broadly able to support multiple geographies and multiple business types,” he says. “I have Microsoft and Salesforce.com in the visionary box because they at least also have their eye on many industries. But the wherewithal to pull together product sets to do that which Siebel did over the course of eight years through acquisition and development? That’s something that’s going to take quite a long time.” Rebecca Wettemann, vice president of Nucleus Research, also believes Microsoft’s expanded partnership with EDS will help make the argument that its offerings are scalable for larger, more-complex contact centers— particularly in the on-demand realm. All it will take, she says, are high-profile customers. “I think this is Microsoft’s biggest challenge: If [Microsoft] can deliver some large ondemand customers in the next couple of quarters, that will be a significant signal to the industry. Once [Microsoft] has a couple of large customers, it will make things a lot easier for [the company].” —Christopher Musico www.destinationCRM.com CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT | JULY 2008 25 http://Salesforce.com http://www.destinationCRM.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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