Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live delivers a fast, flexible and familiar customer management solution for businesses looking to combine the power of online services with the richness of their everyday productivity applications. This solution is optimized for business work groups or departments who want to have their customer relationships managed by Microsoft. We have been in the beta/Early Adopter program for months and have found the platform to be very stable and reliable. It is pretty much CRM 4.0 but you just do not have to host the servers. There are a few limitations around loading code onto the server and some other things, but essentially it is the exact same application.
The Pricing is better than almost every other Hosted CRM provider but still expensive over 2-3 years TCO. Hosted runs about $40-$60/month per users. Still much cheaper than competition. But On premise runs about $35/user if you spread the payments over 3 years. But with the on-premise solution there are additional costs for the platform you do not have with CRM LIVE. I personally think the on-premise will still be the best for situations above 25-30 users. They typically want more specific requirements and have more existing infrastructure. So this will be an easy decision. $50/user for 100 users is $5000/month = $60,000 per year. You can get a lot of work done on premise for the approximate $40,000 less the on-premise software would cost over 3 years.
We think the CRM LIVE pricing will be very compelling for certain folks with less than 10 users or they do not want a lot of infrastructure. There is a lot of cost to care and feed a server, a lot more than just the purchase price. So we think this will be very compelling and will also give us one great software Application (MS CRM 4.0) that can be consumed and delivered in whatever manner is best for the client. You see On-premise or On-Demand is just a delivery mode, and should not be considered a business model or application value point. Think of it like Cable versus Direct TV or Cellular vs. land line phone. They are delivery models and you pick the one that meets your needs and requirements.
The great thing about CRM 4.0 (TITAN) will be that it is offered in either and a client can run both or move back and forth from one platform to the next. The data, configurations and customizations are all easily portable from one delivery platform to the next. This is a huge advantage and a huge benefit to the clients. Very few enterprise application providers can boast this delivery platform choice and portability. Most of the zealots/bigots have painted themselves into a corner railing against one mode or the other.
So fir the first time a client can chose an enterprise class application like MS CRM 4.0 and chose the best price points per user and the correct delivery model for their particular business or group. They will also have flexibility to change platforms as needed for business or seasonal changes.
This new delivery model is expected to release (Release to Web – RTW) on or around the month or March 2008. In the past the CRM LIVE team was referring to March as the RTW date but most recently they have been messaging SPRING 2008. So not sure what that means. Right now people can get admitted to the Early Access 2 program (EA2). This just opened to more people last week. So call us if you want to get signed up – 512-498-1005.
Jon Petrucelli
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