This year we will begin featuring guest blogs from several members of the PKF Texas Consulting Solutions team. Michael Harding, the Sales Specialist for our Microsoft Dynamics accounts, has written a post about the launch of Microsoft Dynamics 2011 CRM.
The Dynamics 2011 CRM software is here! The release this month is a hosted service through Microsoft, this release hit 40 different markets in 41 languages. An on-premises and partner-hosted version of the software to follow on February 28. The delay in the on-premise version is a result of extra testing on Microsoft’s part to make sure it will work outside of the company’s data centers.
"One reason has to do with the online environment," Dynamics General Manager Brad Wilson told CNET. "We run our own systems, and we have a lower amount of testing required because we are actually running the service in our data centers so we know exactly what configuration is going in," Wilson said.
Even though it’s the same software, the company goes through some extra steps to make sure everything works once it’s in the wild. "When we release it out to our customers and to our partner hosts, we do additional testing because of the wide range of configurations that a customer or a partner host might have," Wilson said.
As part of the initial launch, Microsoft has cut the price on the service from $44 per user per month down to $34 per user per month, as well as put forth its "Cloud CRM For Less" program, which has the company offering cash rebates on a per-user basis for companies that switch over from competing Salesforce or Oracle CRM tools.