Relate Technologies Expands from SharePoint to Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Acquisition

Relate Technologies, a Microsoft SharePoint services and .NET development partner in South Africa, has acquired the resources and clients of customer relationship management (CRM) company Global Vision for its Microsoft Dynamics CRM solutions.

The acquisition lets Relate Technologies and its customers take advantage of the increased integration between the latest versions of Microsoft's CRM, document management and collaboration offerings, particularly using the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and SharePoint 2010 products, according to the company.

Microsoft is driving this kind of integration in Microsoft Dynamics CRM to enable companies to link contextual SharePoint document libraries with CRM entities, so business users can manage customer information and content in a single user experience, according to company officials. The acquisition allows Relate Technologies to help clients increase the functionality and return on investment in their Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SharePoint solutions and support more effective CRM initiatives, the company said.

Financial services institution, Sanlam Investment Management, one of Relate Technologies' customers, has already used the integration of Microsoft CRM and SharePoint integration to improve service to its clients, according to officials.  

"By combining SharePoint and CRM, we can now access both the clients' details, portfolio information and contact history along with all of their associated documentation, such as mandates and agreements, via a single interface," said Sanlam's Project Manager, Jonel Kritzinger, in a statement. "This integration provides us with one view of the client for different departments and processes to access."

Ray Meiring, Managing Director of Relate Technologies, said companies compare the integration between Microsoft CRM and SharePoint to the integration between Microsoft CRM and Outlook because they both help clients achieve a single view of customers to improve service and productivity.

"Ultimately, the ...