Marketing solutions for Dynamics CRM: 6 ways to measure Microsoft against its ISV marketplace

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing is about ready to launch, with a roadmap that includes two updates in 2014 and a semi-annual cadence into the foreseeable future.  Microsoft officials said at Convergence 2014 that the updated product can be used by customers with as few as five marketers and as large as, well, there's really no upper limit, they say. 

And the message will be one of simplicity and choice, Microsoft told media and analysts at the conference. Different marketers have different needs, and they will be able to turn on and off the different components of Dynamics Marketing to suit their needs. One of the first areas where Microsoft has moved the product forward from its MarketingPilot origins is email and social campaign management, with an emphasis on reporting and lead management.

Since the product is aimed at almost the entire range of Dynamics CRM customers and it is taking an early bite out of some of the core capabilities that existing marketing automation  solutions bring to the Dynamics CRM market, it seemed like a good time look at where Microsoft stands compared to its ISV partners when it comes to selling modern digital marketing tools with Dynamics CRM. Who really has the advantage?

Talent

Rumor has it - and Microsoft has not confirmed this - that much, if not all of the acquired MarketingPilot team has now left Microsoft.  According to his LinkedIn profile, the company's founder and CEO, Ken Kornbluh, stayed at Microsoft for just 10 ...