Microsoft Dynamics Gives Some Re-Sellers a Financial Pick-Me-Up

Despite the economic slowdown, some Microsoft partners and other companies experienced significant growth last year, thanks in part to Microsoft Dynamics products.

For example, Chicago-based Sonoma Partners, a reseller and customizer of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, said it realized significant business gains. The company said its consulting revenues increased 44% in 2009.

Sonoma Partners Principal Mike Snyder attributes some of the company's recent success to the growing popularity of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

"Our company works just with the CRM product, so if the CRM industry is going well then we're doing well with it," he said.

Snyder said more companies are looking to CRM products and Microsoft Dynamics CRM in particular to help their businesses become more efficient. He also said a large part of the company's success can be attributed to its customization efforts, which allow its clients to get the maximum benefit out of CRM.

He said Sonoma Partners is also leveraging XRM opportunities to spur development.

"Also, we're seeing more businesses using CRM as a  development platform, and they can use it to replace other applications," he said. "So we have a lot of repeat business because of that, that's another factor driving it-people who already have CRM are using it in new and unique ways."

In addition, Snyder said more large enterprises are now looking at Dynamics CRM because the product is more mature.

"Big companies are not usually early adopters," he said. "They wait until someone else has done it. But now they're seeing lots of other people do it, so it's not high risk now for them to deploy Microsoft CRM.

Another company doing well, in part, because of Microsoft Dynamics products, is Westborough, Mass-based