Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics: What Can Customers Expect?

With the official launch of Office 365 this week, Microsoft redoubles its efforts to provide hosted versions of some of its core solutions - services that have seen competition through cloud solutions like Google Apps.  The initial release of Office 365 includes Outlook Online, SharePoint Online, and  Linc Online, along with optional products like Microsoft Office Professional Plus desktop software and Office Web Apps online.

While there are few direct connections to Microsoft Dynamics products yet, Microsoft and its partners have already made it clear that Dynamics CRM Online will become part of the Office 365 offering, and the latest reports confirm that CRM Online will be included in some way by the end of 2011 (earlier reports had it slated for fiscal year 2012).  The Dynamics GP and NAV product teams have also taken steps already to position their offerings in combination with Office 365.

"You can expect more synergy between [Dynamics CRM Online and Office 365] in our ‘R7' version later this year," Varun Krishna, Dynamics CRM product manager, told the Decisions Spring 2011 audience on June 17 (the sessions is now available for on-demand viewing). "And with our R8 release next year you will see full integration including CRM Online experience and service within the Office 365 web portal.  We're working now to get the pricing and licensing worked out as well as the technical enablement."

Microsoft has made no secret of its desire to bundle Dynamics CRM Online with Office 365 and position the tools together for meeting small business needs.  At Convergence 2011 in Atlanta, Dynamics partner Tribridge demonstrated a CRM Online-driven xRM use case ...