PowerObjects Launches Microsoft Dynamics CRM Hosted “Name Your Price” Program

In an effort to differentiate itself from its competitors, Minneapolis-based PowerObjects, has launched a program that allows a customer to name the price it wants to pay for a hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution.

With the "Name Your Price" program PowerObjects runs, monitors and hosts the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application via its own data center, according to Jim Sheehan, PowerObjects COO.

Prices for the PowerObjects hosted CRM range from $19 per seat per month to $79 per seat per month, Sheehan said.

"I think most people will be somewhere in that range, and truthfully we probably won't go below $19," Sheehan said.

PowerObjects "Name Your Price" Microsoft Dynamics CRM hosted customers will also automatically receive an additional collection of the most requested CRM system customizations and capabilities at no additional charge, Sheehan said. These additional capabilities include custom email, dashboard, survey, and fax tools, among others.

Rob Helm, an analyst at Kirkland, Wash.-based Directions on Microsoft said all Dynamics CRM hosting companies face two squeezes-the features squeeze and the pricing squeeze. And, because of that, companies like PowerObjects need to do something to make themselves stand out.

"As Microsoft goes forward with Dynamics CRM hosted, the hosted product is going to get more and more similar to the on-premise product so that's going to remove some of the opportunity for partners to differentiate themselves," Helm said. "Microsoft's Hosted Dynamics CRM is becoming more and more capable and that will leave less and less room for partners to do something different."

Additionally, Helm said Microsoft is up against entrenched ...