What’s Behind a New Partnership Between Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Deutsche Post?

A new partnership agreement intended to incorporate Microsoft Dynamics CRM into Deutsche Post's  business offerings signals an expanding push by Microsoft into the enterprise class arena.

Microsoft and Deutsche Post  last week announced "a strategic marketing partnership for hosted CRM services that enables businesses to access combined customer relationship management, dialog marketing and postal services online," according to a posting by the Dynamics CRM team blog. "As Europe's largest postal service operator, Deutsche Post is on the forefront of providing online business services to industrial and business customers in Germany."   

The CRM team blog added that "the new offering will be marketed as ‘Dialog Manager Online' and is based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The offering combines the many innovative and tailored solutions that Deutsche Post offers ranging from dialog marketing to industrial supply chains. Additionally, CRM capabilities will also be integrated, in a secure way and in accordance with the German Data Protection Act. Customers have integrated access to postal services and addressing and can check for duplicate addresses and optimize postage costs."

In an interview, Jamie Fiorda, group product marketing manager for Dynamics CRM, said the partnership means "We're showing momentum in some of the largest organizations in the world." He noted that Dynamics CRM has been an important component in an ongoing enterprise partnership with Accenture and Avenade.

Fiorda said that Dynamics CRM helps Deutsche Post fill a gap in its offerings. "What they haven't had is a system that allows the customer to manage the entire customer ...