Microsoft's Dynamics CRM Gamification Acquisition: Wise Move or a Bunch of Hype?

Microsoft has acquired Incent Games LLC, creator of gamification platform FantasySalesTeam. The move is aimed at boosting adoption of Dynamics CRM - and boosting Microsoft's story around CRM adoption

Many companies that implement and deploy Dynamics CRM find that it's not an easy proposition to get users to embrace it. So to help in that effort some organizations are turning to "gamification" - building in game-like mechanisms such as FantasySalesTeam to make business systems more fun.

Microsoft plans to integrate FantasySalesTeam with Dynamics CRM in the coming months, according to Dynamics CRM corporate vice president Bob Stutz in a blog post announcing the acquisition.

FantasySalesTeam is a sales gamification platform that promises to boost sales productivity, drive revenue, and improve the adoption of CRM through collaboration and team-based competition. It combines gamification with fantasy sports and applies it to a sales setting, according to Stutz.

"We are excited about the prospects of including gamification capabilities directly into our sales solution - the FantasySalesTeam application will be made available to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Pro & Enterprise customers as a free preview offering this fall and will be included in our fall release that will come by the end of the calendar year," says Param Kahlon, program manager, Microsoft Dynamics.

The Bee's Knees?

When FantasySalesTeam was founded in 2012, gamification was sizzling but is it still such a hot topic?

For Microsoft, the answer is yes.

"In recent years, gamification has been widely applied in marketing," says Kahlon. "Over 70 ...