At Convergence 2010 Europe Kickoff, Microsoft Announces New Dynamics CRM Online Pricing, AX for Retail Market Expansion

As Convergence 2010 Europe opens today with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 beta release now in the hands of enthusiastic Dynamics partners and a scheduled release due by the end of 2010. In today's keynote address, corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions Kirill Tatarinov announced forthcoming promotional pricing for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

Microsoft will offer a new global launch promotion for Dynamics CRM Online at a price of $34 (€31) per user, per month for the first 12 months of service; this pricing will be available to new customers from launch until June 30, 2011.

According to Dynamics CRM General Manager Brad Wilson, competing on price is just one element of Microsoft's strategy. "We're trying to take point of view that on demand CRM is still pretty expensive today and we want to make it more affordable.  [Players in this market] have to have capabilities first, but also have to have good user experience. In the market today you can get capabilities from several companies.  The question you have to ask is why would you pay twice or three times as much with same capabilities and equal or worse user experience?"

This promotion complements a partner incentive that was announced in July 2010, where partners can receive 40 percent margin on the value of new subscriptions for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online during the same time period. Formal launch events for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and the upcoming global release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will begin in January 2011.

Partners, who have been playing with the beta for some time, have pointed out significant changes in the new release.  The CRM 2011 release will bring greater parity to the CRM Online and on-premise offerings, both through the ability to deploy custom solutions ...