Dynamics Introspective: Microsoft’s CRM, Cloud Application Goals Beyond Salesforce

A new report from CNBC emerged late last week claiming that Microsoft and Salesforce held "significant talks" regarding a takeover. While the talks are now reportedly concluded, the news puts a spotlight on some of CEO Satya Nadella's priorities regarding growing his company's cloud and business application market share. It should also confirm to anyone in the Dynamics CRM community - and anywhere else in Microsoft's Commercial Cloud realm - that Salesforce's strengths factor into Microsoft's future plans.

The story from CNBC seems plausible - that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella pursued the deal but talks fizzled, primarily over price but also over concerns by Nadella around the "size and consequence" of such purchase. It also explains why rumors have died down in the last few weeks.

If you've been watching your own CRM news feeds for Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce since these rumors began several weeks ago, you may have noticed a strange pattern emerge. Rarely did stories about Microsoft's interest in Salesforce get snagged in a Dynamics CRM news feed. In other words, the financial press hardly acknowledged Microsoft's interest in CRM or the product suite that powers it, Dynamics CRM. While Dynamics CRM is not as big as Salesforce, it is by no means a niche player. It is widely acknowledged to do over $1 billion in revenue annually and many believe Microsoft has put the product on track to pass $2 billion within a matter of a few more quarters.

Nadella's alleged interest in Salesforce had, from all appearances, little to do with Dynamics CRM. It also presumably had much ...