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In Initial Promo of CRM Online, Microsoft Trashes Salesforce.com

by Jason Gumpert
Editor, MSDynamicsWorld.com

Users of Salesforce.com, beware. Microsoft is coming after you real hard, to convince you to switch to Dynamics CRM Online when it's officially launched tomorrow (Tues).

In an initial 30-second video promotion on behalf of Dynamics CRM Online, entitled, "The Power of Choice," Microsoft features the testimonial of Mark Chester, vice president of business development of Data Reduction Systems. The message focuses nearly entirely on the standalone nature of Salesforce.com, as a way to contrast with the integrated image of Microsoft programs, and it makes Obama and Hillary look nice toward each other.

Chester offers a testimonial suggesting Salesforce.com threw his company for a loop: "We did use Salesforce.com and one of the things that we uncovered it is that it was disconnected from our own world. If everyone is living and breathing in Outlook, it's a disconnected entity." He blames Salesforce.com for pushing Data Reduction toward "a multitude of applications outside the CRM environment."

The executive's conclusion? "Salesforce.com wasn't serving our needs properly...It was a failed CRM."

The fact that Microsoft is targeting Salesforce.com isn't a big surprise, since the company's CEO, Steve Balmer, had indicated as much in his talk at Convergence 2008 last month. What is surprising is the intensity with which it seems to be going after Salesforce.com.

Customer Relationship Mgmt Dynamics CRM
About Jason Gumpert

As the editor of MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason oversees all editorial content on the site and at our events, as well as providing site management and strategy. He can be reached at jgumpert@msdynamicsworld.com.

Prior to co-founding MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason was a Principal Software Consultant at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), where he implemented solutions, trained customers, managed software development, and spent some time in the pre-sales engineering organization. He has also held consulting positions at CSC Consulting and Monitor Group.

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