Article

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customers Will Get First Opportunity to Rate Partners At New “Pinpoint” Site

by Jason Gumpert
Editor, MSDynamicsWorld.com

Microsoft Dynamics customers will have the opportunity to rate their partners, and review the ratings of other users, at a new "unified online business marketplace for small and medium-sized business customers and partners" known as "Microsoft Pinpoint".

Microsoft announced Pinpoint at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2008 in Houston, and unveiled the first beta version, initially for customers using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

The beta site promises to list the top-rated partner firms and the top-rated add-on products. As currently configured, it shows more than 2,000 partner companies and more than 3,400 products and services.

Microsoft in its announcement said, "Pinpoint helps customers discover, discern and engage with Microsoft partners to fulfill their unique technology needs, while unlocking business opportunities for partners. Customers using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will be able to get to the Microsoft Pinpoint marketplace next month, directly from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Resource Center."

Microsoft also announced Digital Forum, a site where partners can showcase their "innovations" to customers and other partners through online videos. Partners can post their videos to the site.

Digital Forum is billed as "a new viral marketing resource" that is a part of Partner Labs, "a new online sandbox where partners can test and provide feedback on new partner resources, and get engaged early in new social networking experiments."

Separately, in an address to attendees, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer emphasized Microsoft's commitment to "the software plus services era." To follow up, Microsoft announced "a new partner profitability toolset to help partners evolve their businesses," including a "profitability modeler" and "interactive guide" to encourage more engagement in software plus services.
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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