Microsoft to end OEM deals with Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement ISVs

Microsoft is alerting Dynamics 365 customers that the company will end its OEM arrangements with at least two third party vendors for the Customer Engagement suite. Microsoft's support for the OEM versions of InsideView Insights and Versium Predict will end on August 15, 2019 for existing customers, and the tools will no longer be offered to new customers after January 15, the company stated.

The communication to customers explained that the decision reflected Microsoft's interests in related functional areas and changes in the technology landscape:

In alignment with Microsoft’s investments in AI and to help customers keep up with the rapidly changing technology around data augmentation and data enrichment, users will have the flexibility and choice to select the data augmentation solutions that fit their business needs.  Hence, Insights, powered by InsideView and Versium Predict will no longer be included with Dynamics 365 licenses.

Both Versium and InsideView continue on as Microsoft ISV partners and their solutions remain available for purchase to work with Dynamics 365 apps.

Heidi Tucker, vice president of global alliances at InsideView, told MSDW that the change will require Dynamics customers using the OEM version of Insights to re-license, and that the company is reaching out to users to facilitate the change.

"We're inviting all customers to work with us directly," Tucker said. "We've already had some reach out to say they'd heard the news and were disappointed but excited to continue working with us. And of course we're excited to work with them directly because as direct customers and not OEM customers we can provide them more service, more customer success, more training, more user reporting, and additional features that they're not currently getting."

The change does mean users will need to license with the ...