More ISVs Building on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Platform to Offer Specialized XRM Solutions for Vertical Markets

The trend by ISVs to come up with new XRM product releases based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM continues to expand. Here are two new examples.

FRM Solutions is a new software application developed to meet franchisors' business needs for franchise sales, marketing and advertising, real estate and store development, franchisee administration, and compliance tracking.

Built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform, FRM Solutions is a complete franchise relationship management application that can be customized based on the specific needs of each franchisor, according to Paul Marnell, Managing Partner, FRM Solutions. FRM Solutions was founded by Red Clay Consulting, which has completed 60 to 70 successful CRM deployments over the past 10 years, he said.

"We started to find ourselves developing a small list of clients that were franchises so we decided to develop a vertical-specific solution build in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Sharepoint specifically for franchises," he said.

The company took this approach for two reasons, he noted.

"Almost 12 months to the day the mantra at Microsoft's Convergence Conference in New Orleans was XRM and for partners to take vertical approaches to Dynamics CRM and become vertical experts," he said. "So we took that advice to heart and began developing this solution."

Additionally, Marnell said because the company is located in Atlanta, Georgia, a major metropolitan area, it wasn't the only Microsoft partner in town, nor did it have a large marketing budget to target everyone nationally.

"So that made our decision to target a specific vertical market even easier because we have a tight market to sell to and easy access to that market (the franchises)," he said. "And we decided we needed a new brand company to support the ...