Microsoft To Prime CRM Pump With SBS Promotion

Customers who already have SBS 2003 Premium Edition or who buy it starting in January can also get five seats of the newly-shipping Microsoft CRM Sales 1.2 for just $99 per seat. Estimated retail price for the current Microsoft CRM version 1.0 sales module is $395 per named user. Version 1.2 of the Customer Service component of Microsoft CRM remains $395 per named user.

Customers must have the premium version of SBS to qualify because it includes the SQL Server 2000 database required for CRM. Estimated retail price of SBS 2003 Premium is $1,499. That product is limited to use by 75 people.

The promotion will kick off officially next month although a "beta" of the deal is available now via Fargo, N.Dak.-based Microsoft Business Solutions, according to Holly Holt, group product manager for Microsoft CRM. This fall, MBS executives said at the company's annual partner confab that the company would get creative and aggressive with the new CRM and SBS but no details were disclosed until now.

Holt said the deal will benefit users and solution providers alike. "Customers will be able to obtain Sales Standard at a price that will help them recognize a rapid return on their investment along with the infrastructure needed to become fully automated. We [also] anticipate this will be an exciting opportunity for existing Microsoft CRM resellers to open up more opportunities within the small business segment."

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Microsoft CRM 1.2, now generally available in North America, is available through all the Microsoft volume channels - its predecessor was restricted to sales through the much smaller Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) channel. (See story.)

Many resellers also expect to see hardware bundles , CRM bundled with SBS 2003 on servers from Dell. Such packaging would be up to Dell, Holt said. Right now Dell is a Large Account Reseller or LAR. A server bundle would be more of an OEM deal, she noted.

Partners are of two minds on the deal. Some figure any way the vendor expands the market for CRM will help them. Others still worry that pricing like this devalues the product which, they contend, is not an easy "retail" sale like Microsoft Office.