D&H, Microsoft Do The Math

CRM has traditionally been more of an enterprise offering, but D&H and Microsoft believe Microsoft's product is ready for small customers, said Michael Schwab, vice president of purchasing at D&H, Harrisburg, Pa.

"CRM definitely started as an enterprise play. Now we're taking it to the SMB. From an application perspective, it's a nice complement to have this offering. It was a voice in the marketplace that was missing for that level of customers," Schwab said.

Microsoft CRM should fit well into VARs' offerings as it integrates easily with other products, can be implemented in companies with as few as five users and has use in numerous markets, Schwab said.

"The nice thing we found is this product also integrates with our customer bases focused on Exchange server, Outlook and Windows-based platforms," he said. "It also is a product for a broad spectrum. It's not limited by vertical markets and can be used in broad business applications."

Schwab said D&H also decided to offer Microsoft CRM because of its wide capabilities.

"Users have the ability to track from the initiation of a lead through a completed sale," Schwab said. "It gives [customers'] sales reps the ability to do their job better and the manager has the ability to work with the sales reps to better enable them."

D&H hosted a training seminar on Microsoft CRM in August that attracted 150 solution providers at the distributor's annual New England show in Quincy, Mass.

One solution provider who attended the training has started using Microsoft CRM in-house and believes it could be a fit for his customers, but said extensive training is required to sell it correctly.

"It's a good solution and we want to get a better understanding of how it all works," said Dan Glynn, field sales manager at Network Allies, Littleton, Mass. "The SMB market is the place to be and [Microsoft] is trying to bring it down to us. SMB is the sweet spot and the focus for a lot of companies."

CRM 1.2 is included in the Microsoft Action Pack, and Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft is running a Small Business Server promotion that includes the first five CRM Sales Standard user licenses and the CRM Sales Server license at a discount.

"They have some sales tools we're trying to get our hands on. We want to learn more about it. There are some interesting bells and whistles that make it a great tool for any company," Glynn said.