That splashy Microsoft CRM 2005 coming-out party has been put on ice until the fourth quarter, delaying its release by a few months. Some insiders said it could very well be renamed Microsoft CRM 2006 before all’s said and done.
So welcome aboard Brad Wilson, who started work Monday as the general manager for CRM. Sources say the release, designated Microsoft CRM 2.0, was held up to incorporate more partner-requested perks.
Wilson told industry journal CRN “We have a very ambitious goal, to offer five clicks for standard installation. This is much more like desktop software than CRM. We want to sell to everyone, to flower shops in Australia and fish shops in Benelux. We want anyone to adopt and install it.”
According to CNET, Wilson insisted that the sudden decision to put off the 2.0 release was unrelated to the recent management changes. "I wish I could claim to be that important," Wilson said. "I'll make big things happen soon; this isn't one of them."
CRN reports that one West Coast MBS partner said Microsoft shot itself in the foot by promising MBS exclusivity for MS-CRM, and then reneging. When the Redmond, Wash., vendor instead decided to offer CRM through broad distribution, resellers' margins fell.
"In Microsoft's mind, CRM is going very well. They claim 3,500 customers. I think they could have sold a whole lot more if they'd kept encouraging partners to sell it. We used to have a person here dedicated to CRM but no longer. It's not worth selling at 20 point margins," this partner said.
Of course nobody in their right mind holds Microsoft to announced ship dates – hey, what do they care? – but this delay raised a few eyebrows.
Wilson says the company wants to spend more time developing the product after reviewing feedback from partners and customers and making the software easier to install, as well as add more "workflow" and software integration features.
One possible factor is that the next CRM release will also add support for Japanese, Chinese, Norwegian, Finnish and Iberian Portuguese, bringing the total number of languages supported to 21. Finnish is, after all, devilishly hard to learn.
Yet the delay is not surprising to those who have followed Microsoft's travails in the business applications market. Its most recent quarterly report revealed that revenue was flat in its Business Solutions division, where CRM lives. Last June, according to CNET, in an effort to raise CRM’s profile in the company Doug Burgum, senior vice president of Microsoft's business solutions group began reporting directly to Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer.
The division is still not profitable, but recent reports are that losses are getting smaller.
David Sims is contributing editor and CRM Alert columnist for TMCnet.
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