It will have very little, if any effect, said Jason Nash, product solutions marketing manager for Microsoft CRM in the UK. Dynamics CRM is at the heart of what we are doing with our core CRM strategy.
Nash believes the alliance plays to the fact that Microsoft is a big and broad operation. He also said that the Server business division is making the right decision for organizations who use SugarCRM on the Microsoft platform because the technical alliance should result in improved performance of the SugarCRM application when it is running on a Windows Server platform.
It is about making it right for all our customer across all product sets, he stressed, and making it easier for organizations to use the platform. It is right that they do it for all customers.
While the alliance works for Microsoft on a broad level it does nothing to further the Microsoft Dynamics CRM cause. Conversely, it will add to the competitive landscape, meaning Microsoft will potentially have to work harder for CRM deals.
Nash said he was not worried by this because one of the strengths of the Microsoft offering is choice in terms of deployment model and because people chose the best product to fit the business function. He also acknowledged that it would be naive and anti competitive for Microsoft to try to force, or expect organizations, to take Microsoft from stack top to stack bottom.
We are delivering software on different models to meet the requirements of the market. This is an example of an organization working with us on a new form of licensing. It shows we are prepared to meet challenges head on. Like Mendocino with SAP, it is about Microsoft as a business. As a business Microsoft is in many different areas. [It is also about] not excluding organizations who want to work with us, said Nash.
