News

Microsoft Acquires Marketing Software Firm MarketingPilot

• By Gladys Rama
• October 18, 2012

Microsoft gave its Dynamics CRM business a boost this week, acquiring Evanston, Ill.-based MarketingPilot Software for an undisclosed amount.

The deal was announced on Wednesday, one day after Microsoft acquired cloud storage company StorSimple and a day before Microsoft is expected to reveal its quarterly earnings.

MarketingPilot develops software for marketing resource management and agency management. Its namesake line of products is aimed at streamlining and automating marketing functions, particularly for sales and advertising agencies. Besides bolstering Microsoft's Dynamics CRM line, the MarketingPilot acquisition gives Microsoft a greater footprint in the growing marketing automation arena, according to Bob Stutz, corporate vice president of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, in a blog post announcing the deal.

Citing a study by research firm IDC, Stutz noted that marketing automation is expected to be the fastest-growing CRM segment over the next four years.

"This acquisition is a very exciting step forward for us, and will accelerate our ability to better meet the needs of CMO's through rich business intelligence, and better enable marketers to successfully plan, execute, monitor, and optimize customer interactions across digital, social and traditional channels, and measure ROI," Stutz wrote. "With this acquisition, we believe we will be well positioned to deliver highly valuable marketing automation solutions to new and existing customers."

Microsoft will reveal more details about how it plans to integrate MarketingPilot's technologies into its Dynamics portfolio at the company's next Convergence conference, slated for March 2013, according to Stutz.

According to MarketingPilot's press release, under the terms of the acquisition, the company will operate as a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary, with the MarketingPilot team being folded into Microsoft's Business Solutions Division. Its products and services will be available for purchase under the MarketingPilot brand for the time being.

"Our first priority will be to continue to grow MarketingPilot while taking care of our existing customers," the company said.