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D&B Has Loads of Business Data, But Wants Microsoft Partners

Dun & Bradstreet Inc. is taking its services to the channel and wants Microsoft partners to spearhead the effort.

Also known as D&B, the 171-year-old firm is a purveyor of an earlier type of business intelligence -- keeping carefully curated files on companies that could help D&B customers with credit decisions and business-to-business marketing.

This month, it launched the D&B AllianceNetwork, an indirect sales program that includes marketing, sales and training resources for partners. D&B specifically calls out Microsoft Partner Network members as its preferred channel partners. Completing the fit is the company's D&B360 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which packs D&B data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementations.

The metrics D&B provides on the data that can be integrated into Dynamics CRM, either online or on-premise, are impressive: records on 210 million companies and 100 million contacts, as well as 900 industry research reports and 3 million "corporate family trees."

In a statement, Jim Lawton, senior vice president of strategic alliances at D&B, argues the AllianceNetwork will help Microsoft partners understand their own customers better and build solutions that make those customers more effective with their own customers. "Microsoft's network partners can now present a fully integrated solution that includes robust D&B insight, providing a complete data-rich solution for their client base," he said.

Posted by Scott Bekker on October 05, 2012


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