News
Microsoft Giving $150 Per User To Switch to Dynamics CRM Online from Competition
- By Scott Bekker
- August 29, 2011
Microsoft on Monday unveiled a promotion that pays back customers $150 per user seat for switching to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online from CRM competitors Oracle, Salesforce.com or SAP.
The deal coincides with the beginning of Salesforce.com's Dreamforce conference, which is going on this week, and represents the standard tactic of pre-emptive announcements to steal a news cycle on the competition's conference. However, the newly announced "Cloud CRM for Less" offer will run through the end of March 2012, assuming the unspecified amount of funding for the program lasts that long.
In explaining the timing of the deal, Michael Park, corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions sales, marketing and operations, said in a statement that a lot of hype in the market is creating confusion for customers right now. "We also realize there are some hard costs associated for customers that decide to move vendors," Park said.
The offer applies to organizations with between 50 seats and 500 seats in the United States or Canada and requires a two-year licensing subscription. That payout of $7,500 to $75,000 can be used for anything, Microsoft documentation says, although the company expects the payments to help customers pay partners for migration services or other integration work.
In a news release about the promotion, Microsoft cited two partners as examples of companies creating profitable business lines around Dynamics CRM Online: Hitachi Consulting and Slalom Consulting. Brian Rimmer, Slalom's national solution director for CRM, was quoted as saying the new promotion would help Slalom fit complete Dynamics CRM Online solutions to customers' budgets.
Meanwhile, Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft's Dynamics CRM product management group, said the cost of Dynamics CRM Online, which is $44 per user per month, combined with the cashback offer, improves already favorable economics. "Customers choose Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online over solutions from Oracle, Salesforce.com and SAP to get compelling increases in productivity and user adoption, as well as significant reductions in ongoing costs,' Wilson said in a statement.
About the Author
Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.