News

Microsoft Phasing Out Parature in Favor of Dynamics 365

• By Gladys Rama
• June 13, 2017

As part of its transition to Dynamics 365, Microsoft is preparing to replace its Parature solution with the Dynamics 365 Customer Service application.

Microsoft quietly alerted partners and customers about the transition in a blog post dated May 31, though it was noted more recently this week by ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley.

In its post, Microsoft said that it has "begun the process of migrating Parature customers to Dynamics 365 for Customer Service so that they can begin taking advantage of the additional functionality available only as part of this solution." 

Microsoft acquired Parature in 2014 for a reported $100 million, and swiftly began incorporating it into its Dynamics CRM and Dynamics CRM Online solutions to fulfill customer service-oriented functions.

Microsoft is giving Parature users until May 15, 2018 to migrate to Dynamics 365 for Customer Service, which is included in the Enterprise edition of the Dynamics 365 suite.

To help with the transition, Microsoft is readying a toolkit that includes tools for migrating accounts, files and other assets; templates for creating support portals and customer service workflows; and tutorials and documentation.

It does not appear that the toolkit is currently available, however. In a separate entry, Microsoft noted that "[t]he toolkit will be available in the coming months. Subsequent communications will be sent once it is available for use."

Customers who opt not to move to Dynamics 365 for Customer Service will have 90 days after the May 15, 2018 cutoff date to backup their data.