Company Announces Broad Availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 and Introduces Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, Emphasizes Impact of Technology on Helping Businesses Connect With Their Customers
Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday highlighted how businesses are differentiating themselves in the market with Microsoft Dynamics technology in the opening keynote of the company’s sold-out Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2013 EMEA conference. The keynote address, delivered by Microsoft Business Solutions Executive Vice President Kirill Tatarinov and Microsoft International President Jean-Philippe Courtois, focused on how people and businesses can reimagine the way they engage with customers, build brand relevance, and collaborate to stay ahead of the ever-changing market and business environments.
“This is truly the era of the customer where people are more informed and better connected than ever. Businesses urgently need solutions to unite and empower their people so they can best serve and nurture their customers,” Tatarinov said. “Microsoft is positioned to deliver agile, integrated business solutions that will help organizations in this new era by delivering amazing customer experiences.”
Delivering customer-centric business solutions
Following the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Global Premiere Event, which was broadcast live from Barcelona to more than 70,000 attendees and featured customers Metro Bank, Pandora, and Servcorp, the company announced a set of 18 new predefined and configurable process templates that include sports management, healthcare, government and nonprofit, as well as some specialized areas such as prison offender management. These templates are available for customers to download at no charge from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Marketplace.
Delivering on the promise of giving customers access to their CRM information on any device, Microsoft confirmed the availability of new touch-optimized experiences on Windows Phones, iPhones and Android phones that give customers powerful functionality and analytics on the go, without a separate license fee.* These apps are available today in their respective online stores.
To make it easy for businesses to buy Microsoft Dynamics CRM to use with Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft is also introducing a new global pricing promotion that lets eligible existing and new Microsoft Office 365 customers purchase professional licenses of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and get up to a 40 percent discount on the price of the CRM license, giving them immediate and significant value for their technology investment. This promotion runs through March 31, 2014, and is available in 42 markets where the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online service is offered. Specific details as well as terms and conditions can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/offers/CRME.aspx.
Metro Bank, Great Britain’s first new high street bank in more than a century and an early adopter of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, is using the new solution as the foundation of its customer-first strategy.
“Metro Bank is driving a revolution in banking. We aim to create fans, not customers, and we have a culture that is all about surprise and delight,” said Paul Marriott-Clarke, commercial director, Metro Bank. “Microsoft Dynamics CRM is our platform to engage with customers and along with Yammer, SharePoint, Office 365 and Lync is helping us to deliver our promise to offer customers the very best in service and convenience.”
Designed to help businesses run an agile operation that exceeds their customers’ needs, engages with them on their terms and helps fuel growth, Microsoft today introduced new capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3, the next update for its flagship ERP solution. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 delivers new warehouse and transportation management capabilities to provide customers with real-time end-to-end insights into supply-chain execution. New Lifecycle Services available with this release help organizations improve the predictability of Microsoft Dynamics AX implementations by simplifying and standardizing processes, and bringing innovative and integrated experiences for serviceability and support.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 introduces support for deployment on Windows Azure via infrastructure as a service (IaaS), bringing customers true choice and portability between on-premises and private cloud deployments, along with all the benefits and security features that come with the world-class Windows Azure service. With the availability of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 R3 expected in April 2014, the company also shared that it remains on track to deliver the next major version of Microsoft Dynamics AX on-premises and as a public cloud service offering.
Following the delivery of Expense management and reconciliation, Timesheets and Approvals apps for Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft announced an update to the Microsoft Dynamics Business Analyzer app that enables people to accelerate their business by giving them actionable and engaging business insights whether they are in the office or on the go. These apps, designed to be personal, social and immersive, provide a more relevant experience based on people’s roles and devices, helps them connect with their social networks, and provides an engaging and actionable experience. They are currently available in the Windows Marketplace.
As part of the event, Microsoft shared that Microsoft Dynamics NAV is closing in on 100,000 customers worldwide, a significant milestone for this product. It also reinforced the availability of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2, which was released in October 2013. This release adds great new capabilities to the product such as single sign-on with Office 365 and SharePoint Online, a new user interface for the Microsoft Dynamics NAV Web client and the Windows client, a new foundation for cash management, a new Help Server, and powerful provisioning and administration tools.
Passion for Life (PFL) Healthcare, a United Kingdom-based manufacturer and distributor of medical products with an annual turnover of 2.5 million pounds ($4 million), is benefitting from a hosted version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics CRM today. As Will Web, commercial director, PFL Healthcare noted, “We aim to grow the business by 20 percent next year, and Microsoft Dynamics will help us do that. It was the right decision for us.”
More information
More information about Microsoft’s Dynamic Business vision can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/about.aspx. More information and news from Convergence 2013 EMEA is available at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/dynamics. The opening keynote presentation and general session keynote speeches are available on the new virtual event platform for Convergence 2013 EMEA at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/emea13. Those who want to follow and engage with the Microsoft Dynamics Twitter community can do so at @MSFTDynamics and @MSFTConvergence using #Conv13EMEA. Partners interested in starting a Microsoft Dynamics CRM practice can get more information by contacting mbsjoin@microsoft.com.