Was reading a Gartner report on Microsoft Dynamics CRM available at the Microsoft site, Please find below excerpts from the same:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM v.3.0 has caused a significant increase in interest, as compared to its predecessor, Microsoft CRM 1.2. We've seen a good deal of anecdotal information to confirm this:

- Growth in the number of client requests for information on the product

- High attendance rates at sessions on Microsoft Dynamics CRM v.3.0 at our CRM Summit

- Observations of customer and partner interest at Microsoft events, such as the Convergence and Worldwide Partner Conference.

Microsoft sold more than 50,000 seats worldwide in 2Q06, but its total market share is still small (1.4 percent of the total CRM license sales). However, Gartner believes that new license sales are likely to be accelerating beyond the 82 percent annual growth rate seen in 2005 to more than 140 percent in 2006.

- Microsoft Dynamics is not executing poorly on a vertical or country-specific sales strategy.

- Although there doesn't seem to be a discernible pattern in the types of organizations considering or buying the product, there do seem to be a number of recurring themes in relation to the deployment approach being taken by those with which we've been in contact. They are:

- A desire to replace established CRM systems that have low user adoption
- A focus on pragmatic deployments using a small number of core CRM functional capabilities
- A reticence to undertake significant customization work to automate complex business processes
- Plans to adopt in smaller countries where there has been no previous local language support for CRM

- Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 also seems to be garnering interest in deployments of more than 500 seats and, in several cases, more than 1,000 seats. Seven months into the release of the product is still early, because such deals naturally have a longer sales cycles. Gartner believes that more large deployments have been sold during the last quarter than during the previous two years that v.1.x was on the market.

- Microsoft is maintaining a commitment to provide Microsoft Dynamics CRM with a range of deployment options, including hosting; however, its market traction has been limited.

- Expect Microsoft CRM to be the fastest-growing CRM product in 2006 and 2007. This growth is due to Microsoft's tight integration with Outlook, a focus by its sales force in more countries and languages than its competitors, and its delivery of a basic, pragmatic solution.

Source: 1

Prashanth Rai