Microsoft showed off its plans to increase the reach of its Dynamics
product portfolio with the introduction of several new products today at its
annual Convergence 2007 conference in San Diego.
The announcements included the release of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step, a new tool set for implementation, migration and upgrades and Microsoft Dynamics Client for
Microsoft Office and SharePoint Server, a new low-cost licensing package the
company said makes Microsoft Dynamics enterprise resource planning (ERP)
solutions available to more employees via familiar tools.
The software giant also announced the upcoming availability of Microsoft
Dynamics GP 10.0, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 and Microsoft Dynamics SL 7.0.
Microsoft also announced a new online finance community it described as a
kind of “MySpace for finance professionals.” Potential users include company
controllers, finance managers, finance staff and accountants. Blogs, rich
forums tagging, syndication and other interactive tools will be part of the
new online community.
“We want to take the power of all the Web 2.0 technologies and help you
form rich relationships,” said Satya Nadella, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s business division, in remarks that were webcast.
With the Dynamics updates and new products, Microsoft said it will offer
companies wider access to data trapped in ERP systems. Microsoft cited an
AMR Research estimate that 85 percent of the employees in organizations
that have deployed an ERP system are not licensed to use the data and
information in those systems.
“This is a major step forward in the quest to make a hundred percent of
all people in the organization have access to information,” said Nadella.
Microsoft Dynamics Client for Microsoft Office and Windows SharePoint
Services is priced at $195 per user. Microsoft Dynamics Clint for Microsoft
Office and Sharepoint Server is $395 per users and includes a collection of
up to 12 self-service applications built in Office and Sharepoint.
Also
included is an enterprise license for Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server
2007 and access rights to all the information and processes managed by a
Microsoft Dynamics ERP system.
Nadella said Microsoft is continuing its ‘software plus services’ plans
with the announcement that Microsoft Dynamics solutions will be complemented
by hosted services provided by Microsoft and its partners. The idea is to help
businesses reach out more comprehensively to their suppliers and customers
via the Web. The first example of such an offering from Microsoft Dynamics
will be Dynamics Live CRM.
Also announced at Convergence was RoleTailored, a user-experience design
approach by Microsoft that builds on the look and feel of Windows Vista and
the 2007 Microsoft Office system. One example, Microsoft Dynamics
CRM, offers access to reports, forms and processes for managing sales,
marketing and customer service from within Office Outlook.
Michael Hickins contributed to this report.
