Cheers Anon ;) for this one. Baseline Magazine's Mary Jo Foley has uncovered details on Microsoft's planned entry into the customer resource management marketplace. Known internally as MSCRM, the software is expected to emerge in the first quarter of 2002, and will be focused toward mid-sized companies. A professional edition for small enterprises is expected to follow shortly thereafter.
This push by Microsoft comes nearly one year after it purchased Great Plains Software – a specialist in small business applications. The company has also worked to bolster its bCentral product line which serves nearly 100,000 customers. Microsoft's bCentral faces direct competition from, among others, the world's number two software maker Oracle.
Microsoft's Janelle Poole, Marketing Manager for bCentral, refused comment on MSCRM, and did not commit to any plans for hosting CRM services. However, a whois query on the domain mscrm.com revealed to BetaNews that it was backed by an international array of Microsoft servers.
Additionally, a job description seeking a software test engineer to work directly out of Redmond can be found on Microsoft's jobs Web site, BetaNews discovered. According to the listing, "Microsoft's CRM team is building a product to compete in this space. Designed using .Net technologies, MS CRM will allow businesses to keep track of their customers, leads and opportunities anywhere, any time and on mobile devices, both online as well as offline."
News Source: BetaNews
