Microsoft Wants to Revise CRM Pitch to Outdo Salesforce.com
With Salesforce.com dominating the CRM news lately, Microsoft decided that it needs to up its game. Microsoft representatives stated that Microsoft wants to make its presence known and voice heard so the computer and customer relationship management (CRM) software provider aims to strengthen its CRM pitch to the press.
Salesforce.com and its CEO, Marc Benioff, have made a lot of effort to get attention from the press. The cloud computing enterprise handed out branded chocolates to the press. Salesforce has also been receiving a lot of attention because in the past few years it has risen from a small unknown startup to a major player in the technology industry. Salesforce.com representatives love the press and seek them out on a regular basis.
Michael Park, the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft, commented on Salesforce’s past efforts and Microsoft’s planned future efforts. He said, “I think Marc and Salesforce have done a good job of getting out there and telling their vision, their story. I think we have an opportunity to do better.” In reference to , he said, “I don’t think we’ll go directly after them. I know Marc likes to do that and I just don’t see any benefit to us or to customers in doing that.”
Microsoft is not going to directly target Salesforce.com, Microsoft’s biggest competitor, in its upcoming CRM campaign. Instead, Microsoft will start to test a newer and better version of its CRM solution. Microsoft’s current CRM solution is CRM 4.0, which is a hosted service solution and a server software product.
Also, Microsoft is going to try to change and advertise its image. Microsoft will try to show its strong presence in the cloud with Microsoft Dynamics. Recently, Microsoft has spent a lot of money on cloud services and data centers. Its reign in the cloud computing world is bigger than Salesforce’s, according to Park.
Park explained that Microsoft does not see Salesforce.com as a long-term competitor. He believes that Salesforce is more talk and less action. In reference to Salesforce Chatter, Park said, “I have a hard time, to be honest with you, separating the reality from the pixie dust. I think what they are trying to do is create another vehicle of chat that is an element of social CRM but doesn’t fully encompass the breadth of what social CRM can be. It’s a strategy on their part to create a little more stickiness in their install base.”
Overall, Microsoft is going to try to outdo Salesforce.com by advertising a stronger business image. Microsoft also plans on breaking more into the cloud computing world and even the mobile application world to meet the high demand. This may just be enough to outdo Salesforce.
I think both Microsoft and Salesforce are going in the right direction with maturing cloud concepts and software. Park ‘believes that Salesforce is more talk and less action.’ I disagree. Salesforce has worked hard to put together a very good model of cloud services. However, today, Salesforce has lost track of their core values, which is a shame for their customers. (I liked the part about the ‘pixie dust’ ouch!)