Microsoft Convergence 2009: First Impressions

Yesterday, I spent a half day with Microsoft at Convergence 2009 before the general sessions start tomorrow morning.  My first impressions:

• Customer management is recession resistant.  Given the severity of our economy right now I wouldn’t say that anything is recession proof, but Microsoft Dynamics CRM installed base now tops out at more than 900k users and 18,000 customer organizations.  (Dynamics is now a $1 Billion business for Microsoft and grew at 21% over the past two years.)
• Partners are key.  Business process outsourcing and systems integration partners are especially sought after for large enterprise projects in CRM and xRM, and to promote the Microsoft triumvirate of Dynamics CRM, SharePoint, and Azure.  Any BPO or SI organizations out there in need of business?
• The only dark cloud: in one of the few Dynamics-specific financials Microsoft breaks out, the company reported a 2% decrease in billings for H1 FY 2009.

Stay tuned for more updates from the conference over the next few days.