Microsoft CRM Live

At the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver, Microsoft showed off its forthcoming Dynamics CRM Live service.

By Mary Jo Foley, Senior Contributing Editor July 11, 2007 at 1:19 a.m. PT

1 of 4 Mary Jo Foley/ZDNET

Microsoft demonstrated new features in its forthcoming Dynamics CRM Live service at its Worldwide Partner Conference in Denver this week. The final version of the service will be available in the first half of 2008 and come in two flavors: Professional and Enterprise.

Dynamics Live CRM users will be able to access a variety of workplace services from inside the product. The workplace calendar, shown here, is one such service.

2 of 4 Mary Jo Foley/ZDNET

Via the Resource Center View that's baked into Dynamics CRM Live, users will have access to a variety of "problem-solving content," including relevant blogs, newsgroup posts and articles about how to make use of the CRM Live functionality.

3 of 4 Mary Jo Foley/ZDNET

Microsoft will allow users to customize both the Professional and Enterprise editions of Dynamics CRM Live. The "Import Customizations" setting is designed to make customization easier.

Microsoft plans to offer two new vertical templates -- for public sector and manufacturing -- as it rolls out the CRM Live service. The new templates include reference data models, pre-defined workflows, and roles-based user experiences. Microsoft plans to make templates for other industries available over the next 12 months.

4 of 4 Mary Jo Foley/ZDNET

Another customization available with Dynamics Live CRM is the customized event view. In this example, Microsoft has mashed-up its Virtual Earth mapping service with CRM Live to provide a visual representation of a specific venue. Other customized mash-ups will be available, as well.

Show Comments