A friendly word to "the competition" in the CRM marketplace:

I recently received an email from a reader who works with Best Software's SalesLogix. Apparently he was directed to this blog by another SalesLogix consultant in order to get some competitive info on MS CRM. While Microsoft may not be overly thrilled with my criticisms of its product, my hope is that both my feedback and others' will, in the end, make Microsoft CRM into a better product. And as for the competition, I think Microsoft’s entry into the CRM market is going to make CRM more attractive to the marketplace in general, which should be good for everyone who is on their game regardless of which product they sell. Of course, as a Microsoft partner, my hope is that Microsoft CRM turns into the de facto CRM product. I wouldn't want to sell CRM to anyone without giving them the good, the bad, and the ugly. If it doesn't make sense for their organization, then I don't want to sell it to them. There are more mature offerings out there, but to me that means two things: the market is theirs to lose, and they have less room for improvement. Microsoft CRM has untapped potential, and, as you will note if you read my blog, a lot of room for improvement!