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DVD distributor Magna Pacific has decided to discontinue its use of Sybiz software and implement Microsoft Dynamics NAV as it feels that the old CRM application does not scale well. The company’s administration manager, Sarah Dowling said “In the warehouse, staff would frequently make errors while picking and packing orders. These errors could result in inappropriate product sent to customers so there was a great need for improved accuracy.”

The company tested products from Sage, Innicom, and Sybiz’s Evolution before selecting Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Microsoft Dynamics won the day on the strength of its scalability, custom features, and the extent of functionality offered by it.

The long wait for potential Microsoft customers waiting to try its hosted CRM offering is over. From April 22, Dynamics is available as an online service. The hosted version is based on the Dynamics CRM 4 customer relationship management software. Dynamics CRM Online debuted as Dynamics CRM Live at the Worldwide Partner Conference last July. However; the company chose to stress the “Online” aspect. The hosted service will boost Microsoft’s position as a SaaS player. The company is in the process of developing datacenters around the world and make possible virtual access to data.

“[CRM Online] is not the only service that we plan from Dynamics in the software-plus-services space,” Ballmer said at the time. “You should expect to see more from us in ERP and other areas as we move into the future.”

The other side of Microsoft’s software-plus-services push is a collection of online services that the company has dubbed “Live,” which are mostly free or ad-supported services directed primarily at consumers.

Read more here and here.

iEnterprises, a company into desktop and wireless CRM, has come out with the Mobile Edge Express for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The mobile application is a joint effort involving iEnterprises, RIM, and Microsoft. The click and run application is targeted at SMBs who are using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live or partner-hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM and would wish to access the information on their Blackberry Smartphones.

MobileEdge Express is a turn key SaaS solution, which means that it’s inexpensive to deploy and there are no upfront hardware costs, upgrades or licensing fees. The software is a simple download that allows users to obtain instant access to information such as their contacts, opportunities and cases even when they are on the move. The software is available on monthly or annual contract payment.

MobileEdge is perfectly suited for the small screens of handheld devices. Users are spared time consuming data look-ups and slow connections because the MobileEdge uses a client/server architecture that ensures data availability both online and offline; so you are not dependent on cellular coverage for access to information. You can store relevant data on the device as well as on the host server. Intuitive navigation allows viewing of information that is relevant and specific to the need of the moment. Since MobileEdge is deployed and managed wirelessly, upgrades and administration happens smoothly.

Learn more here.

Working With Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is a guide to Microsoft’s newest release of the software. It has been authored by Mike Snyder and Jim Steger of Sonoma Partners. The objective of this book is to guide those who intend to install, customize, or enhance Microsoft CRM. The book will make its debut at Convergence, which is set to take place in Orlando from March 11 to March 14. Convergence is the event where Microsoft showcases its Dynamics line of business software.

Another publication by Microsoft Press authored by the same duo is Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Step by Step. The book is aimed at the end user; it will be released in summer 2008. Apparently Kate Blanchett is keen on the film project related to the book. The film rights have been purchased by Dream Works.

Snyder and Steger are more than qualified to preach on Microsoft Dynamics, the duo have to their credit more than 100 Dynamics CRM implementations.

Read more here.

Microsoft has released the latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, CRM 4.0 and through it the company intends to start shipping from Monday. CRM 4.0, which is the first major upgrade of the CRM software in more than three years. It has evolved a lot from its parent software – Great Plains Software, for which Microsoft had shelled out $1.1 billion around eight years back.

Microsoft aims to utilize CRM to get ahead in the traditional CRM selling space and the SaaS market. New features incorporated into the CRM system include a fully multitenant architecture that will facilitate volume hosting. This is being considered as the single most significant factor that will enable Microsoft to challenge Salesforce and Netsuite. CRM 4.0 also makes use of Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 for its enhanced collaboration capabilities. This version will initially be shipped in English only with nine more languages being made available in January.

Yesterday here at CRMchump, faithful readers were promised a manageable byte-sized harnessing of the squall of news emitted from the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference. And so, here we are.

On the sales win side, the Microsofties announced that Securitas Systems USA Inc., the US division of international security systems and services provider Stockholm, Sweden-centered Securitas Systems will be deploying Microsoft Dynamics GP business-management software to replace its Sage MAS 200 system.

Securitas operates in seventeen countries and maintains fifty locations in the United States, and will be installing Microsoft Dynamics GP along with Microsoft Dynamics CRM to create a common operating platform for US operations.

The Microsoft software seeks to coordinate management of Securitas’ 500 US field technicians. The folks from Exact Target were able to introduce the company’s wide-ranging partnership network, involving twenty of the largest worldwide Microsoft value-added resellers, including Inetium, Customer Effective, Sonoma Partners, and K3. Read more

Of course, one bit of news dominated CRM-related blogosphere areas and media outlets: Today, it’s all about the Microsoft CRM Live prices announced at the Worldwide Partner Conference in excellent Denver, Colo.

(Actually, the conference is producing a steady squall of news items – as these events always do – which will be reported upon in an upcoming entry here at CRMchump. However, i can inform y’all now that all bits and bites are paling in comparison at the moment.)

In short, as Information Week describes it, CRM Live will “begin its life partially by attacking Salesforce and RightNow on price,” i.e. numbers that are – so claims Microsoft – half the industry average for similar product.

The Enterprise edition of the solution will be $59 per user per month and Professional will be listed in 2008 at $39 per user per month. CRM Live will be employing a code-based currently known as Titan. Titan introduces Microsoft product on an advanced multi-tenant architecture, using a single code base to support on-premise deployments and software-as-a-service deployments through hosting partners and through the – you guessed it – Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. Titan promises “a smooth upgrade path for existing on-premise and SaaS customers.” We’re still no closer to a release date for CRM Live or Titan, however, with word at the convention saying “later this year.” We do know that the early-adoption program begins in the autumn and will be based at Microsoft’s Virginia data center. Read more

The news about Oracle today is reading like a press-release version of that 2001 Japanese cinema classic, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All-Out Attack.

The software behemoths aren’t destroying Tokyo with fire breath and the like, but there is a lot of bellowing and stomping going on involving three of the biggest names in the biz.

Computer World is running a bit more on the software lawsuit of the year, i.e. Oracle v. SAP AG, with SAP reportedly now hoping to settle with the big O. Oracle v. SAP, a case “about corporate theft on a grand scale, committed by the largest German software company,” in the opening words of the complaint.

Oracle originally brought the lawsuit against SAP in the US Federal District Court in the Northern District of California on March 22. The lawsuit alleged that King Ghidorah – i mean, SAP was guilty of violations to the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act and California Computer Data Access and Fraud Act, Unfair Competition, Intentional and Negligent Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage and Civil Conspiracy, i.e. they ripped off Oracle data. Read more

Canada-based technology consulting firm and gold certified Microsoft partner Ideaca Knowledge Services announced today that Catalyst Paper Corporation has now fully implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Catalyst and Ideaca together created the “Outlook Sales Portal” solution, an application bringing together Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft SharePoint Services and SAP data accessed directly from Microsoft Outlook.

Headquartered in amazing Vancouver, British Columbia, Catalyst Paper Corporation is a leading producer of mechanical printing papers in North America. The company also produces pulp and owns what is purportedly Western Canada’s largest paper recycling facility. Catalyst has a combined annual capacity of 2.4 million tonnes of product.

Ideaca currently employs over 150 information technology professionals in Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver offices. Ideaca foci include Microsoft Dynamics AX, Dynamics CRM, portals and collaboration tools, custom application development, business intelligence and application integration.

Much to Apple’s embarrassment, the company may well be on the wrong side of what might become software’s underdog story of the year.

Itty bitty Whangarei, New Zealand-based software company Orbitcoms (the firm employs six including its CEO) is being threatened with legal action by big bad Apple over the name of its Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner software, Orbitcoms iPop, née iPop.

Orbitcoms CEO Tony Shi is well-quoted (well, well-quoted in New Zealand, anyway) as explaining that the “i” stands for “information, intelligence and integration” and the “Pop” is there because the program creates popups when used with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

When Shi and co. applied to trademark the solution as simply “iPop,” Apple argued that the name was “too similar to iPod.” Out went a second application for the name “Orbitcoms iPop,” but Apple reportedly argued the same way again.

Reportedly, the cost for Orbitcoms to fight a legal challenge could be as high as $50,000, an expense the Kiwi firm cannot realistically take on at present.

The iPop case harkens back to an Apple product name controversy earlier this year, namely the legal threat brought by technology provider Cisco. Within hours of Apple CEO Steve Jobs’ intro the iPhone at the MacWorld Expo in January, Cisco spokesfolk announced they were bringing suit for trademark infringement in a Northern California U.S. District Court.

Cisco had released its Linksys iPhone line the previous month and, in fact, had owned the trademark on iPhone name since 1996, in the category of “computer hardware and software for providing integrated telephone communication with computerised global information networks.”

Cisco senior vice president and general counsel Mark Chandler at that time stated that “There is no doubt that Apple’s new phone is very exciting, but they should not be using our trademark without our permission.” Chandler claimed that his firm were negotiating with Apple over the name and that Apple had “repeatedly” asked permission for use of “iPhone.”

The name of the line did cause confusion in some quarters pre-unveiling on the parts of those who figured that, since Apple has a million products carrying the “i” prefix from iPod to iMac, the “iPhone” must be a Macintosh.

The parties settled up in February, but one wonders if Apple is eventually going to attempt to sue for the legal trademarking rights for all products beginning with “i.”

Apple has yet to comment on the Orbitcoms flap.