Microsoft offered a sneak peek of the newest version of its CRM application, Dynamics AX 2009, at Convergence 2008, a meeting of Microsoft Dynamics users. The release, due in the first half of that year, is aimed at small and midsize businesses with what analysts say is extremely aggressive pricing.

One major focus of the new release is managing compliance obligations, providing what Microsoft calls a “one-stop shop for compliance-related knowledge.” AX 2009 additionally includes enhanced global capabilities (such as multiple language support) that will give worldly businesses real-time visibility into operations such as overseas stock of global locations.

Chris Alliegro, lead analyst with Directions on Microsoft (an independent research firm focused exclusively on Microsoft strategy and technology), said that Dynamics offers a big advantage by competing products: a familiar interface. “If you’re a Microsoft shop, it’s an interface you’re already familiar with. Having your CRM functionality visible, accessible, and built into Outlook is a huge

selling point for Microsoft.”

War on Salesforce.com

Alliegro told us that Microsoft is directly challenging Salesforce.com with its new hosted CRM service, which is in beta evaluating now and should be launched for general sign-up in the middle of that year. All indications are that Microsoft will launch a full-scale attack.

“They’re coming at the market very aggressively,” particularly in terms of pricing, Alliegro said. One version of the hosted product is expected to be $44 per month per subscriber, and $15 higher for the more enhanced version. (The main differences amidst the two versions, he said, are storage amount and the ability to support offline synchronizations.) He said that Salesforce.com’s similar offerings cost about 50 percent more.

“It’s fair to ask whether Microsoft can even prepare money at that price point. That’s something they’re going to learn. I think that companies getting into that kind…

Orginal post by Top Tech News