Success with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0: Implementing Customer Relationship Management

2.1. Microsoft CRM 1.0—The Initial Release

Microsoft CRM 1.0 hit the market with tremendous anticipation in the industry. Some rebuffed Microsoft's entrance to the business applications market, just as many rebuffed their entrance into the server software market a decade earlier. Others were confident that Microsoft's significant investment in its first major home-grown business software application would payoff and make immediate strides in the market.

Well, both the cheerleaders and the naysayers were right. Microsoft clearly showed potential as they entered the game. It was as if they had benefited from years at a state-of-the-art training facility. They had all of the tools, foundation, and skills to compete long term, but no game-time experience ...