14 Health Plans Adopt Microsoft's Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

SAN FRANCISCO, June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. today announced at the America's Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) Institute 2011 that 14 health plans, including Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City, have implemented or are planning to deploy Microsoft Dynamics CRM based on the Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The strategic sales and service-enabled customer relationship management (CRM) platform will enable these health plans to gain share in the current individual and small-group market today, while preparing to take advantage of the short window of growth created by health insurance exchanges.

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"With the changing health insurance environment comes the need for greater integration. This includes sales automation, online enrollment, e-billing and data collection on your customers and potential customers so that you are best able to work quickly and efficiently to satisfy their needs," said Kent Davidson, vice president of sales, Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania. "Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a vital component to Blue Cross of Northeastern Pennsylvania's overall strategy to deliver health insurance solutions to our current and future customers."

The Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM is pre-integrated with an ecosystem of health plan independent software vendor (ISV) solutions. Since the solution was first launched last June at AHIP Institute 2010, partner adoption has increased by 225 percent. To date, 13 system integrators and ISVs are supporting the framework, including Adapx, Aspect, Avanade, CIBER Inc., Colibrium Partners LLC, Connecture Inc., CosmoCom, Customer Effective, ExactTarget, PowerObjects, Sonoma Partners and VUE Software.

"Hypercompetitive market pressures are driving health plans to seek simple solutions to decrease costs and points of failure in the sales process and improve member retention by executing a companywide CRM strategy," said Dennis Schmuland, worldwide managing director, Health Insurance Industry, Microsoft. "By implementing the Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, our customers gain a real-time, 360-degree view of their customer sales interactions today while laying tomorrow's foundation for a companywide CRM strategy that spans from customer acquisition to service, to care and wellness management, to retention and renewal."

The Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an interoperable framework that allows for seamless integration with existing systems and applications. Spanning acquisition, retention, health and care management, the Microsoft Dynamics platform is also being used by health plans in the areas of grievances and appeals, application, provider credentialing, legal matter management, provider contract, and contact management.

More information is available at http://www.microsoft.com/healthplansales.

About Microsoft in Health

Microsoft is committed to improving health around the world through software innovation. Over the past 13 years, Microsoft has steadily increased its investments in health with a focus on addressing the challenges of health providers, health and social services organizations, payers, consumers, and life sciences companies worldwide. Microsoft closely collaborates with a broad ecosystem of partners and delivers its own powerful health solutions, such as Amalga, HealthVault, and a portfolio of identity and access management technologies acquired from Sentillion Inc. in 2010. Together, Microsoft and its industry partners are working to deliver health solutions for the way people aspire to work and live.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.