Smead Reduces Costs by 75 Percent Switching From Salesforce.com to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) today announced that Smead, a privately held, 100 percent woman-owned company known for its high-quality, environmentally responsible organizational home and office systems, has switched from Salesforce.com to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. In one month since switching CRM systems, Smead experienced a 75 percent reduction in its annual subscription cost. Smead also increased user adoption by 20 percent, improved collaboration among employees and provided better business intelligence to its managers.

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"Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is the best CRM solution in the cloud for us," said Daniel Hart, systems development manager, Smead. "In addition to offering a seamless experience across our systems, features such as customizable dashboards give our managers insight into accounts, sales and opportunities, which helps them make more-informed decisions."

"Customers like Smead are switching from Salesforce.com to Microsoft Dynamics CRM to increase productivity, collaboration and user adoption while reducing costs," said Brad Wilson, general manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Product Management Group. "We are committed to offering a familiar and flexible cloud solution that fits our customers' needs."

Smead acknowledged that the switch to Microsoft Dynamics CRM resulted in seamless interoperability and gave its employees a familiar experience as the company was already invested in Microsoft Office, Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft SharePoint. Features such as the native Microsoft Outlook experience, integrated contextual CRM Ribbon, Role Tailored design and flexibility to personalize the user experience within the application have reduced the learning curve for this solution and improved the overall productivity of employees at the company.

"We worked directly with Microsoft and really appreciated the level of service it provided during the migration, in addition to the world-class training," Hart said.

More on Smead can be found at http://www.smead.com. The latest updates to Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be found at http://www.crm2011beta.com, and the conversation on Twitter can be followed at @MSDynamicsCRM, #MSDYNCRM. More information about other Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers that have switched from Salesforce.com can be found at http://www.DontGetForced.com.

About Microsoft Dynamics

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of simple to learn and use ERP and CRM solutions that work with your existing technology and scale as you grow to give you long-term value. By using software and online services that work the way people and organizations work, businesses are better able to make informed decisions and adapt to rapid change. Microsoft Dynamics helps your people be more productive and your investments in existing systems last longer, while enabling your business to derive the insights necessary to respond quickly and have a competitive edge in an ever-changing world of business.

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.