Last year we introduced a more personal way to buy Microsoft Dynamics CRM, with a flexible multi-tier model, ability to mix and match and new premium support options. Continuing with our construct and promise to deliver flexibility and value to our customers, today we are announcing pricing and licensing updates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015.
As we shared earlier, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 is a major online and on premises release with substantial investments on platform capabilities and functionality across marketing, social, sales and customer service. We will follow a customer driven update for our online customers. Customers with active Software Assurance on Microsoft Dynamics CRM as of the date of the release will be entitled to run the new version of the on premises product. Specific pricing and licensing investments in this new version include:
For marketing and sales. We are delivering the new Sales Collaboration Panel in Microsoft Dynamics Marketing to enable marketing and sales to have an integrated view of the customer and be on the same page. CRM Online Professional will now include access rights to Sales Collaboration Panel in Microsoft Dynamics Marketing, so sellers with Pro will be able to provide input into marketing campaign activity, control communications targeting customers and set up alerts. Because our licensing allows mix and match, customers can license their marketing users with CRM Online Enterprise (for all Dynamics Marketing capabilities) and their sellers with CRM Online Professional (for access to Sales Collaboration Panel in Dynamics Marketing as well as all the sales capabilities in Pro). No need to acquire separate clouds for marketing and sales to be on the same page; just Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.
For customer service. We released Unified Service Desk (USD) earlier this year. USD provides customer service agents an integrated experience with information relevant to address customers’ needs. We are now including use rights for Unified Service Desk (USD) in our CRM Online Professional license. Similarly, on premises customers with active Software Assurance coverage on Professional CALs will receive use rights to USD at no additional license cost. With USD at Professional level for online and on premises, we expect that an even wider base of users will take advantage of this integrated experience to respond effectively to that moment of truth when customers call. We are also introducing Parature from Microsoft with CRM Online Enterprise or as a standalone option.
For everyone. We are introducing on-premises use rights for CRM Online users. This is commonly referred to as dual use rights. This means that CRM Online users may access licensed CRM on-premises servers with the same rights as equivalent CALs. We are quite distinct in the industry in facilitating customers’ adoption to our cloud solution. With dual use rights, users do not need additional client licenses to access on premises servers. Their online license covers those (customer is still responsible for acquiring server licenses). And, since our licensing constructs are similar, the equivalency is straightforward: CRM Online Professional user has also Professional CAL rights; CRM Online Basic user has Basic CAL rights; and CRM Online Essential user has also Essential CAL rights. Straightforward licensing model to facilitate customers’ cloud adoption.
We are also adding new benefits to our Professional Direct Service such as: onboarding assistance, case wellness, enhanced service interruption event handling, as well as upgrade readiness. As part of this release we are also extending our support options for Parature from Microsoft. Finally, last month we announced our sales productivity promotion, a powerful set of solutions from Office 365, Power BI for Office 365 and CRM Online, at a very compelling promotional price point of $65. Details of this offer are available on this page. Our worldwide field and partners are ready to show how we compare with other solutions in the industry.
In short, licensing that supports our customers move to the cloud, new capabilities to help sales and marketing be on the same page, more value for customer service, more benefits in our support plans and very compelling price points.
Our customers and partners’ feedback has been essential in the design and evolution of our pricing and licensing plans. Your continued feedback is the most important input in our journey ahead. And I thank you in advance for that.
Paco Contreras