Microsoft's customer relationship management cloud is well-regarded, but most of the noise in the field is made by and about Salesforce and Oracle.
But Redmond now has bragging rights over both, as it's revealed HP Inc has signed up for its Dynamics service for “CRM solution for our direct selling, partners and service”. Salesforce has been shown the door.
HP Inc has about 50,000 staff so the scenarios mentioned above show that not all will be using Dynamics. But most will use Office 365, which Microsoft has also managed to sell to HP Inc.
That sale's not surprising: anyone that uses Office is being encouraged very strongly to move to Office 365.
Nor is the Dynamics move a shock, because HP Inc. is busy building the infrastructure it feels necessary to go its own way.
The company's appetite for a big move is notable, because such projects always bring big risk. To mitigate the risks, Microsoft may have made HP Inc an offer it couldn't refuse. Or perhaps the printer-and-PC concern just reckons Microsoft offers a superior CRM to Salesforce.
Whatever the reason for the move, the competitive tension is delicious because Salesforce claims to rule the cloudy CRM roost. With a global name like HP Inc on board, Microsoft can now do some crowing of its own. ®
