Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a Customer Relationship Management software package developed by Microsoft. It is a part of the Microsoft Dynamics family of business tools.
The current version of Dynamics, 4.0, was released in December 2007.
The most notable updates of CRM 3.0 over the version 1.2 (version 2 was skipped entirely) are the ease of creating customizations to CRM, the switch from using Crystal Reports to Microsoft SQL Reporting Services to run reports, the ability to run on Windows Vista and Outlook 2007, and support for Exchange 2007.

Features
Microsoft CRM also supports integration with Windows Mobile devices via the Microsoft CRM Mobile Client. Third-party applications, such as Tendigits MobileAccess, provide integration with Blackberry devices.
The 4.0 edition adds a number of new features, including support for duplicate data detection and other enhancements. Perhaps most importantly, version 4.0 provides true multi-tenancy, which will allow the creation of multiple organizations on a single server.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 was released with the following improvements:
* More robust, scalable architecture
* Much improved remote access capability negating the need for VPN
* Improved performance especially with Outlook client
* Improved Outlook 2007 client with Ribbon interface
* Multi-currency
* More powerful and easier to configure Reporting and BI (now based on SRS instead of Crystal)
* More powerful and much easier to configure workflow - now based on the Windows Workflow Foundation (.Net 3) - the same engine as used in MOSS 2007
* Improved e-mail router now compatible with Exchange 2007 and with other POP3 e-mail systems instead of just Exchange 2003
* Improved 64 bit hardware support, for dramatic improvements in performance, if more than 4 Gig RAM available
* More powerful data import tools, de-duplication capability now included, data enriching capability (export and re-import with additional data)
* Improved mail-merge
* Faster lookups with auto-resolution
* Enhanced entity relationships – many to many, self-referential
* Improved programmability - enhanced Web Services, unified event model, plug-ins to replace callouts
* Light enquiry user licence now available - potentially reducing the costs associated with rolling out across larger organisations
* Microsoft Office Communicator/Windows Live Messenger presence integration support