Microsoft Dynamics: Stepping onto Large Enterprise Turf (.pdf file, 395 kb)
Nov. 30, 2012
Constellation Research
How Microsoft Dynamics’ Expanding Capabilities Create New Choices for Large, Multinational Firms. Long known as business management software for small and midsized organizations, Microsoft Dynamics is increasingly being used in large and multinational enterprises. This report outlines four customer needs that are driving Microsoft Dynamics up-market and three ways in which Dynamics has become capable of serving these large organizations. We conclude with examples of customers that illustrate the move of Dynamics into the enterprise market and recommendations for large enterprise buyers who are considering Microsoft Dynamics. This report offers management insights into one of Constellation’s primary research themes, Technology Optimization.
The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Cloud Databases, Q4 2012
Nov. 8, 2012
Forrester Research
Forrester Research, Inc. has positioned Microsoft as a Leader in The Forrester Wave™: Enterprise Cloud Databases, Q4 2012; Microsoft received the highest scores of any vendor in Current Offering and Market Presence. Forrester notes that “cloud database offerings represent a new space within the broader data management platform market, providing enterprises with an abstracted option to support Agile development and new social, mobile, cloud, and eCommerce applications as well as lower IT costs.” While it estimates the public cloud database market at $400 million today, Forrester predicts that it will grow to $1.2 billion by 2017.
Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Content Management
Oct. 18, 2012
Gartner Research
Microsoft is placed in the Leaders Quadrant of this report, which looks at the enterprise content management market and how Gartner rates vendors and their packaged ECM products. According to Gartner “Uptake of ECM offerings remains strong as organizations harness content to drive key business applications. Process-centric solutions, social content management and integration are factors differentiating the 22 vendors assessed here.”
Microsoft Lync 2013: Don’t Base Upgrades on New Features Alone
Oct. 5, 2012
Gartner Research
Gartner reviews the new Lync, both on prem and Online, and discusses the enhancements including HD multiparty video, mobile and Web clients, persistent group chat, and greater integration with Skype, Windows 8 and Office 2013.
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Horizontal Portals, 2012
Sept. 20, 2012
Gartner Inc.
Gartner positions Microsoft in the Leaders Quadrant in the 2012 Horizontal Portals Magic Quadrant. Gartner defines a portal as "a Web software infrastructure that provides interaction with relevant information assets (for example, information/content, applications and business processes), knowledge assets and human assets by select targeted audiences, delivered in a highly personalized manner."
Magic Quadrant for Corporate Telephony, 2012
Sept. 17, 2012
Gartner Research
Gartner placed Microsoft in the Visionaries quadrant and states “companies are increasingly focusing their business strategies and acquisition decisions around UCC technology; it is supplanting the historical domain of corporate telephony.”
The Forrester Wave™: Cloud Strategies Of Online Collaboration Software Vendors, Q3 2012
Aug. 16, 2012
Forrester Research, Inc.
Forrester Research, Inc. positioned Microsoft as a leader in The Forrester WaveTM: Cloud Strategies Of Online Collaboration Software Vendors, Q3 2012. Forrester Research evaluated eight significant collaboration services providers for this report. This report details their findings on how well each vendor fulfills their criteria for constructing an online collaboration service, and where they stand in relation to each other, to help CIOs and their staff evaluate key criteria when looking for at a prospective provider for their needs. Given the relative immaturity of this market and the nature of client questions about it, Forrester chose to evaluate the overall strategies of these providers across criteria like global footprint, service-level agreements, mobile support, enterprise readiness, and more.
MarketScope for Enterprise Instant Messaging and Presence
Aug. 16, 2012
Gartner Research
Microsoft is rated as Strong Positive in this MarketScope report. Gartner believes “instant messaging and presence capabilities are an integral part of enterprises' unified communications and collaboration portfolios.”
Magic Quadrant for Secure Email Gateways
Aug. 15, 2012
Gartner, Inc.
Gartner has positioned Microsoft in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2012 Magic Quadrant for Secure Email Gateways, based on an evaluation of Forefront Online Protection for Exchange and Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server.
MarketScope for Email Systems
Aug. 9, 2012
Gartner, Inc.
Gartner has rated Microsoft Exchange (on-premises) as a “Strong Positive” and Microsoft Exchange Online as a “Positive” in the 2012 MarketScope for Email Systems.
What Windows Azure Means to Software ISVs
Aug. 1, 2012
Directions on Microsoft
The research report details how Windows Azure can help ISVs realize increased flexibility for developing and delivering their solutions (scalability, manageability, geographic distribution, and replication). Windows Azure could also result in lower costs for ISVs versus running an application on Amazon EC2 or similar hosts.
Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation
July 18, 2012
Gartner, Inc., Robert P. Desisto
Gartner has positioned Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the Leaders Quadrant of the 2012 Magic Quadrant for Sales Force Automation based on its completeness of vision and ability to execute.
The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suite Customer Service Solutions, Q3 2012 (.pdf file, 585 kb)
July 11, 2012
Forrester Research
Forrester Research positioned Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a leader in The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suite Customer Service Solutions, Q3 2012. Forrester Research evaluated 18 significant products in the CRM customer services solutions space from a broad range of vendors. This report details their findings on how CRM suite customer service solutions measure up and plots where they stand in relation to each other in order to help application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals select the right solution for their needs.
The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites For Midsize Organizations (.pdf file, 792 kb)
July 10, 2012
Forrester Research
Forrester Research positioned Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a leader in The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites For Large Organizations, Q3 2012. Forrester Research evaluated 18 significant products in the CRM space from a broad range of vendors. This report details their findings on how CRM suite solutions for midsize organizations measure up and plots where they stand in relation to each other in order to help application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals select the right solution for their needs.
The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites For Large Organizations, Q3 2012 (.pdf file, 787 kb)
July 9, 2012
Forrester Research
Forrester Research positioned Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a leader in The Forrester Wave™: CRM Suites For Large Organizations, Q3 2012. Forrester Research evaluated 17 significant products in the CRM space from a broad range of vendors. This report details their findings on how CRM suite solutions for large organizations measure up and plots where they stand in relation to each other in order to help application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals select the right solution for their needs.
How the Modern CIO Shifts from Infrastructure Optimization to Innovation – Making the Case for Hybrid IT On the Path to Business Value (.pdf file, 1.59 MB)
June 30, 2012
Constellation Research
This trends report addresses several questions commonly asked by enterprises: How quickly will I be able to move elements of my technology infrastructure to the cloud to address innovation? What steps will I need to take to leverage the cloud to my advantage? Can I achieve business value through Hybrid IT approaches? How do the four personas of the next generation CIO and Hybrid IT work with each other? Constellation Research goes on to recommend five guiding principles in the journey toward Hybrid IT: balanced governance; change management; business level integration; security; and enterprise flexibility and choice. Organizations can expect Hybrid IT models to play a key role in the strategy of innovative businesses that must deliver value, profitability and market differentiation.
The Forrester Wave™: Point Of Service, Q2 2012 (.pdf file, 546 kb)
June 27, 2012
Forrester Research
Forrester Research positioned Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a Strong Performer in The Forrester Wave(tm): Point Of Service, Q2 2012. Forrester Research evaluated 10 significant solution providers offering point of service solutions. This report details their findings on how each vendor measures up and plots where they stand in relation to each other to help application development and delivery (AD&D) professionals select the right solution for their needs in implementing large-scale point-of-service systems.
Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure
June 11, 2012
Gartner, Inc.
Gartner positions Microsoft in the Leaders' Quadrant in its Magic Quadrant for x86 Server Virtualization Infrastructure. Virtualization penetration has surpassed 50% of all server workloads, and continues to grow. The competitive market for x86 server virtualization infrastructure has matured, leading more enterprises to reconsider their choices, and instead, consider multiple virtualization infrastructures.
Market focus report: The value of mobile and social for CRM (.pdf file, 79 kb)
March 1, 2012
Nucleus Research
Adding mobile access and social collaboration to CRM delivers significant benefits. In a survey of CRM decision makers, Nucleus found that providing sales people with mobile device access to CRM drives a 14.6 percent productivity increase, and adding social drives an additional 11.8 percent productivity boost. Given the significant ROI opportunity, all organizations should consider mobile and social CRM adoption.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Q2 2012 Service Update (.pdf file, 68 kb)
Feb. 1, 2012
Nucleus Research
Microsoft’s latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, nicknamed "CRM Anywhere," expands mobile and browser access. This is significant for two reasons: first, it shows Microsoft's recognition that there is a world beyond Redmond-sourced software. Second, given the dramatic productivity benefits of mobile access, this change promises an incremental increase in return for Dynamics CRM customers. From a return on investment point of view, Nucleus considers this release one of the most significant we’ve seen from Dynamics CRM in some time.
Technology Value Matrix 2H2011: CRM (.pdf file, 94 kb)
Feb. 1, 2012
Nucleus Research
Microsoft Dynamics CRM has always ranked high in usability because of its Microsoft Outlook and Office integration, personalization, and role-based views. Microsoft’s online application marketplace has gained traction, providing customers with more ready access to CRM add-on capabilities that can drive greater value. The Microsoft Dynamics Q4 2011 service update, which was recently made available, includes new social collaboration capabilities such as support for activity feeds, microblogging, conversations, and automated activity updates − all features that will likely improve Microsoft’s position from a functionality perspective in future Matrices.
System Center 2012 Licensing Optimized for Private Cloud
Jan. 18, 2012
IDC
Mary Turner and Al Gillen report, "Microsoft announced it had delivered the Release Candidate version of System Center 2012, which the firm described as being optimized to build and manage application-focused private clouds. Microsoft also introduced a new System Center licensing model that aggressively simplifies pricing with the goal of making System Center 2012 the most affordable full-functioning private cloud management platform in the market."