This article focuses on open source applications supported on Microsoft Windows for customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP). CRM applications typically include features for tracking sales opportunities, tracking marketing campaigns, and analyzing lead generation activities. ERP applications focus on integrating the functions and data from two or more traditional applications (for example, accounting and supply chain management) into one system. Microsoft's products in the CRM and ERP areas include those products that make up the Microsoft Dynamics suite, including Microsoft CRM, Dynamics GP, Dynamics AX, and Dynamics SL. Given the wide range of potential CRM and ERP applications available today, IT organizations need to pursue a strategy that limits vendor lock-in and provides the widest range of application choices. When this objective is met, these organizations have the option of mixing and matching solutions to best meet the evolving needs of the end users.

Deploying Microsoft Windows at the operating system level is the best option to support this type of measured approach, especially since Windows is the only platform that supports both Microsoft's CRM and ERP applications and other popular software packages, such as SugarCRM and Compiere. Further, Windows-based deployment allows an IT organization to retain the benefits of a homogenous server and desktop operating system environment, while enjoying the greatest degree of choice when it comes to the evaluation of CRM, ERP, and business applications organization-wide.