I recently attended the Microsoft Dynamics West Region FY11 Sales Planning Retreat. This year's meeting was crammed with innovative technology and opportunities. I've summarized the top three things you want to understand regarding Microsoft Dynamics in 2011 below.

1. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has developed into xRM.
2. Microsoft Financing is accessible for any IT project which includes at least 10% Microsoft Technology.
3. Microsoft ‘stacked integration’ method will continue to distinguish them from competitors.

1. Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relationship Management has become xRM and it's not solely for customers anymore

MS Dynamics Customer Relationship Management has changed the way we think about and benefit from our relationship management systems. Did you identify the absent word in the preceding sentence? If you did, you might wonder why I left out one of the most crucial terms in a sales professional 's lexis: The ‘customer’? The response is xRM the innovative ‘Anything Relationship Management’ solution.

MS unveiled xRM with the release of MS Dynamics CRM 4 and will continue it in MS Dynamics CRM 2011. It utilizes the structure of Customer Relationship Management and spreads it throughout your company. With Dynamics CRM 2011 you can follow communications and workflows with every contact. Yes, that's a big - ANY. Both internal and external in addition to customer facing and supplier facing and any contact in between. They will immediately be part of the business relationship management system. Anything Relationship Management will change the way we communicate information, track communications, and handle our day-to-day operations. It will expand the important CRM type communications tools from Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service focused to a holistic business approach. Now we will have the tools at our fingertips to improve our knowledge and communication with traditional CRM contacts (customers, leads, customer service) and extend them to the external contacts (vendors, suppliers, partners to name just a few).

With four main components including the database, user interface, workflow engine, and reporting engine, the new Anything Relationship Management system (xRM), based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a flexible and scalable solution that will fit any business. It's customizable to your industry, business practices, and unique needs. Did I forget to mention, it integrates seamlessly with the other Microsoft products including Outlook, Office, Windows, Dynamics, SharePoint, ERP, and CRM, of course. More about that below.
2. Microsoft Financing is available for any IT project that includes at least 10% Microsoft Technology.

It's that simple. You can get financing from Microsoft for any of your IT projects - simply include Microsoft products as 10% or more of the overall project.
3. Microsoft ‘stacked integration’ approach will continue to set them apart from the competition.

The power of the MS platform and products plus Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is Microsoft's determined spotlight on product integration with their other software. This focused integration approach lets a company stack their MS technology acquisitions and extend them to the rest of their business. With comparable user interfaces and similar integrations the results include increased user adoption and streamlined IT support.

It's going to be an interesting year in the Customer Relationship Management world and I for one can't wait to see how the strength of xRM will affect the way we communicate with partners, customers, and vendors.