Microsoft Unveils Developer Software For Hosted Apps
Microsoft this week will move a step closer to having itsproducts prepped to deliver hosted application services. The
vendor will reveal plans for a package of platform products
and middleware called ClearLead that software vendors can
use to write customer-relationship management Web
applications for small auto dealers. Microsoft eventually
will offer ClearLead services to other industries.
ClearLead, a software developers' kit scheduled for April
availability, layers business-logic objects, templates for
on-screen presentation of Extensible Markup Language
documents, and other developer tools on top of Microsoft's
Windows 2000 operating system and SQL Server 7 database. The
kit also includes basic CRM functions for auto dealers, such
as paging to alert salespeople that new E-mail leads have
arrived.
Microsoft will license ClearLead to CarPoint, its joint
venture with Ford Motor Co. In April, CarPoint will release
a version of its DealerPoint lead-management Web service
that includes CRM capabilities built using ClearLead, says
Microsoft product unit manager Alex Simons. Microsoft also
plans to offer ClearLead as a CRM service directly to small
businesses in other markets via its bCentral productivity
Web site.
Microsoft will charge independent software vendors up to $15
per user, per month to license ClearLead, and small
businesses $29 per user, per month for the bCentral service.
Still, analysts question Microsoft's move from packaged
software to a hosted model. Says Warren Wilson, an analyst
at Summit Strategies, "Microsoft believes that it will make
up in volume what it loses in unit price sales, but it's not
guaranteed."
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