Microsoft has announced the general availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, the highly anticipated new release of Microsoft’s customer relationship management solution for small business, midsized companies, and large enterprises.

Microsoft CRM 3.0 provides a complete suite of powerful marketing, sales, and service capabilities, all with a familiar and consistent user experience based on Microsoft Office and Microsoft Outlook. Extensive new configuration, customisation, and integration capabilities make it easy for customers and partners to deploy highly-tailored solutions that drive measurable business results and offer a low total cost of ownership (TCO).

The product is offered in a Professional Edition and a Small Business Edition, and is available immediately in English worldwide. It will be released in 20 more languages in the coming months.

Microsoft CRM 3.0 is built to address the three key challenges that determine the success or failure of most CRM initiatives: user adoption, business fit, and total cost of ownership.

* Works the Way You Do – Microsoft CRM 3.0 drives high user adoption by delivering roles-based CRM capabilities within a native Microsoft Office and Outlook experience. Users can choose to use a rich Outlook client or access the system through a browser-based client or a mobile device.

* Works the Way Your Business Does – Microsoft CRM 3.0 easily adapts to each company’s unique needs. Powerful event-driven workflow capabilities drive consistent process execution across the organisation, and powerful reporting and analytics based on Microsoft Excel and SQL Server Reporting Services give real-time visibility into every business process and customer interaction.

* Works the Way Technology Should – Microsoft CRM 3.0 reduces total cost of ownership by offering a highly flexible and configurable platform built on Web services and other standard tools and technologies.