Microsoft announced Sept. 28 that it has acquired Adxstudio, a provider of Web portal and application life cycle management tools based on Dynamics CRM and other Microsoft technologies. Financial terms were not disclosed.
The deal is the latest in a string of acquisitions aimed at strengthening Microsoft’s customer relationship management (CRM) product portfolio and better competing with market leader Salesforce.
In 2013, Microsoft acquired NetBreeze, a social analytics specialist. Early last year, the company snapped up Parature, a maker of self-service CRM software. This summer, the company announced two deals meant to enhance Dynamics CRM: field service CRM provider FieldOne and FantasySalesTeam, gamification software company.
Adding Adxstudio’s technology to the mix will help organizations link customer-facing Web experiences to their Dynamics-based workflows. In a Sept. 28 announcement, Bob Stutz, corporate vice president of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, noted that “Adxstudio Web portals are built natively on Dynamics, allowing our customers to easily connect and extend their key sales and customer services business processes online.”
As expected, considering Microsoft’s new “cloud-first” approach to business software, Adxstudio tech works with Dynamics Online, the cloud-based version of the CRM solution.
“These portals work with the CRM application easily and naturally for both online and on-premises customers, who can take advantage of this offering right away,” Stutz said. “Adxstudio portals can also be used along with our Parature Service thanks to native integration with Parature’s rich knowledge management solutions.”
According to Gartner, a technology research firm, the worldwide market for CRM software grew 13.3 percent in 2014 over the previous year, totaling $23.2 billion. Increasingly, businesses are turning to the cloud to power their CRM setups.
“Strong demand for software as a service (SaaS) continues, with SaaS accounting for almost 47 percent of total CRM software revenue in 2014,” said Gartner Research Vice President Joanne Correia in a statement. “This is driven by organizations of all sizes seeking easier-to-deploy and faster-ROI alternatives to modernizing legacy systems, implementing new applications, or providing alternative complementary functionality.”
Stutz also noted the deal will enable Microsoft to address the online customer engagement needs of select industry verticals.
“This acquisition also delivers pre-built engagement solutions including partner relationship management for organizations who sell through partner channels; technical support solutions for high tech and software development organizations; and online citizen engagement for public sector organizations,” he stated. Again, those offerings will be available both the on-premises and cloud-delivered versions of Dynamics CRM.
Reena Joseph, marketing director for Adxstudio, revealed that her company is spinning off its “professional services division to form a new company, Adoxio Business Solutions,” in a blog post related to the announcement. “We will continue to operate as we do today and provide the same level of care and service to our customers. Our products, business solutions and team members are all still available to our customers and partners through the existing channels,” she continued.