Business Services Industry

groupSPARK First to Market with Next Generation Private Label Hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Business Wire, Nov 27, 2007

Reseller partners to take advantage of an additional SaaS offering and generate increased revenue

BURLINGTON, Mass. -- groupSPARK, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a leading private label Software as a Service (SaaS) provider of hosted services including Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, announced today that it has been chosen by Microsoft Corp. to participate in its Technology Adoption Program (TAP) for the next significant release of Microsoft's customer relationship management solution, Microsoft Dynamics[TM] CRM, code-named "Titan". As a result, select groupSPARK reseller partners can receive early access to the application as a hosted solution.

With inclusion in Microsoft's TAP program, groupSPARK will be the first hosted software services provider to offer Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. groupSPARK will collaborate closely with the Microsoft development team, gain greater insight into the technology and provide valuable feedback helping to shape the release version of the product.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an intuitive customer relationship management application, which helps companies grow their business, improve customer service and increase profitability. groupSPARK is adding Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 to its hosted services offering which, currently includes Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services v3.0 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.

The new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers a software platform that is fully multi-tenant and highly scalable, and supports multiple languages and currencies. It delivers a highly productive, role-tailored user experience across a wide range of user interfaces, including Microsoft([R]) Office Outlook([R]), Windows([R]) Internet Explorer([R]) and a broad range of mobile devices. The ability for customers to quickly utilize Microsoft Dynamics CRM in a hosted environment is also beneficial to groupSPARK private label resellers. They will be able to offer Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 as a hosted service to their customers without requiring hardware dedicated to individual companies, thus reducing cost, allowing flexibility and scalability in growth for their customers as well as significantly shortening their own sale cycle. In addition, this new service will expand resellers' portfolios of private label hosted services and allow them to generate increased recurring revenue.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 will also help customers dramatically increase productivity by allowing them to utilize or customize the provided Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 workflow templates. By better managing their customer relationships users will gain greater insight into their customers' behaviors, improve customer service and increase revenue. Preconfigured templates for the manufacturing industry and the public sector are currently offered and additional templates will be made available in the coming months. Resellers will also have the ability to modify these templates to fit their customers' needs thereby increasing the opportunity to generate additional revenue and greater customer retention.

"We are delighted to be the first hosted software services provider

to offer Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and to be able to make this solution available to a select group of industry partners as a hosted private label solution. This is a significant addition to their current offering of private label hosted services and gives them the opportunity to gain additional revenue," stated Ravi Agarwal, chief executive officer of groupSPARK. "This new release also gives small and mid-size companies the ability to significantly grow their businesses and enhance their customer relationships."

To obtain additional information on groupSPARK's partner program and to be considered for inclusion in groupSPARK's early access program for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 please visit http://www.groupspark.com/Microsoft_Dynamics_CRM.htm.> About groupSPARK

Located in Burlington, Massachusetts, groupSPARK is a leading provider of hosted SaaS services including Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, Windows SharePoint Services v3.0 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 making them available to be resold by partners. This completely private labeled service allows partners to expand upon their own product offerings and save hundreds of thousands of dollars in development and support costs.

Its partners utilize groupSPARK's turnkey private label platform to provide hosted services to their users in minutes. Partners are able to address scalability and uptime concerns by leveraging groupSPARK's 100% uptime SLA, private label 24x7 U.S.-based support and proactive hardware and software monitoring capabilities.

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