Scala and Microsoft Become (Not So) Strange CRM Bedfellows
Part Three: Challenges and User Recommendations
P.J. Jakovljevic - August 30, 2003

Challenges

During these days of frenetic mergers and acquisitions in the enterprise applications arena, there still seems to be a place for some co-opetitive alliances too. Namely, at the end of July, Scala Business Solutions (ASE: SCALA), an Amsterdam, the Netherlands-based provider of collaborative enterprise software for mid-size enterprises and subsidiaries of global corporations, announced it has signed a letter of intent with Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT), the largest software provider in the world, to extend Microsoft Business Solutions CRM (Microsoft CRM) software and integrate it with its iScala Collaborative ERP system. The agreement is expected to be final in September. Part one of this note detailed the agreement, which is a major part of Microsoft’s foray into the CRM arena, and began a discussion of the market impact. Part two continued the market impact...