By Chris Bucholtz

Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM Online has been given generally positive reviews, and you’d think that, with the mighty wind of the Microsoft empire behind it, it would be sailing full speed ahead. That “mighty wind” terminology is not a reference to Steve Ballmer, by the way. However, Microsoft’s CRM efforts are being embraced more slowly than one might expect, and the company took steps today to reach out to more customers.

At its Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston (oooooh! Houston in July!), Microsoft announced a set of “Accelerators” available starting in the third quarter that seem targeted at making both the on-demand and premise versions of Dynamics seem a little more vertical and in tune with individual customers’ businesses. They include an accelerator for sales methodology integration, e-service integration to allow on-line service requests from customers, an event management template for public events, and an alert and notification accelerator for pushing updates to customers via an RSS feed.

Microsoft also announced a significant upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step, a repeatable implementation methodology, and Dynamics CRM support for Microsoft Pinpoint, a unified online business marketplace for SMB customers and partners.

But Microsoft’s biggest move came yesterday when it dropped the price of Dynamics CRM Online Professional Plus for its partners to $19 per user per month, down from $59. Microsoft has a tremendous asset in its partners across the country; they expand Microsoft’s reach, and they’re able to focus attention on customers’ specific industries and their unique needs in ways that Microsoft could never afford to do. If Microsoft can stir up greater enthusiasm for CRM among its resellers, and articulate the value they can add in consulting and customization, it could put itself in a position to snap up a big share of the new customers flocking to CRM. But to generate that enthusiasm, Microsoft has to show it, too - and that means all of Microsoft, from the top down. The company can’t treat CRM as just another piece of software, or an up-sell item for customers buying other business software. Whether that attitude adjustment can be made has yet to be seen.