The Next Step—Microsoft Business Framework (MBF)

Enter the Microsoft Business Framework, a project initiated in 2001 with the goal of developing common business functionality and making it available to developers. The platform will allow developers to focus on industry or process-specific functionality, freeing developers from having to reinvent the wheel on common functions such as order entry and contact management. Refer to Figure 21.2.

This strategy is in line with the .NET framework and concept of providing the developer with as much common functionality as possible. Making the framework open and extensible draws more ISV's to it and will further extend Microsoft's sales capabilities. The benefit to customers is that they will be able to find more functionality specific to their business, yet built on a solid base. The strategy might also potentially shuffle the deck of applications players. Existing applications vendors with proprietary platforms will have to contend with new players developing on the Microsoft Business Framework. These new players will be able to focus on industry features, whereas the existing vendors will bear the dual overhead of continuing to develop both their platforms as well as their industry solutions.

Microsoft has taken a big step toward making their CRM platform a standard by publishing the Microsoft CRM Software Development Kit (SDK) on the Microsoft Developer Network (MDSN) Web site and subscriptions. This is another example of how Microsoft is differentiating itself from the existing field of CRM players. By making it easy to access knowledge about the technology, Microsoft is further embracing the development community and positioning its platform as a standard. Having the Microsoft CRM SDK on MSDN sets a precedent even for the other Microsoft Business Solutions applications (Great Plains) whose SDK's have never been published there.