Microsoft and Pivotal advance global alliance.

Microsoft Corp. and Pivotal Corporation, a provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software for mid-sized enterprises, have announced an expansion in the companies' long-standing business development agreement to jointly target the mid-enterprise market for CRM. The expanded relationship will include highly targeted demand creation initiatives for the healthcare insurance and contact center markets.

"Pivotal is a prime example of a long-standing, highly successful, and continually evolving CRM partnership. Pivotal is a key Microsoft partner in the mid-enterprise market," said Sanjay Parthasarathy, Vice President, Platform Strategy and Partner Group at Microsoft Corp. "Our partnership has produced more than 1500 joint customers around the world. Together, we're a compelling combination for this market because we offer a sensible price point and solid performance, scalability and interoperability--which is exactly what mid-sized enterprises want in a CRM solution."

Since 1996 Microsoft and Pivotal have engaged in a successful series of joint business development activities. The relationship was significantly advanced in December 2000 when the companies launched an expanded global business development agreement that included joint sales, marketing and product development initiatives. This also included targeted campaigns for the EMEA (Europe, Middle-East and Africa) financial services markets.

Pivotal and Microsoft's latest go-to-market programs are centered on the mid-enterprise healthcare insurance and contact center markets where there is significant CRM demand today. The companies are closely collaborating on an integrated series of demand generation, brand awareness and sales activities.

According to Bo Manning, president and CEO, Pivotal, "Mid-sized enterprises want fast, agile, cost-effective and easy-to-integrate CRM applications. Microsoft .NET is the best way to deliver on these essential business needs with the fastest time to market, and the best economics. Pivotal and Microsoft have a six-year history of successfully delivering CRM to the precise requirements of more than 1500 mid-sized enterprises around the world."

Pivotal and Microsoft's joint offering includes the Pivotal CRM software suite with applications for marketing, sales, service, contact centers, PRM and interactive selling. The suite is 100 percent purpose-built for mid-sized enterprises and fully optimized for the Microsoft platform including SQL Server 2000, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, BizTalk Server, Commerce Server, Internet Information Server, and Exchange Server.

Pivotal stands apart from other CRM software solutions by delivering a complete suite of CRM products specifically designed for the mid-enterprise market. Pivotal's CRM software ensures that mid-sized enterprises gain a flexible, scalable and deployable solution for the richest levels of collaboration and interactivity to increase revenues, margins, and customer loyalty.

Pivotal Corporation is the only CRM company that is 100 percent purpose-built to serve the unique requirements of mid-sized enterprises. Pivotal delivers software and services that produce meaningful increases in revenues, margins and customer loyalty for companies and business units in the revenue range of $100 million to $3 billion. More than 1,500 companies around the world use Pivotal including: CIBC, Centex Homes, HarperCollins Publishers, Hitachi Telecom Inc., Premera Blue Cross, Royal Bank of Canada, Southern Company, and Vivendi.

Pivotal's complete CRM software suite includes capabilities in marketing, sales, service, contact centers, partner management and interactive selling.