Microsoft laid out its plan Wednesday for expanding its reach in the business applications market, with a software suite meant to help companies do everything from cut paychecks to ring up customers at the checkout counter.
Over the next 12 months, Microsoft plans to release five new sets of business applications, adding to the bookkeeping software it already sells through its Great Plains division. By year's end the company will release three of them, said Tami Reller, vice president for Microsoft Business Solutions.
One set is aimed at helping service companies better use their employees time and skills. Another set is designed to help retailers track inventory and gather point-of-sale information. Microsoft gained the latter set of applications in May with the acquisition of Sales Management Systems.
The third, as previously reported, is customer relationship management (CRM) software intended to help companies track their sales, marketing and service activities.
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