Microsoft Business Solutions today released to manufacturing final code for its latest customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Version 1.2 of Microsoft CRM offers sales, marketing and customer service modules and is commercially available in 47 geographies from January 2004. The previous release, Microsoft CRM 1.0, was available only in North America.

Version 1.2 marks Microsoft's first global foray into a CRM sector which many analysts say is poised for big growth, especially in the SME sector.

Microsoft says its CRM product is its first business application built using Microsoft .NET technologies. The software is designed specifically for mid-market companies with 25 to 1,000 employees, or for departmental use.

Unsurprisingly, the product supports the full gamut of Microsoft's backend offerings, including Windows Server System 2003, Exchange Server 2003, Microsoft Office 2003 and Microsoft Small Business Server.

The software will ship in eight language versions in addition to US English, beginning with International English, French, German, Italian and Spanish, to be closely followed by Brazilian Portuguese, Danish and Dutch. ®