Microsoft’s planned Parature acquisition will improve Dynamics CRM customer support app to compete more successfully with Salesforce.com and Oracle RightNow.

Microsoft announced Tuesday that it has reached an agreement to accumulate Parature, a cloud-based provider of purchaser-service capabilities if you want to complement Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM application.

Parature is a 13-year-old company that delivers Web- and mobile-access knowledge-bases, live chat, survey and feedback systems, and social monitoring and response functionality. The Herndon, Va.-based firm has greater than 500 customers. Its 2012 revenue was $16.4 million, in keeping with Inc. magazine. The terms and timing of the deal weren’t disclosed, but one news outlet citing unnamed sources put the price of the transaction at $100 million.

Microsoft executives said adding Parature will fill in gaps in Dynamics CRM, that is largely taken with case management and on serving because the container for all service interactions with customers. “With Parature, we’ll integrate multiple channels, reminiscent of social, email, Web-based chat, and Web self-service,” explained Bill Patterson, Microsoft’s senior director of planning and strategy, in a phone interview with InformationWeek.

[Want more on Microsoft CRM ambitions? Read Microsoft Gains Enterprise Clout With ERP, CRM.]

Microsoft’s Parature deal adds to the continued consolidation inside the CRM market in recent weeks. On Monday call-center-focused vendor Verint Systems acquired customer-experience-management vendor Kana in a $514 million deal. In late December, Oracle announced it should acquire marketing software company Responsys for $1.5 billion.

In the social area, Parature helps companies take heed to Facebook, Twitter, and other networks for brand-relevant comments. They then use Parature’s social-engagement applications to reply to negative posts. Parature’s knowledge-base software supports both internal users and self-service applications.

The combination of Dynamics CRM and Parature will compete more effectively within the services arena against the likes of Salesforce.com and Oracle RightNow, said Patterson. Both companies have partnered for greater than a year, so a pre-built integration is already available to attach Parature’s cloud-based apps to Dynamics CRM.

Parature stands out as the latest Microsoft acquisition to strengthen Dynamics CRM capabilities. In late 2012, Microsoft acquired MarketingPilot to improve Dynamics marketing resource management functionality including marketing planning, digital asset management, budget management, and artistic and project management. Also in 2012, Microsoft completed its $1.2 billion acquisition of Yammer, a collaboration platform that was subsequently integrated with lots of Microsoft applications, including Dynamics CRM.

Microsoft said it can continue to provide stand-alone Parature cloud applications, a move with a purpose to be reassuring to customers that use third-party CRM systems. Notable Parature customers include Ask.com, IBM, the united states Environmental Protection Agency, and america Social Security Administration. Microsoft also plans to retain Parature’s office in Herndon, Va., so it could actually continue to pursue government contracts.

“Government has also been a powerful vertical marketplace for Dynamics CRM, so the complementary value of those two products together can help you herald next-generation customer- and citizen-engagement solutions and services,” Patterson said.

Doug Henschen is executive editor of InformationWeek, where he covers the intersection of enterprise applications with information management, business intelligence, big data, and analytics. He previously served as editor-in-chief of Intelligent Enterprise, editor-in-chief of Transform magazine, and executive editor at DM News.

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