Microsoft's long awaited on demand crm product, Microsoft CRM Live, is close to hitting the streets and will no doubt be of interest to businesses of all sizes looking to implement a customer relationship management solution. But what will it mean to small businesses ready to take the crm leap?  And how will it work with other popular Microsoft products like Office and Outlook?  Our guests this week are Cindy Bates, Microsoft's general manager of the US Small Business Group, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM general manager Brad Wilson.  Cindy and Brad fill us in on the biggest challenges facing their small business customers and how Microsoft is addressing them.  They also discuss how Microsoft CRM Live will benefit small businesses, and how services like Office Live are being used to help small businesses utilize the web more effectively.  Plus find out how Microsoft Startup Center is helping entrepreneurs get their business ideas off the ground with the help from partners like Federal Express, Bank of America and Master Card.

And check out Brent's take on why too many people are focused too heavily on figuring out how to get ranked higher in search engines and on social media sites like Digg, and not producing the best content they can to capture the attention of those who can use their services.  In fact, people can use the COLT-45 approach to the web.  No this is not about cracking open a "40" with Billy Dee Williams, but writing content that people will want to Comment On and Link To.  And the easiest way to begin getting comments and links is to build your home team of friends and family that you can count on to write a short comment and/or link to when you post a blog entry.  Try to get at least 4 or 5 (these numbers just work better for naming purposes) folks to get started with and move up from there.  And check out Michael's reaction when he hears Can I Kick It from A Tribe Called Quest for the first time!


Cynthia (“Cindy”) Bates is the general manager of Microsoft Corp.’s U.S. Small Business where for the past two years she has been responsible for harnessing Microsoft’s resources to best serve the needs of the 5.5 million small businesses in the United States.  Bates is charged with bringing even greater focus and visibility to Microsoft’s already strong, ongoing efforts to serve small businesses. She aims to build increasingly meaningful connections between Microsoft and its small-business customers and educate them on ways that Microsoft^® products can help them successfully meet their business objectives.

Previously, Bates was a managing director for corporate development and strategy at Microsoft, a role in which she led a team responsible for strategically evaluating, structuring, valuing and negotiating the company’s mergers, acquisitions, investments and joint ventures. One of her primary areas of focus was on the small-business applications market, including the orchestration of the strategically vital acquisitions of Navision a/s and Sales Management Systems for Microsoft Business Solutions.

Brad Wilson is the general manager of Microsoft^® CRM for the Microsoft Business Solutions Business Group at Microsoft Corp. Wilson leads global product management and marketing for Microsoft CRM and is responsible for driving awareness, demand and revenue for Microsoft CRM on a worldwide basis. His team is responsible for product positioning, pricing and packaging, as well as press and analyst relations, sales tools, and partner channel development.

Wilson has 20 years of experience in the technology industry, including more than 10 years in CRM. Before joining Microsoft, Wilson was the worldwide vice president of marketing for PeopleSoft where he was responsible for messaging, sales tools and support, press and analyst relations, and global demand generation. Before PeopleSoft, Wilson held senior management roles at E.piphany, including vice president in product marketing and technology alliances. Wilson also spent approximately 12 years at HP in engineering, consulting and marketing management roles, and has played key roles in two Silicon Valley software startups (RightPoint and Sigma Dynamics Inc.).

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