Microsoft acquires Parature to add leading customer self-service suite to Microsoft Dynamics CRM

REDMOND, Wash., Jan. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. on Tuesday announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Parature, a leading provider of cloud-based customer engagement solutions. The acquisition will add world-class customer self-service capabilities to further accelerate the Microsoft Dynamics vision of helping organizations deliver amazing customer experiences.  

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"Customers are more connected and better informed than ever before. Organizations are looking for business solutions that can strengthen their ability to connect with customers on their own terms, using whatever device and whatever channel they prefer," said Bob Stutz, corporate vice president, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. "Parature is a perfect fit for every business and will enable us to offer customers one of the best cloud-based solutions for customer self-service. This is a compelling combination for organizations committed to delivering the best service experience that consistently exceeds their customers' expectations."

As a provider of cloud-based customer service software to midsize and enterprise organizations, Parature has a well-earned reputation for outstanding customer service with 70 million users worldwide and more than 500 well-known brands, including Ask.com, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, IBM, Saba Software Inc., Tagged Inc. and Threadless. The company also received the 2013 Frost & Sullivan Customer Value Enhancement Award for using social media to help organizations deliver outstanding customer service.

Parature's approach to its solutions enables organizations to take advantage of an extendable knowledge base available through self-service portals on the Web and Facebook, support ticketing, mobile customer care on virtually any device the customer chooses to use, social customer support, and chat for both traditional customer service scenarios and proactive sales engagement to create new, revenue-generating opportunities for the business. These capabilities complement the existing Microsoft Dynamics CRM customer-care solution with core strengths in workflow, extensibility and process-driven user experiences that allow contact center agents to do their best work.

Microsoft will continue to offer Parature solutions and support all new and existing customers as the company works to further enhance these offerings.

The terms of the agreement are not being disclosed. More information on this announcement, including product integration plans and timeline, will be shared at Parafest 2014 (Feb. 24–25) in Las Vegas and Convergence 2014 (March 4–7) in Atlanta. A blog by Bob Stutz speaking about this announcement Tuesday can be found at https://community.dynamics.com/crm/b/crmconnection/archive/2014/01/07/microsoft-dynamics-crm-and-parature-a-match-made-for-you.aspx.

More information about Parature is available at http://www.parature.com, and more on Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics/crm.aspx.

Those interested can follow and engage with the Microsoft Dynamics community on Twitter at @MSDynamicsCRM, hashtags #MSDynCRM and #CRM2013, and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/msftdynamics.

About Microsoft Dynamics

At the heart of every successful business are the people who make things happen. Microsoft Dynamics designs modern business solutions that empower individuals with intuitive tools that allow them to do their best work. Our proactive, easy-to-use business applications adapt to the way people and systems work, enabling businesses to rapidly deploy and be forward-looking in an ever-changing world.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

SOURCE Microsoft Corp.