OKLAHOMA CITY - On Feb. 15 and 16 in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, respectively, representatives from Microsoft and partner eMonarch will host seminars to introduce local business professionals to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, its newest customer relationship management computer application.

Customer relationship management is a popular phrase in the business community, especially as companies strive to increase profits and productivity. In December, Microsoft released its latest version of its CRM product. "We were looking for a way to manage and do business smarter," said Sean Fullerton, president of eMonarch, a CRM partner and business solutions firm in Tulsa. "The message we're trying to bring is how to be more profitable and be able to do more things with less effort."

Microsoft's CRM 3.0 is functional with the Outlook application and is designed for anyone within an organization that needs a 360-degree view of a client, whether it is the owner, manager, salesperson or marketing staff. If all entities are able to view the status of a client's needs, requests and have access to the communication that has transpired, companies will be better able to serve their clients.

Customer relationship management applications are not exclusive to Microsoft. Oracle and Siebel Systems, which was acquired by Oracle last week, both have CRM systems. Sage Software and SalesForce.com also have CRM applications, as well as Pivotal, which specializes in CRM services.

Sixty-seven percent of businesses don't leave because of product price, said Tom Pertzborn, regional manager for Microsoft CRM in Irving, Texas. They leave because they aren't satisfied with their relationship. Microsoft offers two versions of CRM 3.0, one for a small business server and one for professionals. Functionality of the applications is the same.

At a cost of $620 to $880 per user, the professional software comes with a year of maintenance and support. The professional software also has a server fee of $1,200 to $1,700 per server. The small-business software ranges from $440 to $499 per user and $525 to $599 per server. The small-business software also comes with a year of maintenance and support.

There are about 6,000 customers representing 170,000 people using Microsoft's CRM applications, Pertzborn said. Next week's seminars are free to the public and run from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. Breakfast and lunch are included. The Tulsa seminar will be held at Renaissance Tulsa Hotel and Convention Center, and Oklahoma City's seminar will be at Renaissance Oklahoma City Convention Center Hotel. For more information, contact Paul Warren at (214) 244-4475.