Microsoft has acquired FieldOne to strengthen its Dynamics CRM offering

Microsoft has acquired field service management FieldOne Systems in a move aimed at complementing its Dynamics CRM customer service capabilities.

The cloud-based field service management software is already built on Microsoft technology on the back and front-end (Dynamics CRM), making integration with Office 365 somewhat more straightforward than it would be otherwise.

“Their industry-leading solution specializes in delivering a full set of capabilities that include work order management, automated scheduling, asset contract, inventory and procurement management, workflow capabilities and mobile collaboration – providing enterprises with a comprehensive modern field service solution,” explained Bob Stutz, corporate vice president of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

“FieldOne is a great fit for Dynamics CRM adding to our extensive customer service capabilities – which includes chat, knowledge management and self-service functionality from Parature which we acquired in January of 2014.  Like Parature, FieldOne is offered to customers as a cloud service. It’s built on Microsoft technology for fast integration, it already works great with other Microsoft productivity offerings like Office 365 and SharePoint, and has cross-platform capabilities meaning it can work on different devices enhancing the mobile experience which is so critically important in field service management.”

Microsoft said the FieldOne acquisition is a “major step” towards helping it round off its customer services software portfolio. The move is reminiscent of a similar acquisition made last year by Oracle when the database and ERP giant bought TOA technologies, which it rolled into its Service Cloud offering.