Microsoft has agreed to integrate Zoominfo's business information search engine into its Dynamics CRM. The new feature is expected to help businesses identify fresh leads, expand intelligence on existing customers and create targeted sales campaigns.

'According to CSO Insights, the sale average rep spends 2 hours preparing, researching, servicing for every hour spent selling,' Zoominfo president Sam Zales told IT Examiner. 'Zoominfo's strategic partnership with Microsoft Dynamics CRM as well as Sugar CRM and Salesforce makes sales teams more efficient by equipping them with information on 5 million companies and 45 million people right within their CRM system. By integrating Zoominfo with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, we are further empowering marketing and sales executives with the information they need to be effective and efficient in their job.'

As IT Examiner previously reported, Sugarcrm recently introduced embedded cloud connectors for both Zoominfo and Crunchbase. The integrated feature allows Sugarcrm to automatically connect to third-party data services, thereby providing users with real-time account and lead information. The connector also offers an advanced merge option that facilitates the seamless importation of data from multiple providers directly into the CRM.

Martin Schneider, director of product marketing at Sugarcrm, described cloud connectors as 'a set of developer-friendly APIs for accessing third-party systems via web services'. According to Schneider, users could opt for a dynamic 'real time hover or snapshot' of external sources, or choose a static import of relevant data.

Schneider emphasised that 'typical customer use of cloud connectors did not stress the CRM system in any significant or noticeable way.'

The director addressed possible security concerns surrounding foreign data importation by noting that 'adequate security safeguards were (typically) baked into third party primary systems.' X

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