The system captures the metadata and stores the information in such a way that it is available to different workflow engines, said Jan Jamrich, program manager for Microsoft CRM.

In Version 3.0, the underlying database is now capable of handling a multitenant architecture that will be critical for Microsoft's goal of selling CRM 3.0 to SaaS (software as a service) providers who will resell it in turn to their customers.

Microsoft is setting the hosted fee to SaaS providers at $24.95 per user, allowing the SaaS provider to charge whatever they consider is the prevailing market price for the service, Faulkner said.

However, this reseller model is not really an indication that Microsoft is moving to a full SaaS offering.

"They would need to centralize the data in a datacenter for all of their customers," Herbert said.