Your CRM (customer relationship management) system is the most important tool in your marketing toolbox. But even widely used solutions eventually reach end-of-life. And it’s happening right now – several major technology providers are withdrawing their CRM systems. Three major CRM providers announced recently they are retiring their CRMs, replacing them with third party systems and alternatives. Here’s what marketers using those CRMs need to know.
Towards the end of Q3 2025, Microsoft, SAP and Zendesk announced that they’ll be retiring their CRM systems in 2027 and 2028.
- Microsoft will be ending the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Unified Service Desk (USD) with CRM Online application and urges customers to switch to their Customer Service workspace application.
- SAP are migrating their customers to SAP S/4HANA, forcing customers to move on from their legacy CRM system.
- Zendesk is retiring its CRM system, Zendesk Sell, and promoting Pipedrive, a third-party sales CRM solution.
With these changes, marketers have to adapt and change along with the already lean team and expanding workloads.
Microsoft Replacing CRM with Copilot Service workspace
This January, Microsoft announced that it will officially deprecate Microsoft Dynamics 365 Unified Service Desk (USD) with CRM online on 1 April 2026. This means that there will be no more new investments in the platform and older versions will lose Dataverse access because of missing security features. On 30 April 2027, Microsoft will stop any further quality or security updates for USD, signalling end of service. The platform will be completely retired on 30 June 30 2028.
Microsoft is urging its customers to switch to the Customer Service workspace application (also known as Copilot Service workspace) as soon as possible before the deprecation date. Those who aren’t able to must update to the latest USD version to maintain security compliance.
Zendesk Retires its Own CRM and Proposes Third-party Alternative
Two months ago, Zendesk announced that it will retire Zendesk Sell on 31 August 2027. Zendesk is encouraging customers to transition to its partner, Pipedrive, a sales CRM solution, which claims to have migration tools that ensure a smooth transition.
Zendesk clarifies that it’s making this change as part of an initiative to focus on their customer and employee service. Thus, it had made the decision to retire Zendesk Sell and no longer offer a sales CRM.
SAP Recommends its Other Systems When Ending Legacy CRM
SAP is ending its mainstream maintenance for SAP CRM 7.0 EhP 0–1 in 2025, and for EhP 2–4 in 2027. After 2027, extended maintenance such as regulatory, security, and performance updates will be available until 2030. The legacy SAP CRM systems have a few disadvantages. Its highly customised environments make migration difficult. It requires stakeholder alignment for business process overhauls. It also presents risk for slowed innovation and reduced agility for companies.
For those who are using SAP CRM systems, the company recommends its Customer Evolution Programme, which offers a smooth pathway for transitioning from SAP CRM to cloud-based SAP CX solutions such as SAP Sales Cloud, SAP Service Cloud, SAP Marketing Cloud, and back office processes via SAP S/4HANA.
What Does This Mean for Marketers?
Major players in the B2B world retiring their CRM is a significant change, but it can offer an opportunity for marketers who are shopping for CRM systems. Choose a CRM system that has ongoing support from its vendor, such as a robust product and features roadmap, and the ability to integrate with your marketing stack, including your marketing automation platform. Don’t accept your old provider’s “recommended transition” plan as the only choice. Look for a provider committed to your industry and your space.
For UK and EMEA organisations, CRM transitions also surface considerations such as GDPR compliance, data protection obligations, and data residency requirements.
Here at Act-On, we think the choice of the CRM system is best left up to the marketing team, not the limitations of their tech stack. That’s why we put integration and data openness at the centre of our platform. We provide native integrations with the industry’s best CRM systems. In addition, we also provide advanced CRM mapping, where you can leverage your data for more targeted and personalised marketing.
No matter what your marketing strategy or automation tool, it’s crucial to ensure it serves your business to the fullest by having the ability for seamless integration to optimise automation. And it’s more important to choose a vendor that thinks the same and puts in measurable effort to ensure that. For more tips on a marketing automation strategy that does value the optimisation of automation and seamless integration of business, check out our migration guide.