Microsoft CRM List Web Part for SharePoint - released!
December 19, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
The Microsoft Dynamics CRM team has released the List Web Part for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
The List Web Part can be installed on Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1+ and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP1+ … and the best bit the List Web Part is free for download and use!
List Web Part allows users to display CRM data inside a SharePoint page. The List Web Part for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 provides a subset of the Microsoft CRM record list and allows users to view records from Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a list in a SharePoint dashboard, open records in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, and connect multiple web parts to gain insight from different sources.
We have a robust SharePoint practice at CSG, so if you’d like to discuss any element of either SharePoint, or CRM, please do not hesitate to give us a call on 1300 306 332, or drop me an email.
Download Link: http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=3B6EB884-EC15-4288-A2A3-D0B47E057458&DisplayLang=en
Who should take ownership?
December 18, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
One of the things we constantly face as CRM consultants, is the challenge of getting ownership from the client side - they may have dedicated project managers, but what about once the project finishes?
Umar Khan a Microsoft CRM MVP has written an excellent article about this very issue:
It is always a tricky responsibility, who should take the ownership of not only the successful implementation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM but also making sure that its internal users are using CRM in a way which can ultimately help in achieving the expected goals of CRM strategy.
Just installing and configuring a fine CRM software is not enough. Providing CRM training is also not the last step. It is most important that employees of the company are ready to use CRM even if they are reluctant. People are often reluctant to accept change. But by providing concrete examples of how this product can be used to improve an employee’s performance, the best of your staff will quickly gravitate towards using the new solution set.
’til next time.
Email Tracking for Microsoft CRM
November 14, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
In the new era of electronic marketing, tracking email statistics, specifically when an email was opened, has become a marketing imperative.
So using Microsoft CRM, how can you track email opens?
The PowerObjects CRM Blog has an excellent suggestion:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM does not track if a person opens an e-mail or if they clicked on a link. One way to handle this is to pay an e-mail tracking company to send the e-mails for you. This can be expensive and take time to plan and send out an e-mail campaign.
Sounds like a business problem, lets find a solution.
Whenever we solve problems we solve 80% up front then enhance the solution as needed. In my case I wanted to simply know who is opening our e-mails. We send out 5000 e-mail every month, who should my sales people be calling first, the people that have opened the e-mail of course.
A simple way to track who has opened an email is to use an HTML e-mail that pulls an image with a tracking token. Sounds easy. Lets look at what has to be done.
You can read more on their site and feel free to contact us for assistance, if you’d like to implement this solution!
Microsoft CRM 5.0 - What’s planned?
November 12, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
CRM 4.0 has only been with us for less than a year, but already Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0 is being discussed, and the new features being discussed and worked on by the Microsoft CRM development team.
Of course, this is very early in the development cycle, and not all will be released … but at least gives us a nice taste for what is planned!
Microsoft Dynamics CRM UK Blog has a lot of information, which is summarised below:
Ribbon Navigation
Taken from Office 2007 (love it or hate it!) the implementation of the ribbon navigation system is slated for CRM 5.0 to make it easier for users to pick up and find key areas - and this will be completely customisable.
Data Filtering
Navigate to the “DataView”, click the “Filter” command, and perform in-line filtering.
Team Ownership -
Team Owned entities are added in CRM5, which allows for major security benefit
Native SharePoint Integration -
Full, out-of-the-box integration with Windows SharePoint Services for document management
In-line Visualizations -
CRM5 allows you to visualize numeric data using in-line charts. This is not SQL Server Reporting Services currently.
There are many more administration and development features available to read at Microsoft Dynamics CRM UK Blog.
We’ll keep you up-to-date as more information appears publicly available!
Microsoft CRM Accelerators - Release …
November 5, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
Microsoft have released to market two of their CRM Accelerators, for Microsoft CRM 4.0 and these are:
- Extended Sales Forecaster: enriches the out-of-the-box sales forecasting capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.
- CRM Notifications Accelerator: allows users to subscribe to the CRM “business events” that are significant to them, e.g. a salesperson is interested in new leads and opportunities assigned to them whereas a customer service representative is interested in new service cases assigned to them, via RSS.
These accelerators can be downloaded now by existing Microsoft CRM 4.0 Customers - for more details of their location, and how to deploy this to your system, send me an email!
Event: Microsoft CRM - Everyone Gets it!
October 31, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
Endless meetings. Scattered information. Copy machines that mysteriously jam whenever there’s a deadline. Let’s face it. Work is hard enough.
That’s why we made Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM so easy to use.
Consider this: Research says 46% of people licensed to use business management software never use it. Why? Because it’s too hard. Too unfamiliar. It’s not user-friendly. In short, no one gets it.
But everyone gets Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
It works like and with the familiar Microsoft software your people already know. So if they know Microsoft® Office Outlook® and Microsoft® Office Excel®, they know Microsoft Dynamics. Imagine what they can do, and what your business can accomplish, when you’re using CRM software everyone gets.
Join us in our Perth Office on Wednesday, the 3rd of December for a Breakfast presentation, on exactly how Microsoft Dynamics CRM can easily empower your organisation.
Want to join us?
It’s easy!
Either click here to email us or give Michelle a call on (08) 6250 7900 to reserve your place today.
Microsoft CRM wins #1 Ranking!
October 30, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
Recently, Forrester announced the results of its rankings for its CRM Sales and Customer Service Wave reports.
Forrester ranked Microsoft Dynamics CRM as the #1 solution in the Direct Sales Management category, beating out Salesforce.com, Oracle Siebel, SAP CRM, and all others in SFA.
Also, Dynamics CRM was ranked as #1 in the “Record Customer-Centric” category over Salesforce, Oracle, and SAP. This category focuses on complex B2B relationships where customer service is driven from within the CRM solution.
To quote:
Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Over the past five years, Microsoft has established itself as a major CRM player thanks to deep capital investment, a formidable strategy, and strong branding. The product is strong in SFA, internationalisations, and usability.Arguably its greatest strength is its native Microsoft Office user experience. The solution is set up to look, feel, and function like Outlook. Sales analysis tools, opportunity management, and setup and configuration capabilities are the application’s key SFA strengths. The product also is available in multiple deployment options and is attractively priced below many of the alternative products in the market. The solution is built on the Microsoft .NET framework and integrates seamlessly with other Microsoft productivity tools, like Office, Outlook, and SharePoint.
Read More: Forrester Wave: Q4 2008 (250)
Microsoft CRM - Statement of Direction
October 28, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
Microsoft have recently released the statement of direction for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 product.
Microsoft is bringing new innovations to customer relationship management (CRM) software with Microsoft Dynamics® CRM. It is a flexible CRM solution that fits your people, fits your business, and fits your environment. This document outlines the future direction of Microsoft Dynamics CRM through to the next major release, Microsoft Dynamics CRM “V.Next” which is targeted for release in late 2009/early 2010.
Read more in the PDF file: Microsoft CRM Statement of Direction (224)
Manage a Telemarketing Campaign
October 27, 2008 by JFerguson · Leave a Comment
An excellent article written by Guy Riddle an Australian CRM MVP, discusses in detail the steps on how to manage a telemarketing campaign in Microsoft CRM 4.0.
To quote:
How do we go about setting up a telemarketing campaign through Microsoft Dynamics CRM? Here is the challenge - we have acquired a list of Companies that we want our telesales team to call, but it is not quite as straightforward as ‘assigning’ a number of the records to each member of the telesales team – as often is the case with telemarketing there are other requirements that come into play:
- We need to measure ‘activities’ so each and every Phone Call must be recorded
- Two teams are going to be calling (because of time zone differences they start at different times) – East Coast and West Coast – so we have to be able to determine which records fall into the appropriate classification.
- Each team consist of ‘temps’ who do not work every day, therefore all calls must sit in Queues – so we have to ‘generate’ Phone Call activities and assign them to the appropriate Queue
- Each call must carry an ‘Outcome’ (sometimes referred to as a wrap-up code), so we can measure how the campaign is working
- We have to handle busy signals; wrong numbers; fax numbers; etc. – in this case we need to record a ‘call’ was made but in some instances we want a ‘call back’ (or ‘try again’) Phone Call to be automatically created
- We require that ‘call back’ phone calls are to be made after the initial run through of all the calls – so they must sit in a separate queue so that they can be easily identified
- We need to update the Leads (as a result of the call) so we can analyse them effectively
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