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In-Depth Review
Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052-6399
Telephone: (800)
MICROSOFT (642-7676)
Email:
Web:
http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/default.mspx
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize
their full potential.
At Microsoft, we're motivated and inspired every day by how our customers
use our software to find creative solutions to business problems, develop
breakthrough ideas, and stay connected to what's most important to them.
We run our business in much the same way, and believe our three core
business divisions offer the greatest potential to serve our customers. They
are:
- Platform Products and Services Division: Includes the Client Group,
the Server & Tools Group, and the Online Services Group
- Business Division: Includes the Information Worker Group, the
Microsoft Business Solutions Group, and the Unified Communications Group
- Entertainment and Devices Division: Includes the Home &
Entertainment Group and the Mobile & Embedded Devices Group
We are committed long term to the mission of helping our customers
realize their full potential. Just as we constantly update and improve our
products, we want to continually evolve our company to be in the best
position to accelerate new technologies as they emerge and to better serve
our customers.
Product: Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Current Version: 3.0
Category: On-Premise Mid Market CRM Solution
Sub-Category:
Client Platform: Microsoft Windows Vista
Server Platform: Microsoft Windows Server
Database Platform: Microsoft SQL Server
Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a customer relationship management (CRM)
solution that provides the tools and capabilities needed to create and
easily maintain a clear picture of customers, from first contact through to
purchase and post-sales. With modules for sales, marketing, and customer
service, Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers a fast, flexible, and affordable
solution that drives consistent, measurable improvements in every business
process, enabling closer relationships with customers and helping to achieve
new levels of profitability.
Even for companies with the most complex of sales processes, Microsoft
Dynamics CRM provides easy-to-use features and capabilities to help improve
the way sales and marketing organizations target new customers, manage
marketing campaigns, and drive sales activities. Here's how Microsoft
Dynamics CRM can help your employees make better business decisions and get
a clearer view of your customers.
Works the way you do
Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the fastest and easiest way to add CRM
capabilities to any organization that uses Microsoft Office system
applications, including Microsoft Office Outlook. Because it was designed to
partner with Office Outlook, Microsoft Dynamics CRM delivers lower training
costs, broader user adoption, less application-switching, higher
productivity, and a fast return on investment.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives your employees direct access to customer
information through Office Outlook, enabling access to the information they
need whether in the office or on the road. Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers:
- Tight integration with the Microsoft Office system and Office
Outlook, allowing employees to easily pull information from Microsoft
Dynamics CRM into Office system applications such as Microsoft Office
Excel spreadsheet software and Microsoft Office Word word processing
software.
- Quick and easy access to your data through context-sensitive
information for populating forms or taking next steps without changing
screens.
- Customized workspaces that allow users to create, save, and reuse
favorite views of customer data without the distraction of unneeded
information.
- Service Calendar that allows service schedulers and dispatchers to
schedule activities by resource, time, or service.
- Powerful reporting and analysis tools that make it easy to identify
opportunities and problems at a glance.
- Great mobile support that helps enable field workers to get instant
access to customer data from most popular portable devices including
mobile phones with Web browsers, and laptops.
Works the way your business does
Microsoft Dynamics CRM not only slips right into your employees' lives
without disruption, it also adapts easily to your existing business workflow
and processes. You or your information technology (IT) partner can quickly
modify application forms, data fields, and relationships and add new
activities and objects without writing a single line of code. This makes it
easy to tailor Microsoft Dynamics CRM to suit your needs and fit your
business. Microsoft Dynamics CRM features several workflow innovations that
speed use, including next-step suggestions and automatic task assignment.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM also includes capabilities such as:
- A new marketing automation module that makes it easy to build
customer or lead lists, create targeted marketing campaigns, track the
progress of those campaigns, and follow up on campaigns.
- Quick Campaign wizard that allows marketers and salespeople to send
out e-mail blasts to targeted lists and track responses.
- Service scheduling that allows you to centrally manage all aspects
of a service request, from logging and dispatching to tracking and
follow-up.
- Easy customization of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to your business
workflow by adding custom objects and activities, designing custom views
for different users, and building business logic into the CRM. This
enables Microsoft Dynamics CRM to automate repetitive tasks, tells users
next steps, sends e-mail messages, and raises alerts for open items—so
nothing falls through the cracks, giving your customers a better
experience.
- Flexible reporting that enables managers to easily see how your
business is doing—CRM data can be transferred into Microsoft Office
Excel for analysis or into Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server for
updating executive dashboards or collaborating on customer-related
documents.
Works the way technology should
Microsoft Dynamics CRM works the way your IT staff wants it to because
it's based on proven, industry-standard Microsoft technology that's easy to
learn and work with. You'll enjoy a rapid, low-cost deployment; low support
costs; and easy scalability as your business grows. IT-friendly features
include:
- Easy to modify forms, data fields, and information relationships so
that users can get the customized information they need.
- Streamlined installation with diagnostic tools that reduce setup
time and help ensure a successful deployment of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
- Fast data searches across large volumes of customer data that help
users find the information they need.
- Easy to use step-by-step Microsoft Exchange Connector Deployment
Wizard that simplifies Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration with Microsoft
Exchange and Office Outlook.
- Simple and fast connectivity to external data sources that gives
users access to relevant information.
- Advanced management and notification tools that are centralized and
give the IT staff the right information to manage a CRM system.
Fast facts about Microsoft Dynamics CRM
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Editions
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Microsoft CRM 3.0 is available in two
editions: Microsoft Dynamics Professional Edition and Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 3.0 Small Business Edition –
Compare editions.
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Licensing
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Check out special offers, and review licensing options.
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Languages
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Offered in English, German, French, Spanish,
Italian, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Portuguese, Swedish, Polish, Czech,
Russian, Hungarian, and Turkish.
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System requirements
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Review hardware and software requirements necessary to implement
Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
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Support
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Support professionals and self-support options
offer around-the-clock access to information.
Evaluate support programs.
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Integration
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Microsoft Dynamics CRM integrates with key
Microsoft products, including the Microsoft Office system and
Microsoft Windows Small Business Server.
Learn why Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 and Microsoft Office systems
are great business partners.
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Customization
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Wizards help you customize Microsoft Dynamics
CRM, and your Microsoft Certified Partner can help customize and
integrate third-party applications, tools, and services. Find out
more about
integrating applications from independent solution developers.
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Training
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E-Learning from Microsoft Dynamics gives you
access to training 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Review training options.
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For pricing details, please contact the company
directly.
We recently honored this program with our Willy award for:
- Best On-Premise CRM Solution for Small Enterprise
A fully updated review of this product will be available in January -
2008!
Have a question about this program?
Then please just email me your question! If the answer is short
& sweet, I will pop you back an answer. If the question requires further
research, I will look into it and post the reply on my blog,
AskRichBohn.com, to share with
others. As always, you can email me at
rich@sellmorenow.com !
Short List:
If you are considering this program, you should also look at these other
CRM solutions:
Rich's Recommended Web Sites
ICU MSCRM
A play on words: The Intensive Care Unit for Microsoft CRM and I-C-U as
in "I see you". This blog will let you see me as I recount my experiences
with CRM, and also provide a place where I can provide some intensive care
to other CRM implementers and users.
http://icu-mscrm.blogspot.com/
Simon Hutson's UK Microsoft Dynamics CRM Blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/ukcrm/default.aspx
ITtoolbox Microsoft Dynamics CRM Discussion List
The ITtoolbox MS-CRM-L discussion group is for the discussion of issues
that arise during the implementation, configuration, administration or daily
use of Microsoft CRM solutions.
http://crm.ittoolbox.com/groups/technical-functional/ms-crm-l
Sonoma Partners
Chicago-based Sonoma Partners sells, customizes and implements
Microsoft's Customer Relationship Management (Microsoft CRM) software for
mid-size and enterprise companies throughout the United States.
http://sonomapartners.typepad.com/blog/
Microsoft CRM 3.0 Tips
http://www.tconv.com/blogs/crm3tips/
Microsoft Dynamics CRM News Blog
http://johnspilker.typepad.com/microsoft_dynamics_crm/
Workopia Microsoft CRM Blog
Microsoft CRM Blog for Small Medium Businesses - How To Articles, Project
Stories, Observations, etc.
http://spaces.msn.com/microsoft-crm/
A Freaky Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Blog
Written by a consultant for Microsoft in The Netherlands
http://blogs.msdn.com/mscrmfreak/default.aspx
Microsoft CRM Best Practices
Microsoft CRM Best Practices and workflow examples
http://blogs.msdn.com/crmbest/default.aspx
Rich's Recommended Reads
Buy
these books from Amazon.com
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