“Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Departmental Deep Dive”

Thursday, February 18, 2010 @ 11:00 AM PST

In the first session of this two part series, we discussed how Microsoft CRM 4.0 can benefit your entire organization at a high level.

In this session, we will drill down on how Microsoft CRM 4.0 can assist your IT department in making sure that Microsoft CRM 4.0 fits your organization’s requirements, how it can simplify your marketing efforts with defined and assigned tasks, how it can add easy business processes to make your sales efforts more profitable, and lastly how it can simplify your service department by adding business processes to quickly and effectively service your customers.

Please join us – click here to register.

Visitors to the CRM Software Blog will find several recent articles regarding identifying the right CRM solution for your business. And rightly so – it’s a very important topic for those looking for a customer relationship management solution.

I wanted to share another article on that topic from Kelly McGuire over at TMCnet.com. It points to a 2009 Focus Research white paper called the Sales Force Automation Buyer’s Guide. The paper offers good advice for buyers as they walk through the (sometimes) difficult process of finding the right solution for their organization. This is especially important for buyers that are searching for customer relationship management software for the first time.

As the title indicates, the focus of the white paper is really the sales organization of the company. Buyers looking for a solution to support multiple departments (service, technical support, marketing, etc.) may find some information lacking for them to help identify the full capabilities offered by some of the vendors, but it is a solid start. Also, some readers may have some questions regarding the distinctions made classifying particular vendor types and the types of clients they support.  For instance, neither SAP nor Microsoft Dynamics CRM is identified as a product for the enterprise customer. But I’ll admit – those are minor objections compared to the comprehensive nature of the information and research findings gathered here…for free!

The white paper touches on important topics such as requirements, cost considerations, what to expect from your vendor, and includes tools to help identify what type of buyer you are, as well as an example of a product requirement worksheet that could help your organization focus on their true needs.  Overall, it provides buyers with solid information, insight, and resources and I would classify it as recommended reading – for both buyers and sellers of CRM software.

Good reading!

Interested in learning how sales force automation can impact your sales team?  Looking to jumpstart your CRM project?  Let us help you get started with a free assessment. Please contact us by email rkuhlmann@advancedsps.com or call us at (310) 844-7865.

Robert Kuhlmann is a Senior CRM Consultant with AdvancedSPS, a California Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner.  With over 15 years of functional experience successfully developing, implementing and managing CRM systems, Robert now offers his expertise to organizations like yours in order to successfully design, implement and manage CRM solutions.

By: Robert Kuhlmann, AdvancedSPS – California Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner

So, you are comparing CRM software, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Salesforce.com are your two top options for online or web-based CRM software.  Now, you need to determine which system would be the best application for your business.  Been there, done that.

A few years ago, as Vice President of Sales for a direct marketing firm in Los Angeles, we were looking for a CRM solution.  We went through an exhaustive evaluation and selection process to find the right one for our organization.  At the conclusion of our due diligence phase, it became obvious that there were 3 reasons why Microsoft Dynamics CRM was the better choice: flexibility, productivity and affordability.

Reason # 1: Flexibility

On-premise OR On-demand:  Sure, you want to be “in the cloud” today.  But will an online solution still be viable for your company next month, or next year?  Microsoft’s flexible solution allows you to easily move your entire installation from a hosted environment to your site, with all of your customizations and data intact.  Thankfully, we made the right decision, because less than 6 months after we implemented our hosted solution, it was moved on-premise.

Reason # 2: Productivity

Frankly, using Salesforce.com can be as easy as any other CRM system out there, but it can also be a big hassle when it comes to rescheduling activities – I know, because I’ve used it as well.  Sales people need to easily and quickly reschedule calls, tasks and appointments, and doing so within Microsoft Dynamics CRM is very easy with native Outlook experience.  Other benefits include flexible email smart matching to automatically track incoming messages in CRM and the fact that attachments automatically preserved whether it is the Web client or Outlook client.  This not only increased productivity, but proved to our users the power and value of the application. 

And the ease-of-use doesn’t stop there.  Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a natural extension of Microsoft Office and Outlook and that familiar look and feel helps reduce ramp-up and training time.  It is also extremely flexible, adapting to your culture and processes rather than forcing you to mold your business to new software. 

Reason # 3: Affordability

Lastly, the ongoing costs associated with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online are much lower than Salesforce.com, providing you more value for less money.  At $44 per month per user, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online enables your organization to quickly increase your productivity without significant capital investment, while not limiting your future options.  Plus, that $44 includes free mobile access, enhanced data import, and customizable views.

Interested in learning more about CRM?  Looking to jumpstart your CRM project?  Let us help you get started with a free assessment. Please contact us by email rkuhlmann@advancedsps.com or call us at (310) 844-7865.

Robert Kuhlmann is a Senior CRM Consultant with AdvancedSPS, a California Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner.  With over 15 years of functional experience successfully developing, implementing and managing CRM systems, Robert now offers his expertise to organizations like yours in order to successfully design, implement and manage CRM solutions.

By: Robert Kuhlmann, AdvancedSPS – California Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner

If you are just starting to learn about CRM tools and strategies, we look forward to guiding you through the process. If you are already using a CRM system like Microsoft Dynamics CRM . We hope you will learn from our expertise.