Off the wall prediction – some day Dynamics CRM Online will have some cool one or two word name like the rest of Microsoft’s products. Most of your competitors don’t use Customer Relationship Management (CRM). The reason why is that it takes business acumen and organizational maturity, plus a true focus on the customer.

Like many CRM customers, we are eager to get the CRM fall update with our upgrade scheduled on November 13th. As with most of the Microsoft product offerings the past couple of years, the new version of CRM has various strategic implications, chiefly being integrated with other Microsoft offerings and industry compliant for use on virtually any device (including Apple and Google). It will be interesting to see how competitors like SalesForce.com respond, being written in an archaic language that will at some point require an entire re-write to keep up with modern demands.

There is a of course a full overview at the Microsoft Dynamics CRM site, but here are some unique viewpoints for customers:

1. Annoying popups have been removed making navigation and every day entry much faster and easier.
2. Touch capability is available on all devices, as well as responsive display based upon device size.
3. Bing maps and Skype/Lync capabilities are now integrated to quickly find customers and interact with chat or video.
4. Multi-channel capabilities are expanding with more availability for customer self-service and expanded guided processes for sales, service, and marketing.

If you haven’t already done so, this is another update that will force you to retire XP workstations that are no longer supported in April of 2014. Hopefully, this brief notice helps you get started thinking about your CRM. It’s no secret that most implementations fail. We usually find that most of the time, it’s the wrong questions being asked:

• How many cases are open or closed rather than what categories do most of the cases fall?
• How many sales calls where made rather than what is the close rate?

If you have an interest in CRM, contact us for a brief Q&A or demo.

Published by Kevin Fream

Many people don't understand their current situation and become frustrated in business and life, so I created the Delta Method and wrote the #1 Best-Seller "Change Your Game" - as featured at Harvard and NASDAQ as well as national TV news. Streamline your technology for competitive advantage using vetted IT support and take a divergent approach to personal growth. View all posts by Kevin Fream