Dynamics CRM 4.0 Launch Highlights 'Ease-of-Use' - Bring all the business under one dashboard...hospitals and medical practices...

I attended the launch today and it was every bit of what I had anticipated. Anybody that has known me long enough knows I get on my soap box and am at the top of the heap when it comes to organization. With this release there are choices and now I don't have to create and write custom Outlook scripts and forms any longer as CRM does it for you. What CRM does right is bring everything in to Outlook. The first thing one looks at is their email, so Outlook is the perfect choice and Dynamics CRM does it well. It can be hosted or can be local client/server.

I walk in to places every day and watch folks poke around their computers to find word documents, then a spreadsheet, and then return to Outlook...this process goes on all day long...when in fact with a CRM program each individual has a dashboard to use...not only that but you can bring inventory items into the realm...invoices, customer service, sales....and much more...gain marketing trend reports with just a few clicks...forecast better with real time data...

And the big one...what happens to sales information...when the sales representative leave so does the information for the most part...so why not make it easy for data entry and keep some of the information...and when a sales representative calls on an account....is it not wonderful to make all the customer service calls, equipment sales information and more available...will make for a much more productive sales call...and customers appreciate it. Some electronic health record information can also contribute to CRM and add value. I have posted about that topic in the past. One retailer, Best Buy uses CRM and does it to the maximum, I have seen my account once upon a time and there's even a record of the M&M's I bought at a store 5 years ago...so they are not short on data and they are about the best in the business at turning inventory and keeping related costs down...so is there something healthcare and others can learn...I think so...BD

The big key in the entire success of the software is getting users involved and that comes from top management down...like starting at the CEO level....as he/she too will benefit in having their own desktop complete with reports and only a few clicks away from seeing the status of business in real time whenever needed...and one more item....it can be up in running in as little as 30 minutes, again depending upon the network and integration necessary it could be a little more involved, but for the most part Dynamics integrates with MS Office and is up and ready to go...and to customize the way it works for you....not so bad... and it goes to the PDA or Blackberry as well...automation makes for reducing stress and making the working environment a lot easier to deal with. Talk with myself or another MS partner for more information...BD

Microsoft officially launched its latest customer relationship management (CRM) product, Dynamics CRM 4.0, this week.
At a well-attended event this morning in Huntington Beach, Calif., Microsoft focused not on the new features or technical details of the release, but instead characterized the problems of sales teams and the use of CRM systems, which generally have been too complex for the end user. Ironically, the event consisted mostly of technology partners and potential CRM solution customers. A show of hands indicated that few attendees were actually in sales or marketing.
Another audience participant complained that her sales people are "technically challenged" and that "they believe their contacts are their intellectual property." Lush replied that "you have challenges with any salespeople," and that The Linc Group's salespeople "have very little computing background" but "the product is not hard to use." He added that the company also uses Windows Workflow technology to automate things like customer follow-up to make things easier for the sales team.
Dynamics CRM Partners
There were about 10 vendor-sponsor booths at the event, featuring products that extend the capabilities of Dynamics CRM. Cisco Systems offered a few products that integrate with Dynamics CRM 4.0, including the Cisco Unified CallConnector (both as part of the Cisco Unified Communications platform and as a hosted solution) and the Cisco Contact Center. Genesys, an Alcatel-Lucent company, provides switched and IP-based customer interaction communication solutions.