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It is not unusual for Microsoft CRM Marketing & Sales users to become disappointed with the external lists that they receive to conduct Marketing and Sales campaigns. Poor and/or incomplete data often times leads to poor user adoption. Missing contact names, missing and/or inaccurate e-Mail addresses, revenues, etc. all add up to additional time, effort, and cost to create viable lists to create Market Segments that you will use to Market/Sell your products and services. As of June, 2009 that dilemma is solved. Hoover's, a Dun & Bradstreet Company, has created "Access Hoover's" that allows licensed Microsoft CRM Users to create a direct integration to the Access Hoover's global database and execute specific profiles, selections, review, and import qualified target Marketing lists directly into Microsoft CRM Account and Contact folders. Hoover's data has been thoroughly reviewed and updated by the D&B Company. Access Hoover's is currently available for Microsoft CRM V4.0 users and is moderately priced by user and volume discounts apply. Select Contacts directly from the integrated Hoover's Database and import and create Contacts in MS CRM.

Hoover's and Microsoft CRM bring integrated value to Marketing and Sales departments with access to over 32,000 companies and over 37,000 contacts to enhance your Marketing efforts.

Profile your target Marketing lists by Geography, Company Vertical, Company Size, and additional selection criteria:

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This post is written by Bill Gerrish. Bill is a Dynamics Solutions Executive with Ignify. Ignify is an Inner Circle Microsoft Dynamics Partner who specializes in Microsoft CRM with over 7,000 CRM users. Ignify has built our reputation on product and industry knowledge as well as providing long term value to our growing and diverse Customer base. If you are seeking assistance to maximize your efforts with your Microsoft CRM project contact Ignify at 562-219-2000 or email us at crm@ignify.com.

Ignify implemented Microsoft Dynamics CRM Sales & Service module for one of our non-profit clients in the education segment in Southern California. CRM Contracts entity coupled with workflows and an xRM application is utilized for their contract management business. Before the contracts are dispatched they go through multiple levels where they are verified and required changes are added or modified for the final version. A Contract gets reassigned from one level/team to another. It was important to track notes entered at each level. However, The out-of-box configuration CRM configuration resets the ModifedDate and ModifiedBy on all contract notes whenever the contract is re-assigned.

The following blog is written to share my experience on how to avoid update of the modified date and modified by for the notes/annotation  records when the parent entity is reassigned.

Cause of this issue: Contract entity has a 1:N relationship with the Notes (Annotations) entity . Since the relationship type is “Parental” with the “Cascade All” setting for all operations, whenever a Contract was assigned (or re-assigned), all contract notes were updated to the new values. The resolution for this issue was to set the relationship behaviour to “Configurable” and Assign Operation behaviour to “Cascade None” to preserve the old assignments.

Steps to resolve this issue:

• 1. Open Microsoft Dynamics CRM
• 2. Goto Settings -> Customization
• 3. Click on Customize Entities
• 4. Open the Contract entity
• 5. Click on 1:N Relationships
• 6. Double click the Contract_Annotation relationship
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• 7. Change the “Type of Behavior” from Parental to “Configurable Casading”
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• 8. Change the “Assign” from Cascade All to “Cascade None”
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• 9. Save and close the changes
• 10. Publish the changes

This post is written by Neerav Shah. Neerav is a Senior Technical Analyst in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Practice at Ignify . Ignify is a Global Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle Partner specializing in Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Retail, Distribution, Contact Centers verticals. For help on Microsoft Dynamics CRM email us at dynamics@ignify.com

I attended PDC 2009 last week and enjoyed every moment of it. Things seem to be changing for Microsoft with far too fast changing competitive landscape. And Microsoft has an interesting challenge to play catch up or be thought leaders in computing technology. They seem to be doing both and trying hard to be thought leaders. The significant theme in this PDC was Windows Azure – a platform meant for cloud computing. And there are some interesting bits about the platform in terms of how Microsoft is approaching it.

There is a much different strategy to Azure if you compare it with Amazon EC2 and there are similarities with Google App Engine. Azure is a computing platform and is not meant to be used as a server bank with on demand elastic availability unlike EC2. To Microsoft credit, that is a very attractive idea in .NET world and has merits in a number of scenarios – as an example avoid human dependence for server/application management. Azure seems to be the next biggest bet that Microsoft is taking and so far I think they are on the right track. There were some very interesting talks from Azure team, an outstanding presentation by Manuvir Das that explained Azure’s past and talked about it’s future. One of the key differences in Microsoft offering though is - SQL Azure. There is nothing from Amazon or Google that really comes close to SQL Azure. With a very well crafted scale out strategy, SQL Azure may be the the key winner for Microsoft. But due to scale out nature, it has limited application to existing applications unless re-architected.

So what does all this mean to mid size customers running Dynamics ERP, CRM, Sharepoint, Exchange and custom written .NET applications or plumbing. This question has two different answers for home grown or otherwise written .NET applications and non .NET applications from Microsoft Dynamics stable

For .NET applications, there are two key areas where all CIOs in these mid size organizations should consider Azure. Azure would also significantly change how mid size IT operations would be run in future:

1. Cost Saving – I am calling this out first given the current economic scenario and the continual pressure to fulfill customer demands while reducing the cost at the same time. Setting up Development, Test & Staging environments and providing global access has been a friction factor for launching many application initiatives. With Azure, that problem is pretty much gone. You can fund a new project with a very minimal upfront cost in infrastructure or time. The billing model for Azure when running in Production is likely to be much lower than what it would cost internally or with a hosting company. Our recommendation for new applications is to evaluate Azure as the first platform option for all future .NET initiatives. A natural question would be about existing infrastructure – right now Windows Azure has limitations on what all you can deploy and you might end up doing expensive evaluation or trial and error. There are offerings on the card that would make EC2 like fully controlled Windows instances a reality on Azure. Our recommendation for existing applications is to wait till 3rd quarter of 2010 before moving existing applications to Azure. 
2. Enterprise like scale up and fault tolerance capability – This would be my number 1 reason had the economic condition been different. With Windows Azure and the deep investment behind this, there are significant gains for mid size companies to get enterprise like scale up and fault tolerance capabilities at zero upfront cost and very reasonable operating cost. Capability to launch additional instances of web servers (called Web Roles in Azure world) on demand is extremely attractive.

Does Azure change the way I run Dynamics ERP and CRM software today or how I would run it tomorrow? – Official Microsoft word is that yes, some day all Microsoft Products would transition to Azure. My personal opinion is that this is unlikely to happen – there would be changes in the way Microsoft would offer these products to end customer but moving to Azure may be far fetched given the current technology platform and existing customer base. Dynamics CRM is already offered via Microsoft Online Services. Other Dynamics Offerings would be either coming from Microsoft or other partners.

So get Azured and start preparing for the next generation always available apps!

Pankaj Kumar is the CTO of Ignify. Ignify is a technology provider of ERP, CRM, and eCommerce software solutions to businesses and public sector organizations. . Ignify is a Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle Partner  and ranked in the top 18 Microsoft Dynamics partners. Ignify has been included as the fastest growing business in North America for 3 years in a row by Deloitte, Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine.

Usability can be the lynchpin between failure and success.

The current recession plaguing the global economy has thrust CRM to the forefront. Consequently, businesses are placing greater emphasis on enhancing sales — calling for better action on outstanding leads and detecting opportunities within existing customers. Moreover, businesses must ensure that the sales management processes and systems they have in place are top-notch. Today’s economy forces businesses to deploy a CRM platform that will not only be adopted, but integrated as a core part of their sales and customer management processes. In effect, companies will be able to deliver more with less. Regardless of where CRM is deployed — whether it’s sales, marketing, or customer service — the usability of any CRM system is critical to companywide adoption and can be the key differentiator between success and failure.

Usability

Interestingly enough, many CRM implementation managers focus solely on functionality and features, with little regard to actual usability, when selecting a new system. Companies can incorporate all the cutting-edge CRM features available today, but if salespeople or customer service representatives don’t enter the necessary data, then it is unlikely a manager will get the desired reports or analytical information to help optimize operations.

The lack of usability is the number one killer of all CRM implementations. Something as trivial as failing to incorporate Microsoft Outlook or another key application may crumble the new system from day one. Does the CRM system require a separate login? If yes, user adoption just dropped by at least 30 to 40 percent. Does the CRM application require an additional window to be opened or does it work natively on the desktop without an additional login? The success rate of CRM systems that work natively within popular applications such as Outlook or Excel is dramatically higher than those that don’t. In our experience with several CRM implementations, we have found that adoption is at least 30 percent higher for systems that work in an environment integrated with the existing client email system.

Boosting Usability

To ensure that company expenditures on critical systems, such as a new CRM platform, achieve optimal return on investment, integration managers must hone in on the needs of the sales team. The following are critical elements to consider:

Have an intuitive and user-friendly CRM system. More than anything else, people-friendliness is going to make the biggest difference in terms of implementation success or failure. For example, if salespeople or customer service representatives live in Microsoft Outlook, asking them to go through a convoluted process (e.g., use a standalone Web interface and log in, enter sales leads or support case/incident information, then reenter contact information into the CRM system, is a recipe for disaster. Instead, it would be more practical if users could enter a contact in a single location (e.g., Outlook), which is then instantly and seamlessly integrated with the CRM platform.

Ensure that there is value for users. If salespeople or customer service representatives are only putting information in and not getting anything out, why would they continue to use the solution? Make your CRM system the home for sales and customer service teams — a one-stop shop for all their needs. CRM can be used to:

• incorporate all leads into the system as a primary way to scout for new business;
• house all marketing campaigns and sales literature inside the system, such that if a team member needs a certain presentation, it is quickly available with just a few clicks of the mouse; or
• integrate workflows and event notices so team members receive reminders before opportunities close.

Incorporate a single sign-on. Multiple logins are the anathema to any CRM platform. If the users have difficulty accessing the new system, they will simply avoid it altogether. As general rule of thumb, rethink any process that requires more than two steps to obtain the desired information.

Allocate enough training time. More often than not this critical step either happens in an extremely limited fashion or is skipped altogether. As a result, team members struggle with getting results and quickly deem the new system useless. If a company is committed to spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on a new CRM platform, adequate training is an imperative, as is soliciting feedback on how to improve usability. Oftentimes, managers would rather keep their team on task than get them into a classroom to learn new procedures — a philosophy similar to that of the airline industry where grounded planes are equated to money lost. However, managers need to think long-term: Time spent getting end users up to speed on mission-critical technology is time well-invested for future success.

In a showing of the hyper-growth that Microsoft Dynamics CRM - the defacto recommended CRM software for the Microsoft Dynamics ERP - has had, Microsoft announced at the Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 in New Orleans that the product has crossed the 1 million user mark.

Customers worldwide are taking advantage of the power of choice, and deploying fast, flexible and affordable CRM and xRM solutions across on-premise, partner-hosted and CRM Online deployment models.

In addition, Microsoft Corp. today unveiled new sales and marketing programs for xRM, the new development platform for building sophisticated relationship-tracking applications. With new platform licensing options and close alignment with Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint technologies and other Microsoft solutions, organizations can now leverage xRM to create mission-critical applications that run on-premise or on-demand, reducing application development time and cost.

“Our fast path to more than 1 million users illustrates our strong market momentum, and shows how our CRM and xRM offerings are driving worldwide customer and partner success,” said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “Today, hundreds of Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers are building thousands of xRM applications. We’ve built significant alliances within and across Microsoft to capitalize on these high-growth opportunities, and we’re ready to drive value for our next million customers.”

Organizations such as the Leicester City Football Club, a professional sports organization based in the United Kingdom, have used xRM to develop its Player Management application, a solution for managing players, training schedules, diet and wellness programs, and injury prevention analysis.

“One big area of concern for a football club is the players, and people come to matches because they want to see good football,” said Lee Hoos, chief executive of the Leicester City Football Club. “In the interest of our fans and our players, we’ve used the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform platform to build applications that help flag warning signs by player to help them avoid preventable injuries. The flexibility of Microsoft Dynamics CRM has been invaluable to our business in many ways.”

In an innnovative use of CRM or rather XRM, Ignify deployed Microsoft Dynamics CRM for contract management for contracts with thousands of vendors for AVID Center – a nation-wide non-profit headquartered in San Diego, CA. AVID Center is also a user of Dynamics GP and showcases the convergence that customers are looking for between their ERP and CRM systems. By sticking with a single product family such as Microsoft Dynamics, customers can ensure they get seamless integration between their back office accounting/ inventory systems and front-office customer service and sales force automation systems.