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Microsoft xRM is a platform for developing applications which help reduce the costs and time associated with custom-development of the relational Line of Business (LOB) applications. 

This is not a product, but simple extensions and customizations added to the CRM to make it more than a sales tool. This is an evolved version of CRM, as it makes it possible for businesses to manage more than their customer relationships.

Now you can think of Microsoft CRM as a rapid development application with various CRM functionalities making it capable of leveraging the platform of .NET plus many Microsoft applications. 

This xRM platform makes it possible for companies to build business processes way faster and at a lower cost and with less risk than any other purchased solution.  Compared to its predecessor which was used by the customer service, marketing and sales personnel, the xRM can be used by all teams in your business.  In terms of functions CRM could only manage the clients relation while this platform help automate whichever business process while managing customer relation. 

This software equips your team applications to unleash service, marketing and sales prospective among others.

Why use xRM? The main reason why you should use Microsoft dynamic CRM platform over SQL server is because it has the sales-force automation, e-commerce, help desk, activity tracking among other features. Other xRM features include:

1.  Work-flow- this includes an end user interface which makes it possible for managers to manage workflows on the various entities in Microsoft dynamic CRM.  This model includes custom actions, branching, and conditions like creating additional CRM records and sending emails.  This feature can run across your whole business to implement the various business behaviors.

2.  Security-there is a very strong security model in this platform including the concept of records sharing and concept of ownership, permission model and business unit.  The permission model includes the scope concept like editing-records-owned-by-me and within the company.

3. When it comes to reporting, Microsoft dynamic CRM uses both reporting services and Microsoft excel.  This includes a reporting wizard which shows the user how to create very useful reports on the information stored in CRM. These reports are static and can be used by other users.

4. Office integration- the CRM can be integrated with Microsoft office easily by including an offline and online client which can be installed on your workstation.  This makes it possible for various Microsoft outlook users to interact with CRM system directly in outlook.    The offline client makes it possible for the user to interact with CRM system while disconnected to the office network.

5. Microsoft xRM handles various customer management tasks like managing and sending email, managing the appointment calendar and storing the clients contacts.  The xRM meets your company needs by modifying CRM to match your objectives.  The various web-based design-tools make it simple for you to modify the data fields, application forms plus relationships.  The process automation makes it possible for your company to transform various repetitive errands into powerful automated workflows.

6. This software integrates information and application via the web services creating various seamless links across various platforms and systems.

CRM is an acronym from the phrase "customer relationship management." It will be the common expression used to clarify the management of potential customers through the sales process.

The actual CRM software cannot only arrange customer information, but additionally supplies a method to monitor sales leads and possibilities from the time they may be up to once the sale is sealed. It's an approach widely utilized for the control over a business connection with clients and sales leads.

It's really down to using technology to arrange and synchronize company processes, primarily sales activities, but additionally marketing procedures, customer support and tech support.

The general goals will be to determine, attract and seize new business, and keep the existing ones and also motivate former clients to get back together with the company. It details a business technique throughout the enterprise, such as the divisions of interaction together with the customer in addition to customer relationships sections.

Measuring is vital to the implementation of the strategy.

CRM is frequently an information program that may be manipulated manually, as a token program or perhaps an automated computer system. It truly is software created for taking care of customer relationships (CRM), which may be installed straight to a computer or perhaps a web-based program, accessible only on the internet.

Microsoft CRM systems are of help and beneficial in the handling of all the client information such as names, telephone numbers, residences and buying history where people in the common are already familiar and use Outlook every day because of the tight integration between Outlook and Microsoft CRM.

Technological innovation and the Internet already have transformed just how businesses and enterprises deal with CRM strategies since the technological developments also delivered a modification of the buying habits of the customer. and offer brand new ways for the business to convey together with the clients and acquire data on them.

With every fresh step drawn in the realm of the technology, especially the conception connected with self-service channels such as the Internet and smartphones, associations with customers are digitally controlled.

Many facets of CRM are dependent mainly on technology. However the strategies of an improved CRM system can acquire manage along with link data in addition to information concerning the client, so as to help you promote then sell services more efficiently.

Sales increase, improved client satisfaction, and substantial financial savings are benefits to the company.

Proponents point out the technology ought to be carried out only together with a cautious tactical and operational preparation. 

Successful CRM implementations are always more about refining and automating business strategies than technology

The largest challenges that the CRM might have is inadequate usability which is why Microsoft made the decision to tightly integrate Microsoft CRM which 80% of business already know and use.

By having an easy to use interface dramatically improves user adoption.

No CRM system can be considered a success unless everyone in an organization will use it.

Microsoft announced the release of their "November 2011 Service Update" for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and CRM 2011 on-premise/partner-hosted deployments.

Microsoft is stressing the release of "Wave 1" of its new work on social features of the new release, including activity feeds, a new mobile activity feeds client, microblogging, and conversations.

The service update also includes a new unified platform between Dynamics CRM Online and Office 365 which includes Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, and Lync Online, as well as access to Office web applications and, optionally, user licenses for Microsoft Office on the desktop. 

To see a video that goes into the new enhancements, click

When sales, marketing, and service teams increase their

productivity through the use of a holistic CRM solution,
both customer experience and business results improve,
creating a competitive advantage.

Executive Overview

Business growth, cost optimization, customer

relationships-these are among CEOs' top priorities

this year, according to a recent survey of 704 CEOs

conducted by The Conference Board.

Addressing all three is no easy feat. As executives

strive to maximize business growth, they often

struggle to strike a balance between lowering

operational costs and meeting rising customer

expectations. However, keeping pace with customers'

ever-increasing expectations while growing

revenues is possible.

One way to do so: improve frontline employee

productivity, with a goal to optimize overall business

productivity.

Too often, productivity is confused with simply

demanding more from employees. Instead, decision-

makers need to think more holistically about how

they're going to increase total business

productivity by applying the right mix of people,

processes, and technology.

To read the rest of the article click here .

As over used as the tag line of "let's you do more with

less" is, that is exactly what happens when you properly

use Microsoft CRM segmentation.

Why?

Let's say that one of the products that you company

sells is the Alpha 5. Perhaps your company is getting

ready to replace the Alpha 5 with the Alpha 6 which has

many new features as well as compliance benefits in the

states of California, Arizona and Texas.

With CRM segmentation you could run a marketing

campaign targeting only companies who purchased the
Alpha 5 in the last 3 years who are based out of California,
Arizona or Texas.

Maybe your current sales data base has 100,000

prospects and clients in it but only 7,500 customers world
wide own the Alpha 5 and only 500 of them have purchased
the Alpha 5 in the last 3 years that are based out of

California, Arizona or Texas.

This means that instead of doing a mass mailing to

100,000 that you can do a targeted mailing to 500. If

the cost of each mail piece, including postage, that you
want to send is $3, this means that the cost of mailing
for the campaign would be $1,500 instead of $300,000.

Not only would your mailing cost for the campaign be

dramatically lower but now you can make your messaging

much more relevant to your target group.

Now instead of sending out a generic message to the

100,000 people in your data base your messaging might be

something along the lines of:

*************************************************

Hi Bob,

As an owner of the Alpha 5 since March 4, 2009, I am

excited to let you know that we are getting ready to

come out with the Alpha 6.

The primary advantages of the Alpha 6 over the Alpha 5

are:

Advantage 1

Advantage 2

Advantage 3

Plus the Alpha 6 is in full compliance with your new

Texas OSHA regulation A5208 which the Alpha 5 is not.

For the next 90 days, until Dec 21, 2011, you can

purchase the Alpha 6 at our prefered customer

promotional pricing of $72,500.

After Dec 21, 2011 the price of the Alpha 6 will return

to its normal price of $105,000.

I will give you a call in the next few days to discuss

this further.

Sincerely yours,

Joe Salesperson

***************************************************

If this sounds like something that you would like to learn more about, then give us a call at 858-541-1820 or send us an email at info@rbdata.com and we will tell you more about how you can put this power of CRM segmentation to work for you.

Are you looking to inexpensively generate more qualified leads?
 
Almost every new CRM client that we work with (and many existing ones) are looking to do just that.

The question is how?

Try this.

Have your website offer some kind of free report along the lines of "8 Dumb (& Costly) Mistakes That Almost Everyone Makes When __________ <<put what your business does here>> And How To Avoid Them (free report)".

The key is to make your website visitors have to fill out a form providing their contact information in order to get the report.

Now comes the cool part.

When they click submit have the information captured on the form automatically put into your CRM such as Microsoft CRM (if they already are in your CRM then just add a note to their record that they requested the report on such and such date). 

You then have your CRM system automatically attach your "prospect requested free report" automated campaign to that person and make the first action to email them the report.  

The idea is educate and advance your prospect in your sales cycle through a series of pre-planned communications without your assigned sales rep having to remember to manually do each step.

The communications can go across multiple channels (emails, calls, letters, faxes and even voice broadcasts) using a predetermined time sequence such as:

     – Immediately email them the free report

     - Wait 7 days and send out email #1

     – Wait 14 days and send out letter #1

     – Wait 7 days and send out email #2

     – Have your assigned sales rep call them the next day

     – Wait 7 days and send out email #3

Your actual campaign could be quite a bit more involved but I think you get the idea.

The power of this approach is once you have designed it and written the content for the emails and letters that the system can automatically make sure that every step is done when it is supposed to be done and as a result your valuable leads won't fall through the cracks because someone forgot to follow up!!

You can even create Dashboards (Business Intelligence or Analytics) so you can see how many leads were generated this month compared to last month where they came from and where they are on the automated campaigns.

If this sounds like something that you would like to learn more about then give us a call at 858-541-1820 or send us an email at info@rbdata.com and we will tell you more about how to put this powerful lead generation system to work for you.

The most common starting point for many organizations is reporting.  Many organizations need to improve reporting whether this means speeding it up, making it more flexible or reducing the reliance on internal or external IT experts to provide this information.  This is especially important when looking to add Business Intelligence to Microsoft CRM.

This white paper describes a step by step approach to building business intelligence (BI) capabilities starting with reports and ending with a combination of dashboards, what if analysis as well as automatic alerts when certain key conditions arise.

To read this white paper click here. 

Last month, we talked about CRM Business Intelligence and since there was so much interest in that topic, let's go a bit deeper.

So many companies do a great job of capturing information in their Microsoft CRM system but are awful at being able to use that information to make better decisions faster.

What about you?

Are you quickly able to quickly segment your data base to execute a new marketing campaign so that it is targetted just those customers who have purchased a certain product in the last 18 months?

Are you able to identify the characteristics of your most profitable customers such as

* SIC Code
* Zipcode
* Company Size
* Position of purchaser
* Is company in growth mode or decline

* Etc

so that you can intelligently purchase a new list of prospects?

Do you know what the average lifetime value of a customer is along with the margin rate?

Do you understand the behavior of a customer who is growing discontent with your product or service BEFORE they stop being a customer?

If you use your website to either conduct sales or generate leads do you know things like:

* How many unique website visitors it takes to generate a lead
* How many leads it takes to set an appointment
* How many appointments it takes to generate a sale?

The point is to be able to successfully grow your business you must know your numbers (commonly called metrics).  If you do, then you are in a position to make better decisions faster.

To help you get started, we are offering you a free 60 minute Business Intelligence Quickstart consultation.  This offer is valued at $250, is limited to the first 8 companies that request it and expires on July 8, 2011.  Sorry, but this offer is limited to US based companies who have over 25 employees.

If you would like to take advantage of this offer, please contact us at 858-431-1820 or by email at info@rbdata.com and we will set up a mutually convenient time for your free Business Intelligence Quickstart consulation.

5 Reasons To Consider Microsoft CRM 2011 Online

If you are not to the point of embracing Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011 Online, here are five reasons you should at the very least consider it for your business:

1. Scalability- You can get as many or as  few licenses as you need.

2. Availability- Microsoft promises 99.9% uptime, and will offer a service credit of 25% for uptime between 99% and 99.9%.

3. Security- Microsoft's security strategy covers a number of aspects from information security to asset management, but also to human resources security, physical and environmental security, and much more.
 

4. No Infrastructure- Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online is available at $34 per user per month through June 30, 2011. (If you're a qualifying non-profit, that cost can be as low as $9.99 per user per month.)
 

5. Free Trial- You can get the full feature set of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 to test for an entire month.

If you're now considering Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online, sign up for a free 30 day trial.

If the benefits above speak to you, it's time to contact us at 858-541-1820 or at info@rbdata.com  to learn more.

One of the most important topics in Customer Relationship Management or CRM that can have the biggest impact on your business is known by several names.  Some people call it "Business Intelligence" or "BI".  Some people call it "Analytics" and some people just call it "Dashboards".

Microsoft is referring to it as "Actionable Intelligence". 

But what is it and why should you care?

For many organizations, perhaps I should say most, putting information into their CRM system is like putting it into a black hole.  You know it is there but it can be tough to find.  More importantly, it can be darn near impossible to use that information to quickly make sound business decisions.

Sound familiar?

Virtually all businesses can be made more profitable if the management team know their essential 5 to 10 core business drivers, or metrics, and can instantly access that information.

These core business drivers vary business to business but some common ones include:

Year to date sales compared to this time last year.

Sales pipeline opportunities with an 80% likelihood of closing in the next 30, 60 & 90 days broken down by region and sales rep.

Sales quota versus actual sales broken down by region and sales rep.

Which marketing activities have been successful and which have duds with hard numbers to back up those findings?

Which marketing activities have produced the highest number of closeable leads and what was the cost of per lead?

What is the average lifetime value of a customer?

Number of open support tickets.

Number of open support tickets that have been unresolved for over 3 days.

What are the top 5 support issues along with the solutions?

Again the key is to know what your key business metrics are and to be able to quickly access that information.

The most common starting point is reporting.  Many organizations need to improve reporting whether this means speeding it up, making it more flexible or reducing the reliance on internal or external IT experts to provide this information.

This white paper describes a step by step approach to building business intelligence (BI) capabilities starting with reports and ending with a combination of dashboards, what if analysis as well as automatic alerts when certain key conditions arise.

To read this white paper click here.