Archive for the ‘Microsoft xRM’ Category

Relationship managment marketing (RMM) is a rather complex promotional approach that differs greatly from other forms of promotion that companies utilize. Some people believe that relationship management marketing is the same as customer relationship management (CRM) but although the two are closely connected, they refer to different strategies and techniques.

Relationship management marketing aims to improve customer satisfaction and to build long-lasting relationships between a corporation and its clients.  This approach is subtle, unlike the promotions that are carried out to maximize sales. Corporate website development, PR and the usage of online channels are all important parts of RMM efforts.

This form of marketing is more complex, going beyond the simple interactions that involve selling and buying goods and services.  Multiple channels can be utilized to establish relationships.  Internet and social networks in particular play an important role.

Customer relationship management solutions such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com and GoldMine CRM can be utilized to maximize the results of relationship building campaigns. The two aspects of the process are, however, quite different.

CRM was defined in the late 1990s.  This business process is heavily reliant on technological developments.  It is a much more encompassing marketing strategy, managing and affecting all relations between a company and its customers.

Technological innovations are used to better organize, promote and coordinate the advertising efforts of a business, regardless of the aim or the specifics of the campaign. CRM is broader and much more complex than the single marketing effort that strives building better ties with potential and current clients.

CRM has several main goals. It establishes relations with new clients. It also maintains good ties to the people who have already tried the services and products of a company.  One of CRM's important goals is to win back old clients that have decided to purchase somebody else's products. Overall, CRM strives to minimize marketing costs and to manage all processes connected to a company's relationship with its clients.

CRM can be seen as a large scale business strategy.  Marketing that focuses on relationships is a part of this strategy but its magnitude is smaller and the campaign is concentrated inside a single promotional niche.

A definition that distinguishes the two terms can easily be given. While CRM is concerned with the creation of strategies, RMM is the manner in which these business plans concerning company-customer relationship get implemented.

In today's world, CRM is of exceptional importance for every company.  The fact that it is so crucial for success has led to the development of numerous customer relationship management hi-tech solutions. All of these minimize the chance of human error and make planning, sorting and analyzing information much easier.

CRM and RM are very much connected and the two cannot exist without each other.  CRM is the set of tools and technological innovations that facilitate the strategic process. RMM on the other hand is the specific campaign, the manner in which a company strives to establish long-term relationships with its clients.

Some people use the terms CRM and RMM to refer to the same things but a major difference does exist. Each one of these is important for the successful marketing of a company but the strategic approach happens to be quite different.

For more help implementing CRM and Relationship Management Marketing strategies in your organization contact us at 858-541-1820 or by email at info@rbdata.com

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is very popular customer relationship management software that can help bring a lot of flexibility and agility to your Corporation.  If you have a company that either collects a lot of leads or is dependent upon lead generation in order to increase revenues then, a CRM will help you streamline this process effectively so you can pinpoint major problems and address them as well as improve upon your successes and enlarge them to make them into even greater successes. 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 implementation in a business can make the difference between a moderately successful business and an extremely profitable business.

Why are you making money?  Many sales companies, although successful, may not be able to pinpoint exactly where in the sales process they are being successful.  Well, what if you were able to pinpoint the exact point in the process where you are successful and then improve upon that particular system?

Would it have a positive effect on your business? You bet it would, and as a matter-of-fact with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 implementation you can properly diagnose the sales process which will allow you to easily see any problems or hiccups in your sales presentation.

Microsoft dynamics CRM 2011 can also enhance the value that you have with your customers by providing a knowledge-based system that will allow them to log into your server for customer support. If you sell a piece of software that may require additional support, you can cut down on technical support costs by implementing a CRM system which will give your customers the answer that they are looking for.  And if they cannot find the answer to their inquiry, then your customer is able to submit a ticket on the spot. This not only improves your customer relationship by providing quick answers, but it can also help streamline your business and even create referrals for you because of your customer service.

If you have different sales forces within your organization utilizing the CRM system can help you adequately track each sales force so you can identify exactly where in the sales process someone is having an issue. This will also help you during your training, allowing you to focus on the real issues rather than general motivating speech. This can also have positive effects on employee retention.Within the Microsoft dynamics CRM system is the ability of work reporting for your entire organization. If you have purchased a certain type of lead, you can find out very quickly if that lead is profitable in your business and either expand on it or cut it out so you can increase revenues in your business model.

Every Corporation whether large or small will have many successes and internal failures that they may or may not be aware of. The question is how long can you afford to let your company go on without understanding the specific processes in your businesses that are making a positive difference and the ones that are making negative difference. Getting the ability to improve your Corporation bit by bit is extremely powerful over a long period of time.

For more information how we can help your organization give us a call at 858-541-1820 or by email at info@rbdata.com.

If you're here, you realize very well that selection of the best customer relationship management software is critical to your business' image as well as continuity.

I'd like to give you an experience based Microsoft CRM vs Goldmine CRM review, so that you can match up the right platform with your requirements.

We'll first go over a brief overview of the CRM software provided by both Microsoft as well as Goldmine and then proceed to compare them on the basis of their utilities and what you need.

Onward…

# 1 : The Microsoft CRM Platform

With it's service intensive "Dynamnics" CRM, Microsoft has tried to segment your marketing efforts into targeted groups of your consumer base. The idea being that it's easier to stear your sales funnels to a targeted group with a common set of needs, when the same effort is accounted for the same consumers in your customer service.

Ultimately, your lists of leads and continuity customers, along with their service history and analytics, can be ported into multiple formats that will be used in different formats of sales accounts, workflows and moving sales plans (hence the name "dynamics").

These will be used by your customer service team to form important cases and feed them into your consumer knowledgebase. It also allows you to manage several contracts and updates on them, all integrated into one complex byt powerful platform!

That's a pretty strong usage strategy for a CRM, I'd say.

Microsoft CRM uses .NETAJAX technology, which makes using it comparable to using a seperate client program. Easy to use SQL data.

With experience of having worked on it in different firms, what I've seen is that people use the Microsoft CRM due to it's tight integration with Outlook, Word & Excel and the user interface. Also,firms that had their data on Exchange and SQL preferred it.

The only places where the team didn't choose Microsoft was because they avoided everything from Microsoft and it was just a general negative feeling that would often lead to many problems.

Long run Cost:

Per user – Moderate
For large lists – Moderate
For multiple service divisions – Moderate

Positives:

> Excellent Remote Access
> Intuitive interface
> MS product compatibility
> High level of customizability
> Easy extensions with the API
> Strong data structures with lower coupling

Negatives:

> Still a lot of clicking to get tasks done
> Restricted web interface

# 2 : The Goldmine CRM Software Package

This platform too focuses on list division, but the primary and stronger focus is on sales-automation and project scheduling. It's intensive. Even the calls monitored will have their own clocking module running separately with respect to project progress and consumer queries!

Though an advantage, many have found that for smaller servicing requirements, going over the entire reporting and synchronization process a number of times can, and does, get cumbersome. For bigger projects and a large number of customers for every product/service, it can work wonders.

Since this is again Windows based, some firms like to have it sitting right next to their Informix and Oracle databases. It gets easy to work with their tables when modifying them in windows with Goldmine.

Long run Cost:

Per User – Moderate to Slightly High
For Large Lists – Moderate
For multiple service divisions – High

Positives:

> Many 3rd party tools and add-ons
> Lots of features and modular orientation
> What it does it tends to do well

Negatives:

> User interface is complicated and overloaded
> Bad usability
> Not as customizable as Microsoft CRM

A FAIR COMPARISON:

With the servicing part known to you, let's compare these on a technical basis, something many people writing a Microsoft CRM vs Goldmine CRM review goof-up with bias when giving their opinion. So hang tight…

# 1 : Ease of Use

Goldmine = BAD
Microsoft = EXCELLENT

# 2 : Ability to customize

Goldmine = Moderate, can add custom fields and views
Microsoft = Excellent, as it is really a development platform that you can add custom fields, views, tables and integrate it with your other key business applications

# 3 : Interface

Goldmine = Client platform on windows and has been improved with Premium Edition
Microsoft = Web based (better networking utlization)

# 4 : Software Complexity

Goldmine = MODERATE with a somewhat convoluted data structure
Microsoft = EXCELLENT

# 5 : Training

Goldmine = Needs tough training
Microsoft = Needs less training effort as it has Office look and feel

That said, I would finally give you my ideal choice. I have used both extensively and am truly better off with the Microsoft CRM. But again, that's my experience saying.

Your performance needs and target market will ultimately dictate what you'll love.

Both solutions offer free 30 day trial version so I would suggest that you try both and see which product you prefer.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server:  The Ultimate CRM Solution for Enterprises

Customer relationship management is an integral part of every business today. As the importance of interaction with customers grow, it has become the need of the hour to strengthen communication especially in the marketing, sales and service departments.

Dynamics CRM has come a long way in providing high-quality customized services to users. The latest version of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM server is Microsoft CRM 2011 which includes the power of cloud computing.

Microsoft has different versions of their CRM software. If you want to deploy CRM in-house for a workforce greater than 5 in number, you need the server version; CRM Server 2011. Flexibility and control will be in your hands. You can take advantage of the seamless integration with your Office suite and also use Dynamics CRM right from within Outlook to leverage the advantages better. CRM Server 2011 integrates with your Microsoft server infrastructure perfectly.

A CRM server license is required for each instance of your software running on the systems and Client Access Licenses are required for every person who will use the CRM server. 

What you can achieve with the MS CRM Server 2011 far exceeds what you could with older versions of the software. What you gain from using this server is even greater. When you give your people the right tools (MS CRM), you can expect the right results, experience success in achieving goals and receive maximum ROI. You will find below a set of benefits that the CRM 2011 (on-premises or cloud) can offer to your enterprise.

1. CRM 2011 is highly cost effective when you consider licensing, training, maintenance, administration and deployment. 

2. Boost your productivity. Your sales processes can be automated such that you close deals fast and reduce the sales cycle times. Data access is much faster; you don’t have to wait to retrieve customers data. The result of all this is an improved relationship with your customers. 

3. Easy to navigate. CRM Server 2011 integrates completely with your existing Office products. You can start using the CRM directly from Internet Explorer or Outlook, both of which are very familiar to use. Users are, therefore, able to adapt to the environment quickly while delivering fast results. There is no delay in setting up the system to work for you. 

4. Cloud options for the server enable the entire system to run much faster and better. Your business can take advantage of cloud computing to reduce maintenance and systems management costs. Microsoft guarantees that the cloud you sign up for will always be available. Now, your business can be run cost-effectively with great flexibility. 

5. Create multiple teams around the world. With the power of the cloud you can have multiple teams in different locations working with Server 2011’s integrated tools to help them communicate and collaborate with each other while driving global results.

With Microsoft Dynamics CRM Server you can grow your business no matter how big or small it is. Its flexibility allows it to grow with you as your business grows. The state-of-the-art technology used in CRM 2011 ensures total and reliable security. This is a simple, reliable and affordable CRM solution.

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.

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. 

According to this Gartner Report, software as a service (SaaS) drives customer relationship management (CRM) market growth despite leaner budgets, while the competitive environment intensifies. Worldwide SaaS revenue within the enterprise application software market reached $9.2 billion in 2010, up 15.7 percent from 2009 revenue of $7.9 billion, according to Gartner, Inc.  

The market is projected for stronger growth in 2011 with worldwide SaaS revenue totaling $10.7 billion, a 16.2 percent increase from 2010 revenue.

Putting your Microsoft Dynamics CRM "in the cloud" may just be the answer for your business. Download this PDF

to learn more about adopting the cloud with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

The recent release of Microsoft Dynamics® CRM 2011 for On-Premise installations complements the latest version of the online customer relationship management (CRM) version as a powerful successor in the Microsoft Dynamics® CRM platform. The new versions have been designed together to provide a seamless experience for users regardless of how it is deployed. 

With new software releases there are always two questions that can cause concern within an organization: 1. “How will I be able to grow with this platform?” and 2. “How easily will the end users adapt to the new interface?” Here are the answers to help alleviate those concerns:

1.     Scalability is always a concern and this version delivers the ability to have up to 150,000 concurrent users on a single instance while still delivering response times of less than a second.  This just goes to show just how well designed this solution is!

2.       Ease of use is achieved through a familiar Microsoft Outlook like interface, guided dialog, and point and click configuration through the web interface. End users can easily customize dashboards and personalize the interface to provide the information that is relevant to the decisions they need to make.

Read the full press release from Microsoft for more information on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. Contact us today at 888-685-6370 (toll free) or at info@rbdata.com  to discuss how we can design a solution around this powerful new platform that will help your business experience the Power of Productivity.

If you or your management team are evaluating the investment in a customer relationship management solution (CRM), here are 10 good reasons to look at Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

10. Affordability: Not only do you get competitive pricing for both on-demand and on-premise deployments, Microsoft provides several CRM Accelerators that are available to customers at no additional charge.

9. Industry Leadership: See Analyst Reports and Awards on why Microsoft Dynamics CRM is one of the top CRM solutions.

8. Great Fit: Because Microsoft Dynamics CRM is based on a service-oriented architecture (SOA), it easily integrates into your existing systems using industry-standard Web services. Its exceptional customization feature also simplifies adapting it to your processes, models, and technology infrastructure. Learn more about the technology.

7. Operational Insight: The reporting engine generates compelling data reports within Microsoft CRM to help you make informed business decisions. Get deeper insights by integrating Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Microsoft Business Intelligence products for performance management, scorecards, data mining, and OLAP reporting.

For reasons #6 through #1, which includes Rapid Innovation, High User Adoption Rates, Unmatched Value and more, check out the rest at

http://crm.dynamics.com/en-us/whycrm.aspx.

Then contact us at RB Data Services at 858-541-1820. We can help you make a well informed decision for your company's needs.

As a nonprofit, you're tasked with tracking a lot of information relating to donors, constituents, members and more.  Automate the time consuming processing with a customer relationship management (CRM) solution from Microsoft.  The promotional price, if you're eligible, for this version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for non-profits is $9.99/user/month as opposed to the standard pricing of $44/user/month.

You can now get more done in a cost effective manner with ready to use tools in addition to tools that you can customize for your business needs. Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives you the tools for:

· Donation and pledge management
· Member and constituent management
· Volunteer tracking
· Campaign management
· Case management
· Event management
· Tailored dashboards and reports

"Nonprofits and NGOs are always challenged with doing more with less," said Sarah Barnhart, senior program manager of community affairs at Microsoft. "We see technology as being a key enabler of helping nonprofits to reduce administration and focus their resources on where they can have the biggest impact. Microsoft Dynamics CRM for nonprofits and NGOs includes customized features that simplify administration and management for organizations of every size."
 

Download the Microsoft Dynamics CRM brochure for non-profits. Designed to support your cause with affordable, versatile constituent management.

Contact us today at info@rbdata.com or 858-541-1820 to see if your non-profit organization is eligible for this great offer and to learn how Microsoft Dynamics CRM can take your organization to a whole new level.