Posts Tagged ‘MS CRM’

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

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.

Aren’t we all? Attend this Microsoft-led webcast titled Productivity, Process & Time Management tips with Microsoft Dynamics ERP, Outlook and CRM at 10am PT on May 12^th to learn about common time management challenges people face, and to gain insight on using technology you may already have to address these time management challenges. Learn how applying process, sharing data, and making a few simple changes can free up time and help prioritize the tasks most important to you. This is a must attend session for anyone that feels overwhelmed with the volume of things being thrown at them. Whether in finance, operations, sales, marketing, or customer service, if you use a computer, this session can help you better organize your time. We can’t guarantee you won’t still be overwhelmed, but we do believe some of the tips and hints in this session will be well worth the 1 hour spent.

To learn more about Microsoft CRM contact us at info@rbdata.com or call at 858-541-1820.

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.

Efficiency. Seems simple enough right? If you look up the definition you may get 3 different explanations:

    1.       The state or quality of being efficient.

    2.       Accomplishment of or ability to accomplish a job with a minimum expenditure of time and effort.

    3.       Effective operation as measured by a comparison of production with cost (as in energy, time, and money.)

The ratio of the useful energy delivered by a dynamic system to the energy supplied to it.

Does it still seem simple enough?
    

Perhaps not, but it is a word that we hear every day in our businesses and impress upon our employees that they need to be efficient. 

How do you know if you are efficient within your company?

If you think you are efficient because your revenue is good, you may be mistaken.  It's definitely a benefit if you have good revenue, but you may still have inefficiencies which are hindering an even larger revenue potential. 

If you are struggling to hit your revenue goals, then this is a telltale sign that you can be more efficient in your operations.
 

As a business operates we need to look at our efficiencies on a daily basis to measure our successes.

Take some time to review your current software, reports, processes, cross-department communications and workflows to see if they still make sense in your business.  You may quickly find out where you can redefine your business to become more efficient.

For more information on how RB Data Services can make your  organization more efficient, contact us today at
858-541-1820 or at info@rbdata.com. 

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.

The challenges healthcare providers endure on a daily basis are overwhelming. Many of you are dealing with outdated and unconnected technology that greatly limits the amount of proactive care you can provide. 

You may have heard of Microsoft Dynamics® CRM, but it is commonly thought of as a solution for customer service. After all, CRM does stand for "customer relationship management". With that said the same scenarios apply to patient relationship management and Microsoft Dynamics CRM can and does alleviate the pains of the healthcare industry as well. Here are a few ways it helps to increase your patient satisfaction:

You can coordinate delivery of patient care throughout the organization with easy access to all patient records.

You can develop more efficient and effective case management.You can increase time spent on patient-focused activities.  

You can increase time spent on patient-focused activities.

You can deliver better coordinated outreach and educational activities that target specific communities or populations.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives you better insight into your patient records, making it possible to take that proactive approach you've always wanted. Download this informative healthcare whitepaper to learn more: Patient Relationship Management: An Approach that Improves Patient Satisfaction and Health.