CRM System

Microsoft CRM Customization: Integration with third party SQL Application/Database

2010-09-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

Microsoft CRM Client Relationship Management package from Microsoft Business Solutions was initially designed to be customizable with Microsoft Visual Studio.Net and one of its programming languages C#.Net or VB.Net. You can use ADO.Net, Web Service, Transact SQL scripting and stored procedures, deploy such SQL Server tools as Linked Server to all ODBC/OLEDB compliant database, including ORACLE, Sybase, Ingress, DB2, Unidata, Pervasive SQL, Ctree and even Lotus Notes/Domino. In this small article we would like to give you the clue on programming the integration with SQL third party Database.

First use Microsoft CRM SDK to initiate communication with Microsoft CRM, we have it in C#:

String[] arr1 = coll.AllKeys;

int loop1, loop2;

for (loop1 = 0; loop1 0?1:arr1.Length); loop1++)

{

String[] arr2 = coll.GetValues(arr1[loop1]);

for (loop2 = 0; loop2 < arr2.Length; loop2++)

{

strAccountId = arr2[loop2].Replace("}",null);

strAccountId = strAccountId.Replace("{",null);

}

if (Page.IsPostBack==false)

{

// Server should be set with the name of the platform Webcrm-evaluation, customer-relationship- server

string Server = ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ServerName"];

// VirtualDirectory should be set with the name of the Microsoft

// CRM Virtual Directory on the platform Web server

string VirtualDirectory = "mscrmservices";

string strDir = "http://" + Server + "/" + VirtualDirectory + "/";

// BizUser proxy object

Microsoft.CRM.Proxy.BizUser oBizUser = new Microsoft.CRM.Proxy.BizUser ();

oBizUser.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

oBizUser.Url = strDir + "BizUser.srf";

// CRMAccount proxy object

Microsoft.CRM.Proxy.CRMAccount account = new Microsoft.CRM.Proxy.CRMAccount ();

account.Credentials = System.Net.CredentialCache.DefaultCredentials;

account.Url = strDir + "CRMAccount.srf";

Then you use ADO.Net for calling stored procedure with parameters to do the integration job:

try

{

string SQLStatement="ICS_UpdateAccountPrivate '"+

strAccountId +"' , '" + this.TextBoxWorkPerformed.Text +

"' , "+doubleEncode(System.Double.Parse(this.TextBoxAnnualRevenue.Text))+" , "+

intEncode(System.Int32.Parse(this.TextBoxNumberOfEmployees.Text.Replace(",","")))+" , "+

doubleEncode(System.Double.Parse(this.TextBoxAverageGrowthRate.Text))+" , "+

"'"+this.DropDownListOwnership.SelectedItem.Text +"' , "+

intEncode(System.Int32.Parse(this.RadioButtonList.SelectedItem.Value))+" , "+

intEncode(System.Int32.Parse(this.TextBoxCredit.Text.Replace(",","")))+" , '"+

this.TextBoxComments.Text+"'";

System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection tmpConnection =

new System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection(ConfigurationSettings.AppSettings["ConnectionStringICS"]

);

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, based in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Canada, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: 1-866-528-0577 andrewk@albaspectrum.com.

akarasev@albaspectrum.com

CRM - Everyone You Meet is Fighting a Hard Battle

2010-08-06T01:41:00.000-07:00

Relationships... Money... Health..The Past...Failure..Mental and Spiritual Battles..Time Constraints...Professional pressures..

At any given moment you, your clients, and employees are dealing with one or the other of these challenges in life. No one has escaped from this life untouched by problems, both big and small. No matter how people may appear on the outside, they battle with some problem that is unmanageable on the inside. The clearer this is to us the easier it is to be extrodinarily kind to others.

But if we are also suffering how is it possible to do this? It is not easy, it is a learned skill. It needs to be taught to all your employees. It must be practiced and practiced until it becomes habit. This habit needs to be policy and employees need to be encouraged daily until the habit is developed.

Customer Relationships are built on this knowledge. Why people act a certain way is always based on their level of life challenges at a given moment. This includes both employees and customers.

We cannot solve all their problems nor should we, but the fact that a person might be struggling in their personal or professional life needs to in the back of our mind whenever we deal with people.

There is nothing as memorable as a person's kindness when we are in a difficult situation.

Help your clients to solve their immediate problems (pertaining to your business!)and they will be satisfied. Give them reason to smile and they will be impressed. Do it every time they contact you and they will never leave you. Client loyalty is a reflection of the level of care they preceive they are getting from a business. This does not mean we sacrifice our profits and productivity. It means that we increase our profits and productivity. Happy employees work better and exhibit higher levels of company loyalty when dealing with customers and happy customers will return and tell their friends.

No matter what you sell or manufacture; from fertilizer to real estate, from preschools to restaurants, you are first in the business of providing solutions for people. These solutions need to include how the person feels when they walk out the door, and you must always keep that in mind.

Owner Lasting Impressions 2 - Custom Business gift baskets, greeting cards, Customer Service Tips
www.lastingimpressions2.com

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customization Or Third Party Product ? Overview For Consultant

2010-08-06T01:39:00.000-07:00

With version 3.0 MS CRM will be more exposed to end-user tuning, software development, customizations. Microsoft CRM SDK is becoming more sophisticated with post-call-out technology reconsidering, deprecating a lot of 1.2 CRM SDK methods, replacing Crystal Reports Enterprise with MS SQL Server Reporting Services, changing MS CRM Exchange Connector functionality, etc. Microsoft itself has to be very flexible and freed up to change/adjust development standards if required. In such situation end customer should be very knowledgeable and savvy to predict the future, when he needs to deploy custom solutions/modules. In this small article we will consider pros and contras of deploying third parties or just go ahead with customer specific unique customization.

Third Party Product.

? Pros: The cost is normally controllable, because product is already developed and ready to be implemented. Plus it is possible to get references on the reliability of the product from all the kinds of user groups, product reviews, etc. Also ? sometimes it is referred as weakness but it might be considered as the plus ? if product is developed and supported by the known vendor ? you should believe that it will be upgraded and available for future MS CRM releases.

? Contras. The first minus we would like to mention is usually not described in the textbooks ? this is the problem when, say product A is purchased by Microsoft itself and inaugurated as from now on ?official? solutions, and if you historically selected product B ? coming from the competitor ? you are in a problem ? you will see you software vendor to be weakened and slowly phasing out alternative product B

Unique Customization.

? Pros. You will have so-called source code, if you negotiate it right with the custom developer or custom development company ? then you can transfer version upgrade or product modification to the market leader (who will be giving you better price and quality assurance in the future). Other pluses might be cost saving, due to the fact that you are paying for required functionality only, not for something you will never use.

? Contras. Cost might be crossing the budgeted line, because you might not be able to select reliable software developer (all of them might be in the learning curve, because MS CRM is relatively young product) ? this is very strong argument, when you have just purchased the CRM and yet not know the players on the customization market.

Production Environment Challenges. When you are already in production ? be sure that MS CRM needs testing, if you introduce custom logic. You should try to isolate custom logic, and test it in the isolated space ? again MS CRM doesn?t have parallel test company environment ? opposite to what you have in ERP system, such as Great Plains/Dynamics GP.

About the Author: Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner

Microsoft CRM Selection

2010-07-16T01:42:00.000-07:00

Microsoft CRM is recent (2001) CRM answer from Microsoft and attempt top get market share from traditional vendors: Siebel, Oracle, Onyx. Now it is targeted to the whole spectrum of horizontal and vertical market clientele. It is tightly integrated with other Microsoft Business Solutions products such as Microsoft Great Plains, Solomon, Navision (the last two in progress).

We would like you to give you Microsoft CRM selection advise, based on our MS CRM consulting practice, going back to its inception in 1999. This article is written in FAQ style for beginner level

1. What is your industry how strange it may look close to 40% of our clients or so-called orphan clients who needs help with Microsoft CRM customization are freight forwarding, transportation companies, who needs either improvement in Exchange-CRM connector or MS CRM integration with their freight forwarding system, where they would like to see on the fly resent shipment info. And also to mention freight forwarding companies are usually large (more than 50 CRM users)

2. How comfortable you are with Microsoft technology in-house support The old-days idea of Apple computer was to make computer absolutely intuitive and working for housewife. Now we know that this is not realized so far. If you compare MS CRM with Siebel you will see that MS CRM requires y0u to have Microsoft Certified people in staff. Everyone knows that Microsoft is so innovative that each product requires daily service packs and patches

3. Do you have Great Plains, Solomon or Navision CRM is usually integrated with ERP system and if you are looking at MS CRM you should benefit if you have ERP from Microsoft Business Solutions (Great Plains, Solomon, Navision, Axapta or Small Business Manager - SBM)

4. Operating System Philosophy - Microsoft likes clients who have no UNIX/LINUX/IBM/Apple etc inclination and staked on Microsoft Windows 2003/2000/XP/Longhorn, preferably staying on Intel platform (No AMD Athlon 64)

Have fun in selection and decision. We are here to help you: 1-866-528-0577

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, Arizona, Colorado, California, Texas, New York, Georgia and Florida and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

CRM Budget: How To Bring Your CRM Project In On-Budget

2010-05-25T01:27:00.000-07:00

It seems that having a project come in On-Budget is the and holy-grail of project management, especially when it comes to CRM projects. With their 70% failure rate, CRM projects represent a significant risk to a small business' financial health and warrants more "measure twice, cut once" consideration before beginning.

Coming in On-Budget does not mean you managed to squeeze your project into whatever arbitrary budget you came up with when you first started. It also doesn't mean that you started with an overly generous budget.

It does mean that you develop a budget that takes into account an analysis of 4 critical areas:

1. PAYOFF. You need to know exactly how your CRM system is going to generate ROI. This will help you focus your project on the right areas. By knowing how you expect payoff to be achieved, you can plan to achieve it.

2 RISK. You need to figure out where the risk is in your project because "risk=expense". By figuring out what can go wrong, you can take measures to minimize and contain that risk.

3. SERVICES. Be sure to fully account for the variety of services that will be required. A few often overlooked areas that can increase your services bill significantly include: meetings, testing time, debugging time and "while you're here..." time.

4. TECHNOLOGY. Choosing the wrong technology is can be a huge waste of money. From the worst case scenario of a totally failed project to having to spend extra money to make the wrong software do things it wasn't intended to do.

What makes putting together a realistic budget so difficult for small businesses is that it's not what they do and they don't have the experience of having done several before. It's not what they do. So, they rely on the Sellers of CRM who have their own vested interest in not scaring off their customers with numbers that are perceived to be too expensive.

By putting together a realistic budget, you may very well find that the project is going to cost much more than you were intitally prepared to spend. It's best to find this out now and before you "sign on any dotted lines".

If you do find out the project is going to cost more, here are a few ideas of what to do:

- WAIT & SAVE. Perhaps you need to wait 6 months until you have a bigger budget. Use this time to get prepared for the project: learn more about the software choices, make sure you're business processes are as fine tuned as they can be, and focus on how CRM software will generate ROI.

- GO AHEAD. It may be more money than you were expecting, but may still be within your budget. If you're clear on how the CRM system is going to generate ROI and you're otherwise ready, go for it!

- SCALE DOWN. If you have a very clear idea of how the CRM software is going to achieve ROI and you can't afford the full project, focus in a smaller area to begin with that will have a payback. Use this payback to help fund future projects. It's always a good idea to start with smaller, high-payoff projects first.

- FIND MORE ROI. If you have a really clear and compelling business case for how a CRM system is going to improve your bottom-line, it's much easier to find the necessary funds to implement it.

- DOUBLE CHECK. Make sure you're choosing the right technology. Cheap software can often be expensive to implement. Double check to make sure you're basing your budget on the right CRM software. You may find that a software that costs more in licensing, ends up being an overall more affordable solution.

Coming in On-Budget means you started with a realistic budget. The Insider's CRM Success System goes into great detail on how to develop a realistic budget and provides the control forms and worksheets you'll need.

Scott Gingrich is the creator of The Insider's CRM Success Toolkit, the world's most complete and only guaranteed approach to successful CRM projects. www.thecrmcoach.com.

CRM On Budget: How To Develop and Stick To a Realistic Budget for CRM

2010-04-28T04:04:00.000-07:00

It seems that having a project come in On-Budget is the holy-grail of project management, especially when it comes to CRM projects. With their 70% failure rate, CRM projects represent a significant risk to a small business' financial health and warrants more "measure twice, cut once" consideration before beginning.

It does mean that you develop a budget that takes into account an analysis of 4 critical areas:

2 RISK. You need to figure out where the risk is in your project because "risk=expense". By figuring out what can go wrong, you can take measures to minimize and contain that risk.

3. SERVICES. Be sure to fully account for the variety of services that will be required. A few often overlooked areas that can increase your services bill significantly incoude: meetings, testing time, debugging time and "while you're here..." time.

If you do find out the project is going to cost more, here are a few ideas of what to do:

- GO AHEAD. It may be more money than you were expecting, but may still be within your budget. If you're clear on how the CRM system is going to generate ROI and you're otherwise ready, go for it!

- FIND MORE ROI. If you have a really clear and compelling business case for how a CRM system is going to improve your bottom-line, it's much easier to find the necessary funds to implement it.

Scott Gingrich, founder of The CRM Coach (www.thecrmcoach.com) is the creator of "The Insider's CRM Success System", the world's most complete and only CRM Success System guaranteed to save thousands, developed specially for small business.

IT Department Skills to Support Microsoft Great Plains and Microsoft CRM

2010-04-17T04:48:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Great Plains as ERP and Microsoft CRM as Client Relation Management system is very robust combination and could serve midsize to large corporation as Business System. Being VP IT or IT Director you need to foresee the positions to have in your IT department to do internal MS Great Plains and MS CRM support.

Let us give you the directions, based on our research and consulting practice.

1. Microsoft SQL Server Specialist we specially do not name this position as MS SQL DBA, because both Great Plains and MS CRM are not very complex from the database administration side, they do not use indexes optimization, referential integrity, probably do not require complex transaction log backup/recovery scenarios. On the other hand this position requires Great Plains and Microsoft CRM tables structure analysis and some primary Great Plains data fixing skills via SQL queries, described in MBS Customer source techknowledge database. The best candidate should have some accounting background - to be able to address ongoing issues to MBS technical support.

2. Network Administrator with good Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory skills. Microsoft CRM uses all the newest Microsoft technologies, and Exchange is a workhorse here. In order to install and upgrade MS CRM this guy needs to understand the under-laying Microsoft technology. In the best case - she/he should know Exchange security structure and probably program Exchange handlers, due to the fact that CRM/Exchange connector is not a perfect tool yet.

3. C# or VB.Net programmer with excellent SQL Skills if you are midsize or large company - you should have this position - you will need web publishing and MS CRM customization and its support. Currently Microsoft CRM SDK has C# examples - so C# programmer would be the best fit, it may have more VB code in the future, so the C# - VB balance maybe restored.

4. Crystal Reports Designer/Programmer - Crystal Reports is the best tool available on the market to address both Great Plains and MS CRM reporting needs. This position maybe merged with one of the above.

These people should be probably cross-trained in both Great Plains, Microsoft CRM, Crystal Reports, SQL and C# programming, so you do not depend on the unique skills of one person. In our opinion, which is based on our long term consulting practice - these skills will allow you to keep the cost of IT support reasonably low and avoid paying high consulting price to your Microsoft Business Solutions Partner.

Happy hiring and training! But in any case you need to select Microsoft Business Solutions Partner/Var/Reseller to be your official representative. This is how MBS has its channel working - it assures that Microsoft Business Solutions products are properly implemented. If you want us to be your Microsoft Business Solutions Partner - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM, Microsoft RMS customization company, based in Chicago, Arizona, California, Taxes, New York, Florida and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

Microsoft Dynamics AX-GP-NAV-CRM: trends & international recommendations

2010-03-24T01:23:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Dynamics GP. The regional markets for Great Plains 9.0 and following Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 version will narrow: United States, United Kingdom, Canada: both English and French speaking, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other English speaking countries in Asia, Africa and Worldwide, plus Spanish Speaking Latin America. Microsoft Dynamics GP 10 will not be available for Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland ? the last version localized for these European countries will be 9.0 ? June 2006
Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Currently Navision has very good presence in Europe, including East Europe: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia. Microsoft also localized Navision for new markets, where it just moved in: Brazil for example ? it was interesting development in Brazil ? first Microsoft probed Solomon, then Microsoft Great Plains 7.5 and in 2004 replaced it with localized Navision
Microsoft Dynamics AX. Microsoft Axapta, opposite to Navision or Great Plains where market shares are gained/divided and competition is based on renovations and product improvements, Axapta has great potential yet to be deployed, coming from its modern and very futuristic system design and architecture. Being targeted to upper mid-market and corporate clients Axapta shows very good progress on emerging markets: in Russia for example the number of Axapta installation is similar and comparable with the number of Navision installations. Plus, in 2005 large number of Microsoft Business Solutions gold certified partners rushed into Axapta consulting arena ? this is seen in the USA, UK, Australia and continental Europe. In Brazil currently MBS in local Portuguese Axapta launching mode ? localized for Brazilian tax code
Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Is planned as front CRM solution for the majority of Microsoft Dynamics ERP system: integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP is available for GP 7.5, 8.0, 9.0 and CRM 1.2 and 3.0, Microsoft Navision ? through third party integrations, Axapta integration is planned. Microsoft has Microsoft CRM as worldwide product, so you should not have any doubts regarding your regional market.
Competition. Oracle is on the way with Oracle Fusion project, aiming on Oracle Financials/Applications/E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards and potentially Siebel integration. SAP with the purchase of new mid and small market ERP: SAP Business One and Mendocino ? for SAP R/3 is catching up

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx http://www.enterlogix.com.br ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.

Microsoft Dynamics ERP: GP, AX, NAV, CRM ? which one to select

2010-03-17T06:07:00.000-07:00

Being in MRP implementation, customization, integration, data migration/conversion business for many years, we would like to give you some orientation, in the case if you are on the way of ERP selection for your company. In this small article we will be talking about Microsoft Business Solutions ERP brands only, you can check our future publication to get similar orientation on Oracle and SAP ERP products.

?Legacy? vs. ?Modern? ERP. It might not be the focusing question, however we?d like you to look at the ERP products from this perspective: Java/EJB Sun Microsystems conception is less then 10 years old, and now Microsoft .Net/C# construction is in the process of getting market from Java. Similar time test should be given to ERP system ? if the system has legacy architecture ? it might be candidate for replacement or be seriously re-written/renovated.
International aspect. If you think your company is and always be focusing on the US market and will do business with local folks only ? this paragraph might be skipped. For the rest of us ? and we are in this cohort ? we should watch closes Microsoft Business Solutions international policies. When Great Plains Software and Navision Software were independent software vendor and being forming their international policies completely independently from one another ? both had intentions to expand to all the world markets: USA, Europe, Australia, Asia, Africa, South and Central America. Now, when Microsoft sells all former GPS and Navision ERP products ? it can choose one product over the other to promote on the regional market ? simply due to the fact that it has to invest into ERP localization.
Microsoft Dynamics GP - Great Plains. Great Plains Software pioneered in the earlier 1990^th with its graphical and DB platform independent product for Mac and Windows: Great Plains Dynamics. The shell was written on C programming language and was named Great Plains Dexterity. Currently with Microsoft Dynamics project initiative ? Microsoft renovated Dexterity ? it supports now COM object calls and so XML web services, but it is not pure .net application/shell ? Microsoft is investing in web interfaces for Microsoft Dynamics GP ? Microsoft Business Portal for GP is very good example. Microsoft Dynamics GP incorporated all the best technologies from Microsoft Office to .Net, but its design was done more then 10 years ago. Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 is available in English, Latim Americal Spanish and Canadian French, plus German, Dutch and French/France versions will be available for version 9.0 only ? they will not be supported for future version of Dynamics GP.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV ? Microsoft Navision - Navision Attain. Navision Software was established in 1994 and since then it gained European ERP mid-size and portion of USA market, especially for light manufacturing. Navision success should be attributed to Denmark software development market miracle of earlier 1990^th. Navision went even further into graphical and DB platform independence ? it designed its own database platform ? C/SIDE ? Navision separated SQL coding from the database itself. Currently MBS promotes Navision on MS SQL Server platform and its database independence is losing its actuality. Navision was localized by MBS to the majority of East European, South American and other emerging markets ? if you are in Europe, South America, Asia and looking for supported reliable solution on your regional market ? you should look at Navision first.
Microsoft Dynamics AX ? Axapta. Axapta was the newest ERP designed by Navision Software prior to its acquisition by Microsoft. The architecture is dated at the end of 20^th century. Axapta needed some time for Microsoft to get upper mid-market ground ? traditionally occupied by SAP, Oracle, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards. Currently Microsoft is localizing Axapta to Brazilian market ? due in April 2006. Very good chances are in East and Continental Europe, including UK. In 2005 US Microsoft Business Solutions regional and nation-wide VARs invested into Axapta consulting practice ? training and certifying consultants, marketing campaign, etc. Very good chances for Axapta for US mid-market and and upper mid-market clientele and prospects
Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 or simply Microsoft CRM 3.0 is promoted by Microsoft Worldwide. So, do not question it from the international perspective ? you will have integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP, Navision (through third party integration), Axapta ? in progress, plus with IBM Lotus Notes Domino ? via Alba Spectrum Lotus Notes integration.

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Microsoft CRM in Brazil: implementation, customization, support overview for consultan

2010-03-03T00:17:00.000-08:00

We expect substantial number growth of Microsoft CRM implementations across Brazil and the need for Microsoft CRM implementation, support, tuning, reporting, training services, especially in such business metros as So Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Manaus.

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is present several years on the US software market plus it makes advances in Europe. We expect substantial number growth of Microsoft CRM implementations across Brazil and the need for Microsoft CRM implementation, support, tuning, reporting, training services, especially in such business metros as So Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Manaus. In this small article we try to project US market lessons on Brazilian business climate.

Sales. Microsoft CRM in opposite to former CRM leaders, such as Siebel, Onyx, Saleslogix doesnt need hard pushing sales efforts. It also should probably not be sold to the company top management, but rather to IT department enthusiasts, who are in charge for specific legacy business system support and data fixing. Microsoft CRM is very simple from business logic and intuitively understood by IT group. It is rather very simplified version of full-featured CRM, such as again Siebel.
Installation. Microsoft CRM should be either hosted or installed by in-house IT group. And this is due to the fact, that MS CRM utilizes all the resent Microsoft technologies: MS Exchange Server 2003/2000, Active Directory, MS SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, MS Outlook client, Microsoft IIS, .Net components, etc. This makes installation sensitive to existing setup of the above components
Implementation. The crucial in the implementation is Workflow design, which should be probably done by consultant with IT in-house specialist. This process doesnt require a lot of business consulting knowledge and in our experience company middle management actually makes suggestions in the time of initial presentation. In the case of MS CRM Sales module the workflow should organize leads processing up to the point of closing the deal and following invoicing. When workflow is realized sales team works as excellent orchestra.
Customization. Usually MS CRM ties together existing legacy business systems and replaces large portion of them. Typical case if you are freight forwarding client and have cargo tracking system you should more likely have lookup from the MS CRM account screen to the customer current shipments statuses. This is usually made as small web application, created in Visual Studio.Net with MS CRM SDK and SQL queries to legacy database.
Support. Because MS CRM is web application it can be used by remote users and automate operations across the whole Brazil and even Worldwide. The same should be said about MS CRM support your Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Partner can support your installation remotely from say office in So Paulo as if it is located across the street.

Good luck implementing, customizing and reports designing and if you have issues or concerns we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call in So Paulo: 55-11-3826-3449, 55-113825-2586! help@albaspectrum.com

Author is MS CRM Specialist in Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Navision, Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving client in Brazil, USA, Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, Malaga, Seville, Buenos Aires, Mexico and having locations in multiple states and internationally

Microsoft CRM Integration with Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS) overview

2010-03-03T00:16:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Client Relation Management system (Microsoft CRM) and Microsoft RMS are both Microsoft SQL Server based applications, however historically Microsoft was purchasing industry leading software applications, such as QuickSell which is now Microsoft RMS. So, RMS design fundamentals were minted a long time before Microsoft CRM. But, still integration between the two is straightforward and what you need is consultant, who is familiar with both systems structures and customization scenarios

Microsoft CRM is currently integrated with Microsoft Great Plains and will be integrated with Microsoft Navision in the close future, RMS integration is not planned to our knowledge, so you should seek third party solutions or create your own integration. We see the need for such the integration when you sell on account in RMS and have customer support call center automated with Microsoft CRM. Let us give you highlights:

Microsoft CRM custom lookup. More likely you will nee lookup to your RMS headquarters or store records for the customer transactions from Account screen. Microsoft CRM allows you to have custom navigation bar on Account screen by clicking on this bar you could call your custom web .Net application, which will call Microsoft RMS database and return you the grid of customer transactions
RMS architecture excurse. Microsoft RMS has Headquarters and Store databases. The exchange between the two types of databases uses worksheet mechanism. Most of the transaction types are initiated on the store level and transferred to the Headquarters database (with some global data exception, global customers for example are handled on HQ level and then propagated down to the stores).
Data Inquiry and Update. The MS RMS architecture suggests you to query primarily Headquarters database and do not change data in HQ database. If you need to change data on the store level from Microsoft CRM custom screen you should consider placing web service on the SQL Server hardware in the store to deal with the store-initiated transaction
Microsoft CRM programming. Microsoft CRM has MS CRM SDK (Software Development Kit). This is open source tool, you can download it from Microsoft site and it is description of Microsoft CRM classes and methods with sample codes in C# and VB.Net. Microsoft technical support encourages you to use Microsoft CRM SDK objects and discourages you from direct SQL server programming. If you need to query MS CRM database you should create your custom database and place your objects: SQL views and stored procedures there. Do not place custom object into MS CRM databases

Do your homework in integration and if you have issues or concerns we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Minnesota, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: andrewk@albaspectrum.com

Microsoft CRM and Great Plains implementation: freight forwarding business automation example

2010-02-27T05:00:00.000-08:00

In this small article well show you business automation example, where Microsoft CRM and Great Plains are integrated and customized to fit Freight Forwarding business processes

Microsoft Business Solutions offers several ERP applications: Great Plains, Navision, Solomon and its own CRM solution Microsoft CRM. Targeting to automate all business operations, Microsoft CRM is now integrated with Microsoft Great Plains and in the close future it should have integration with Microsoft Navision. In this small article well show you business automation example, where Microsoft CRM and Great Plains are integrated and customized to fit Freight Forwarding business processes.

CRM. Central Customer and Vendor records place. Assuming you have agents across the USA and internationally CRM, being web-interface application and so, could be used across the globe with good internet connection. The nice features of this product are central emailing you send email from MS CRM and receive responses from your clients back in CRM, where they are permanently stored and documented. You can issue Quote and Sales Order directly in CRM if needed or could have them issues in Microsoft Great Plains with propagation to Microsoft CRM (deploying MS CRM-Great Plains integration tool BizTalk based connector).
Accounting/ERP. Microsoft Great Plains could play this role, being integrated with Microsoft CRM and with industry-specific business system. In the case of Freight Forwarding/Transportation this business system could calculate fees and charged, associated with MBL/HBL and posted against agent accounts. You could deploy SQL triggers for instant integration or stored procs for scheduled batches.
Great Plains Customizations. Freight Forwarding specifics require Shipment tracking with SOP and POP invoices posted and tracked against the shipment and probably regular/monthly Agent Settlement report, where you match customer and vendor invoices, associated with the agent shipments and create AR or AP document, depending on positive or negative balance. This is Great Plains Dexterity customization or web-development (if you need your agents lookup features from remote locations)
Microsoft CRM Customization. Assuming that you have Shipment Tracking system, which might be SQL or Oracle based you need shipment lookups for your order takers and customer support personnel from Microsoft CRM screens. Being designed for easy web customization Microsoft CRM allows you to incorporate .Net web application into its screens, such as Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity, etc. You use Web Forms and Microsoft CRM SDK to penetrate into MS CRM security realm and then ADO.Net to call third party MS SQL Server or Oracle data
Implementation Advices. Microsoft CRM should be probably tried as in-house pilot implementation with 5 users license and then you can purchase additional license as you have your users trained. If you need MS CRM SDK C# or VB.Net programming you could subcontract. Great Plains requires consultant help to be implemented and integrated, because it has sophisticated tables structure and documents flow mechanism.
Data Conversion. We recommend you to deploy Great Plains Integration manager to import Vendor and Customers plus open documents. Historical transactions, if needed should be moved by outside consultant. Microsoft CRM has import tool try it first and subcontract more complex attachments, for example.

Good luck with implementation and customization and if you have issues or concerns we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Microsoft CRM implementation & customization: MS CRM Fax Gateway

2010-02-16T23:21:00.000-08:00

With this small article we are continuing Microsoft Business Solutions CRM customization, development, modification, setup and implementation discussion.
Microsoft CRM at this moment doesnt have advanced fax automation you can register the fact of fax receiving or sending, but it is not sufficient for your daily work with your clients. User should be able to send and receive faxes in her/his work environment it is in MS CRM

Fax software automation market is very mature and we dont have to re-invite the bicycle here. All we have to do is integrate one of the reliable solutions into Microsoft CRM. Lets look at the technical aspects of the integration:

Modification should be based on the standard event Fax Activity logic alteration. Standard CRM version allows in- or out-going fax info saving into SQL database. Alternative form should have additional parameters for fax delivering
Immediately after the moment of fax saving into CRM database, Albaspectrum MS CRM Universal Fax Connector takes over the logic, more precisely its fax sending portion of the logic, realized as MS CRM Post-Callout, registered for Fax Activity addition and update. At the moment of new fax activity creation, our module considers attached documents as subject to be transferred to the addressee.
Depending on the fax application/extension you use, call parameters are transferred to the appropriate plug-in, which in turn communicates with fax application.
Fax sending might be done through specialized systems or direct hardware control via MS FAX API.
Initially we plan to support GFI FaxMaker and Captaris RightFax via their printing & integration system with email servers MS Exchange and Lotus Domino
Documents, delivered or received through fax extension could be integrated into MS SharePoint via our proposed product Albaspectrum MS CRM Document Gateway. This allows you to revise and versionize document with automatic fax delivery to the addressees involved
For incoming faxes we suggest capturing via special handlers on the MTA (MS Exchange or Lotus Domino) level their task is to take over fax transfer and saving it for the addressee in CRM and Fax Activity creation in MS CRM
This approach provides seamless incoming and outgoing fax document workflow in MS CRM.

Happy programming, implementation, customization and modification! If you want us to do the job call use 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Lead Software Developer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Oracle, Navision, Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, serving Chicago, California, Arizona, Colorado, Texas, Georgia, Florida, New York, Canada, Australia, UK, Russia, Europe and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Oracle, Unix, Microsoft CRM SDK, Navision, C#, VB.Net, SQL developer.

IT Strategy for Large Corporation: ERP/MRP/CRM, Unix/Linux/Windows, Microsoft/Java

2010-02-16T23:14:00.000-08:00

Combining Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains ERP with non-Microsoft Business System or CRM: Lotus Notes Domino, Oracle, DB2

There are multiple opinions on building your established large business IT system. Some companies prefer to be Microsoft shop, others prefer to stick to Java world. In our opinion large company should try balance its ERP in several layers: Hardware, Operating System, Database Platform, ERP/CRM software vendor. The history always proofs that staking on one thing statistically has a chance to fail, remember Windows/Mac battle in the middle of 1990^th? Then Java resurrected UNIX world in the end of the 20^th century. All these facts just tell us that any prediction of the future should not be accurate, because the factors we could consider in the prediction formula will be superceded by new conceptions. Good example would be C cross-platform programming language however now we are crazy about thin client so where is C longevity? So, in 2004 we merged several companies to serve large corporate businesses, positioning us as cross platform integrators and the company, envisioning harmony between multiple computer platforms and conceptions. Let us give you our bullets below:

Microsoft Business Solutions pluses old conception that OS should be separate from the DB platform and from your accounting application doesnt work when we consider modern Microsoft: it now offers all in one: Microsoft Great Plains/Navision/Axapta/Solomon/Microsoft CRM/Small Business Financials ERP, based on MS SQL Server DB platform and all this nice suite is working under Microsoft Windows 2003 Server. This is very nice to have and the price would be lower, however you are in the business space and conceptions of Microsoft corporation, which really deserves you to consider either ERP or CRM solution to be trusted and handled into Microsoft guys
ERP/Accounting/MRP - we suppose that the old days of expensive ERP application are going to the history. Nowadays we see the trend to use reasonably inexpensive and functionally sufficient applications, based in decent SQL platform. So, our suggestion is do not pay for high end ERP/Accounting system and rather consider reliable budget solution as a platform for light customization
Business System/CRM CRM market should be considered a mature one in 2010, when such pioneers as Siebel will cross 15 years of the existence. Again in our opinion youd rather pay for small or moderate customization to budget CRM solution to have work done. Microsoft CRM or SalesLogix would do the job
Oracle Financials we are supporters of the companies who decided to go with Oracle Financials or SAP and have their CRM/Business Management System to be placed on the Microsoft Windows platform. Microsoft CRM would integrate with Oracle smoothly
Microsoft CRM in our opinion large publicly traded company should consider using Lotus Notes Domino for document workflow and CRM and when adopting MS CRM it should consider using Domino as primary email server see our MS CRM Lotus Notes Domino email connector description.

Good luck and you can always seek our help in customization, implementation, integration and support. Call us: 1-866-528-0577 or 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving Chicago, California, Arizona, Texas, Florida, Georgia, New York, Australia, UK, Canada, Germany, Continental Europe, Russia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer

Microsoft Dynamics AX-GP-NAV-CRM: Trends and International Recommendations

2010-02-02T23:17:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Dynamics project ? or formerly referred as Project Green should unify and modulate all Microsoft Business Solutions ERP applications: Microsoft Great Plains/Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Navision (former Attain) Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft (Navision) Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX. The challenge of unification probably will result in quality change for the unified interface, such as Web/Business portal/Microsoft Outlook & MS Office integration, Deployment of new technologies, such as Microsoft Sharepoint with workflow automation. Plus the development platform for Microsoft Dynamics products should shift from proprietary tools, such as Microsoft Dexterity, C/SIDE, MorphX (no confirmation for Axapta yet ? but we guess it should follow) to C# and VB.Net with VisualStudio. In this small article we will try to orient IT managers in Microsoft Business Solutions MRP products selection for international and regional markets.

? Microsoft Dynamics GP. The regional markets for Great Plains 9.0 and following Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 version will narrow: United States, United Kingdom, Canada: both English and French speaking, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other English speaking countries in Asia, Africa and Worldwide, plus Spanish Speaking Latin America. Microsoft Dynamics GP 10 will not be available for Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland ? the last version localized for these European countries will be 9.0 ? June 2006

? Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Currently Navision has very good presence in Europe, including East Europe: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia. Microsoft also localized Navision for new markets, where it just moved in: Brazil for example ? it was interesting development in Brazil ? first Microsoft probed Solomon, then Microsoft Great Plains 7.5 and in 2004 replaced it with localized Navision

? Microsoft Dynamics AX. Microsoft Axapta, opposite to Navision or Great Plains where market shares are gained/divided and competition is based on renovations and product improvements, Axapta has great potential yet to be deployed, coming from its modern and very futuristic system design and architecture. Being targeted to upper mid-market and corporate clients Axapta shows very good progress on emerging markets: in Russia for example the number of Axapta installation is similar and comparable with the number of Navision installations. Plus, in 2005 large number of Microsoft Business Solutions gold certified partners rushed into Axapta consulting arena ? this is seen in the USA, UK, Australia and continental Europe. In Brazil currently MBS in local Portuguese Axapta launching mode ? localized for Brazilian tax code

? Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Is planned as front CRM solution for the majority of Microsoft Dynamics ERP system: integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP is available for GP 7.5, 8.0, 9.0 and CRM 1.2 and 3.0, Microsoft Navision ? through third party integrations, Axapta integration is planned. Microsoft has Microsoft CRM as worldwide product, so you should not have any doubts regarding your regional market.

? Competition. Oracle is on the way with Oracle Fusion project, aiming on Oracle Financials/Applications/E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards and potentially Siebel integration. SAP with the purchase of new mid and small market ERP: SAP Business One and Mendocino ? for SAP R/3 is catching up

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Lotus Notes Domino Connector ? Overview For Consultant

2010-02-02T23:16:00.000-08:00

We have reworked the original material, dedicated to Microsoft CRM 1.2 and first version of the Connector, now we are very close to make it work with Lotus Calendar events and support Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino, being two groupware products from competing software development leaders, however could coexist within one organization computer network and even work together in collaboration. There maybe multiple reason why corporation would use both products: licensing, commitment to IBM Lotus Notes as legacy product, risk balancing ? staking on both Microsoft and Java/EJB/J2EE platforms, deploying Lotus advanced workflow to automate document management, etc. The need to synchronize MS CRM and Lotus Notes Domino databases is dictated by the ERP market and the connector is available. In this small article we?ll answer on the frequently asked questions.

? Messaging. Can MS CRM use Lotus Domino instead of Microsoft Exchange? Yes. MS CRM Lotus Domino connector allows you send messages from MS CRM objects: Lead, Account, Contact and all the future object, including Sales and Service modules

? Outgoing Messaging. When Microsoft CRM send email from Account, Contact, Lead ? connector takes control over and sends email through Lotus Domino server. It has Java Agent at the Lotus side and MS CRM SDK custom piece at the MS CRM side. If you compare outgoing messaging with standard MS CRM Exchange connector, then mechanism is slightly different. Microsoft CRM Exchange connector places GUID in the message header and uses this GUID to identify the object in the responding email to push it back to CRM and attach. MS CRM Lotus connector doesn?t use GUID ? instead it scans MS CRM objects (Accounts, Contacts, Leads) in smart cached way

? Incoming Messages. When Lotus Domino server receives email ? Java Agent side of the connector triggers checking with MS CRM if addressor email matches with any Contact, Lead or Account email. In the case of the match ? email is transferred into MS CRM in the form of activity of email type. Again ? please note that connector doesn?t use GUID mechanism. We found that matching is better approach and we have Microsoft CRM Exchange advanced connector ? which works with matching, without standard GUID mechanism.

? Microsoft CRM & Lotus Notes Events synchronization. Future version of the connector will synchronize MS CRM and Lotus Notes objects: Calendar, Appointment, Fax, Phone Call, etc. Please, note that Lotus has different objects ? we have the matching table, please check with us.

? Lotus & MS CRM Versions. Lotus should be version 6.0 or higher. The reason for this is simple ? version 6.0 supports Java Agent technology. MS CRM should be 1.2 or 3.0. Lotus could work in multiple hardware & OS platforms, such as Windows Server, AS/400, etc.

? Product Pricing. It is US$3k basic pack, including 30 users and then $75 each additional user. In Europe price is proportional in Euro.

? Support. Product is installed Worldwide and supported in Europe from German office, in the USA and Canada from Houston and Chicago, in South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, New Zealand from office in Sao Paulo Brazil.

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.enterlogix.com.br http://www.greatplains.com.mx ) ? Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Arizona, Texas

Microsoft CRM: data conversion import from Act!

2010-01-27T02:08:00.000-08:00

Best Software Act! is very popular CRM for small and mid-size organization. This system attracts business owner by its low price, plus system is very easy to use. However if your business is growing you should reach the moment to implement more advanced CRM solution. Natural question is how do we convert the data from Act! to new CRM solution and the mapping of your objects for conversion. You would probably like to avoid operator data entry with potential numerous errors and mistypes. Assuming that you are IT specialist, well give you technical side of Act to MS CRM data migration

This system attracts business owner by its low price, plus system is very easy to use. However if your business is growing you should reach the moment to implement more advanced CRM solution. Natural question is how do we convert the data from Act! to new CRM solution and the mapping of your objects for conversion. You would probably like to avoid operator data entry with potential numerous errors and mistypes. Assuming that you are IT specialist, well give you technical side of Act to MS CRM data migration:

First you need to download Act! SDK from Best Software website
Install Act! SDK on the computer, where you plan to do programming
Well use asynchronous data export/import model, this means that well design the system, containing two parts: export into XML and this XML file import into the CRM
Lets code Act! data export application, well use C# to address Act Framework classes, well need these libraries:

using Act.Framework;
using Act.Framework.Activities;
using Act.Framework.Companies;
using Act.Framework.ComponentModel;
using Act.Framework.Contacts;
using Act.Framework.Database;
using Act.Framework.Groups;
using Act.Framework.Histories;
using Act.Framework.Lookups;
using Act.Framework.MutableEntities;
using Act.Framework.Notes;
using Act.Framework.Opportunities;
using Act.Framework.Users;
using Act.Shared.Collections;

To connect to Act! database:

ActFramework framework = new ActFramework();
framework.LogOn("Act Username", "password", "SERVER, "Database");

Now we need Act field names to map them with the fields in the MS CRM:

private void ShowContactsFieldsDescriptions(ActFramework framework) {
    ContactFieldDescriptor[] cFields = framework.Contacts.GetContactFieldDescriptors();
    ContactFieldDescriptor cField;
    for(int x = 0; x < cFields.Length; x++)
        {
            cField = cFields[x];
            Console.WriteLine("Table Name:tt{0}", cField.TableName);
            Console.WriteLine("Column Name:t{0}", cField.ColumnName);
            Console.WriteLine("Display Name:t{0}", cField.DisplayName);
            Console.WriteLine("ACT Field Type:t{0}", cField.ACTFieldType);
            Console.WriteLine("");
         }
}

Lets get contact list and create the file for import instructions to MS CRM:

ContactList cList = framework.Contacts.GetContacts(null);
FileInfo t = new FileInfo("Contacts.xml");
StreamWriter stw = t.CreateText();

Now we form export data:

for (int i = 0; i < cList.Count; i++) {
    string strContactXml = "<contact>";
    ContactFieldDescriptor cField;
    Object oValue;
    // First Name
    cField = framework.Contacts.GetContactFieldDescriptor("TBL_CONTACT.FIRSTNAME");
    oValue = cField.GetValue(cList[i]);
    if (oValue != null && !(oValue.ToString().Trim().Equals("")))
strContactXml += "<firstname><![CDATA[" + oValue.ToString() + "]]></firstname>";
    // Last Name
    cField = framework.Contacts.GetContactFieldDescriptor("TBL_CONTACT.LASTNAME");
    oValue = cField.GetValue(cList[i]);
    if (oValue != null && !(oValue.ToString().Trim().Equals("")))
strContactXml += "<lastname><![CDATA[" + oValue.ToString() + "]]></lastname>";
    else
strContactXml += "<lastname>" + "N/A" + "</lastname>";
    // Salutation
    cField = framework.Contacts.GetContactFieldDescriptor("TBL_CONTACT.SALUTATION");
    oValue = cField.GetValue(cList[i]);
    if (oValue != null && !(oValue.ToString().Trim().Equals("")))
strContactXml += "<salutation><![CDATA[" + oValue.ToString() + "]]></salutation>";
    // Job Title
    cField = framework.Contacts.GetContactFieldDescriptor("TBL_CONTACT.JOBTITLE");
    oValue = cField.GetValue(cList[i]);
    if (oValue != null && !(oValue.ToString().Trim().Equals("")))
strContactXml += "<jobtitle><![CDATA[" + Regex.Replace(oValue.ToString(), "rn", "<BR>") + "]]></jobtitle>";

This is only portion of the data, that could be transferred into CRM, the whole list of fields is too long for small article, but your could design the whole list of desired fields. Please, pay special attention to replace <BR> HTML tag this is required for text data transfer into CRM
Next is import application creation. We will not describe here connection to MS CRM details please read Microsoft CRM SDK if you need this examples. Well concentrate on the nature of the import.

The XML export file should look like this:

<contact><firstname><![CDATA[John]]></firstname><lastname><![CDATA[Smith]]></lastname><salutation><![CDATA[John]]></salutation><address1_line1><![CDATA[1234 W. Big River]]></address1_line1><address1_city><![CDATA[Chicago]]></address1_city><address1_stateorprovince><![CDATA[IL]]></address1_stateorprovince><address1_postalcode><![CDATA[123456]]></address1_postalcode><description><![CDATA[Toy Corporation]]></description><ownerid type="8">{4F1849C3-9184-48B5-BB09-078ED7AB2DAD}</ownerid></contact>

Reading, parsing and MS CRM object creation look is relatively simple:

Microsoft.Crm.Platform.Proxy.BizUser bizUser = new Microsoft.Crm.Platform.Proxy.BizUser();

ICredentials credentials = new NetworkCredential(crmUsername, crmPassword, crmDomain);

bizUser.Url = crmDir + "BizUser.srf";

bizUser.Credentials = credentials;

Microsoft.Crm.Platform.Proxy.CUserAuth userAuth = bizUser.WhoAmI();

// CRMContact proxy object

Microsoft.Crm.Platform.Proxy.CRMContact contact = new Microsoft.Crm.Platform.Proxy.CRMContact ();

        contact.Credentials = credentials;
        contact.Url = crmDir + "CRMContact.srf";
        CorrectXML("Contacts.xml", userAuth.UserId);
        StreamReader reader = File.OpenText("Contacts.xml");

string input = null;

while ((input = reader.ReadLine()) != null)

{

            string strContactId = contact.Create(userAuth, input);
            Console.WriteLine("Contact {0} is created", strContactId);
            log.Debug("Contact " + strContactId + " is created");

}

Just consider in more details CorrectXML function it places OwnerId into XML contact tree:

private void CorrectXML(string fileName, string userId) {

           File.Move(fileName, fileName + ".old");
           StreamReader reader = File.OpenText(fileName + ".old");
           FileInfo t = new FileInfo(fileName);
           StreamWriter writer = t.CreateText();
           string input = null;

while ((input = reader.ReadLine()) != null) {

input = Regex.Replace(input, "{_REPLACE_ME_}", userId);
writer.WriteLine(input);

}

           reader.Close();
           writer.Close();
           File.Delete(fileName + ".old");

}

Finally, we are launching export, import, opening MS CRM and looking at the contact list, transferred from Act!
Separate task would be Sales data from Act!, Notes etc. we plan to describe them in the future articles

Good luck with integration! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), serving Microsoft Great Plains, CRM, Navision to mid-size and large clients in California, Illinois, New York, Georgia, Florida, Texas, Arizona, Washington, Minnesota, Ohio, Michigan

Microsoft CRM Implementation for Large Corporation overview

2010-01-27T02:07:00.001-08:00

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is now approaching the phase of being mature product and the CRM solution you may consider for large publicly traded company. Our view point considers the fact of multiple platforms and systems coexistence and balancing: UNIX, Linux, Microsoft Windows, Java, .Net, PC, AS/400, RS6000, Microsoft Exchange, Lotus Notes Domino, etc. This increases the cost of maintenance, but decreases the risk of being trapped to one vendor/solution. So far weve seen successful implementations of Microsoft CRM in the following industries: Distribution, Logistics, Non-Profit, Chemicals, Pharmaceutical, Placement/Recruiting, Medicare/Hospitals, Retail, Wholesale, Education, Beverages, Services, Defense, Aerospace, Oil & Gas.

In-house Implementation. This is non-expected paradox. Multiple clients, especially large companies, do it themselves. The reason is Microsoft CRM utilizes all spectrum Microsoft Technologies: Exchange, Active Directory, .Net, Full-text search, etc. Microsoft oriented IT people understand it and like to be involved. So, you should consider self-implementation first.
Integration. Microsoft CRM has relatively simple business logic and sits in Microsoft SQL Server, which enables customization and integration with third party systems and databases. If you have Microsoft Great Plains you can use MBS CRM-GP integration tool, based on BizTalk. If you have UNIX-based ERP/Accounting, you can deploy MS SQL linked server to bridge MS CRM and ERP. The same would work for Oracle ERP Oracle Financials. Navision has third party integration tool and the one from Microsoft is on the way to be released. Axapta is also candidate for the integration.
Customization. Microsoft CRM SDK describes majority of MS CRM objects and classes and enable VB.Net or C#.Net developer to build-in custom .Net application for Microsoft CRM existing screens. And this is actually the way of the integration you realize integration in the custom .Net application.
Messaging. Microsoft CRM uses MS CRM-Exchange connector in its standard functionality. However if you have IBM Lotus Domino email server you can deploy MS CRM-Lotus connector, developed and supported by Alba Spectrum Technologies.
Data Conversion. You should use Scribe for initial data migration. However you need some programming work if you plan on bringing advanced data (email attachments from Siebel, for example)
External consultants. You should consider customization and integration initial design as candidates for outsourcing. Then, when coding is done and implemented you may switch to your internal developers to support custom pieces.
Nation-wide support. Microsoft CRM is very innovative from the support side. It means that Microsoft CRM partners tend to go to the nation-wide and international market to sell, implement and support the application. Being web application Microsoft CRM could be accessed, customized and modified from anywhere.
Internationalization. Microsoft Business Solutions promotes MS CRM worldwide and has local versions of the product.

You can always have us help you, give us a call: 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is consultant and CTO in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Microsoft Business Solutions partner, serving clients in Illinois, New York, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Minnesota, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, Russia. He is Microsoft Great Plains certified master, Great Plains Dexterity, Microsoft CRM SDK C#.Net, Crystal Repots developer. You can reach Andrew: akarasev@albaspectrum.com

Lotus Notes Domino and Microsoft CRM Integration

2010-01-27T02:05:00.000-08:00

Well, even if the combination might look very unusual, we see the coexistence of these two systems, especially in large corporations, non-profit organizations. Technically Lotus Notes Domino has parallel structure, including Domino email server. Lotus is extremely flexible and you can program your own CRM or purchase CRM for Lotus, however Microsoft CRM has Microsoft SQL Server database and very simple Sales automation module. Lets look at the integration reasons and scenarios.

Why Lotus & MS CRM? There are several reasons to combine the two. First Lotus Domino has very long history and is present on the market over 15 years. Corporations might have business system built upon the Lotus Notes Domino platform and it is not desirable or even feasible from the complexity standpoint to phase it out. The second reason is possible IT strategy to balance multiple platforms to avoid over-dependence on one vendor (such as Microsoft). There might be also licensing issue if corporation has several hundred Lotus licenses it doesnt want to lose them and pay for 200 Microsoft CRM users. In this case MS CRM might be the solution for Sales department and all the other departments should stay on Lotus.
Lotus Domino as Messaging for MS CRM. There is no need to program this custom piece, just use MS CRM Lotus Domino connector, supported by Alba Spectrum Technologies. It has advanced functionality, versus standard MS CRM Exchange connector. Instead of using GUID in the email header, it scans Contacts, Accounts, Leads emails for matching.
Lotus Workflow. Workflow is possible in Lotus and MS CRM. In Lotus, however workflow is the most advanced. You can use Lotus Workflow and then upon the completion it can transfer control to Microsoft CRM. This is typical Microsoft CRM SDK (to program MS CRM) and Lotus Java Agent programming from the side of Lotus. Lotus workflow may work with integration to your ERP/Accounting application, such as Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, however this is outside of the scope of this article.
Lotus/CRM Activities Synchronization. One of the popular requirements is the synchronization of Microsoft CRM Activities: Appointment, Phone Call, Fax, etc. with Lotus TOTOs. This should allow users work on the same project sharing Lotus and MS CRM data space.

If you need help in the integration or customization, feel free to call us: 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Business Solutions and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.

Microsoft CRM messaging through Lotus Domino email server - balanced solution

2010-01-27T02:04:00.000-08:00

Microsoft CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino seem to be taking completely different paths and if company is Microsoft oriented - we see MS CRM, MS Exchange, MS SQL Server, SharePoint, etc. In the case of Lotus Domino - it is opposite - Lotus is corporate Information Media and could technically play CRM role with internal messaging coming through Lotus Domino server. However realities of modern corporation give us multiple examples when Microsoft CRM and Lotus Domino should coexist in compromise. There are several reasons why corporation doesn't like to stick to one platform:
1. Balancing several platforms not to be trapped to the one-vendor solution. Imagine, that you placed all the eggs into one basket and then this basket went into the trouble (lawsuit, bankruptcy, mismanagement, hostile takeover - to name a few in the life of the modern American corporation)
2. Legacy-dependence. If your corporation uses such product as Lotus Notes/Domino for 10 plus years - you can expect that majority of documents are stored in the Lotus databases. Just conversion of this legacy database is multi-million dollars project. And again - we could not predict the future accurately - who will win or lose - IBM or Microsoft - or maybe they will merge
3. Procedures and flowcharts. Nowadays corporation works and builds its business model around computer business system, consider things like users training, functional flowcharts/diagrams, reporting to investors, IDE with company vendors and customer. And we'd dare to say that these things are computer application platform dependent (even being designed in the heads of corporation founding leaders as abstract business processes - then they were placed into the computer platform and had to fit to its pluses and minuses)
Considering these arguments and having multiple requests from Microsoft Business Solutions and directly from our prospects and customer, we have realized the connector, which allows Microsoft CRM use Lotus Domino email server with similar messaging functionality as Microsoft Exchange 2003/2000
Microsoft CRM Exchange connector needs to be installed and its DLL based functionality is superceded by our own DLL, which communicates with Lotus Domino server via Java Agents
You can always have us help you with the integration and customization. Call us: 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918.

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, serving clients in Chicago, California, Texas, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Louisiana, Michigan, Florida, Canada, UK, Australia, South Africa and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

CRM...

2010-01-16T06:05:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest article. It may be freely used in ezines, on websites or in e-books, as long as the Resource Box is left intact.

I would appreciate notification of where it was used, and if possible, a copy of the ezine or newsletter that it was used in. Please send notification mailto:webmaster@online-wealth.com

=========================

I hate computers.

Now, coming from a person who's been involved with them since 1967, you might think that's a bit over the top.

Well...it's not *actually* the computers that's the problem, of course, it's the software - the programs that run in them, that I *really* hate.

I also hate ATMs. Now, that's a double whammy for the poor, dumb machines!

But, like computers on the desk, ATMs are everywhere, and by golly, there're *so* convenient, aren't they? However, now that we have ATMs and computers in an unholy alliance, specifically designed to ruin your day at any nanosecond, I was happy - *well, almost* - when I had to turn to the customer service desk at my local bank for help.

Y'see, the ATM had just swallowed my cash card and had issued this terse message: "Invalid transaction - card retained", to be immediately followed by another: "Please use another card and try again." Huh? I didn't *have* another card on me right now, did I! And, I knew that there was sufficient money in the account...

Naturally I was annoyed but, resisting the urge to give it a Coke machine kick, I went instead to the customer service desk to sort the problem out. Here, I thought, I'd get the attention I deserve as a good customer, you know, talk to a *real* person, blah, blah, blah...

Ever been to la-la land? Well, we all get there, once in a while I guess, but...at 9.30 in the morning? Bear with me, for a few moments, while I relate the nadir of Customer Relationship Management - aka CRM for all internet aficionados - a la local bank style...

ME: "Look...er...my son, Danny Burke, asked me to get some money from the machine, and that one" - me pointing accusingly -"just upped and took it. Would you be able to help, please?" I smile helpfully (I tried to look a bit sheepish also - that sometimes helps).

SHE: "You shouldn't have done that!" Slightly frowning, and a bit of a sharp note to her voice.

ME (nonplussed, eyebrows raised): "Huh...what...oh, yes, well, he gave me his PIN...he's in school now" - glancing at my watch - "so, he can't be..."

SHE (cutting in): "You're not supposed to use his PIN - unless of course you're AUTHORIZED." Voice definitely rising now, but not yet shrill. Glares at me, accusingly.

ME (defensively and now, a bit angry): "Hey...I know about PINs and their use...and I don't need a lecture from you!" (glaring back now). I had been part of the online systems development team, at one of the major Canadian banks, in the mid 70s...so, I knew whereof I spoke.

SHE (slightly retreating now): "Well!" A pause. "Well, where is the card, you say?" I point to the machine again.
"Well, I suppose I'll go and get it...one moment...please" (almost an afterthought, by the sound of it).

She stalks off. Idly, I contemplate darkly how hard I can jam some old receipts down an ATM slot when I leave...if I ever get outta here, as the band said, yeah, if I *ever* get outta here...where are *my* wings, I wonder?

Her shrill voice breaks my vengeful reverie.

SHE: "Well, here it is," waving it about triumphantly, "but you can't have the card back. It's *not* yours, you know...you'll have to get authorization from your son...a letter...to pick it up." Emphatically, she puts the card in a drawer, slams it shut. Thud! Smiling now, full set of ivories, dripping insincerity.

ME: "Huh...what?" (I know, I know...I tend to repeat myself!) But, before I could go on...

SHE: "Anyway, what happened? Why did the ATM take the card? Did you enter something incorrectly?" I couldn't believe her accusing tone. At any moment, I expected her to start shaking her finger at me.

I look at her blankly, but I'm thinking. Now that was the funny thing about this whole mess - I'd followed everything to the letter...er, number: key in PIN, hit WITHDRAW CASH, select correct account...hmmm, must be SAVINGS, Danny has no CHEQUE account, but just after I key-entered 140, the ATM issued the above messages and ate the card. That's it...kaput! I felt that I'd just been executed. Maybe it was some kind of read error on the unit? Most unlikely...the card had already been accepted - PIN, account, the lot! But, what then?

ME (finally shrugging, shaking my head): "Hmmm...well, no...there's no obvious reason...that I can think of..." Brow furrows, bites lip pensively.

SHE (primly): "Never mind, never MIND, either fill this form out for a new card", handing me another bank form, as if I didn't have enough already, "or get your son to bring a letter back...and then you can get the card back!" She said the last with more false bonhomie, teeth glittering.

As I walked away muttering, I glanced back at the large sign above the area: "Customer Service Desk". Some service, I thought; more like "Customer Punishment Area - SFA (that's Self Flagellation Acceptable)"! My only option now was to return with some sort of letter to satisfy these goons and their procedures...so much for *this* bank's customer relationship management program.

That woman on the service desk failed miserably at CRM: the cardinal rule is that the customer is always right, even when s/he's wrong. She didn't *have* to tell me that using another's PIN is not recommended; from Spitzbergen to Tierra del Fuego, everybody knows *that*, already! Additionally, she didn't even have the courtesy to address me by my name...

And, to cap it all, instead of apologizing to *me* for the inconvenience, she made me feel as though I had been the one to inconvenience *her*. Some service, huh?

Y'see, she was intent *only* on enforcing procedure, even to my detriment, instead of trying to get to the root cause of the problem...which, by the way, may also be happening to other customers. Even as I speak...

I was thinking about *that* as I drove back home, but put it aside, while I enlisted the aid of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. First things first, after all: get the card back, then worry about why I was card-swiped! This was going to be interesting, I thought, as I knew that Sherry had already had a run-in with the personnel in *that* particular branch some months ago...

Oh, the joys of online banking! ;-)

P.S. Part 2 will complete this sorry saga...

I would appreciate notification of where it was used, and if possible, a copy of the ezine or newsletter that it was used in. Please send notification mailto:webmaster@online-wealth.com

=========================

I hate computers.

Now, coming from a person who's been involved with them since 1967, you might think that's a bit over the top.

Well...it's not *actually* the computers that's the problem, of course, it's the software - the programs that run in them, that I *really* hate.

I also hate ATMs. Now, that's a double whammy for the poor, dumb machines!

But, like computers on the desk, ATMs are everywhere, and by golly, there're *so* convenient, aren't they? However, now that we have ATMs and computers in an unholy alliance, specifically designed to ruin your day at any nanosecond, I was happy - *well, almost* - when I had to turn to the customer service desk at my local bank for help.

Y'see, the ATM had just swallowed my cash card and had issued this terse message: "Invalid transaction - card retained", to be immediately followed by another: "Please use another card and try again." Huh? I didn't *have* another card on me right now, did I! And, I knew that there was sufficient money in the account...

Naturally I was annoyed but, resisting the urge to give it a Coke machine kick, I went instead to the customer service desk to sort the problem out. Here, I thought, I'd get the attention I deserve as a good customer, you know, talk to a *real* person, blah, blah, blah...

Ever been to la-la land? Well, we all get there, once in a while I guess, but...at 9.30 in the morning? Bear with me, for a few moments, while I relate the nadir of Customer Relationship Management - aka CRM for all internet aficionados - a la local bank style...

ME: "Look...er...my son, Danny Burke, asked me to get some money from the machine, and that one" - me pointing accusingly -"just upped and took it. Would you be able to help, please?" I smile helpfully (I tried to look a bit sheepish also - that sometimes helps).

SHE: "You shouldn't have done that!" Slightly frowning, and a bit of a sharp note to her voice.

ME (nonplussed, eyebrows raised): "Huh...what...oh, yes, well, he gave me his PIN...he's in school now" - glancing at my watch - "so, he can't be..."

SHE (cutting in): "You're not supposed to use his PIN - unless of course you're AUTHORIZED." Voice definitely rising now, but not yet shrill. Glares at me, accusingly.

ME (defensively and now, a bit angry): "Hey...I know about PINs and their use...and I don't need a lecture from you!" (glaring back now). I had been part of the online systems development team, at one of the major Canadian banks, in the mid 70s...so, I knew whereof I spoke.

SHE (slightly retreating now): "Well!" A pause. "Well, where is the card, you say?" I point to the machine again.
"Well, I suppose I'll go and get it...one moment...please" (almost an afterthought, by the sound of it).

She stalks off. Idly, I contemplate darkly how hard I can jam some old receipts down an ATM slot when I leave...if I ever get outta here, as the band said, yeah, if I *ever* get outta here...where are *my* wings, I wonder?

Her shrill voice breaks my vengeful reverie.

SHE: "Well, here it is," waving it about triumphantly, "but you can't have the card back. It's *not* yours, you know...you'll have to get authorization from your son...a letter...to pick it up." Emphatically, she puts the card in a drawer, slams it shut. Thud! Smiling now, full set of ivories, dripping insincerity.

ME: "Huh...what?" (I know, I know...I tend to repeat myself!) But, before I could go on...

SHE: "Anyway, what happened? Why did the ATM take the card? Did you enter something incorrectly?" I couldn't believe her accusing tone. At any moment, I expected her to start shaking her finger at me.

I look at her blankly, but I'm thinking. Now that was the funny thing about this whole mess - I'd followed everything to the letter...er, number: key in PIN, hit WITHDRAW CASH, select correct account...hmmm, must be SAVINGS, Danny has no CHEQUE account, but just after I key-entered 140, the ATM issued the above messages and ate the card. That's it...kaput! I felt that I'd just been executed. Maybe it was some kind of read error on the unit? Most unlikely...the card had already been accepted - PIN, account, the lot! But, what then?

ME (finally shrugging, shaking my head): "Hmmm...well, no...there's no obvious reason...that I can think of..." Brow furrows, bites lip pensively.

SHE (primly): "Never mind, never MIND, either fill this form out for a new card", handing me another bank form, as if I didn't have enough already, "or get your son to bring a letter back...and then you can get the card back!" She said the last with more false bonhomie, teeth glittering.

As I walked away muttering, I glanced back at the large sign above the area: "Customer Service Desk". Some service, I thought; more like "Customer Punishment Area - SFA (that's Self Flagellation Acceptable)"! My only option now was to return with some sort of letter to satisfy these goons and their procedures...so much for *this* bank's customer relationship management program.

That woman on the service desk failed miserably at CRM: the cardinal rule is that the customer is always right, even when s/he's wrong. She didn't *have* to tell me that using another's PIN is not recommended; from Spitzbergen to Tierra del Fuego, everybody knows *that*, already! Additionally, she didn't even have the courtesy to address me by my name...

And, to cap it all, instead of apologizing to *me* for the inconvenience, she made me feel as though I had been the one to inconvenience *her*. Some service, huh?

Y'see, she was intent *only* on enforcing procedure, even to my detriment, instead of trying to get to the root cause of the problem...which, by the way, may also be happening to other customers. Even as I speak...

I was thinking about *that* as I drove back home, but put it aside, while I enlisted the aid of She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed. First things first, after all: get the card back, then worry about why I was card-swiped! This was going to be interesting, I thought, as I knew that Sherry had already had a run-in with the personnel in *that* particular branch some months ago...

Oh, the joys of online banking! ;-)

P.S. Part 2 will complete this sorry saga...

Roger Burke has been involved with computers since 1967, and has managed to break quite a few, over the years. He, and his wife Sherry, are now actively engaged in online self-publishing and promoting specific affiliate programs at http://online-wealth.com . If you have any comments or questions about this article, please send emails to mailto:webmaster@online-wealth.com .
Copyright 2001, Online-Wealth. All rights reserved.

CRM: Technology vs Culture

2010-01-05T02:50:00.000-08:00

CRM: Its at the forefront of todays business vocabulary. $6.7 billion was spent globally on CRM software in 2001 - communication, behaviour and culture are equally crucial factors in making CRM successful too.
CRM: Technology v Culture By Cheryl Rickman

CRM: Its at the forefront of todays business vocabulary and, according to Meridien Research, $6.7 billion was spent globally on Customer Relationship Management software in 2001. However, businesses are increasingly learning that technology and software alone cannot make a CRM system successful, and that communication, behaviour and culture are equally crucial factors in developing a successful CRM strategy.

New Internet technologies have arisen, such as Computer Internet Integration (CII), Chat, Push, and Callback, which enable one-to-one customer/consultant conversations and let advisors take control of the customers browser to help them navigate and buy. However, in the same way that companies have traditionally had problems managing effective in-house call centres, today web companies are finding live customer service to be time consuming and labour-intensive.

Some companies say they have the solution. Microsoft (obviously in there somewhere) will be releasing their new customer relationship management product, MSCRM, due out by the end of the year. This promises increased sales force automation for small businesses and is, apparently, not aiming at the enterprise market.

A company aiming at the both the SME and enterprise market is SalesForce. They aim to become the world's first "enterprise automation utility" by delivering (CRM), sales force automation (SFA) and financial software over the Web, competing directly with giants such as Siebel, PeopleSoft, SAP and Microsoft Great Plains. And with customers paying as little as $65 per month for their low-end service, its a more affordable CRM application, which is apparently quick and easy to implement.

The Professional Edition application (its current offering) does not allow for real-time integration with back-office systems and offers only limited customisation. To address these shortcomings Salesforce.com has announced its Enterprise Edition, which is aimed at larger companies, plus an introductory offline edition, available for use on a laptop, and a wireless version accessible via any PalmOS device.

Another solution comes from Transform People International (TPI). Unlike the aforementioned companies, TPI is not a software company. Its a management consultancy, specialising in behavioural analysis and transformation, organisational change and training. Naturally they focus less on the technology and more on developing connections and transforming behaviour, attitudes and styles the grass roots of CRM know how your customer thinks, what their needs and wants are; how you think and how to best engage effectively with each person to generate optimum results.

Its the value of knowledge about customer needs and buying habits that is becoming more important along with changing business cultures and deepening connections with customers. TPI understand this and have launched their new Connections Tool as a result: an online diagnostic tool that aims to improve connection and communication with customers in 4 simple steps. Rising above regular sales techniques, the Connection Tool builds on both CRM technology and behavioural understanding. The output provides a written summary of the main characteristics of the person, with an overview of how they act when under pressure. It also provides an overview of what drives that person, with key tactics and strategies for better connection. http://www.transformpeople.com/connections/tpiintroduction.htm

The TPI Connections Tool grew out of Transform People Internationals experience in delivering organisational change in many global corporations across a wide cross-section of vertical markets ranging from communications and technology to packaging. As well as an acute awareness that, by understanding behaviour, businesses can improve communication and develop relationships more successfully.

Technology V Culture

An Information Masters survey revealed that, Technology and information are responsible for, at most, 25 per cent of your CRM competence. Other assets that are important include brands, messages (sadly neglected), staff knowledge, policies, processes and rules.

And, according to Robert Shaw, founding director of the consultancy CRM Best Practice, The danger is that many organisations are now investing huge sums in the wrong things. The technology is excellent in many cases, the problem lies with how we apply it. We invest too much time in selecting one-hit solutions and too little time in creating the business vision, adds Robert. Bad CRM is easy. You just read the press, go to a few exhibitions, choose some software, hire some systems implementers, and bingo, you have a Web site, a call centre, or a mailing database. Most important for good CRM is to have an offensive strategy, not a defensive one. Waiting until competitors threaten you, then responding to them or copying them is a recipe for failure. You need to take time out to create the vision.

And that vision includes developing an analytical attitude towards customer, staff and client behaviour. A vision mirrored by Transform People.

How you asses the person youre developing a relationship with, how you assess your own behaviour and your organisational behaviour, and how you engage with people are crucial to making CRM more effective, Says Ian Mills, Director of Transform People International.

Arthur OConnor, leading expert on CRM and columnist for www.ecrmguide.com, agrees, Some businesses spend a fortune striving to engage, attract, and sell prospects -- only to take extreme measures to avoid interacting with these same people after they become customers.

He adds that the Call Centre hasnt been the best choice for those striving to improve CRM. Many companies brought in poorly trained, ill-equipped people to serve as their primary customer interface, says Athur. Resulting in Corporate Schizophrenia.

Evidently then, it is the behaviour of staff, the behaviour and experience of your customers, combined with a winning strategy and good technology that will improve a CRM strategys chances of success.

Afterall, a CRM package only has real and tangible value if it is backed by a strategy, agrees Ronni T. Marshak, senior vice president of the Patricia Seybold Group.

In building a robust customer relationship objectives should include reducing the cost of acquiring new customers, cross-selling and up-selling to existing customers, closing more sales, targeting more lucrative markets, and creating conditions to make those goals more obtainable. "Most of those conditions have nothing to do with CRM technology itself," says Marshak.

"A company that wants to become truly customer-centric rather than just paying lip service to the notion may have to reengineer fundamental business processes and change prevailing attitudes altogether," he concludes.

Evidently then, the success of CRM rests on both technology and organisational change and the willingness of organisations and individuals to assess and analyse behaviour to improve connection and deepen relationships.

The best technology in the world cannot incur the required cultural, organisational and behavioural change that is needed to drive effective CRM strategies. The difficulty is getting people to change the way they work, to use the technology and to interact with the customer differently. So says Micheal Juer, Director of Sales Pathways Ltd.

There is now a shift occurring where businesses are beginning to realise that they have to work with their customers, and technology is becoming a secondary issue to that. But it is that cultural shift that you need to do, in order to actually deliver good customer service and differentiate yourself from your competitors in the market place.

Customer relationship management should be seen as a strategic response to a set of customer, staff and business needs. And as long as businesses focus on those crucial points and not just technology alone: working with customers and facing organisational and cultural change, their CRM results will improve.

7 Tips for CRM Success:

Define your business objectives and goals against which results can be measured. Give each CRM project three dimensions: people, processes and technology. Establish a systematic approach to project management including team development, IT, marketing, services, sales and management, as well as software. Clearly identify corporate and customer needs. Research requirements, behaviour and how to engage and deliver effectively. Manage organisational change effectively. The human factor is imperative to a projects success. Invest in training more essential than any piece of software. Focus on proactive selling, management and relationship building to effectively upsell and cross-sell.

Cheryl Rickman is author of '111 winning ways to promote your website successfully' and contributes regularly to Better Business magazine, Digitrends.com and Internet.com. She offers website appraisals, copywriting and marketing via http://www.webcritique.co.uk

Defining CRM

2009-12-19T04:07:00.000-08:00

Customer Relationship Management, also known as CRM, has been around for quite some time. It all started back several years ago when someone decided that combining both Sales & Marketing with Service & Support, would be a great idea, and it was. According to many accounts, Tom Siebel is the mastermind behind CRM. He extensively developed and marketed CRM until it became a well used "tool of the trade" so to speak.

Another related industry application, Sales Force Automation (SFA), is one of the earliest players in the CRM field, as is customer support. SFA is used to support the sales process of a company or organization, and it offers Lead Management, Opportunity Management, Account & Contact Management, Sales Pipeline Management, Sales Forecasting, Sales Analytics, as well as many other features, depending on the application.

Corporations have learned that by utilizing technology in their day to day processes, they can automate virtually their entire sales force teams and save countless hours that would otherwise be wasted. CRM and SFA are becoming more popular with time, and even Microsoft has expanded to include CRM in their list of many bells and whistles. CRM includes all aspects of interaction a company has with its customer, whether it be sales or service related.

It is certain, new technology has changed the way businesses and organizations approach their CRM strategy, and this has paved the way for new trends and customer growth. Businesses are able to customize their customers' experiences and therefore grow at a steady rate. CRM is a vital part of any business plan, and the technology just keeps getting better.

http://www.emaximation.com

Microsoft CRM Data Migration ? Overview For Consultant Developer

2009-12-07T04:34:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is now parading and triggering Microsoft CRM installation, implementation, customization, data conversion, upgrade and migration interest. We often see the questions on data import and massage options to Microsoft CRM from such systems as ACT!, custom Oracle, DB2, MS SQL Server databases, in all these cases IT departments should do their homework and understand their options, up to the point of making data massaging through Microsoft CRM SDK C# or VB.Net programming (if they have resources or could afford contract programmers)

? Built-in Migration tool. You can only import master records, such as leads and contacts. Please, be advised not to rely on this migration, if you are looking to migrate your ACT! history (activities, transactions, etc.)

? Scribe. Well ? we have to admit that these folks are experts and their tools are excellent (the best you could find). Scribe itself however may require to have experienced IT people in staff. In our experience ? customers are asking for help in deploying scribe migration, especially integration with Microsoft Great Plains/Dynamics GP 9.0 or 8.0. Scribe is catching up with migration tool, you may see natural delays with such features as duplication recognition (when you already have the lead, account, contact with similar phone number, email, contact name, etc.)

? Microsoft CRM SDK Programming. Technically ? this way can resolve all your issues, however the price and learning curve may be negative factor. Typically, as our experience indicates ? developer should have 2-3 MS CRM SDK mid-size customization projects under his/her belt to do the job seamlessly.

? ACT! SDK Programming. Normally Scribe can do the job, however in some exotic cases when customer is using newest version of ACT! (and Scribe is not ready with its scripts) ? you can deploy ACT! SDK to get access to ACT data and create automatic migration script (in concert with MS CRM 3.0/1.2 SDK Programming)

? Microsoft CRM Upgrade. Usually from 1.0 or 1.2 to 3.0. Please check with us if you have issues. Microsoft CRM 3.0 has multiple redesigned structures. We plan to publish dedicated to MS Dynamics CRM 3.0 upgrade article

Corporate Accounting: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Implementation for large corporation ? overview

2009-12-07T04:30:00.000-08:00

Since December 2005 we are talking about Microsoft CRM version 3.0. In the case of established corporate business we usually deal with such legacy environment as IBM Lotus Notes Domino

Since December 2005 we are talking about Microsoft CRM version 3.0. In the case of established corporate business we usually deal with such legacy environment as IBM Lotus Notes Domino (predecessor of all the modern CRM applications as well as legitimate generic CRM platform), integration with Microsoft (such as MS SQL Server) and non-Microsoft database platforms and applications: Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle Financials and custom Oracle databases, IBM AS/400 and RS6000 DB2 applications, SUN Java II EJB (as eCommerce front and back ends). Microsoft CRM should be integrated with existing applications and there is no way to simply switch all the corporate ERP to become Microsoft Windows workshop. Let?s look at Corporate MRP for large corporation and how Microsoft CRM 3.0 could contribute and be a part of its computer environment.

Sales Module. You should probably begin with simple. If you are facing sales department reshaping (from computerization standpoint) ? you can apply all your MCSE skills and knowledge to install, integrate (with MS Exchange, Active Directory, custom MS SQL databases) and train Sales people to use MS CRM as their sales automation software. It is pretty intuitive: you register Sales Lead, then move it to the Opportunity (where you can create a quote), then move it to Account/Customer and then you can use MS CRM Outlook client to print Sales Quote with Microsoft Mail Merge technology (MS Word format template with your company logo and quotation lines). If you start with Sales module ? the investment (MS CRM software license cost) will be optimized/minimized ? all the other departments will be working with their ?legacy? CRM applications, such as Siebel, SalesLogix, Lotus Notes Domino, custom CRM systems, etc.
MS CRM Security. Security comes one of the firsts when we are talking about corporate environment. In MS CRM you have two conceptions: Owning and Sharing CRM objects. You can share object with unlimited number of groups, the drawback of sharing ? shared object (Lead, Opportunity, Account, Contact) doesn?t show in my Leads, my Opportunities, my Accounts, etc. as well as in MS CRM Outlook client calendar
Integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0/Microsoft Great Plains. Microsoft CRM 1.2 had Microsoft Great Plains CRM integration tool, utilizing BizTalk behind the scenes and our company used it to move MS CRM Customers and Orders into our Accounting ? Microsoft Great Plains 8.0. With the version 3.0 of Microsoft CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 we see that Scribe Software is the champion with the integration between the two ? however Scribe Software dictates the price for its integration tool
Integration with IBM Lotus Notes Domino. This was relatively long story. Both Microsoft Business Solutions and Lotus Software were reluctant to recognize and support Microsoft CRM Lotus Notes Domino connector, written and supported by Alba Spectrum Technologies, beginning with MS CRM 1.2 and Lotus Notes 6.0 (when Java agents were introduced for IBM Lotus Domino). Then, when Microsoft Business Solutions lost Microsoft CRM sales to such client as Caterpillar in LATAM to Saleslogix CRM ? Microsoft in Sao Paulo changed its position. Now Alba Spectrum connector is recognized by Microsoft and is on the way to be recognized and recommended by IBM as well. One of the main reasons to keep utilizing both CRM solutions: Lotus and Microsoft ? to optimize software licenses cost ? IBM Lotus licenses (used in Legal, Production/Manufacturing, Customer Support) and Microsoft CRM licenses (used in Sales & Marketing departments)
International Considerations. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is preferred Microsoft Business Solutions CRM worldwide, however Microsoft Dynamics AX (Microsoft Axapta) and Microsoft Dynamics NAV (Microsoft Navision/Navision Attain) have their own CRM modules. Integration between Microsoft Great Plains exists, plus integration with Navision and Axapta is and will be available through third parties. If you are Multinational corporation with manufacturing facilities in Latin America, Brazil, Africa, Asia, Australia ? and you would like to use one of MBS ERP products in your headquarters: Axapta, Navision, Great Plains or Solomon (Microsoft Dynamics SL). Localization question is relatively simple for Microsoft CRM 3.0 ? it is easily translated to Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, German, French, Russian, Polish, Chinese, Dutch, Japanese, etc.
Competition. We already mentioned Oracle E-Business Suite. From SAP ? you should consider SAP Business One with its CRM module and integration with Microsoft Office/Outlook (this is not related to Mendocino SAP mySAP SAP R/3 or SAP all-in-One project with Microsoft ? SAP Business One has its own original integration with MS Office)

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

ERP Manufacturing Software Encompix Replaces MRP and CRM Systems

2009-11-27T05:40:00.000-08:00

Sly, Inc., headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, has licensed Encompix ERP software to replace a series of non-integrated systems including Caelus MRP and Goldmine CRM. Sly was looking for an integrated system that fit their business processes. One of the biggest factors in selecting Encompix was its ability to handling Sly's estimating requirements. The implementation will commence in 2006 at Sly's corporate office in Cleveland and their manufacturing plant in Mississippi. The firm was founded in 1874 as a manufacturer of foundry equipment. The company's experiences with dusty environments lead to its development of dust collection equipment. Today, the company designs and manufacturers custom-engineered dust collectors and scrubbers.

Encompix (www.encompix.com) has filled the manufacturing software requirements of Engineer-to-Order companies since 1992. The company name reflects the commitment to developing business application solutions that encompass the complex areas of project-based and job-based manufacturing. Encompix provides ETO manufacturers with a competitive advantage by improving bottom line results.

According to Thomas R. Cutler, spokesperson for the ETO Institute (www.etoinstitute.org), "Encompix continues to capture significant marketshare in the ETO environment because few other ERP vendors truly understand the nuances and significant distinctions of the ETO process versus the repetitive manufacturing process. Encompix now has more than 200 of the leading ETO manufacturing firms in North America using their ERP Software solution."

Encompix www.encompix.com Roger Meloy rmeloy@encompix.com 513-733-0066

Do you launch your CRM this year?

2009-11-27T05:38:00.000-08:00

Do you launch your CRM this year?

Publishing Guidelines: You may publish my article in your newsletter, on your website or in your print publication provided you include the resource box at the end. Notification would be appreciated but is not required.

By S. Maurer

Well, you need to know few things.

You need a managerially useful, end-to-end view of the CRM process from a marketing perspective. The basic perspective taken is that of the customer, not the company. In other words, what do managers need to know about their customers and how is that information used to develop a complete CRM perspective?

We suggest the strong marries it goes the need to properly integrate CRM with ERP and SCM applications.

The blessing that CRM and the Internet have lead customers to expect greater access to companies through communication channels it lives?

Health maintenance and preferred provider organizations plows discovering that CRM applications enable them to exploit the cross-marketing potential of their extensive databases to tailor their you policy to clients.

Because the whole idea is to customize each system to a specific company needs, there is no universal definition of Customer Relationship Management CRM, which has both business-to-business and business-to-consumer applications.

Even though research shows that Customer Relationship Management CRM initiatives have shown little success, a recent poll shows that 35 percent of executives surveyed said their organizations will launch Customer Relationship Management CRM initiatives this year.

S. Maurer is a 53-years old college graduated IT professional, with 30 years of experience in the computer & technology business. Now is the Correspondence Courses Director of the Abet Open University: http://mba-open-university.net and http://distance-learning-mba-online-mba-program-executive-jobs.net.

ERP Brazil: Microsoft Dynamics NAV, AX, CRM localized family

2009-11-27T05:36:00.000-08:00

When your company plans to outsource its manufacturing operations to such countries as Brazil, the ERP system for the overseas subsidiary is one of the first decisions to make. In this small article we will concentrate on functional side of the Microsoft Dynamics ERPs, such as Microsoft Navision, Microsoft Axapta and Microsoft CRM

Localization. It usually has two components: language translation (in the case of Brazil it is Brazilian Portuguese) and sales, purchasing taxes and government regulation/reporting. In the case of Brazil we usually talk about these taxes & regulations: CNAE, CPF, IE, IEST, IM.
Local versus International MRP brand. This is usually the question beyond the functionality of the ERP ? you need to decide for yourself if you would like advanced localization features (usually provided by local made ERP ? Microsiga or Datasul to name two) or you want more control over your overseas operations from headquarters ? this will probably be international ERP brand, one of them we are evaluating here ? Microsoft Dynamics family (former name was Microsoft Business Solutions)
Navision/Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Around 2004 Microsoft Business Solutions tried to unify its international ERP offer. As the result, in many countries, including Brazil, East Europe, Russia and others Navision kind of pushed out of the market another MBS ERP ? Microsoft Great Plains (currently Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 ? Brazilian version is not available, however you can get local support from Alba Spectrum). There were multiple reasons, including technical feasibility, they are beyond the scope of this article. Navision is localized and has several years of successful implementation in S?o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and across Brazil. One of the strong points of Navision is Manufacturing module. We see strong demand for Navision ERP implementation from multinational corporations with headquarters in Europe, especially continental: Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.
Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX. This is relatively new ERP ? its design was completed in the very end of XX century, Navision Software bought Axapta prior to be purchased by Microsoft Business Solutions itself. Brazilian localization of Axapta is now complete and it will be released in the first quarter of 2006. In Brazil Microsoft has experiment with Axapta pricing and it is now targeted to compete with Microsiga and Datasul from one side and with SAP Business One from another side. Axapta implementation cycle is longer than for SAP BO, however Axapta is more flexible in its ability to automate upper midsize and large scale business.
Microsoft CRM/Dynamics CRM. Now we are in the process of upgrade from MS CRM 1.2 to its 3.0 version. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 will be more flexible to automate franchisee networks and nation-wide servicing organizations. The question of selection is more simple ? if you are committed to Microsoft platform ? you should know that Microsoft CRM is promoted Worldwide. Here we have to say some words about technical side of Microsoft CRM, especially considering some challenges of MS CRM upgrade ? it heavily uses .Net platform, XML web services and requires strong server side programming, if you need Microsoft CRM customization and custom pieces upgrade (Microsoft CRM SDK 3.0 is a bit different from MS CRM SDK 1.2). In Brazil we saw instances of Microsoft CRM, coexisting with such corporate platform as IBM Lotus Notes Domino

If you need help ? give us a call: S?o Paulo: +55-11-3444-4949, USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, Europa: +44-20-8123-2580, +45-36-96-5520 or help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is ERP consultant at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx http://www.enterlogix.com.br ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, SAP Business One, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense

Automotive Retail BDC and Internet Departments - CRM Alone is Not Enough

2009-11-27T05:33:00.000-08:00

CRM software is only one component of Information Technology.

Information Technology (IT) should comprise all hardware and software data solutions; marketing and communication systems; and most importantly the design, testing, application and refinement of the methods of implementation.

In other words, IT is not just software and hardware, it is the central philosophy and methodology underlying the coordinated application of technological assets in the search for efficient growth.

IT Objectives:

Maximize capitalization of internet prospects Maximize capitalization of global corporate data Minimize Internet and/or BDC departmental overhead Reduce third-party lead referral costs Increase captive lead frequency Strengthen ancillary revenue streams - parts, service and merchandise Exploit horizontal market opportunities

As such, a CRM platform cannot not be considered - in itself - an efficient vehicle for growth. Rather, the coordination of CRM with all other IT assets, in concert with a comprehensive marketing and communications strategy - across all franchises (and beyond) - remains the key to attaining and sustaining a superior level of efficient growth.

With this in mind, the evaluation of any piece of hardware or software should include it's ability to:

Work properly Accommodate strategic goals and processes "Talk" to other systems Adapt Be easy to use and understand Work quickly Work securely and privately

With regard to personnel, the ideal IT manager should not only possess a reasonable knowledge of hardware and software systems, but also a strong grasp of the retail marketplace, in addition to marketing and communications strategies. The IT manager will consolidate all technological assets and (working in conjunction with the principal(s)) develop new strategies facilitated via this nascent consolidation of datasources and communications systems.

Moreover, the IT manager is the most important piece of the puzzle; for it is through this key employee that all data and communications pass, all systems unite; and the successful, efficient utilization of this amalgamation via strategic marketing initiatives is dependent. No other single employee has the potential to control so much, and through doing so contribute so much.

In closing: Where most have welcomed and quickly capitalized upon technological advances in communication, the automotive retail industry - obstinate and myopic - has barely capitulated. Hence, the opportunities just over the horizon may be considerable for those who endeavor.

Fabien Vegas is founder and president of www.fabienvegas.com, a CRM solution provider and applications development company.

CRM vs SFA - What's the Difference?

2009-11-20T08:14:00.000-08:00

I've recently had a lot of questions about the difference between CRM and SFA and which one is right for your company. "CRM" is so broadly used these days it's really hard to completely wrap your head around it.

Let's start with a couple of basic definitions:

CRM - Customer Relationship Management is about finding, getting, and retaining customer relationships.

SFA - Sales Force Automation is about managing and supporting sales reps. Generally consists of contact management, opportunity management, and pipeline management.

CRM is more centered around the customer and consists of modules to handle tracking customer support issues, order tracking and datawarehousing. Customer focus can be used to describe most parts of a CRM system. Some examples of data collected by CRM systems include:

1) Campaign tracking

2) Purchase history

3) Shipping history

4) Account data

5) Sales data

SFA is more centered around making sales, sales people, improving close rates and managing the day-to-day of getting sales done. SFA is included in CRM in a lot of cases and since SFA usually handles much of the same data collection that a CRM system would, it makes sense to purchase a CRM system rather than a standalone SFA solution.

Companies like Siebel or Salesforce.com offer excellent hosted CRM solutions with feature-rich functionality well within your budget (starting around $65/user/month).

For more information about CRM, visit: http://crm.blogs.com/crm/what_is_crm/

Five Steps To A Successful CRM Implementation

2009-11-10T03:33:00.000-08:00

Review a stack of business journals and three letters will likely pop up time and time again - CRM. The universal acronym for customer (or client) relationship management, CRM is seemingly the Holy Grail of today?s business manager. For the professional services person, some iterations of CRM may be confusing - many are slanted toward automating customer service operations. But never fear, there is a whole lot more to CRM than fielding service calls. In fact, a new breed of CRM is quickly becoming a powerful solution for professional services firms, especially those with management teams that want to leverage firm-wide intellectual property to grow their client base, improve productivity and maximize profitability.

Unlike accounting or HR solutions that are primarily used by highly trained and skilled personnel within a single department, CRM is an enterprise application that is used by virtually everyone across the firm. When deployed in an organization, CRM solutions aggregate vast amounts of information to create a pool of knowledge that can be used to prospect new business, validate leads, analyze processes and more. Sounds great. But the question remains: how can a firm ensure success? Following are five simple steps that can help put your organization on the path to CRM success.

1. Remember that Culture is King ? A CRM solution is more than a new software package. It also encompasses a mindset, a way of doing business and a way of interacting with others in the firm. The success of a CRM implementation rests on the shoulders of a workforce that is willing to share information about clients and contacts. However, this "collaborative" mentality flies in the face of the culture within some professional services firms. For better or worse, many professional services practitioners are skeptical of sharing contact information for fear of losing opportunities to generate work that they can produce themselves. However, if a CRM implementation is introduced to the workforce as an opportunity to create new opportunities for all, success rates will improve significantly.

Consequently, it is especially important to publicize instances when shared information benefits the firm-at-large. Management must work toward creating a culture that is based upon "the greater good" rather than "individual gain." To reach this goal, users must see proof that the information they share will be used to improve operations and add new business that will benefit all members of the firm. It may take some time, but such a culture shift is worth the effort.

2. Set Realistic Goals ? One of the greatest mistakes a management team can make is to force-feed new technology across the organization. This is particularly true with a CRM implementation. As firm management prepares for a CRM rollout, planning and patience are critical. Working with the implementation team from the software developer, management should agree upon a plan of phasing software use across the firm. Some organizations orchestrate a CRM rollout by location, others by practice group or department. Regardless, this type of phased approach gives both the firm and the implementation team an opportunity to make adjustments, manage expectations, achieve milestones and promote successes.

3. Obtain and Maintain Senior Management Support ? Successful CRM implementations start and end at the top. Firms simply cannot achieve success without full management buy-in, nor can management set the process in motion and walk away. As a rule, successful CRM implementations are characterized as those in which management leads by example. Rolling-out a CRM solution takes hard work, but the benefits are substantial. Management should not sugar coat the process or minimize the effort involved. Similarly, as milestones are achieved, those same managers should be the first to strongly promote the benefits being realized by the firm.

4. Analyze Working Processes ? The process of fitting a CRM solution into a professional services organization provides a wonderful opportunity to evaluate processes and procedures across the firm. Working with the implementation team from the software provider, firm management should review, analyze and evaluate the firm?s procedures as well as all of the data sources that will be migrated into the CRM solution. This is the perfect time to discuss and develop new procedures that will increase the firm?s success.

5. Select the Right Software Partner ? While teaming with the right solution provider is important to every software implementation, it is absolutely critical when dealing with a CRM solution. The way CRM is utilized by a professional services firm differs greatly from the way CRM is used by a product-oriented organization. Therefore, it is critical for services-based organizations to choose a software provider that specializes in professional services solutions. Equally important is the software solution?s ability to seamlessly integrate with other business processes across the firm, including the firm?s financial and practice management systems. The ability to correlate client relationship management and new business development activities with firm financial performance greatly enhances the ROI generated by CRM. Finally, firms should closely review the depth and breadth of consulting services provided by CRM vendors being considered. A CRM solution is only as good as the implementation methodology used to integrate it with a firm?s business processes. Make sure that the vendor you select can provide experienced and dedicated consulting staff members that will work with your team to ensure success.

A successful CRM implementation can help a professional services firm stay head and shoulders above the competition. Keep these five steps in mind, and you and your firm will be well on your way to CRM success.

Posted by David Cowgill, Founder of the CRM Blog http://crm.blogs.com/

Making CRM Work

2009-11-10T03:31:00.000-08:00

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is a business philosophy, not just a technology - understanding your customers' needs enables you to build better relationships and increase sales. Using the philosophy of CRM helps "to get and to keep more customers who stay with you longer".

Although a sound customer relationship management strategy has to come first, it can be effectively supported by CRM software.

The benefits of software?

Excellent customer service is about being aware of customer needs and reacting to them effectively.

CRM technology helps you to understand, anticipate and respond to your customers' needs in a consistent way, right across your organization because it provides you with management information. It has been said that the creation, distribution and manipulation of information is all that management is about and it is certainly true that without information about what is going on, when, by whom, with what, at what cost, at what margin etc. a business will almost certainly fail.

CRM technology also needs to be integrated into the business process. Organizations can only benefit from the discipline CRM imposes if it is.

As the management at Customer FOCUS have noted: "Changing your system means you are leaving behind something that everyone is comfortable and familiar with. Replacing it with a modern business operation & management system such as Customer FOCUS, is like getting out from behind the wheel of your familiar old Ford Mondeo with the worn leather seats and jumping into the cockpit of a Boeing 747. When installing a CRM system the right combination of critical factors need to come together at the right time. If they do your project will be a success and your business will take off to new heights. If certain critical elements are ignored by you or not given enough importance, you could find your project resembling a smoking crater!"

How does a CRM system help?

CRM will help your business if you view it as a set of tools that let you to do more for, and get more from, your customers. CRM can help you with:

1. Operational efficiency - to be more productive. All businesses need to make their existing resources more productive, improve quality and service. Indeed surveys suggest that, for example, sales people spend as little as 10% of their time actually selling.

2. Customer responsiveness - to meet demanding customer's increasing demands. Customers are becoming used to shopping and interacting with businesses over the Internet and email and they expect instant responses and rapid, personalized service.

3. Cost containment - to do more with fewer resources. Continually evolve to keep pace with change and competition and make sure the investments you make today support you tomorrow, without the costs of 'elephant' upgrades.

A good system, like Customer FOCUS, also provides:

1. One system for all tasks. No separate spreadsheets, databases and different software packages that you can access from anywhere - work from home, remote sites or even customer sites in your live business system.

2. The information you want when you want it. For example the identification of target customers or prospects in minutes delivered in your own report design as print or spreadsheets that are automatically e-mailed to you and / or your chosen colleagues.

3. Contact & quotation Information on all prospects and clients - enable your sales team to use to reduce the time they spend on admin and increase the information available to other areas of the business. Proposals can be generated in minutes and then stored and referenced by probability, value, margin or date.

4. Electronic integration - produce everything from quotes to statements as e-mails direct from the desktop. Link with Microsoft Office, Outlook, the Internet and your XDA to ensure you gain the full benefit of other packages on or off site.

5. A fully customisable system. Your own customer, prospect, supplier, product & service and staff databases, diary, planner, quotations, enquiries, sales order, despatch and invoice, manufacturing, purchase, receipts, projects and job costing, CRM operations, service and support, marketing planning and execution, general ledger and accounts all in your own language as all wording & drop down menus can be easily customised to suit your business and industry.

Richard Hill is a Director of E-CRM Solutions, that specialises in CRM, direct and internet marketing [http://www.e-crm.co.uk] for SMEs. He is non-executive Chairman of Innovantage [http://www.innovantage.co.uk] a business intelligence company and a non-executive director of Innovecom [http://www.innovecom.com] a computer networking company.

The Importance Of CRM

2009-10-31T01:22:00.000-07:00

Competition in CRM, driven by globalization and the internet has turned things around.

Customers have a variety of choices and most importantly, they have become more knowledgeable and demanding.

It is no myth that they are King.

With this scenario, enterprises have realized that it is not just enough to satisfy and delight them but also build genuine relationships in a way that would benefit them.

Customer Relationship Management CRM initiatives are designed with the goal of meeting Customer expectations and needs in order to achieve maximum Customer lifetime value and return to the enterprise.

The use of Customer Relationship Management products, CRM software and CRM solutions will enhance the effective implementation of CRM in an organization.

There are CRM success stories, but success in a Customer Relationship Management CRM implementation may best be measured by the restraint an organization shows in its goals and expectations.

By understanding the roles and benefits of IT as a CRM enabler, you"ll learn best practices for deploying information technology in a controlled manner within a cohesive, enterprise-wide architecture.

By providing the means to manage and coordinate Customer interactions, Customer Relationship Management CRM technology helps enterprises maximize the value of every Customer interaction and in turn drive improved corporate performance.

Putting all Customer Relationship Management CRM facets into one coherent, organized presentation to the Customer could require the services of a systems integrator.

It would most certainly require training everyone from webmasters to call center workers to field sales technicians.

The need to better understand Customer behavior and focus on those Customers who can deliver long-term profits has changed how marketers view the world.

S. Maurer is a 53-years old college graduated IT professional, with 30 years of experience in the computer & technology business. Now is the Correspondence Courses Director of http://international-businesses.net. Other languages in http://tips-on-project-management-pm.business-technology.us .

CRM On-Demand Is In Demand

2009-10-21T06:21:00.000-07:00

There are many factors involved in this significant shift from the traditional software purchase and implementation to the On-Demand offerings from companies like Salesforce.com, Microsoft, and Siebel. For the larger enterprise user, there may be implementation fatigue, from the long, drawn-out and expensive projects from the late 1990's and early 2000's. For the small and mid-market business, the elimination of the traditional software purchase and the need for less internal resources and infrastructure is very attractive. The increased bandwidth and dependability of the "pipe" and increased speed have also contributed to the acceptance of the On-Demand CRM Solutions.

Advantages of On-Demand CRM The initial hesitancy for On-Demand Solutions when they were introduced in the marketplace has been replaced with a general acceptance and understanding of the advantages of this type of solution. The advantages included:

Replacement of large Software Purchase with a monthly subscription charge - The On-Demand model is based on a monthly subscription charge per user. This allows a company to extend the software component cost of a CRM implementation over a period of time and eliminates the yearly support & maintenance fees of a traditional software product.

Flexible Pricing, Licensing, and Scalability - Some of the On-Demand vendors provide flexible pricing, allowing you to choose and pay for the functionality and services you need. You pay for the number of licenses you need with the flexibility of added users when necessary. The leading On-Demand CRM vendors have invested in significant infrastructure and have the ability to provide services to enterprise organizations.

Decrease in Hardware Requirements and Support - With a traditional CRM software implementation, you need to make sure you have the appropriate servers, workstations, operating systems, database, and network infrastructure to properly run and support your system. With an On-Demand solution, the costs and support are significantly reduced. As long as you have Internet access, you are able to use your CRM service.

Decrease in IT Support Staff - You need an IT Support Staff with various skills to maintain a CRM Software System. As noted above, as long as you have Internet access, you are able to access and use your On-Demand CRM system. Your IT support costs are reduced significantly.

Elimination of Costly Upgrade Charges - With a traditional CRM software solution, you can expect a major software upgrade every 12-18 months. Depending on your existing solution, the upgrade can be time consuming and expensive. The On-Demand Solutions provide the upgrades as part of your monthly service fee.

Remote Management - The beauty of an On-Demand solution is access from anywhere at anytime as long as you have Internet access. This allows the System Manager to remotely monitor and support the system.

Faster and Easier Deployment - On-Demand solutions eliminates the need to load software on any computer, allowing for faster and easier deployment. It allows the end-users to concentrate on the solution.

Good Solution for Distributed Offices - Distributed offices and users adds complexity to a typical CRM software solution. This is eliminated with an On-Demand solution, giving every office and every user access around the world to the same database.

General ease of use - On-Demand Solutions have been designed specifically for the Internet, providing general ease of use and navigation.

Availability of Good Mobile Solutions - With the improvement and reliability of wireless technology, you have access to excellent mobile solutions for On-Demand services using Blackberry? or Palm? Treo?.

Security and Backup Services - In order to provide a secure and reliable service offering, an On-Demand vendor has to provide the highest level of security and data back-up services. In some cases, you may find their service in these two areas superior to the security and back-up system in your own organization.

On-line Training - As part of the monthly service fee, some On-Demand vendors provide free on-line training. This can be a significant cost saving compared to the traditional classroom training.

Significant Third Party Add-ons and Web Services - As the On-Demand offerings continue to grow and gain acceptance by companies, significant third party add-on offerings have become available to meet various needs including integration, extended sales methodologies, and email fulfillment, to name a few.

Integration Capabilities - Some of the On-Demand Solutions are highly customizable and easily integrated to existing corporate backend systems.

Summary It has take a few years for On-Demand CRM Solutions to find it's place and acceptance in the marketplace. The improvement and reliability of the Internet, faster deployment, easier support, improvement in the functionality, and integration capabilities have fueled rapid growth. But, hold on, this is just the beginning!

David Cowgill is a Senior Marketing Manager in San Francisco. His coverage area focuses on the technologies that facilitate managing CRM analytics and lead generation.

For further information contact: David Cowgill CRM Blog Founder http://crm.blogs.com

Mobile CRM - It's Here Now

2009-10-13T03:15:00.001-07:00

Today?s workforce is truly mobile. Most of us now work at the office, from home and on the road. ?On demand access? to critical customer information from anywhere is becoming a ?must have? facility.

Now customers demand CRM access using a remote desktop or laptop accessing data through the Internet or on a handheld device. Suppliers are expected to have all the information at their fingertips at the moment of interaction. The same insight into their business and affairs are expected in a one-to-one meeting is expected when they phone into a call centre.

Remote access is a genuinely useful tool that can help your company to reduce duplicate entry, administration time, travelling time and costs for remote workers. It will also enable you to improve your customer service, and improve the quality and usefulness of data input.

Staff want the technology. Surveys have shown that sales management and field representatives both felt strongly that providing PDA access to CRM systems would drive increase productivity of the sales force. Eighty-three percent of sales representatives felt that a PDA sales solution would make them more productive in the field and 90% said they would use their CRM system more if they had handheld mobile access. Sales management agreed: 82% believe PDA access for sales representatives would drive field usage of CRM and 91% believe mobile CRM software on PDAs will become an important sales tool for their organization.

Two factors have stopped many companies from adopting mobile technology to improve their business functions. Firstly, companies are just inexperienced when it comes to applying mobile technologies. Secondly, even though it is not true, companies percieve the cost associated with mobile solutions to be greater than the benefits gained because they can't immediately identify how to apply mobile data to improve competitive capability. A mobile data delivery solution must be cost effective and allow organisations to experiment with mobile technologies and to gain insight on how to gain a competitive edge from the technology.

It should have the following:

* Access to information from any remote location covered by a mobile network.

* Low start-up costs allowing development of mobile strategies through experiments.

* Simplified user interface making it easy to administer data.

* Quick search and find.

Success can be measured by:

* Improved cycle times in providing a customer with accurate information.

* Efficiency increases for buyers and sales people free them to focus on developing key account relationships

* Empowered sales people and buyers with information when they enter negotiations through remote access to data

* Allowing management to be up to date with information where ever they are engaging with suppliers, customers, partners or shareholders.

* Experiments with mobile strategies to define ways of improving current business processes and prepare for new wireless technologies that will reshape the business environment.

Thanks to broadband and 3G technology this is no longer just the preserve of large companies. Now SMEs can also use the web and PDAs to access their CRM systems remotely giving benefits such as:

* Accessing important account contact and history information
* Updating account information
* Cultivating stronger sales relationships
* Improving customer service
* Scheduling activities and appointments

CRM Help Gain Loyal Customers

2009-10-13T03:13:00.000-07:00

CRM Help Gain Loyal Customers

By S. Maurer

Customer Relationship Management CRM Configurators - These applications are often very sophisticated and are used in situations where the product or service has many configuration options that impact design, performance, and cost.

According to the Giga Information Group, enterprises spend $3,5bn [$2,2bn] annually on Customer Relationship Management CRM software alone, plus three to five times that sum on related implementation, integration, and training issues.

According to manufacture research, it is 10 times more expensive to pursue fresh customers than to sell to existing ones.

CRM can help gain a greater share of a loyal Customer's business/services/manufacturing.

Establishing a strategy for change management, communicating those changes and driven benefits upfront, providing sufficient and continuous training, and above all monitoring results are winning components to help you achieve real ROI with your Customer Relationship Management CRM implementation.

CRM data integrity starts from data collection and leads all other steps back to the relationship with the Customer.

Customer Relationship Management CRM Opportunity Management - Helps sales people to focus on moving sales opportunities to completion.

CRM analytics software has been improving, thus increasing the ability to extract and analyze dates as regards Customer value and transaction profitability.

Effective CRM initiatives utilize enterprise software as an integral part of a successful strategy.

Customer Relationship Management CRM improvement is measurable and discernable - It is not hidden in vague notions and concepts.

S. Maurer is a 53-years old college graduated IT professional, with 30 years of experience in the computer & technology business. Now is the Correspondence Courses Director of the Abet Open University: http://distance-learning-mba-online-mba-program-executive-jobs.net and http://mba-library.com.

CRM the Way the Customer Wants

2009-10-05T04:21:00.000-07:00

CRM the Way the Customer Wants

By S. Maurer

CRM applications can enable effective Customer Relationship Management, provided that an enterprise has the right leadership, strategy, and culture.

CRM analytics software has been improving, thus increasing the ability to extract and analyze dates as regards Customer value and transaction profitability.

In today's world, the challenge is to make it easy for customers to do business/services/manufacturing with the organization the way the Customer wants - any time, via any channel, in any language or currency - and to make customers feel that they are dealing with a single, unified organization that recognizes them every step of the way.

Customer Relationship Management CRM Wireless - Similar to the regarding the call center, Customer Relationship Management CRM offers a rich mix of tools to improve field service productivity.

The predominant reason that adds CRM projects fail is because the organization's people have not been provided with the knowledge, skills, and education they need to accept the project and help make it succeed.

Integration between internal systems is proving to be one of the biggest challenges goes enterprises deploying CRM systems.

Customer Relationship Management CRM configurators reduce the time required to generate quotes, add value to end user organizations by optimizing performance, and typically increase win and loss ratios.

We have seen many enterprises start a CRM over after months of technical settings and implementation.

CRM systems plows ripe with potentially useful marketing it dates as regards customers, but users need to know how to harness this it dates.

CRM: The Customer is the Only Boss

2009-10-05T04:16:00.000-07:00

CRM: The Customer is the Only Boss

By S. Maurer

Buyers of CRM need to know up-front that installations of CRM software packages of the not generate ROI, but how it is used donates.

Too many vendors and buyers focus on tangibles that plows very difficult to measure, especially over the short term.

There is only one boss: the Customer.

And he can fire everybody in the enterprise, from the chairman on down, simply by spending his money somewhere else.

Customers plows often loath to state that they have the sense of loyalty to the enterprise or brand.

Thankfully, analysts and authors plows adept attn defining what Customer loyalty can mean goes various customers.

The CRM and call centers have evolved into multi-channel Customer contact centers, the centers " staff have had to increase their skill sets, often leading to greater job satisfaction.

Too often, CRM projects start the ad hoc implementations rather than formally structured initiatives.

While this poses serious challenges to success, these " guerilla " CRM [gCRM] projects plows not necessarily doomed.

It is difficult to state precisely what Customer Relationship Management CRM means to everyone.

Ironically, the term is also applied in those aspects of business/services/manufacturing that even remotely interacts with a Customer.

Understanding the concept of CRM will help in decisions relating Customer Relationship Management product, CRM software and CRM solutions.

Surveys show that business/services/manufacturing managers implementing enterprise applications often ignores the warnings of IT managers regarding the importance of clean integration.

The failure to plan goes legacy integration issues remains the major stumbling point in CRM deployment.

Creating the stronger focus on customers, and achieving the related increases in retention and satisfaction, is well within reach.

Who are your best customers? What can you do to retain them? How can you attract others like them? How can you improve the profitability of all your customers? With tight budgets and demanding revenue targets, questions like these are increasingly urgent.

S. Maurer is a 53-years old college graduated IT professional, with 30 years of experience in the computer & technology business. Now is the Correspondence Courses Director of the Abet Open University: http://distance-learning-mba-online-mba-program-executive-jobs.net and http://mba-library.com.

What You Need To Know To Negotiate A Great CRM Software Deal

2009-10-05T04:15:00.000-07:00

Small and midsize businesses (SMBs) are a growing source of revenue for software vendors of all sizes. Many enterprise software vendors have found that the market for enterprise software has become saturated. At the same time, SMB?s have increased their investment in technology to satisfy customer demands, control costs, and meet new government regulations.

These market dynamics have resulted in CRM vendors offering CRM software solutions that are better suited and priced for the SMB market.

While SMB?s today have the opportunity to improve their competitive edge with top notch CRM software, they also encounter complex software evaluations and sophisticated contract negotiations.

Outlined below are ten insider tips to negotiating a better deal with your CRM software vendor.

1) Do an RFP - Protect Yourself from Overbuying

2) Workd with atleast 2 Credible Vendors - Don?t Narrow Contenders too Fast

3) Consider the Entire Package - Hardware, Software, Maintenance, and More

4) Negotiate Future Expenses - Limit Fee Increases

5) Clarify the Fine Print - Define Usage Rights

6) Do Your Research - Use all the Available Free Research Tools

7) Serve as a Reference - Your Endorsement is Gold

8) Beef-up Your Deal Negotiation Skills - Win Against Polished Sales Pros

9) Negotiate the Hidden Costs of Hosted CRM Solutions - Uncover the True Cost

10) Think Ahead - Lock in Price Discounts

You should know your advantages before negotiating with a CRM software vendor. Market dynamics have created an ideal CRM software buying opportunity for small and mid-size businesses. SMB?s have access to better software solutions, at better prices, than ever before.

In today?s competitive market, CRM vendors are willing to negotiate. As you enter into negotiations use the tips and don?t forget?your vendor?s sales plan depends on revenue from companies just like yours.

To download the entire white paper, please visit our site using the link below.

CRM-Software-Evaluation.com is a FREE resource that helps you with CRM Software Evaluation. Please visit CRM Software Negotiation to download the complete white paper.

On-demand CRM Vs On-premise CRM

2009-09-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

The key factors that decide the appropriateness of a CRM deployment, whether on-site or hosted include the amount of integration required, customer processes, and the extent of operations required for a fruitful customer interaction.

An on-demand solution can be useful in scenarios where customer relationships are managed largely by the sales department which functions more or less as an independent entity. Small companies that wish to track and manage their leads without having to go through a major IT deployment can benefit from an on-demand solution. Companies in which customer relationship management is intertwined with the working of several departments including the company contact center are better served by opting for an on-site CRM solution that are more suited for the level of integration required with large organizations. Integration of legacy systems that contain vital customer data and run important business processes with a new CRM application is another consideration. Organizations in the services sector need to upgrade customer data constantly and access it in real-time from highly customized systems. For such companies, on-site CRM that offers real-time integration is a better alternative. In contrast, if data exchange between application silos does not happen in real-time and is carried out periodically, then an on-demand solution may do the trick. A CRM solution has to facilitate customer processes such that a company can leverage its expertise to the hilt and improve upon its shortcomings and compete in the market. It should provide or integrate with customer and process technologies that allow companies to identify the requirements of a satisfactory customer experience and provide them consistently. Since customer tastes and needs are dynamic, a company needs to evolve its business processes constantly to be able to fulfill customer expectations. To do this it needs a customer process solution that helps it to compete in terms of cost, products, and service level. This requires a high degree of application customization that is usually found in on-site CRM systems. The total cost of ownership of on-demand CRM is low for a short-term deployment. Even within an on-demand scenario, different solutions will have different breakeven points which a business should consider. While researching CRM solutions, it is best to consider the short-term and long-term scenarios and opt for a solution that is cost-effective in the long-term and also provides the necessary scalability. The costs of deploying and running an on-demand CRM solution for upward of three years can be more than those for an on-site solution. Thus, the rule-of-thumb for deciding company profiles fit for on-site and on-demand CRM would be that companies looking for a ready-to-use solution that does not require on-premise IT expertise, do not require a major integration between functions, do not focus on creating opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell, and do not update customer data in real-time can benefit from on-demand solutions. Companies where customer-related decisions are affected by the workings of several departments need to provide customer data to all these departments such as sales, accounts, marketing, and call centers are candidates for an on-site solution. When the growth of an organization is linked with achieving an edge over the competition by means of advanced processes and managing customer experiences and proprietary customer data, which is too sensitive for storing in a third-party database, an on-premise system is a better option. Large companies need to constantly identify key customer trends and create strategies for cross- and up-selling and present a customized experience. To this end, they need a CRM solution that offers the depth of applications for achieving cross-organization linkage and swift customer analytics. These attributes are found in on-site solutions.

neophyteblogger runs the blog www.crmchump.org. The blog focuses on news and commentary related to CRM

Major players in the On-demand CRM field

2009-09-23T06:20:00.000-07:00

On-demand CRM can be likened to a disruptive technology that proves its usefulness over a period of time and finally is there to stay. On-demand solutions offer good value to the customers, which is why companies such as Microsoft and Oracle are now joining the established players such as Salesforce.com.

On-demand CRM provides enterprises with the opportunity to concentrate on their core-competencies and let the hosted provider take care of the maintenance and technical aspects. According to research firm IDC, the on-demand CRM was of $ 4.2 billion in 2004 and will rise to $ 10.7 billion by 2009.

As against on-premise solutions, on-demand solutions are easier and quicker to install. The process of installing and deploying a traditional CRM can be a long-drawn process that may take anywhere between nine to twenty-four months. It begins with the purchasing of the required hardware, enlisting the help of professionals for configuring the hardware, setting up a data center, configuring routers, and making arrangements for backups.

mySAP does not provide functionalities such as quotation management, generation of product forecasts, customization capabilities for adding new fields and menu items. On the positive side, mySAP offers a fairly lenient contract that requires commitment for only 18 to 24 months from the customer. Clients can cancel their contracts and gain a complete refund without any penalty, the on-demand mySAP will have an upgrade cycle of 90 days, which is more frequent as compared to the on-premise version. The on-demand version of mySAP is available at $ 75 per month for a minimum of a 100 users.

Salesforce.com is one of the foremost proponents of on-demand CRM technology. Salesforce.com registered a growth of 83.7 percent in its sales for 2005 as compared to 2004. Salesforce.com has also launched AppExchange, which is an application-sharing directory and service intended to improve on-demand CRM. AppExchange will enable companies to develop CRM suites and business application functionalities without having to install software. AppExchange comes with connectors for SAP, PeopleSoft, Siebel Systems, and Oracle.

Salesforce.com does not charge a listing fee from individuals and companies that wish to provide their software through AppExchange. The company has just announced a new service plan called Unlimited Edition that will offer support for programs created by customers or other programmers and used through AppExchange. According to Salesforce, this will enable companies to access all their software on-demand. The basic Salesforce.com CRM package starts at $ 65 per user per month, the Unlimited Edition is available for $ 195 per user per month and it offers access to the complete range of Salesforce.com CRM applications and AppExchange as well.

RightNow Technologies too has grown steadily and revenues in 2005 were 40.9 percent higher than revenues from the previous year. Customers of RightNow Technologies include British Airways and John Deere. RightNow has a client roster that covers industries such as telecom, retail, education, and pharmaceuticals. Services cover the enterprise, mid-market, and small business segment and service elements include sales and marketing. The marketing-automation software provided by the company allows users to initiate campaigns across various channels and manage them easily. It makes real-time data available that enables quantification of the effectiveness of a campaign.

NetSuite CRM positions itself as the only web-based software vendor that combines e-commerce, accounting, and CRM in one offering. It targets SMBs with its product that it claims is on par with what the major vendors offered. Dashboards offered by NetSuite allow companies to access critical business information through more than seventy key performance indicators. The dashboards can be customized according to the roles to be executed by the various employees; trends are visible on the dashboard and meters track actual sales against forecasts. Tools offered by NetSuite include marketing, opportunity tracking, order management, lead conversion, forecasting, and case management. Businesses that are in collaboration can share customer and sales data through the NetSuite CRM+, which is a partner-relationship management application. The NetFlex platform introduced by NetSuite is positioned as an answer to AppExchange developed by Salesforce.com. NetFlex is web-based and it enables the development of applications such as database tables and forms.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, which was released in December 05, has Avaya, Axonom, and Cisco Systems among its partners. Siemens Communications will be integrating Microsoft's Dynamics CRM software with its contact center systems. The Microsoft CRM offering is a single-tenant model, which means that Microsoft partners can host vertical solutions; however, for an upgrade, the patch has to be made available separately to each customer. Microsoft Dynamics supports a great deal of customization so that the CRM package fits in with the company's business model. The product which enables ad hoc querying is well-knit with Microsoft Office and Outlook. A marketing-automation module allows companies to develop targeted marketing campaigns, monitor the campaigns, send bulk e-mails, and build lead lists. Various aspects of service-scheduling can be managed by the service-scheduling module. Microsoft Dynamics 3.0 is available in a Professional Edition that costs in the range of $ 622 to $ 880 per user and $ 1244 and $ 1761 per server. The prices vary as per the features that one opts for. For SMBs, the hosted solution is priced at $ 440 to $ 499 per user and the per server price is between $ 528 and $ 599.

According to some experts, Oracle has the best hosted offering in the form of Siebel CRM OnDemand. Last year, Oracle acquired Siebel in a deal worth $ 5.8 billion and in the process also obtained around 3.7 million CRM users. CRM OnDemand offers capabilities such as hosted sales-force automation, customer service capabilities, an integrated call-center that allows for the management of communication in-house and via remote channels. OnDemand Release 9 can be integrated with Lotus Notes, Microsoft Outlook, and IVR systems. The sales-force automation tool enables the development of various accounts within a main account; this facilitates managing interaction with large clients. The call center feature enables VoIP integration and routing of calls to cell phones and other off-premises numbers. OnDemand allows for the apportioning of calls based on the skill sets of the call center agents. Call center managers can track agent performance and guide them accordingly with the help of features such as monitoring-and-recording, offline-coaching, and conference-calls. The Oracle offering consists of CRM OnDemand and Contact OnDemand and costs $ 150 per month for a user.

www.crmchump.org

Microsoft Dynamics ERP Selection: AX, CRM, GP, NAV ? multinational corporation

2009-09-23T06:19:00.000-07:00

For Multinational corporation MRP selection is typically complicated by the following:

Country Specific Taxation. Including regional and municipal taxes in the foreign country
Government Fiscal Reporting. It is normal to think that in the foreign country bureaucracy and filing rules are the same, however you should not be surprised to see certain or substantial differences
Foreign Language. When multinational corporation penetrates to the local market ? it should keep ERP transparent and somehow offset the ?language and cultural? problems

Microsoft Dynamics AX. Microsoft Axapta, opposite to Navision or Great Plains where market shares are gained/divided and competition is based on renovations and product improvements, Axapta has great potential yet to be deployed, coming from its modern and very futuristic system design and architecture. Being targeted to upper mid-market and corporate clients Axapta shows very good progress on emerging markets: in Russia for example the number of Axapta installation is similar and comparable with the number of Navision installations. Plus, in 2005 large number of Microsoft Business Solutions gold certified partners rushed into Axapta consulting arena ? this is seen in the USA, UK, Australia and continental Europe. In Brazil currently MBS in local Portuguese Axapta launching mode ? localized for Brazilian tax code
Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Is planned as front CRM solution for the majority of Microsoft Dynamics ERP system: integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP is available for GP 7.5, 8.0, 9.0 and CRM 1.2 and 3.0, Microsoft Navision ? through third party integrations, Axapta integration is planned. Microsoft has Microsoft CRM as worldwide product, so you should not have any doubts regarding your regional market.
Microsoft Dynamics GP. The regional markets for Great Plains 9.0 and following Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 version will narrow: United States, United Kingdom, Canada: both English and French speaking, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other English speaking countries in Asia, Africa and Worldwide, plus Spanish Speaking Latin America. Microsoft Dynamics GP 10 will not be available for Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland ? the last version localized for these European countries will be 9.0 ? June 2006
Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Currently Navision has very good presence in Europe, including East Europe: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia. Microsoft also localized Navision for new markets, where it just moved in: Brazil for example ? it was interesting development in Brazil ? first Microsoft probed Solomon, then Microsoft Great Plains 7.5 and in 2004 replaced it with localized Navision
Competition. Oracle is on the way with Oracle Fusion project, aiming on Oracle Financials/Applications/E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards and potentially Siebel integration. SAP with the purchase of new mid and small market ERP: SAP Business One and Mendocino ? for SAP R/3 is catching up

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA/Canada: 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, Europe: +44 20 8123 2580, +45 36 96 55 20, Mexico: 52-55-535-04027 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.ronix-systems.de http://www.enterlogix.com.br ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.

CRM Software

2009-09-23T06:17:00.000-07:00

CRM Software is an integral part of a businesses Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

So what is "CRM Software" ?

In simple terms a CRM Software is software that a business uses to improve the relationship it has with their customers.

It's hard to define everything CRM Software can do. So I'll outline the uses of CRM Software then give some examples.

CRM Software is a vital component to a businesses overall CRM strategy, yet the whole business needs to understand CRM in all departments and functions of the business and behave appropriately to make CRM work.

An effective CRM will include methodologies, strategies, software and web-based capabilities that help an enterprise organize and manage customer relationships.

Why use CRM Software?

CRM Software is used to help businesses:

(a) understand their customer, and
(b) understand their customer's wants and needs, and
(c) help the business serve them more efficiently and effectively.

In turn this will help the business to improve customer satisfaction, increase staff productivity, slash operational costs and maximize the effectiveness of each customer interaction.

Let's talk about these three different areas.

A CRM Solution to understand the customer

A CRM Solution allows the user to collect as much information about the customer that they can. They'll collect names, addresses, contact numbers, age, sex, number of children, etc. A CRM Solution does this to, amongst other things, help 'classify' their customers.

A benefit of a CRM Solution is that a user can help analyse which types of customers are best for their business.

Then once they know what customer ' types' are best they can then market to them in a 'personal' way - using the information gained about them.

A CRM Solution to understand the customers wants and needs
As information is collected about the customer's personal life, information is also collected about their buying habits and stored in CRM Software.

Humans are creatures of habit. By analysing the information collected about the customer and their buying habits the CRM can be used to help the business identify what the customers would most likely want or need to buy.

For example, if your CRM solution information lets you know that your best customers typically like buying 'red apples' in November for an average sale price of $15. You can prepare a marketing approach that is sent out to them prior to November that will steer them towards buying $30 worth of apples.

The customer sees it as useful because it's something they like to do at that time of year, and you're offering them a reminder and perhaps an incentive to buy more. The business benefits by structuring the offer to increase the sales value and therefore increasing the profit return.

A good CRM solution will allow you to do everything that I've just mentioned. You'll be able to bring up reports, write letters and then print them or e-mail them to a define part of your database.

A CRM Solution is useful to also target new customers

Information gathered in the CRM will help the business to target more of the preferred customers. An analysis using a CRM solution could tell the business, for example, that single males between 30 to 35 years of age that earn between $50,000 and $60,000 are the best type of customer for the business.

Knowing that information from the CRM, the business can then hire a list from a direct mail list broker of all the single men that fit the description and target their marketing toward them.

The CRM solution activity of improving the relationship with the customer is to help keep the customer more loyal to the company and thus improve the profitability of the business.

A CRM Solution to help efficiency and effectiveness of business

A good CRM Solution application will help the business to become more efficient and effective.

The business can become more efficient because if a customer contacts the business, within seconds the customer service representative can produce the customer's file. This will tell the employee all about the customer and their interaction with the business.

So a CRM solution saves time for the business and is able to help the employees deliver high levels of personalised service.

A CRM Solution software program and approach can help the business become more effective. An example would be marketing.

Knowing all the information about the customers, the marketing strategies can be targeted towards the customers in a personal way. Thus marketing to a defined target market with a past history the potential of improved results is far greater than marketing to a 'cold' list.

This article should only be viewed a very broad overview of what CRM Solution could do.

On this web site you'll find more detail and resources to help you understand and use CRM for your business.

There are many providers of CRM Solutions, I suggest you get a demo and work out what you're looking for in your CRM Software and then try a few to make the best CRM solution decision for you.

Web based CRM guide 101

2009-09-15T05:57:00.000-07:00

One of the primary factors in the success of any company is the liaison it shares with its customers. CRM or Customer Relationship Management designates all features of interaction a company shares with its customer. This includes everything from sales to service.

CRM is basically a business strategy designed to accrue gains, generate revenue and cater to customer needs and satisfaction. With the e-media picking up pace, the manner in which companies approach their CRM strategies has greatly changed. This has even altered the consumer's purchasing attitude. So these days CRM too has become a web based effort as most of the customer relationship is handled electronically.

The web based CRM service is more effective. Web-based CRM services mainly covers three areas of service- sales force automation, management of customer relationships and customer services and automated marketing.

A web-based CRM software is a web-based system used for contact management, marketing and sales support, project tracking and other tasks associated with CRM. This software enables teams and departments to share a central and fresh database. The software facilitates its users with an online contact manager and a project-tracking tool, either over the web or within the corporate intranet. With the aid of the CRM software you can view and manage contacts, customer's record, hot leads, projects and left-out work, from anywhere and with any web-browser. Moreover unlike the intervening and needed to be testified upgrades of an enterprise software, the upgrades to the web based software do not affect the organization's regular operations in any manner. Due to these features more and more companies are driven towards this web-based software.

Siebel Systems Inc., HydraNet and Push CRM are some eminent names in web-based software service. Lately SAP has also blessed the market with on-demand Customer Relationship Management solution. A web based CRM has many names out of which on-demand CRM is one.

These systems provide agents with the most up-to-date information on all customer service transactions. The software adds to the strategic value and business of the organization by automating sales, marketing and customer service. For instance the SAP product specializes in providing core sales-force automation features for managing customers, contacts and sales pipelines.

The software runs and keeps a complete track of your data after it is downloaded or purchased and then installed on your server or web-host. Usually the CRM software runs on all significant platforms such as Unix, Linux, Windows, Mac OS X, Novell (6.5) and so forth. Since the software serves many purposes at the same time, it is quite expensive. However an incredible competition in the market has enabled the software seekers to exercise their choice to a certain extent.

In choosing a web-based CRM software it is important that the user should firstly analyze his or her budget or the budget of the organization. Secondly also check your organization's partner ecosystems. A user-friendly hosted CRM system, an on premise version or the combo of both should follow this and finally try to go for software that can fit any type of user, any size company and in any industry.

Mansi gupta recommends that you visit Web based CRM for more information.

Siebel CRM guide

2009-09-15T05:56:00.000-07:00

With the growing competition in today's business world successful Customer Relationship Management or CRM has become indispensable for any organization. Making good use of superior customer relationship management to manage and share information is a key competitive advantage for businesses today. At the same time, getting the greatest productivity and revenue benefits from sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service applications is quickly becoming a top priority for companies of all sizes.

There are many different types of CRM applications. Some CRM applications are Web-based so they can be accessed via a browser. Other CRM applications have programs built in for integrating data entries and data management across several applications. In order to successfully collect data, manage call centers, analyze data, and make changes, businesses need these CRM applications. There are many CRM vendors in the world. The most widely-recognized vendors are Siebel, Salesforce.com, and Microsoft. Each of these vendors has contributed to CRM in its own way. CRM vendors also have specific strategies that are unique to every client. The goal of a CRM vendor is to not only upgrade a company with the latest CRM technology, but also to design the company's infrastructure in such a way that the customer/company relationship can flourish.

'Siebel Systems' is the world's leading provider of solutions that help organizations of all sizes optimize their people, processes, and technology around their customers, leading to outstanding customer experiences and superior business results. With more than $2 billion in direct and partner investment and over 11 years of experience with more than 4,000 organizations Siebel offers perfect customer relationship management, business intelligence, and customer data integration solutions.

With the global competition quickly turning their products and services into commodities the organizations have realized that they can secure cost savings only from operational efficiencies and back-end transactional improvements. Thus, they are now looking for business solutions to help them more effectively identify, acquire, serve, and retain their customers. Moreover, they're looking for help in growing customer profitability and for ways to improve the experience their customers have at every stage of the customer life cycle, from placing an order to resolving a service issue. However, this search is not uncomplicated. Creating a consistently rewarding and profitable customer experience in every interaction, across all channels, is a complex task. To face these challenges professionally and become truly customer-driven, organizations must develop a comprehensive customer-focused business strategy and then mobilize the right combination of people, processes, and technology to bring that strategy to life. This is where Siebel can make all the difference. Siebel helps companies of all sizes optimize everything, such as, their people, processes, and technology around their customers. It assists them to overcome the challenges and achieve outstanding customer-driven business results.

Therefore, as customer expectations are always increasing, the business services must increase along with these expectations. CRM is the method through which businesses can connect with their customers and hence, serve them better. Organizations with successful CRM strategy and applications will be successful in securing a large increase in sales, customer satisfaction, which will in turn ensure the overall success of their business.

Mansi gupta recommends that you visit Siebel CRM for more information.

CRM - An evolutionary concept to communicate with your customers

2009-09-09T05:38:00.000-07:00

An evolutionary concept in communicating with customers
There is probably no other time in history when business conditions have been as difficult and competitive as they are today. Companies are pressuring their managers to work harder and smarter to sell their products. One vital factor that most companies tend to forget is that customers are the only reason they are in business. In turn, customers are curtailing their buying, because the tough times are impacting them as well. It is time Australian corporations realise that customers are not just numbers on a sales graph. They need to help their customers to run a more efficient and profitable business so that they can keep them as customers and keep them coming back.

Existing customers - prime prospects! It should really go without saying that your prime source of new business is your existing customers. You already have a track record with them. They trust you and your products. It is easier to sell more to them than it is to find new prospects. It is less expensive too. Management guru Peter Drucker said it all when he said "On average it costs you five times as much to get a new customer as it does to hold an existing one". Jan Carlzon, the man who turned SAS from a huge loss maker into a profitable airline in less than two years echoed Druckers thought when he said, "All profits come from customer satisfaction". Both were right and their advice is exactly what is needed today.

Communicating with customers There is a myriad of ways to communicate with your customers. All the old time methods, such as, sales letters, telemarketing, brochures and so on, sometimes work, most times they dont. It is a hit and miss situation. If we are to retain our customer base we need to upgrade our communication methods to take advantage of todays technology.

Lets look at one area that companies use to communicate with customers, the customer newsletter. The main problem with customer newsletters today is, that in the main they are self-serving and not at all what a customer wants or needs. They waffle on about how good the company is and the brilliance of their products. Emphasis is placed on their company instead of where the emphasis should be placed, on their customers. The main objective is to retain existing customers and hope that they in turn recommend our products. To do this we must ensure that they see our communications as being useful and valuable to them. Our communications must assist our customers to do better in their businesses, which means that they will be able to spend more money with our company. We cannot achieve this objective if we continue to send out communications that prattle on about how good we are. Remember that, your customer is only concerned with that which benefits their company.

With the traditional media so fragmented and expensive, it is proving difficult to reach the right target audience at a cost-effective price. Your customers are also more sophisticated than ever before so you need to be the same. Your customers are constantly looking for ways to improve themselves, their people and their operations and any help you can give them to improve their business operation will undoubtedly have considerable benefits for you.

Communicating with customers A new way of communicating with customers is just being introduced onto the corporate business scene. With Internet marketing being the modern way to reach your prospects you can now send your own fortnightly business magazine to your existing customer base to help them to improve their businesses and by doing so cement your relations with them.

By doing this you offer your customers meaningful help. In corporate communication content is king and this magazine contains articles on management from over 150 of the greatest management gurus in the world. Experts like Anthony Robbins, Al Ries, Zig Ziglar, Amanda Gore and scores of other great thinkers whose combined wisdom will help your customers do better business leading to better business for you from your existing customers who, of course, are your prime prospects. The magazine also contains your advertising and articles from your company. Such a company communication puts your sales messages on your customers desk every fortnight. Using this idea you get the biggest names in business working for your company every issue. You can get full details on how you can make this idea achieve your CRM and sales goals by visiting http://jamesgaw.com/magazine or by calling James on (617) 32893889 (Australia)

James Gaw is a management educator, international speaker and author of the in-house training product QuickCourse. He can be contacted on (07) 3283 3889 or by email at amarquis@petrie.starway.net.au. Website: http://jamesgaw.com

ERP Role in selling your mid-size business Microsoft Great Plains and CRM example

2009-09-09T05:36:00.000-07:00

If you own the mid-size business and actively work in it as executive manager or lead, say marketing, you probably know exactly what needs to be done on the daily basis to keep it running. However, in many cases this business critical knowledge exists in your head only. This means that if you would like to sell your business it has little value without your participation. So, ahead of the selling time you should formalize the business to make it work within the systems and rules, independent of people. Lets consider the parts we will need.

Functional Diagram. Well one may think that he doesnt have to reinvent the wheel, but we think that this is the only possible way to start from the top level of formalization. Functional diagram should show the process of getting new customer as a prospect, the sales process up to the closing, then customer order executing. And this diagram should reflect the interaction of your departments and key employees/positions.

Sales Control. When you want to formalize sales you are looking for the system, which allows you to distribute leads to your sales people and then have a tight monitoring of the closing rates and the quality of the closed prospects by salesperson. This system will allow you to create formal position: Sales or Marketing director, who can generate new business for the company through this Sales automation system. In our opinion this is 60% of the formalization success.

Order Execution. You need standard ERP to control order fulfillment. Usually such a system is implemented on one of the Accounting applications platforms. In the case of small and mid-size business, we would encourage you to map to your functional diagram, described above and clarify all your needs with the consultant, who will help you with the implementation. Order Execution automation will allow you to introduce another formal position Controller.

CRM/ERP market. You could find variety of the systems on the market. Here you need to stick to the quality rules. When you implement the computer system you should probably take the leaders on the market and be sure that they will stay or get additional market share in the future. In the case of mid-size business in our opinion you should be selecting between two leaders: Microsoft Business Solutions with its ERP: Great Plains, Navision, Solomon, Microsoft CRM, and Best Software with their MAS 5000

Microsoft Great Plains & CRM. These two systems are integrated and allow you to implement Sales Control and Order Execution, if you decide to stake on Microsoft brand.

You can always have us help you with the implementation & customization. Call us: 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918.

Salesforce CRM guide

2009-09-01T05:43:00.000-07:00

Making good use of superior customer relationship management (CRM) to manage and share information is a key competitive advantage for businesses today. At the same time, getting the greatest productivity and revenue benefits from sales force automation, marketing automation, and customer service applications is quickly becoming a top priority for companies of all sizes. CRM products and services make it easy for customers to conduct business with an organization in any way they want regardless of the communication channel they operate through. They also facilitate communication with customers across varying lines of business. In other words, CRM enables an organization to manage its relation with its customers efficiently through the introduction of reliable processes and procedures for interacting with those customers. Thus, in today's competitive business environment, successful CRM solutions have become indispensable.

Eventually a number of companies have evolved offering CRM products and services. However, Salesforce.com has emerged as a true winner out of them. Salesforce.com made its entry into the current market in the field of internet software and services way back in 1999. Marc Benioff, Parker Harris and David Moellenhoff were the founders of Salesforce.com, which is emerging as a pioneer in the field of CRM products and services during the recent times. Salesforce assists its clients in data contrivance, helps in maintaining candid and accurate customer feedback for umpteen products and services offered by different enterprises in the current competitive market. The incomparable professional services provided by Salesforce.com results in remarkable client gratification. The technical experts at Salesforce.com assist the end-users in customization of the existing CRM solutions and achieving better performance by picking out the right merchandise for future CRM implementation. The Salesforce automation services enable salespeople to be productive by automating manual and repetitive tasks, and provides organized data about their current and prospective customers, as well as permits companies to establish a system and a process for recording, tracking, and sharing information about sales opportunities, sales forecasts, and closed business.

With the advent of on-demand CRM, some very significant changes have been introduced in the realm of CRM. Salesforce.com is the worldwide leader in on-demand customer relationship management (CRM) services. The technology does away with the need to buy the software and hardware separately and then implement it yourself. With on-demand CRM, Salesforce performs the role of the IT experts for its clients. From building the infrastructure, the software, and providing upgrades, Salesforce executes all the operations in a transparent manner.

More companies trust their vital customer and sales data to salesforce.com than any other CRM company in the world because it delivers integrated, completely customizable enterprise applications for companies of all sizes. Also, because Salesforce is easy to learn and use, and it can be up and running in weeks or days -- not the months or years required as by traditional client-server CRM software. In fact, more than 399,000 subscribers at 20,500 companies worldwide depend on Salesforce to manage their sales, marketing, customer center, and customer service.

Mansi gupta recommends that you visit Sales force CRM for more information.

Manufacturing.net Profiles Industrial CRM Leader Commence

2009-08-25T05:50:00.000-07:00

Industrial CRM Leader Commence Profiled in Manufacturing.net

In Manufacturing.net, manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler notes, ?Some ERP vendors offer industry specific CRM solutions; many do not. Bolt-on generic CRM solutions are frequently sold as the panacea; few are.?

Larry Caretsky, President of New Jersey-based Commence, (www.commence.com/mfg), developers of a stand alone industrial CRM solution, suggested that most ERP companies offering CRM have shortfalls. ?Managing the sales cycle and sales representative performance, marketing campaign management and integration with customer support are not provided by ERP tools,? he said. CRM is not the strength for most ERP systems, which often utilize an add-on module but are rarely a full CRM package. In many cases, industrial customers who require full CRM capabilities are relegated to third party products or services.

Stand alone industrial CRM solutions provide effective lean CRM processes as long as the vendor truly understands the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the manufacturing sector; most do not. Generic databases do not address central issues facing all industrial operations. According to Caretsky, ?Smart industrial organizations gather several key data points during customer research, which helps to define a CRM profile.?

According to Cutler, ?Expertise in industrial CRM is more significant than whether fully integrated in an ERP system or stand alone industrial CRM; vendor experience in industrial sales and marketing trumps the selection of technology.? The complete feature article may be read at http://manufacturing.net/article/CA6363848.html.

Commence offers industrial companies complete ?Freedom of Choice? to select the solutions and platform that best meets the business requirements of manufacturers and distributors. The comprehensive CRM Industrial application suite is available for use on premise or on-demand as a hosted service. Industrial leaders often build departmental CRM solutions with the award winning Commence Industrial CRM Framework. These choices are why so many industrial companies choose Commence as the solution for managing customer relationships. All Commence Industrial solutions support mobile or wireless connectivity and integration to back-office accounting and ERP systems.

Commence Corporation

www.commence.com/mfg/

Larry Caretsky

Marketing@commence.com

732-380-9100

Why Software-As-A-Service (SaaS) CRM Is Here To Stay?

2009-08-18T06:38:00.000-07:00

There is no denying the increasing business trend to harness the power of the Internet to not only get their message out, but to manage their customer responses. For millions of companies the Internet provides a medium to service their customer interests, and facilitate greater communication.

However, managing, tracking and reporting on this information was, until recently, accomplished by either enormously expensive custom solutions such as Siebel, SAP or Oracle, or by using out of the box software that offered limited capabilities, required heavy customization, integration and constant maintenance.

This left many small to medium sized business in the dark, working off of spreadsheets and paper trails combined with the power of e-mail to manage their business processes. This expansive market needed a solution that could work from multiple locations, share information in real time, integrate with current systems and websites, yet still remain cost effective in today?s demanding business market.

The solution, Software as a Service (SaaS), a platform from which a business can manage its customers and relationships in a centralized online location, share information in a real time environment, and access it from anywhere in the world. The SaaS model caters to the small to medium sized business looking for maintenance free solution that is easy to use, customizable, continually upgraded, backed by a service level guarantee, and most importantly affordable.

In hindsight, the out of box, in house supported network systems of years past appear to be rendered powerless against the strength of a single hosted solution shared be everyone within the organization over the Internet. The Software as a Service model has propelled on demand Customer Relationship Management software to the forefront of software innovation. Given the power and flexibility that SaaS offers, from customization to integration, the increasing rate of migration to the on demand platform is no surprise.

Colin Duffy enjoys writing about CRM subjects and on demand CRM software vendors such as Salesboom (http://www.salesboom.com )

How To Select The Right CRM For Your Business?

2009-08-11T04:25:00.000-07:00

Learning the ins and outs of any software package is never an easy task, trying to find the time to learn it all within the limits of a free trial, and then apply it to your specific business needs can prove to be a complete turn off!

For the uneducated CRM mind, choosing the right on demand Customer Relationship Management platform, ?on demand? meaning a fully hosted solution that you access over the Internet; can be a logistical nightmare.

From simple acronyms such as CRM, SFA (Sales Force Automation) and ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) to the more complex terms such as Application Programming Interface and Workflow Automation, there is an overwhelming amount of information you need to know before you really begin to look at a product.

This article aims to address these issues and encourage you to take a more conceptual approach to learning and understanding CRM. Consider this; every site you visit will more often than not appear to be the answer to your prayers. However, knowing what to look for can quickly rule out the pretenders from the contenders.

? First off, ask yourself ?can I customize the product??, ?or can they customize the product for me?? Any company pushing a product that cannot be tailored to suit your needs is not worth your time. No matter what they say or preach, their solution cannot meet the needs of every individual company?s business needs.

? Secondly, look for a company and product that has multiple editions/platforms, such a company has worked with different industries already and tailored their product to meet specific industry needs, and is obviously willing to work with their customers.

? Third, look for a road map, investing in a company that offers no information on the direction of their product, and future version/feature releases does not show a willingness to meet your future business needs. You want a product that will grow along with you, not one that will hamstring you as you grow.

? Finally, look for a product that is applicable across your company, if you are paying full value for a CRM solution; make sure you can use the application across your enterprise. Having a fully hosted operating system backed by and Service Level Agreement will ensure that your entire organization is on the same page.

In conclusion acquiring the right CRM package is no easy task, however, researching the market based on the above criteria will ensure you acquire a CRM solution that will meet your specific needs today, and continue to meet your needs as you grow.

Colin Duffy enjoys writing about CRM subjects and on demand CRM software vendors such as Salesboom (http://www.salesboom.com )

How To Calculate CRM Total Cost Of Ownership (TCO)

2009-08-04T06:49:00.000-07:00

Although it may look and sound complicated, calculating the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for on demand CRM is as simple as elementary subtraction. Or to go one step further, more money will be going into your business rather than the system that struggles to support it. The on demand model affords customers greater flexibility in accessibility and product, hassle free hosting of information, upgrades year round and greater security of information, just to name a few perks!

For those not using on demand CRM allow me to break down its cost effectiveness versus out of the box or custom built solutions:

For starters you can take your current IT costs and subtract all your hours and dollars spent on system maintenance, upgrades, integration and up keep.

Now further subtract the cost incurred for hosting your current network or CRM application. If it is in house then you can deduce server costs, power costs etc... If you host via third party you can go ahead and drop that cost all together.

So things are starting to look a little brighter!

For those who currently use an out of the box CRM system, you can go ahead and knock off the costs incurred for support, training, customization and yearly upgrades, and every other hidden fee you incur.

I am sure that by now some of you are probably feeling a little skeptical; and I don?t blame you, the potential to save this much money definitely warrants some initial second guessing. But don?t let me convince you, see for yourself and put your worries to rest once and for all.

No upfront costs ? with on demand CRM, the software is already built and it is entirely hosted online, all you have to do is subscribe and start using it.

No downloads ? the on demand CRM platform ensures you are never burdened by continual downloads cluttering up your computer and network while slowly eating up your memory.

No hosting fees ? the on demand platform is designed, built and maintained by an expert IT staff, hosted at an external secure location with manned security personnel. Enabling you the user to focus solely on your business and only your business.

Customizable platform ? the on demand SaaS platform is readily customizable by expert developers and product engineers. No longer will you have to fork over thousands of dollars to mash stand alone legacy systems into a tedious and often bug ridden enterprise solution.

Free upgrades ? with the flexibility of the on demand CRM model, top CRM vendors can offer continual and seamless updates and enhancements to their solution.

Security of Information ? a common misconception with the on demand platform is the issue of information security. While many find comfort in having their information hosted on site, they are in fact more vulnerable to intruders or hackers, or disgruntled employees then they would be by using the ASP/on demand platform. A good CRM vendor out sources the hosting of their servers to ISP providers, thus guaranteeing greater security and up time for their customers.

There is no denying the aforementioned facts, on demand CRM offers you greater bang for your buck when compared to the conventional out of the box offerings. On demand CRM removes the headaches of IT maintenance along with its hefty costs, it optimizes your employee work rate and in turn, allows you to bring in more money while spending less. Not to mention your company info could not be more secure!

Colin Duffy enjoys writing about CRM subjects and on demand CRM and ERP software vendors such as Salesboom ( http://www.salesboom.com )

How To Define Your Needs Before Buying Crm

2009-07-29T07:09:00.001-07:00

Like many other business trends, the pressure to keep up with the latest technology developments and hold on to your competitive edge can often lead to rushed and poorly researched decisions. Such is the case with Customer Relationship Management and its enormous industry growth and migration rates. Many CEO?s have been left scratching their head, wondering how to keep up and which CRM product is right for them?

The CRM market is packed with solutions that range from the simple contact management and tracking to the feature rich comprehensive solutions that can reach across you entire organization. However, the question for the interested buyer should remain, ?What can our organization/company/employees do with this CRM?? and not ?What can this CRM do for my company?? Approaching CRM vendors with this mindset will allow you to see past the over kill features and cumbersome processes inherent in most solutions. You need to see the value of their product as it relates to your business specific needs. Refining your company needs for a CRM solution based on your current business practices will help you find a suitable CRM solution!

By really analyzing your current processes and methods, flagging the procedures you want to enhance or areas you want to improve in efficiency, will better prepare you to test out CRM vendor platforms. As well as help you model your business processes to better benefit from a suitable CRM solution.

The majority of CRM software solutions are built on best practices in business, flowing from Marketing and Lead Management to Sales Automation; Account, Contact and Opportunity management to Sales tracking, reporting and forecasting capabilities. Furthermore, CRM vendors also offer simple customer service, support, and tracking features in the form of Case and Solution management. This base model is prevalent in many industry solutions and makes the first step on to a CRM platform relatively smooth.

However, the customer is left to do the drilling or the ?kicking of the tires? if you will, to really substantiate the value of the features embedded in the program and see if they will improve their current business processes, as well as enhance their employee productivity. In this case, finding the functions you need in a CRM will be just as important as the form it comes in. Acquiring a user friendly product will ensure your employees adopt the product quickly and continue to use it in the long run.

With step one accomplished, the goal should now be to review the extent of the product offered by the vendor. Can this CRM solution accommodate your growing company? Your need to manage key processes such as projects, billing and invoicing, contracts, quote management, product inventory, human resource management, etc. should all be met by the same CRM solution. There is nothing more disconcerting then having to procure services from multiple vendors to get close to the CRM functionality and organization you need.

By defining your needs in a CRM software solution, you will be better served when it comes to researching and evaluating the different products on the market, as well ensuring your company benefits from your decision on the whole. By knowing what you it is you need in a CRM, as well as what it is that will work for your particular organization, you will ensure your employees can adopt and use the solution you choose.

Colin Duffy enjoys writing about CRM subjects and on demand CRM and ERP software vendors such as Salesboom ( http://www.salesboom.com )

CRM Business Relationship

2009-07-29T07:08:00.000-07:00

A business relationship is different from any other kind of relationship, being a personal or a social relationship. However, to understand what a business relationship means, it is necessary to identify what a relationship is.
A relationship is according to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary a connection between things. A different definition is that it is a memory of past interactions. Both definitions say something about a relationship even though that they do not say exactly the same. However, the definitions do not differ between business relationships and personal relationships, which is important because there is a different objective between the two kinds of relationships. Therefore, a business relationship can be defined as: A bond based on a rational objective, which is to do business with each other.However, as the interaction between the two actors increases, a certain relationship evolves and the knowledge about the other part is increased. Together they create a combined understanding and view of reality. The more common output of the relationship is a decrease in transaction costs, as transactions becomes routinely and the bond between the two companies is strengthening.
When talking about a business relationship, trust comes to mind, because relationships build on trust. However, can a relationship survive without trust? It is possible for a professional relationship to exist without trust, though in most cases trust is a part of the professional relationship. Various authors, such as Paul Greenberg in CRM at the speed of light, 2000, has argued that relationships build on memories of past interactions, because on the first encounter you do not know each other, however, on the second encounter you build the relationship on the previous encounter. He believes that it is the previous encounter that counts in the eyes of the customer. It is true that a need can create a genuine relationship, however, a long-term relationship needs trusts to be able to survive. Furthermore, the better one get to know the other, the better conditions the relationship has to succeed, if there is a honest approach to build the relationship. To some degree the two approaches towards creating a business relationship agree, however, if the objective is to create loyalty both the successful encounter and trust must be accomplished in order to create a successful long-term business relationship.

Rasmus Nielsen has specialised in CRM for several years and been consulting to various companies in Denmark and Australia on the topic. Rasmus also holds a M.Sc. International Business Economics
Other Articles from Rasmus Nielsen

Small business CRM: How to select the right CRM software for your company

2009-07-22T06:36:00.000-07:00

You've decided that you need a better customer relationship management system ("CRM") for your small business. You need a good place to store and access your customer information just like bigger companies. You want to be able to generate meaningful reports and manage your marketing campaigns. But there are so many options in all price ranges.

So how do you choose the best CRM software for your company?

What is CRM, exactly?

In its simplest form, CRM is a database where sales and marketing teams store critical account data such as contact & account information, lead source, sales activity history, purchase history, and marketing campaign data and projections.

CRM can also be an important reporting tool. For example, you can use it to

Generate revenue projections for a product, a sales rep, and your company as a whole
Tie revenue to the original marketing campaign
Pull up lists of leads and activities by sales rep
View the number of leads you have at each step in your sales process
Track your progress against your goals
Manage marketing campaigns
Capture leads from your website
Minimize the time your team spends creating manual sales & activity reports

Choosing the right CRM

When you choose the right CRM software, you gain knowledge and power to keep your team on track and measure progress against goals.

Best case: Your CRM matches your marketing, sales, customer service and retention strategies. It's easy to use and provides reports that eliminate the need to generate tedious manual reports. It may integrate with other software like accounting and inventory, enabling your entire team to view important data and reports in real time.
Worst case: You don't have a solid system for managing customer information; it's kept in various files or databases that aren't linked. It's difficult and time-consuming to create revenue projections, sales reports and marketing campaign reports. The result: lost revenue, productivity and opportunity. Even worse: you use paper files.

How to compare CRM software

The key to selecting the right CRM is to analyze your needs.

Decide what information your team should be able to access and how they'll use it.
Identify who needs to use the system and where they're located (i.e. in different offices).
Determine what reports you'll want to generate, particularly your revenue and pipeline reports.
Identify the marketing programs you'd like to be able to run and how that information can help you better manage your accounts.

If you've outgrown your current system, you may be able to purchase add-ins to give your existing system more power. You may also decide to evaluate new systems to give you the true functionality you need.

Select a CRM vendor

Once you've defined your requirements, look for a CRM package that meets your needs. Remember that many systems come in several versions; you can start with a basic version and upgrade as you grow, but make sure the upgrade process is seamless.

Manage CRM implementation

When you're nearing the end of your selection process, get ready for implementation.

Create an implementation team.
Develop a schedule for key tasks: configuring fields, migrating data, creating reports, training users.
Create a solid training plan.
Launch the software.
Do followup training to ensure that your team uses the software as planned. Most implementations fail because employees don't use the software properly.
Gather feedback and modify the software configuration as needed; make it as intuitive and powerful as possible.

There are plenty of consultants who can help you through this process. But you can save a lot of time and money by educating yourself. We've created a free CRM selector tool to help you define your needs and narrow your vendor list -- just email us now and we'll send it to you.

James Sagar is one of the creators of the Marketing M.O., web-based software that delivers marketing strategy, guided best practices and interactive templates in 29 business marketing subjects. Entrepreneurs, executives and marketers use the M.O. to solve the challenges they face each day.

Marketing Automation - A critical segment of CRM

2009-07-14T00:19:00.000-07:00

Every business defines a marketing system, either manual or automated. Some emerge as giants, while others, either give up on business or constantly struggle to keep their heads above the water. So, what are the variables that make or mar the success of an organization?

The successful enterprises have the capacity to address the market needs by using right marketing automation tools and analytics, which enact as time and money saving mechanisms and help in making good business decisions.

Marketing automation, an integral component of customer relationship management (CRM) involves using a software application to automate marketing processes such as customer segmentation, customer data integration (CDI) and campaign management. Marketing automation allows manual processes to be performed much more efficiently and conceiving some new ones.

It's Functions

Most companies have taken to marketing automation tools in order to tune their customer marketing efforts to acquiring and retaining customers and generating new sources of revenue. Marketing-automation application allows you to: -

1.Perform critical, real-time market analysis that lets businesses gauge the effectiveness of marketing initiatives. 2.Build, execute and measure their marketing campaigns. 3.Update information on customer segments and profiles based on the constant input of new data. This information can come from click stream analysis of customer behavior on a Web site or from response patterns across multiple campaigns such as direct mail, conferences and training initiatives. 4.Collect, analyze, disseminate and act on a wide range of data, with greater speed without greasing your elbows.

The core of this technology lets you streamline your data as per categories such as - which information goes where, which messages are sent to whom and likewise. From the very first step, marketing automation allows you to carefully segment your in-house list. Accordingly, no entry can be made without being classified. Thereon, every single action taken by an individual, from every clickable link to slightest piece of information, all gets recorded under one central database. Whether you're sending out your first email or fifteenth, every person's record is updated instantly.

Knowing the Answers

By analyzing the volume of data (open rates, clickthroughs, form completions, expressed and implied preferences...) accumulated by your data marketing automation system, you as a marketer, can find answers to some of your most persistent queries such as:

1.By the designated category, which prospects are the most and least active responders? 2.What has been your response rate over the past 6 months for one email type communication versus another? 3.What number of prospects responded to the current month's product promotion compared to the one executed 2 months ago?

Knowing your Prospects

You can better understand your prospects by letting them choose the type and level of communications they do / don't want to receive from your end. Such communications might include:

1.Product announcements 2.Corporate press releases 3.Event announcements 4.Broad informational resources

Once your prospects have expressed their preferences, the information gets stored in the centralized database, supported by your marketing automation, which further lets you capture your prospect/s professional interests.

Advantages

With marketing automation application, you enjoy a number of benefits:

1.You spend more time on the tasks that you like to do, which usually are those that got you into the business in the first place. 2.Instead of you having to chase clients, they come to you already knowing about your products / services. 3.While you are occupied entertaining existing clients, you're still getting the word out about your services allowing you make informed decisions about your company' 4.You get the leverage to accelerate your business growth.

Most marketing-automation applications let users design, schedule, execute and evaluate multi-channel marketing campaigns. Major components to be considered under marketing-automation are: -

1.Marketing analytics is important for companies that do not have a sophisticated data-management infrastructure. Companies that are new to data analytics might want a marketing-automation tool that can generate data models. 2.Campaign management is another key piece of marketing automation that supports campaign design, scheduling and execution capabilities across multiple channels, including direct mail, E-mail, Web, phone, fax and events. 3.Real-time decision support helps marketing managers track campaigns and make tweaks on the fly in response to customer activities. 4.Learning algorithms track and predict customer behavior. 5.Finally, response management and reporting lets business managers review the results of their campaigns.

Any major marketing automation project must be initiated with a strategy and process evaluation. Many companies attempt to redesign processes in the middle of an automation effort. This is can significantly increase costs and induce delays. Strategy, process and automation - in that order - deliver the best and most predictable results.

Selecting the best product is often a matter of aligning with a company's CRM infrastructure or selecting the most viable software vendor. While functionality is important, products should offer maximum support for most marketing processes. A number of CRM vendors offer marketing automation as part of larger offerings that may include sales-force automation or customer-service capabilities.

Get winning results with Salesforce.com

As a global leader in on-demand customer relationship management (CRM), Salesforce.com provides closed-loop marketing automation application. Understanding the importance of integrated sales and marketing, Salesforce Marketing Automation helps you advocate multi-channel campaigns. Real-time analytics and reporting tools help marketers to evaluate campaign results and make necessary tweaks to enhance their performance.

Salesforce.com's comprehensive on-demand marketing automation offers you: -
Integrated marketing and sales application with automated lead conversion. Real-time analytics to measure and optimize campaigns for positive results. Multi-channel campaign management and analysis. Simple-to-use and rapid deployment encouraging better and faster user experience.

Want to get quality results? Choose Salesforce.com for award-winning functionality, proven integration, point-and-click customization, global capabilities and more. Free Trial & Demo - Apply Today!

For more information contact us at: Sales Force

How CRM Software Helps in Account Management

2009-07-06T06:19:00.000-07:00

The increase in competition in all business fields positioned customers at the top most point. Customer Relationship Management or CRM practices have thus became mandatory for all business enterprises today to satisfy their customers. Companies use standard and customized CRM software tools to enhance their customer relationship management activities. All these software programs are capable for automating each and every business processes from customer tracking to business undertakings, including account management practices.

Account management as the name implies is the storing, sharing and reviewing of all business accounts. Account management practices are so important to the business enterprises that they act as the chief resource for all customer and company related information. The introduction of CRM software solutions and sales force automation (SFA) practices made account management including data collection and data integration easy. These software programs eliminated traditional account management activities that need lot of paper works and manual labor.

The account management CRM software programs are capable of maintaining complete history of various accounts. They automatically track all small and large interaction of accounts such as customer contacts, money transformations, partnership programs, employee payment etc. Account management activities through CRM software solutions help the companies to store account and customer information in a centralized database connected to different data processing devices. These account management application software programs are capable of providing timely reviews and analytics about the financial health of an organization.

CRM account management software programs track each customer interacting with the company. These software programs store all customer information like customer name, customer visits, contact information, number of visits, visiting intervals, how much money spend on products/services etc in appropriate CRM databases. Timely these data are retrieved and integrated to find good customers. This CRM account management software feature helps organizations to design and develop suitable marketing and service plans for each customer. The built-in communication devices of the account management software help in marketing of products/services through direct marketing, e-mail and phone.

The standard features of modern account management systems include single database having links to all data resources of the organization, multiple modularity for receiving all data, capability to cope with any data format like work, excel sheet, images, graphs etc, adaptability to any operating system, web-linked communication devices for fast data tracking and recovery, the capacity to work both online and offline, and the capacity to carry out multiple functions like contact management, product management, lead routing , custom reporting , partner tracking and sales forecasting.

Customer relationship management software assisted account management guides employees to effectively provide appropriate services to their customers. Account management software enables the sales professionals to schedule and track activities related to accounts, tracing the delivery and to launch innovative business opportunities. The sales force automation and effective communication also help employees, especially sales representatives, to easily coordinate different activities. The company management can also monitor and regulate their employees more effectively. CRM software solutions also ensure flexibility of business in changing climates.

The other advantages of account management through CRM software include -time and working capital saving, elimination of manual data entry and paper works, timely warnings about inadequate data and deadlines, proper organization of data, easy data tracking and sharing, elimination of duplicate data entry and false data entry, helps in designing customer service plans, better trouble shooting and above all less mental pressure on company management and workers.

This article has been provided by eSalesTrack.com , a US based provider of on-demand CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and other application software such as Sales Force Automation. To learn more about CRM visit CRM Articles.

How A Holistic CRM Solution Will Increase Overall Business Performance

2009-06-30T06:26:00.000-07:00

Born out of the high priced custom built CRM and ERP solutions of Oracle, Siebel and SAP, on demand CRM solutions built on the Software as a Service (SaaS) model are beginning to incorporate more than just customer relationship management. This newly developing multifunctional on demand solution is widely perceived by many to be part of the evolutionary process of the SaaS model, and a direct result of customer desire to have an all in one solution, without heavy integration and customization.

Holistic CRM is the future of the SaaS model, while some CRM vendors have elected to support niche markets, the bigger more robust CRM vendors of today are positioning themselves to provide their customers with one final solution. From front office to back office, on demand CRM vendors are revolutionizing the way we do business today and for generations to come.

By taking this holistic approach to on demand business management, current CRM providers such as Salesboom Inc. are opening their doors to a larger customer base, as well as providing their current customers with the tools to meet their growing business needs. Furthermore, the holistic CRM approach will improve your company?s customer reach, and enable greater collaboration between employees to meet the diverse needs of customers.

The out and out benefits of this evolution will not only include greater capabilities, but also increased efficiency and collaboration on all fronts. Your organization will also stand to benefit from greater accessibility to pertinent customer information and history from all areas in order to deal accurately and prudently with new requests/concerns. In addition, the holistic CRM will also remove the cost and need for integration with other stand alone in house systems, ensuring that all your employees/users are focused on doing business rather than supporting it.

Having this fully integrated system will provide your workforce with the tools to manage your business more effectively and give you access and clarity into all facets of your organization in real time. While many are content with present on demand CRM solutions, the potential for rapid business growth could leave them looking for a new CRM solution in less than a year.

The evolution of the holistic CRM solution is inevitable, with a few industry leaders already having laid the foundation to fully integrate their front office CRM features such as Marketing, Sales and Customers support, with back office Enterprise Resource Planning and Human Resource Management tools. This hybrid software as a service solution is set to absorb the unilateral CRM solutions we have grown accustomed to seeing today.

Colin Duffy enjoys writing about CRM subjects and on demand CRM software vendors such as Salesboom ( http://www.salesboom.com )

Why Small Businesses Choose CRM As A Service?

2009-06-23T04:08:00.001-07:00

In order compete and survive in today?s business market the young business must be able to leverage more than just its human capital to contend with bigger brands. In today?s volatile business environment big corporations can quickly swallow the little guys market whole. The importance of attracting and retaining customers has never been more significant. As a result, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions have morphed into an internet based service to provide their customers with greater accessibility and versatility to battle their brand at a level beyond their current means.

CRM software solutions are every where you look on the web and they come in all models and offerings, however, the model of choice for small businesses has been, and continues to be, the internet based application. The hosted internet model, also known as Software as a Service (SaaS), caters to the small business in so many ways that it leaves buyers/users with few reasons to look elsewhere for a CRM solution.

Running a small business requires one to wear multiple hats and manage all facets of the operation. As a result small business owners turn to the versatility of the SaaS model to facilitate their multitasking needs. From marketing automation and sales management to customer service and support, the standard entry level on demand CRM solutions such as http://Salesboom.com offer a simple and intuitive platform to manage ones customer relations. Also, the SaaS model ensures fewer computer and IT headaches, no up front costs, and access to the latest CRM technology, as the whole solution is managed and maintained by the provider. This affords the small business owner and employees greater time to really focus on the goal at hand.

Furthermore the SaaS model offers the end user greater flexibility of business management as they can access their customer info from any where with an internet connection. This enables on demand CRM users to work with their customers on more than one clock, with customer support features that can automate case routing and escalation, users are able to service customer needs around the clock. In addition, CRM as a service improves employee collaboration as customer information and employee activity is recorded and maintained in real time.

SaaS for the small business market is clearly more than just a business trend with CRM revenues expected to eclipse 12 billion by year?s end 2007. What we are witnessing here is a full out transformation of the way businesses are managed today and in the future. Gone will be the in house systems and IT teams of today, replaced by entirely supported software systems hosted by the vendor and integrated in any manner to meet specific customer needs. SaaS is the beginning of what will likely be the biggest change to business development and standards since the industrial revolution.

Colin Duffy enjoys writing about CRM subjects and on demand CRM software vendors such as Salesboom ( http://www.salesboom.com )

Mortgage CRM 101

2009-06-15T06:45:00.000-07:00

CRM, or Customer Relationship Management, has always been an essential part of the mortgage industry, as the customers are the primary source of earnings. A good relationship with each individual customer is the beating heart of any mortgage company. Offering the best, useable programs available to them and finding other ways of fulfilling their needs is the basis for retaining current customers while being referred to new ones.

Lead management is one of the toughest, time-consuming, but highly important parts of any company, as it is crucial to obtaining new customers. Mortgage leads within the lending industry are especially significant, for if managed properly and efficiently, an agent or broker can turn the information obtained into a loyal (and profitable) customer. Good mortgage lead management software is a shortcut to improving CRM within the firm.

For starters, the right mortgage lead management system mediums, like software and websites, will offer pre-sorted mortgage leads to the lending industry, including any prospects who are more likely to buy a home, have an adjustable rate mortgage that is about to expire, etc. Through a number of ways, genuine leads from credible sources can easily increase a lender?s closings by 20% or more, as employees of the mortgage industry will spend less time searching for leads and referrals and more time on customer service. With the focus on customer service, more available programs will be found to meet the customer?s needs. In addition to newly delighted customers, you will gain referrals from them.

Secondly, with a good lead management system in place, not only will you be able to act upon only ?hot? current leads, but they can be generated into specific categories such as credit history, zip and/or area codes, type or size of mortgage needed, etc. Now a company?s agents and brokers can prepare ahead of time for such leads, creating a new level of CRM while making your customers feel at ease.

Next, a proven track record with a faster response time will help win the customers before they can even think about finding another company to do business with. Potential customers typically do not enjoy the mortgage process. A quick start followed by a smooth finish is the best way to retain your customers? mortgage needs for life.

Security is the final check for proper lead management. By granting access of company files and potential customer?s valuable information to only well-qualified employees, your security risk will decrease.

As you can easily see, lead management is crucial to the success of any business in the lending industry. Mortgage CRM follows closely behind. By implementing the right lead management program, a healthy bottom line and a returning client base will ensure your company?s success for years to come.

James Hasson recommends http://www.leads360.com/ for mortgage CRM.

Why CRM Projects Fail

2009-06-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

1 Overview

This articles looks at some of the ?human?, i.e. people-related factors that can cause a CRM project to fail. We then look at why, for those businesses already utilising Microsoft? Outlook? for their day-to-day e-mail, diary and contact management, implementing an Outlook-based CRM system gives you the best chance of overcoming these issues and ensuring a successful CRM implementation.

2 The Problem

CRM has received a lot of negative publicity over the years because of the failure rate of CRM implementation projects.

A recent Butler Group report found that 70 percent of CRM implementations fail. A Gartner study found that approximately 55 percent of all CRM projects failed to meet software customers' expectations. In a Bain & Company survey of 451 senior executives, CRM ranked in the bottom three categories among 25 popular tools evaluated for customer satisfaction.
While there are a multitude of reasons cited for failure of these projects, our experience in implementing over 200 CRM projects directly is that user acceptance is the one of the most critical factors.

In his article on ?Why CRM Projects Fail?, Rajiv Chaudhry quotes:

You can design the best process in the world, and back it with the latest and greatest technology, but if your people don't buy into the project, it won't work. There are three people-related issues that have surfaced in many of the CRM programs, that are worth noting:

The Fear-of-Change Syndrome. You already have a sales process in place. It may be based on printed reports, paper clips, and post-it notes, but it does work to some extent and people are familiar with it. Reengineering requires change, which most people instinctively resist. This fear of change needs to be dealt with early on, or the very people the system is designed to help will be the ones to see that it fails.

The It's Easy Enough Syndrome. For your CRM system to be successful, every single person must use it. For the sake of speed, a temptation may be to let IS or a few computer-literate users design the system interface. What you will end up with is a system that they think is easy enough for them to use, but isn't easy enough for everyone. One CIO's observation sums up the whole issue about usability: Too easy never is.

The Big Brother Syndrome. Be aware that horror stories of the hidden reasons that companies implement CRM programs may already be circulating through your sales force. They may have heard how these systems are designed to track their every move, just waiting for them to make a mistake so that management can pounce on them. This initial distrust is a very serious issue that must be dealt with swiftly.

Leaving any of these concerns unresolved will only result in bigger problems when you get ready for implementation. They need to be dealt with head-on so that everyone is on board and supportive of what the company is trying to accomplish.

Another one that I would add to the list above is:

The ?WIIFM? Concept: More completely known as ?What?s In It For Me?. It?s no good introducing a system that only benefits the company. This is closely allied to the Big Brother Syndrome above. That is, you cannot expect a system to sustain itself if it does not produce any direct benefits to the users themselves.

3 Answering these Challenges with a CRM System based on Microsoft Outlook

The Fear of/Resistance to Change Syndrome dictates that the less the users have to change the way they work, the more likely they will adopt any new system that is based around what they are already used to. So if your users are already sending mail, managing their own contacts in their own Personal Contacts folder, and scheduling appointments with the Outlook Calendar, they don?t want to change this. We saw this frequently in the past where the first thing users asked us after introducing a new non-Outlook-based CRM system usually was ?Why should I learn a different calendar? ? I already know Outlook and I?m comfortable with it?. And trying to introduce a system that ?sychronised? or ?integrated? with Outlook also caused endless problems with calendars that got ?out of sync?, etc. So this did little to reduce user frustration.

The Resistance to Change factor has another side that?s reflected in a popular saying namely ?Up to the age of 18 you make your habits; thereafter they make you?. The reality of these words of wisdom is summarized as follows: If a new system is introduced such that not only is training required to learn the system but one also has to form a new set of habits associated with the procedures necessary to run the system, then it will take the average worker 3 to 6 months to develop these new habits to the point where they are ingrained into their daily work routines. And invariably if the user does not see sufficient benefit in the system soon enough (i.e. before these new habits are fully developed), then they continue to do what they were doing before the new system was introduced and as such the new system falls into disuse. One common excuse we used to get during post-implementation audits from users who were found not to have been entering activities into the new CRM system was ?Oh, I keep forgetting to open the system?, or ?it takes too long to open the system when I need it?.

The It's Easy Enough Syndrome: If everyone is already using Outlook, and has been trained on Outlook, or at least has become familiar with its functionality then it will be easy enough for them to learn a few new things associated with ?relating? items together to transform Outlook into a Customer ?Relationship? Management system. Microsoft has made enormous investments in studying the usability of Outlook and soliciting user feedback. So why reinvent the wheel when the users already know (and usually love) this interface.

The Big Brother Syndrome: Installing a new Sales Automation system with Activity Analyses and Productivity Comparison Reports already conjures up the wrong impression amongst the sales people. However just adding to Outlook?s functionality to provide a customer-centric ?related? view of the existing disjointed elements in Outlook (appointments, tasks, journals, contacts and documents) makes all the sense in the world to users, and does not introduce any negative connotations.

The ?WIIFM? Concept: Here Outlook definitely comes to the rescue. Users already appreciate the benefits of Outlook as a ?Personal Information Manager?, especially as Microsoft touts Outlook as being one. The emphasis on Personal implies the primary benefit is to the user and not necessarily the company. So Microsoft in that sense has solved the issue of ?What?s in it for me??
Having looked at the fact that Outlook certainly addresses some of the ?human? factors associated with a CRM implementation, we still need to look at how well Outlook meets the challenge in terms of functionality. We can do this by looking first at the basics of a Contact Management system, which still today is the core of any CRM system.

4 The Basics of any Contact Management System

Any contact management application needs at least the following basic functionality:

a) A mechanism to store and profile Contact information.

b) A means to plan and organize appointments with those contacts, not only for yourself but other team members managing those same contacts.

c) A means to schedule tasks and to-do?s for those contacts.

d) A mechanism to record any kind of interaction with a contact, namely meetings, phone calls, e-mail, documents, etc.

e) Some way of storing documents sent to and received from a contact.

f) A way to send and track e-mail communication.

5 Outlook?s inherent Contact Management Functionality

With reference to the requirements list above, Outlook at least satisfies the following requirements:

a) A mechanism to store and profile Contact information: The ?Contacts? folder in Outlook already allows a comprehensive profile of any personal or business contact to be maintained.

b) A means to plan and organise appointments for those contacts: Outlook?s calendaring facilities provide these very effectively and when coupled with Exchange Server incorporate a huge number of collaborative features that are extremely difficult for any other stand-alone CRM system to emulate or reproduce.

c) A means to schedule tasks and to-do?s for those contacts: Outlook?s task management facility is excellent for this.

d) A mechanism to record any kind of interaction with a contact: The ?Journal? facility of Outlook contains the standard fields necessary to record phone calls, meeting, etc. with clients, and can even time such activities.

e) A way to send and track e-mail communication: The Inbox and Sent Items stores inward and outward e-mails.

However, while Outlook does have the basic foundation for solid contact management functionality, there are certain limitations of Outlook that one needs to be aware of.

6 Limitations of Outlook

As a contact management application however, Outlook has the following limitations:

a) Private Mailbox (Contacts, Appointments, etc.): Without setting up and customising Public Folders, most users will just utilise their Private Mailbox Contacts folder for managing their contacts, thus limiting the sharing of that information and potentially creating massive duplication of the same data within the organisation.

b) Contact-centric: By virtue of their being only a Contacts folder (and no Companies folder), Outlook tends to be Contact-centric rather than Account-centric, which can be limiting for those users managing corporate accounts.

c) Discrete, independent folders: Most users tend to use their Outlook folders as discrete elements, i.e. because it is fairly cumbersome for users to link one item to another, (e.g. a contact to an appointment) they seldom do this. Thus it is difficult for users in the organisation to get an overall picture of all the activity occurring within the organisation against any particular company or contact. The universal objective of any CRM system however, is to provide a ?single-view of all customer-related information to everyone in the organisation?.

7 Overcoming Outlook?s Limitations

Several Outlook-based CRM systems such as MX-Contact (www.mxcontact.com) are Outlook Add-Ins that overcome these limitations by extending the functionality of Outlook to transform it into a powerful CRM system without changing the way users send mail, schedule appointments, etc. Such systems utilise all of Outlook?s existing functionality but add the functionality found in CRM systems to co-ordinate the activities and items in Outlook into ?one central view of all customer related information?. This is the so-called holy grail of CRM.

8 Other Advantages of an Outlook-based CRM System

There are several other distinct advantages to deploying Outlook as the basis for contact/customer management. We summarise them here:

Ease of Use:

a) Outlook is always the first application to be opened: Whenever knowledge workers arrive at their place of work each day, Outlook tends to be the first application that is opened, given that one needs to check what e-mail has been received since last clocking out of the office. He or she therefore opens by default the application needed for Contact Management. One of the greatest obstacles to overcome in the implementation of any CRM system is to get the users into the habit of opening the new system. With Outlook this is not an issue.

b) Outlook is always kept open: The nature of customer interaction is that it is very often re-active, sporadic and impromptu. Therefore it is imperative that the application used to log these interactions is always ?at one?s fingertips? so to speak. Given that users keep Outlook open all day so as to respond timeously to e-mail ensures that this is the case.

c) Familiar Interface: If users are already utilising Outlook for at least e-mail and calendaring then they are already familiar with the interface and how to add new items, edit existing items, etc. Thus there is usually very little requirement for extensive training when an Outlook system is deployed. This dramatically shortens the average implementation time.

d) Increasing Percentage of E-Mail Interaction: An ever-increasing number of users are discovering the advantages of e-mail communication over other forms of contact (phone, fax, letter, etc.). So as e-mail becomes more widely used for customer interaction, it makes sense to deploy your e-mail client as the primary vehicle for managing customer communications, rather then utilising a totally different application.

e) One calendaring system universal across company & supply chain: Given that the vast majority of corporate users are utilising Outlook, it is easy for instance to send meeting requests to suppliers or customers, who can then use many of the same collaboration features that are available to internal users/co-workers. Many CRM systems have their own calendaring system and given that not all users will (or can) necessarily adopt this system means that one has to immediately contend with the problem of keeping these dissimilar calendars synchronized so that all users can effectively co-ordinate their diaries.

f) One e-mail store: Many of the conventional database-based CRM systems on the market have difficulty linking to e-mails given that an e-mail is not the same type of object as say a document. For this reason most systems not running inside Outlook tend to copy the contents of an e-mail into their database tables, thereby effectively duplicating the data and also disconnecting it from its original item, thus losing its formatting and also making handling of ?Replies? and ?Forwards? to the item difficult.

g) One document management system: Some CRM systems also copy documents into their database so as to enable replication of these documents to remote users. The disadvantage of this approach is that a document can only be edited from within the CRM system and not also from its original source on the Windows File System or Exchange Public Folder in the way that most users would already be familiar with.

h) Easy synchronization with most PDA?s: Given that all PDA?s synchronize with Outlook as a standard, this means that you have automatic access to your Contact Management data if it is kept in Outlook rather than being in another application.
Reduced Cost of Ownership:

i) No additional Infrastructure Needed: If a company already has the infrastructure in place necessary to run Outlook on client machines and Exchange Server, then no additional client or server hardware is needed to run an Outlook-based system.

j) Cost of upgrade to new versions of Outlook shared: Very often a client has to justify the costs of upgrading Office as well as the costs of purchasing the CRM application. With an Outlook-based solution this upgrade cost is shared given that the company receives a whole host of additional benefits and functionality from upgrading Office/Outlook as well as receiving a new CRM system.

k) Reduced Training Time (Cost): Given that users will already be familiar with the basics of Outlook, the time needed to train users, and hence the cost of that training, is significantly reduced.

l) Wider Support Base: Given that there are a large number of internal users and external consultants that know Outlook and VBA/VBScript (used to extend its functionality) it is easier and therefore less costly to enhance the functionality and support your user base.

m) Wider application of same training: If a company invests in training its staff in the functionality of Outlook, so as to more effectively use a CRM system based on Outlook, then this knowledge of Outlook will be utilised in everything a user does in Outlook, even those activities not linked to customer management but more internal collaboration etc. However, when one invests in training around a separate proprietary system then this training can only be applied to the use of that system and nothing else.

n) Reduced Installation Time: Given that an Outlook-based system installs itself inside Outlook, it is a simple matter for IT personnel to install the system. In many instances this can be done by the user him or herself.

9 Summary

Microsoft?s earlier promotion of Outlook as a ?Personal Information Manager? created the impression amongst users that Outlook was only intended to manage one?s personal contacts and was not suited as the basis for a corporate-wide Customer Management System. Hopefully this article has rectified some of these misconceptions and shown that, given that so much of one?s day-to-day customer interaction is initiated from within Outlook, Outlook coupled with Exchange or SQL Server is the perfect environment for one?s all important Customer database. For an example of an Outlook-based CRM system, have a look at MX-Contact (http://www.mxcontact.com). A free version is available for download from http://www.free-contact-manager.com.

10 PDF Version

A PDF version of this article may be downloaded from:

http://www.outlookwise.com/OutlookWise/ Why_CRM_Projects_Fail/01_Why_CRM_Projects_Fail.htm

Brian Drury is the founder of ExchangeWise (http://www.exchangewise.com), and the architect of MX-Contact (http://www.mxcontact.com), a CRM, Contact Management and Sales Automation System for Microsoft Outlook. Brian has focused on Contact Management, CRM and Collaboration systems for the last 15 years. He is also the editor of OutlookWise (http://www.outlookwise.com), a free newsletter aimed at keeping Outlook users up to date with news, views and articles of interest on Microsoft Outlook and Exchange Server.

Commence Industrial CRM Emphasizes Understanding Customer Needs

2009-05-29T05:21:00.000-07:00

Smart industrial organizations gather several key data points during customer research, including the following: * How clearly can your customers articulate your value proposition? * How well do your customers know your products or services? * What is their preferred method of purchasing the products and services you supply? * Who do customers consider to be the preferred supplier for your products and services. When do customers typically purchase your products and services? * Why do customers typically purchase your products and services? * How do customers use your products and services? * Who is the decision maker? Who else influences the purchase? * How do your customers evaluate suppliers? Get as specific as possible. * What pain do they feel on a daily basis? * How does the problem they are encountering impact others in the organization?

According to Larry Caretsky, President of Commence Corporation (www.commence.com/mfg./) "Understanding the customer's needs is paramount. Industrial distributors and manufacturers have myriad ways to access information about their customers. The important thing is to do it thoroughly and not cut any corners. The more comprehensive information you have, the better you will be able to develop a winning strategy."

In an effort to help industrial distributors and manufacturers thrive, Commence Corporation presents Practices That Pay: Leveraging Information to Achieve Industrial Selling Results, a compendium of smart practices from the leading industrial sales and marketing experts and organizations that are growing in today's challenging environment.

Commence offers industrial companies complete "Freedom Of Choice" to select the solutions and platform that best meets the business requirements of manufacturers and distributors. The comprehensive CRM Industrial application suite is available for use on premise or on-demand as a hosted service. Industrial leaders often build departmental CRM solutions with the award winning Commence Industrial CRM Framework. These choices are why so many industrial companies choose Commence as the solution for managing customer relationships. All Commence Industrial solutions support mobile or wireless connectivity and integration to back-office accounting and ERP systems.

Commence Corporation www.commence.com/mfg/ Larry Caretsky Marketing@commence.com 732-380-9100

3 Reasons Why CRM Strategies Fail

2009-05-22T02:10:00.000-07:00

Customer relationship management (CRM) is one of the most effective tools for improving customer relationships and therefore increasing revenue, customer satisfaction, and customer retention. Unfortunately, some CRM strategies fail. This leaves CRM vendors and their customers baffled, but there a few common reasons why a CRM strategy will fail.

1. Too much focus on the CRM vendor and technology. Some companies get too caught up in having the best possible CRM strategy out there. Some companies want entire call-centers, On-Demand CRM, Web-based, and Blackberry devices which allow their IT people to enter customer information wirelessly. While these technologies are extremely helpful, too much emphasis on them can lead any company astray. It is naturally very important to select the best CRM vendor for your company, but best does not always mean flashiest.

2. Not enough focus on the customer. Companies can focus too much on technology and strategy, and not enough on what is at the core of CRM: the customer. The first letter in CRM stands for Customer and so the customer should be first when thinking about any CRM strategy. A call-center can be wonderful if it is customer friendly. However, some call centers are too complicated and alienate the customer from the company. Alienation is the exact opposite of what companies want to achieve when implementing CRM. The real ROI of CRM is found in customer retention and the acquisition of new customers. In order to have success with CRM, a company must work towards building a strong relationship with its customers. CRM is the path through which the customer and the company can understand each other. Focusing on technologies and ignoring the basics of customer service will cause even the most technologically advanced CRM strategy to go wrong.

3. Rushing into CRM adaptation. Sometimes, company presidents get the idea of CRM into their head and decide that their entire company must be CRM-ready as fast as possible. Rushing into CRM is a recipe for disaster. IT workers need to understand the concept of CRM. Someone who understands the importance of CRM will be better suited to deal with customers and reach the companys goals concerning CRM. Rushing into CRM does not allow ample time for all IT people to be briefed on the basics of CRM and how it will be implemented within the business. Some companies implementing CRM have to create entire departments that never existed before. The greatest care must always be taken when creating an entire new section of a company. CRM should generally be implemented across the entire company. If this is rushed, it can lead to all sorts of compatibility issues, customer confusion, and even employee confusion. Data collected must be viewed across many applications, and ample time must be given for networks to be set up. Companies using CRM technology such as Blackberry devices, or Call-centers must be even more careful when implementing CRM for the first time. Technology is not perfect, and problems can occur at any time. Any company that sends their sales force out into the market with unchecked technology is asking for disaster.

Some say that it is impossible to determine whether CRM is a success or a failure. The true ROI of CRM lies with the customer. A company that avoids the pitfalls of CRM implementation will notice a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction, retention, and acquisition. CRM can help any company significantly if it is used correctly, carefully, but still efficiently. CRM technology can also help companies if it is used thoughtfully and timely. The entire company must be prepared for CRM when it is implemented. A company cannot expect exact numbers immediately after putting CRM into effect. CRM is a long-term strategy that will help achieve long-term goals of a company. Customer focus is essential and will help any CRM strategy to become a success.

Matt Hogansworth enjoys writing about CRM topics and CRM software vendors such as Salesforce http://www.salesforce.com

Industrial CRM Leader Commence Profiled in Manufacturing.net

2009-03-31T07:02:00.000-07:00

In Manufacturing.net, manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler notes, "Some ERP vendors offer industry specific CRM solutions; many do not. Bolt-on generic CRM solutions are frequently sold as the panacea; few are."

Commence offers industrial companies complete "Freedom of Choice" to select the solutions and platform that best meets the business requirements of manufacturers and distributors. The comprehensive CRM Industrial application suite is available for use on premise or on-demand as a hosted service. Industrial leaders often build departmental CRM solutions with the award winning Commence Industrial CRM Framework. These choices are why so many industrial companies choose Commence as the solution for managing customer relationships. All Commence Industrial solutions support mobile or wireless connectivity and integration to back-office accounting and ERP systems.

Larry Caretsky, President of New Jersey-based Commence, (www.commence.com/mfg), developers of a stand alone industrial CRM solution, suggested that most ERP companies offering CRM have shortfalls. "Managing the sales cycle and sales representative performance, marketing campaign management and integration with customer support are not provided by ERP tools," he said. CRM is not the strength for most ERP systems, which often utilize an add-on module but are rarely a full CRM package. In many cases, industrial customers who require full CRM capabilities are relegated to third party products or services.

Stand alone industrial CRM solutions provide effective lean CRM processes as long as the vendor truly understands the nuances and idiosyncrasies of the manufacturing sector; most do not. Generic databases do not address central issues facing all industrial operations. According to Caretsky, "Smart industrial organizations gather several key data points during customer research, which helps to define a CRM profile."

According to Cutler, "Expertise in industrial CRM is more significant than whether fully integrated in an ERP system or stand alone industrial CRM; vendor experience in industrial sales and marketing trumps the selection of technology." The complete feature article may be read at http://manufacturing.net/article/CA6363848.html.

Commence Corporation www.commence.com/mfg/ Larry Caretsky Marketing@commence.com 732-380-9100

The New and Improved Microsoft CRM 3.0

2009-03-12T05:13:00.000-07:00

Microsoft CRM (customer relationship management) was created in order to assure the proper management of your company's budget and to support the needs and requirements of your business. By using Microsoft CRM, you will be able to analyze the competitors' performances and to evaluate the trends, using reporting tools. But Microsoft CRM 's main purpose is to support and adjust the needs of the mid-market businesses and to deliver superior customer service. All employees who work directly with customers can get all the information they need by using Microsoft CRM, in order for the cooperation process to be successful and the customers to be surprised of the efficiency of the services they receive.

A big advantage of Microsoft CRM is that it gives users the ability to work offline, using Microsoft Outlook, which belongs to the CRM's support of data. Microsoft CRM can support not only Microsoft Outlook, but Microsoft Business Solutions for Financial Management as well, which is another inspired program that has the abilities of overcoming high business problems in order to maintain the company's most valuable data.

Microsoft CRM 3.0 represents the newest version of the software and has many new and improved features such as new marketing facilities, response and campaign management. A new thing from Microsoft, CRM 3.0 features a service-oriented architecture and includes a description language web service for core CRM functions. A new upgrade has been introduced in this release of Microsoft CRM 3.0, the workflow engine.

Nevertheless, Microsoft Outlook has very well elaborated features in combination with Microsoft CRM 3.0. Microsoft Outlook has a sophisticated basis, users being able to use Microsoft CRM 3.0 from the Outlook menu as well, the two programs cooperating together as if they were one.

In CRM 3.0 the marketing module offers users new features such as list-building tools in order to create target groups. Thus, the users will be able to plan and monitor campaigns much easier. Furthermore, Microsoft CRM 3.0 has an improvement in the licensing area as well. Now you can very well use the Customer Service and the Marketing module as a part of the Microsoft CRM 3.0, which in the previous release could not have been possible without further taxes.

Overall, Microsoft CRM 3.0 is a tool that will bring your company guaranteed success. You will obtain much better profits using this ultimate version instead of the old ones. Users will be satisfied of its new and improved features and will also use this excellent tool in common interest.

Access to expert information on implementing and integrating Microsoft CRM 3.0 with existing enterprise systems can be found in the Microsoft Practice area of www.unitekconsutling.com

Shannon Margolis
IT Marketing Coordinator
www.unitekconsulting.com

Kaizen Blitz for Industrial CRM

2009-03-02T00:04:00.000-08:00

Kaizen blitz procedures quickly identify the best opportunity for lean efficiency and productivity. The most glaring omission of these kaizen blitz efforts has been in the sales and marketing elements of the manufacturing enterprise.

According to manufacturing journalist Thomas R. Cutler in a recent issue of Industrial Focus magazine, "Manufacturers all face a similar challenge: a complex sale that often requires a team selling approach. In every industrial organization one finds internal representatives, outside representatives, managers, technical specialist, distributors, and customer service professionals. Often this team manages several product lines with thousands of specific items and interacts with numerous influencers who affect the sale. During the lengthy sales process the team does their best to manage this complex environment, producing notes, sales call reports, quote logs, memos, faxes, e-mails, and customer service reports, however the information is almost always fragmented. There is rarely one central database of customer information that can be accessed and shared among the people who need it to efficiently do their jobs. As a result, acting less like a team, these people act independently when conducting business and are far less effective. "

According to Larry Caretsky, President of Commence (www.commence.com/mfg), an industrial customer relationship management (CRM) firm, "CEO's of these companies often share how their new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system provides them all the information they need, but fail to recognize that ERP systems provide information after the sale, not before or during the sales process. ERP systems provide no value for improving the efficiency of how to sell and service customers. This is one reason that forecast reports are always inaccurate."

Industrial senior executives avoid addressing a customer-centric approach including the misconception that an accounting system provides the information needed; they provide only post sale information. The pre-sales process and information drives the sale.

Manufacturers do not resist funding back-end ERP systems; however the front-end CRM solutions often make a substantial impact on reducing new customer acquisition cost and improving sales efficiency by first addressing data capture, data consolidation, and data sharing.

Commence Corporation www.commence.com/mfg/ Larry Caretsky Marketing@commence.com 732-380-9100

Call Center CRM Solutions

2009-02-23T04:49:00.001-08:00

Call centers are offices that make use of phone facilities to assist client companies engaged in fields as diverse as healthcare, education, law and market research. As the call centers function round the clock, and its employees communicate with customers in a completely virtual environment, the risk of getting stressed out is great. Like any employer, call centers too are expected to keep their employees happy. Only if they are happy can they make the customer at the other end of the phone line happy. Moreover, the sustenance and reputation of a call center depends basically on its relationship with customer companies. Hence call centers view Customer Relationship Management [CRM] as a top priority area and offer a wide range of in-house CRM consulting services. This is seen to increase productivity, efficiency and effectiveness.

An effective CRM program trains the call center employees on a consistent basis to build a good and everlasting relationship with the customer [companies]. Before developing CRM programs, call centers make use of the knowledge and understanding of their employees about customer requirements. Based on this, they develop modules and train them to use a wide variety of information and communication technology tools to accomplish a strong relationship with their customer companies.

An effective in-house CRM will ensure that the call center?s business functions make both the employees and customers happy and comfortable as members of a cohesive team.

One of the most important objectives of using CRM is to make the call center more profitable, reputable and sustainable in today?s highly competitive global market.

Call Center Solutions provides detailed information on Call Center Solutions, Call Center Software Solutions, Call Center CRM Solutions, Call Center Management Solutions and more. Call Center Solutions is affliated with Outsourcing Call Centers.

CRM Business Solutions

2009-02-17T04:50:00.000-08:00

Customers and clients are the most important factor in any kind of business. Therefore, taking care of customers or clients has been a major area of concern, as it is related to the whole area of work ? the more the customers and clients are happy, the more products and services they will buy. However, CRM entails all aspects of interaction a company has with its customers, whether in sales or services. Therefore, the implementation of the CRM strategies has become a key issue of concern for companies. CRM solutions have gained enormous importance over the years, as they have the capacity to manipulate and change consumer behavior and buying patterns.

Computerization and the implementation of recent communication systems have changed the way companies are approaching their CRM strategies. With the big bang of information technology across the world, especially the proliferation of self-service and self-catered ones, there is a great flourish in the whole process of CRM solutions.

Nevertheless, CRM business solutions are meant to get more out of their sales forces. The sales are going to automatically increase once the business develops a good rapport with its customers. Not only this, the rapport will improve the company?s business interests. Various companies use business-oriented CRM software. But it is often found that most of them are not used by the business solutions.

For a business to flourish using CRM strategies, one should always go for tested CRM software, because unused software is a waste of money. However, some of the steps that contribute to the ideal CRM business solutions are: managing contracts, managing cases, managing the knowledge base and taste of the customer, case routing and using queues, patiently examining and listening to the customer about the needs and requirements, taking care of contracts and such other topics.

CRM Solutions provides detailed information on CRM Solutions, CRM Business Solutions, CRM Call Center Solutions, CRM Software Solutions and more. CRM Solutions is affliated with Live Customer Support.

CRM Call Center Solutions

2009-02-11T05:23:00.000-08:00

Computerization and the implementation of recent communication systems have changed the way companies are approaching their CRM strategies. With the big bang of information technology across the world, especially the proliferation of self-service and self-catered ones, there is a great change in the whole process of CRM solutions. The most suitable examples are the World Wide Web, WAP phones and telecommunications, which have converted the very essence of customer communication and service into electronic form.

So the companies are looking for ways to personalize online experiences (a process also referred to as mass customization) through tools such as help-desk software, e-mail organizers and even call center solutions. To put it simply, CRM call canter solutions are the part of an organization that handles inbound a well as outbound communications with customers.

The primary job and function for the CRM call centers is to take care of all the requirements and complaints of the customers, in order to give customers the right and the freedom to express their views. CRM call centers also take care of services like the help desk, customer support, lead generation, emergency response, telephone answering service, inbound response as well as outbound telemarketing.

But the call-center executives are the ones who have to interact with customers through their speeches, mannerisms, accents and patience. Therefore, it becomes quite obvious that recruiting the call center executives or simply CRM telecallers have to be done with great care. CRM call center operations are mostly done through computer automation. They can really boost any sort of business as they have the capacity to handle a considerable volume of calls at the same time, thereby giving a good solution for CRM strategies. Usually, calls are forwarded to someone qualified enough to handle them, and to log calls.

CRM Business Solutions provides detailed information on CRM Solutions, CRM Business Solutions, CRM Call Center Solutions, CRM Software Solutions and more. CRM Business Solutions is affiliated with Live Customer Support.

Mobile CRM 101 ? The Basics

2009-02-04T04:16:00.000-08:00

Mobile CRM is emerging into the mainstream as an excellent method of relaying information between marketing and sales personnel. Busy sales and marketing professionals on the road can now communicate quickly and effectively through mobile CRM. Mobile CRM refers to the use of a mobile device to conduct any CRM related activities, including mobile phones, PDAs, and laptop computers.

Previous to mobile CRM, sales professionals were limited in the ways they could transfer and access information. This often meant less access to updated information, more leads going cold, and a less effective work methodology. Luckily, the tables have turned and people are getting connected in new, completely unique ways that allow for such applications as mobile CRM. Here are some of the major capabilities of mobile CRM and its most important components:

Remote Access
This allows users to access data such as contacts, leads, and other information remotely from a mobile device wherever they're at. This concept is new to CRM and is gradually forming an integral part of the CRM system.

Total Customization
Businesses can show users the information they need to see any way they want. This allows mobile professionals to manage many tasks and activities far easier than before, and exchange instant, updated information to help the smooth flow of leads down the pipeline. This also allows companies to standardize mobile CRM devices if they so choose. Since many companies already offer perks like company laptops and cell phones, this is just one way they have the ability to create the system they want. The application software also allows a company to set up its mobile CRM system in the way that works best for the company.

Disconnected Access and CRM Management Over the Air
Even if a user isn't dialed in or online, they still have instant access to information. Thus, if their computer connection dies or they lose their phone, they have other options for getting information, ensuring they get their job done. Likewise, a user can get all the information they need via phone; this ensures that users never need to plug in to access administrative data.

Centralized System
This allows all the necessary information to be in one place at the same time, enabling a company to manage users, devices, and other applications from a single location. A central management system allows a company further reach and control over its employees and its customers. This in turn decreases wasted time and man hours, allowing for a stronger, more efficient system for generating and converting leads and sales. .

Since most mobile CRM systems are internet based applications, the time involved in getting data is miniscule and has severely cut down on the time it takes to get data. The central system furthers this goal, and is usually created around an internet application available to all authorized personnel. This might mean that each user gets an account and a password with which they access the database from their phone, laptop, or other mobile device.

Salesforce.com is the world's first on-demand application service and a giant in the field of CRM. With over 24,000 customers, over 500,000 subscribers, and a 97% customer satisfaction rate, Salesforce.com continues to lead their field. To find out more about them, please visit www.salesforce.com.

Mobile CRM 101 - The Basics

2009-01-28T04:38:00.000-08:00

Previous to mobile CRM, sales professionals were limited in the ways they could transfer and access information. This often meant less access to updated information, more leads going cold, and a less effective work methodology. Luckily, the tables have turned and people are getting connected in new, completely unique ways that allow for such applications as mobile CRM. Here are some of the major capabilities of mobile CRM and its most important components:

Remote Access This allows users to access data such as contacts, leads, and other information remotely from a mobile device wherever they're at. This concept is new to CRM and is gradually forming an integral part of the CRM system.

Total Customization Businesses can show users the information they need to see any way they want. This allows mobile professionals to manage many tasks and activities far easier than before, and exchange instant, updated information to help the smooth flow of leads down the pipeline. This also allows companies to standardize mobile CRM devices if they so choose. Since many companies already offer perks like company laptops and cell phones, this is just one way they have the ability to create the system they want. The application software also allows a company to set up its mobile CRM system in the way that works best for the company.

Disconnected Access and CRM Management Over the Air Even if a user isn't dialed in or online, they still have instant access to information. Thus, if their computer connection dies or they lose their phone, they have other options for getting information, ensuring they get their job done. Likewise, a user can get all the information they need via phone; this ensures that users never need to plug in to access administrative data.

Centralized System This allows all the necessary information to be in one place at the same time, enabling a company to manage users, devices, and other applications from a single location. A central management system allows a company further reach and control over its employees and its customers. This in turn decreases wasted time and man hours, allowing for a stronger, more efficient system for generating and converting leads and sales. .

Since most mobile CRM systems are internet based applications, the time involved in getting data is miniscule and has severely cut down on the time it takes to get data. The central system furthers this goal, and is usually created around an internet application available to all authorized personnel. This might mean that each user gets an account and a password with which they access the database from their phone, laptop, or other mobile device.

Salesforce.com is the world's first on-demand application service and a giant in the field of CRM. With over 24,000 customers, over 500,000 subscribers, and a 97% customer satisfaction rate, Salesforce.com continues to lead their field. To find out more about them, please visit http://www.salesforce.com

Top Ten Reasons Your Company Should Consider Mobile CRM

2009-01-21T05:28:00.000-08:00

Mobile CRM is on the rise in the world of CRM and demand is growing as companies and employees are demanding access to crucial information in real time. Allowing for a more versatile, mobile workforce and faster access to information, mobile CRM is here to stay. Here are the top ten reasons your company should consider implementing a mobile CRM system.

Faster access to data
Sales professionals can access data in real-time, so it is always the most current, up-to-date information available. If you need to know about a client or lead, you can find what you need to know immediately via phone, laptop, PDA, or other mobile device.

Central data center
A central data center allows you to access all the information all the time. No one person has longer access to a file or case; you can look at it simultaneously without slowing anything down. And if a client id shifted to you suddenly, you have access to all their information in a matter of minutes. Thus, mobile CRM is an extremely effective, efficient ancillary to your normal CRM system.

Leads stay hot and glide down the pipeline
Leads don't get cold because there will always be someone to pick up the slack. Mobile CRM also makes it easier to ensure the lead gets nudged down the pipeline gently but effectively and ends up in the correct place.

Access to critical information anytime, anywhere
Mobile CRM allows you to access information in the central database from anywhere in the world at any time, provided you have access to a mobile device that works.

Easy to use
Mobile CRM is amazingly easy to use and takes much of the stress off of professional sales people. It allows them to stay in touch and get new updates.

Ideal for travel
Mobile CRM is especially conducive to sales professionals who travel a large part of the time. Because you can use any mobile device, traveling isn't difficult, and it's far less stressful. If you suddenly remember something you have to find or look up, forget a client's information, or any other number of scenarios, mobile CRM can be the way you solve the problem.

Usable online and offline
Mobile CRM can be used online and offline. If the internet doesn't work or the connection has failed, you can get on your mobile device; if you lose your phone but have your laptop or PDA, you're covered. Thus it provides an almost fail safe way to get the information you need, when you want it.

Competitive advantage
Mobile CRM offers a competitive advantage because it offers a way to reach more customers than just using a traditional CRM system. It is quickly growing to be one of the de facto methods of CRM outside of the workplace.

Reasonably priced
Once priced ridiculously high, mobile CRM systems are now more reasonably priced, and this has added to their growth in popularity.

Allows for a highly mobile work force
Professionals are no longer confined to the office; they can leave for an appointment or business trip and still remain totally connected to the workplace and their clients.

Salesforce.com is the world's first on-demand application service and a giant in the field of CRM. With over 24,000 customers, over 500,000 subscribers, and a 97% customer satisfaction rate, Salesforce.com continues to lead their field. To find out more about them, please visit www.salesforce.com .

Generating Online CRM Software Sales Leads

2009-01-13T05:10:00.000-08:00

If you are a salesperson selling customer relationship management (CRM) software a good place to start for generating online sales leads is on pay-per-click (PPC) ads on internet search engines. This is a step-by-step guide to generating CRM leads via the internet.

To start a PPC campaign to generate CRM sales leads on internet search engines such as Google, MSN, and Yahoo, first make a list of keywords that you think people that are looking for when searching for CRM software are searching for online. A sample list of keywords is available below.
Sign up for PPC ads and register your chosen keywords. The most popular PPC system is Google?s AdWords program.
What happens is every time someone searches your chosen keyword, a link to your website will be shown alongside the "sponsored results" section of the search results. You pay a small fee for every time someone clicks on your link and is taken to your website. The fee is small compared to the revenue you can generate from the sales lead.

Of course for you to generate CRM leads online via PPC you will need to have a website to capture the lead. If you don?t already have a website you will have to create one first.

The following is a list of sample CRM keywords that you can use in your PPC campaign:

Microsoft CRM software
CRM sales solution
Free online CRM
Customer relationship management implementation
Small business CRM software
Saleslogix CRM
Siebel customer relationship management
Open source CRM
CRM tools and resources
CRM sales leads
Automotive CRM software

If you sell CRM visit Tino Buntic's website, TradePals, to receive free sales leads without cold calling, including CRM leads. TradePals is a B2B and B2C directory of business professionals and entrepreneurs across North America, providing qualified leads to its members.

Tino recommends Jim Berkowitz's CRM Mastery Blog, providing commentary on CRM best practices and industry news.

CRM Software Solutions

2009-01-13T05:09:00.000-08:00

Management is a key concept in today?s world. Whether it is business, health care or looking after customers, management and its various kinds of ethos can bring about a major change in the whole process of business, in terms of its returns. CRM, an abbreviation for the term ?customer relationship management?, is a major concept to all the leading corporate sectors, including big and small firms. Customers and clients are the most important factor in any kind of business.

Therefore, taking care of customers or clients has been a major area of concern ? the more the customers and clients are happy, the more products and services they will buy. However, CRM entails all aspects of interaction a company has with its customers, no matter whether the relationship involves sales or services. CRM software helps businesses manage sales, marketing, service, and support information.

These tools are ideal in covering the sales force automation, marketing automation, analysis, data processing and custom applications. In order to manage a good relationship with the customer, a business concern should be aware of customer information by collecting and analyzing it. The work of the CRM software solutions is to make it approachable and accessible to the other business employees, and to convert this data into products that might be of great use to customers.

The software is used to organize, scrutinize and interpret the collected data. Most of the software solutions are user-friendly, compatible for both large and small business firms. Web-based CRM software has come of age to provide online support to the companies in handling their customers. Most CRM software provides turnkey solutions and is available as package tools.

CRM Solutions provides detailed information on CRM Solutions, CRM Business Solutions, CRM Call Center Solutions, CRM Software Solutions and more. CRM Solutions is affliated with Live Customer Support.

Web Based CRM Solutions

2009-01-07T22:43:00.000-08:00

CRM solutions are business strategies that assist in building a healthy relationship with customers. They have become a milestone in the marketing strategies of modern business organizations. Earlier, CRM solutions had been based on client-server architecture. A few draw backs of the client-server model CRM solutions led to the development of web based CRM solutions. Web based CRM solutions are business strategies intended mainly for e-commerce.

As the World Wide Web serves as the platform in web based CRM solutions, the software need be installed on a single server. The installed software can be accessed from any remote location, and any change made in the software will be reflected throughout the system. The client-server model CRM solutions do not support remote access or wireless devices. But, web based CRM solutions have facilities to access wireless devices like PDAs and WAP-enabled mobile phones.

In a web based CRM solution, only the central server has to be maintained. Thus, web based CRM solutions are very cost effective. When compared with client-server CRM solutions, web based CRM solutions are more flexible and easy to maintain. As the web based CRM solutions are based on Web, they can be distributed faster than the conventional CRM solutions and client-server CRM solutions. Also, adding of new clients in a web based CRM solution is very easy. The number of users in web based CRM solution is unlimited.

Netgain, Upshot, SAP, Clarify, ONYX, Trilogy, Oracle, Siebel Systems, and Firstwave Technologies, Inc. are some of the leading vendors in the web based CRM solutions.

CRM Solutions provides detailed information on CRM Solutions, CRM Business Solutions, CRM Call Center Solutions, CRM Software Solutions and more. CRM Solutions is affiliated with Live Customer Support.

CRM Web Based Solutions

2008-12-29T05:29:00.000-08:00

CRM web based solution is an easy and cost effective way to maintain a healthy relationship with your customer on the Internet. It is the latest trend in modern business organizations. With the wide use of the Internet, business organizations have become more reliant on web based CRM services.

Customer relationship management, abbreviated CRM, is a comprehensive business strategy planned to maximize profitability, revenue, retention, and customer satisfaction. However, CRM business strategies mainly focus on customer satisfaction only. With the coming of CRM web based solutions, the entrepreneurs are able to offer support to the customer through the Internet, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Depending on the needs, CRM web based solutions can be availed by any type of businesses. For example, specialized CRM web based solutions are available for client profiles, frequently ordered items, automatic replenishment systems, one-click ordering, and market basket analysis. Mostly, CRM web based solutions are built after systematically understanding the needs and demands.

In a CRM web based solution, the Web is used as the platform. The software is generally installed on a single server. Hence, a user from any remote location can access the facilities of the CRM web based solutions through the Internet. Any slight change in the software of the main server will be reflected throughout the system. CRM web based solutions are cost effective and easy to maintain. Apart from these, CRM web based solutions also provide accessibility through wireless devices such as PDAs and WAP-enabled mobile phones. Thus, CRM web based solutions overrun all the downsides of their counterpart, client-server CRM solutions.

In the past, CRM Web-based solutions were used mainly by medium sized business organizations. But in recent year, almost all small and big business organizations have started using the facilities of CRM Web-based solutions.

CRM Solutions Providers

2008-12-23T05:24:00.000-08:00

CRM solutions providers are companies and individuals who provide solutions to build a good and profitable customer relationship. CRM is the abbreviation of Customer Relationship Management. In the present world, CRM has become a milestone in businesses strategies. It assists in building new business strategies which will not only improve relation with the customer and but also to enhance the prospects of overall business. Today, CRM has become equally important to small, large, and medium business organizations.

Increase in the demand of customer relationship management (CRM) has lead to the popularity of CRM solutions providers. CRM solutions providers are broadly classified into two - in-house CRM solutions providers and hosted CRM solutions providers.

In-house CRM solutions providers are also known as customized CRM solutions providers and on-demand solutions providers. Generally, in-house CRM solutions providers give solutions to meet the specific needs of a company or a customer. They give business solutions to all types and sizes of companies. Based on the size of the company or organization, in-house CRM solutions providers usually take three to twelve months for the complete implementation of their program. In-house CRM solutions providers have many added advantages when compared with hosted solutions providers. In-house CRM solutions providers generally have an intimate knowledge of the legacy systems in the organization. Thus, their programs are easy to install and maintain. Usually, in-house CRM solutions providers give solutions for sales, marketing, and other services. In-house CRM solutions providers are more costly, when compared with hosted CRM solutions providers. For example, an in-house CRM solutions provider will charge around $2,000 to $3,500 for a business service.

Hosted CRM solutions providers are better known as outsourced CMR solutions providers. This type of CRM solution providers simplifies the entire management process, and thus reduces the risk and increases the value of the businesses. Hosted CRM solutions providers have solutions for sales, marketing, and other major services.

When compared with in-house CRM solutions providers, hosted CRM solutions providers are more cost-effective. Generally, hosted CRM solutions providers will cost around $70 per month for a medium size business organization. Therefore, it is widely used by small and medium-sized business organizations.

CRM Software Importance

2008-12-15T05:16:00.000-08:00

In today era success of a business depends on understanding of their customers. The use of customer relations management software (CRM) can greatly increase a company performance by enhancing company relationship with its customers. Reacting to your customer's needs and new marketing opportunities are necessities in order for you to stay in business and be successful. Using CRM software will help you achieve your business goals, as well as help you succeed in a marketplace that is constantly changing.

By using CRM software customer information can be easily accessible. Because of this, employees will always have the most accurate and up-to-date information about customers at any time. This information will assist company staff in maintaining better relationships with customers. This will also allow your employees to set up appointments and send messages to your customers - an important tool for those who want repeat customers.

Some CRM software has the capability to create reports and customer analysis to give you insights on what you need to do to make your business better. They also have features to prevent non authorized people from viewing your customer data. This will allow you to restrict access to private information to only those who need to know. Losing customer means losing business so satisfying customer must be primary objective for a business and CRM Software can help in this.

Author is SEO of OTS Solutions Gurgaon Offshore Software Devlopment company India

CRM Software Advantage

2008-12-09T05:27:00.001-08:00

CRM systems give businesses many strategic advantages such as the ability to personalize relationships with customers. CRM software provides better customer service. Using CRM, a business can be maintains customer profiles, thereby treating each client as an individual and not as a group. This way, every employee can be better informed about each customer's specific needs and transaction profile. Business can identify various information about customers like their location and needs, then target market accordingly.

CRM software helps any organization in lots of ways, both in terms of delivery more to the customers and also in terms of gaining more from them. CRM also helps the organization to easily adjust the level of service to reflect the customer's importance or status. Better customer service through improved responsiveness and understanding helps in building customer loyalty and decreases customer agitation. It also helps the company in getting continuous feedbacks from the customers on the product they have bought.

CRM systems help the organization by identifying potential customers. By keeping a track of the profiles of their existing client, the business can easily come up with a strategy to determine the kind of people they should target such that it returns them maximum clientage. CRM systems facilitate cross-selling (offering customers complimentary products based on their previous purchases) and up-selling (offering customers premium products in the same category).

The Need For CRM

2008-12-02T04:33:00.000-08:00

What priority would you put on the need for CRM (Customer Relationship Management) in your company? If you understood what CRM was that would be an easy question to answer. After all, what is the most important part of every business ? even your business? What?s that aspect of your whole operation, without which the whole kit and caboodle would fall down like a house of cards?

The answer is, as you are probably aware by now, your customers. Without customers you have no business. Every business has the need for CRM. Every business, from the very smallest one man operation to multinational global corporations, relies on customers. Not only rely on them, but are competing with others to attract new customers in order to expand and to retain the ones they have in order to survive.

So why is it that the customer is frequently the most ignored aspect of your business when it comes to computerized management systems? The need for CRM seems to come second to every other system such as Sales Analysis and Management systems, Production Management, Inventory and Purchasing systems, etc, etc, etc. In fact, many companies have not even heard of CRM.

Your business will stand or fall on you maintaining good relationships with your customers, especially in this increasingly competitive era. CRM is not just about keeping customers happy from a personal point of view, and once you find out what a good package can provide, you will understand the need for CRM.

It is important to understand why customers buy your products or services. To be able to identify your most profitable customers, and to forecast what to give them when they want it. Here is the need for CRM, which can set your company apart from the others and provide all the tools required to give you the edge over your competitors that can get you ahead of the pack, and stay there.

There are several software packages than provide adequate tools to enable you to meet the need for CRM within your business, but is ?adequate? enough? Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 leads the field in providing everything you should be looking for in a state of the art CRM system, and also has the versatility and flexibility to fit in with the way your company operates. Sure, it can make extremely valuable suggestions for improvement, but can also work exactly as your company works. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 meets the need for CRM without requiring you to change your processes and procedures to fit in with software requirements.

There is nothing more annoying than have to retrain employees in your own internal procedures as well as in the use of the CRM software. It is important to you business to balance the need for CRM software with its acceptance by your employees.

Do not underestimate the need for CRM within your company. It can automate and analyze such functions as sales forecasting, sales cycle analysis, time management, sales force optimization, account management, and all the reports and analyses required. Your sales force can have essential information at their fingertips through palm computers or PDAs at the point of contact with customer. No more having to ?send the information later? or ?we will get back to you on that?. All information available on the network is visible to your sales force when they require it. You can secure that order before your customer has time to change his mind, or be tempted by a competitor.

This is just one simple example which indicates the benefits that CRM can bring to your company. The need for CRM does not require much thought, and can not only get you ahead of the pack but will also keep you there.

Chris McElroy helps manage the Microsoft CRM Software Provider Blog

Crm Faq: Crm And Your Business

2008-11-25T05:43:00.001-08:00

* What exactly is CRM?

CRM means Customer Relationship Management. This is a method used by businesses or enterprises to organize and manage customer relationships. It has methods, software, software and web-based capabilities. It is about being aware of customer needs and responding to them efficiently.

* What is eCRM?

eCRM is basically a customer service, self-service web application, sales force automation tools, or the analysis of a customer?s buying behavior on the internet.

* How does customer relationship management benefit a business?

There are many benefits that CRM can provide for a business. CRM can and will help a business if you use it properly. By doing so, your business can really profit and keep your customers loyal. Here are some benefits that CRM can give you:

- Collect customer details, order history, and other vital data.

- Suggest ideas for selling products more effectively.

- Develop more efficient communication channels.

- Identify customer preferences.

* Is it better to have an in-house CRM program or to outsource it?

It depends; both outsourced and in-house CRM have their own pros and cons. It is up to you to choose what will suit your needs. If you are a beginner in CRM, it is probably better to outsource it at first.

* What kinds of CRM Help Desk software are available?

There is a lot of available CRM software in the market today. You can download it through the Internet or you can obtain a program through your local software store or computer shop. However, it is recommended that you first download the free version of a CRM software from the internet and try out which type suits your needs best.

* What tips can you offer for finding good CRM software?

You have to consider some factors in order to find good CRM software that you can use easily and effectively. Here are some of the things you should consider:

- Ease of use

- Ease of maintenance

- Essential tools and features

* What types of automated answering systems are available?

Automated answering systems in a call center are important to improve customer service. There are different types of automated answering systems used in a call center. Here are two of them:

- Interactive Voice Response (IVR)

- Automatic Call Distribution (ACD)

Chad Ivins is editor of CRM-i, the online guide to Customer Relationship Management. He also writes CRM FAQ's for PrettyGreatAnswers.com.

Crm End-state

2008-11-17T05:29:00.000-08:00

Most strategic planning methodologies are built upon a triad of convergent processes that are a variation of a) evaluation and review, b) definition of goals/objectives and c) mapping route(s) to goals. This methodology has enjoyed certain success, but as applications evolve and can incorporate the softer side of automation and processing, strategic planning should also include another triumvirate of activities, d) visualization of the end-state, e) study of current situation and identify gaps to end state and f) identify actions that will close the gap.

Strategic Planning Overview for CRM Projects

Strategic plans typically look five or more years into the future and differ from tactical plans, which look two to four years into the future.

The early triad of activities for strategic planning, mentioned above, were appropriate for fixed solutions, and for expensive development projects that had limitations due to technologies and/or funding. With the advent of online CRM, it is possible and prudent to include triumvirate strategies to expedite deployment of new functionality available with on-demand CRM/ERP solutions.
There are a number of possible ways to identify barriers to success, and also some best practices that help to address these barriers. The following pages provide a good general reference for on-demand CRM deployments from a vendor's perspective.

Incorporate End-State Strategies for Successful CRM

1.Clearly define the objective, or end-state.
Identify major disconnects in technology, embrace and manage changes wholeheartedly.

2.Assessment and analysis.
Pursue change and improvement, challenge old policy/procedures that can be changed or eliminated as part of process automation and improvement. Identify technical and procedural redundancies and clearly identify gaps.

Plan to identify and capture information that supports use of end-state metrics.

3.Honestly evaluate the feasibility of the end-state objective
Identify questions that help clarify the end-state vision. Establish roles and responsibilities for evaluation input. Consider the barriers to change and closing the gaps.

4.Strategy/Tactics.
Eliminate traditional rituals in planning that strangle opportunities to leap forward. Truly address impediments to customer service and increased revenue. Ensure Strategy and Tactics are in line with desired end-state.

5.Closing Gaps

Identify Benefits: What to be expected from implementing a CRM solution?
Plan Actions: What will be done?

Identify/Delegate Responsibilities : Who will be the corporate sponsor and who will be in charge of the project?

Scheduling: When will the project start? When will it be completed?

Resourcing: Identify what is needed: people, money, information, other resources?

Establish Metrics & Set Rewards: How will progress be measured and reported?

Contingency Planning: What will be done if results fall short?

Strategic Planning Pitfalls

There are several activities that come into play when deploying new processes/solutions. They typically fall into the categories of strategy and tactics. In general, strategic plans can fail for several reasons: inappropriate strategy, conflicting tactics and poor implementation. The strategy is the high level plan and the tactics are basically the actions that happen to support and deploy elements of the strategic plan. Do good work on the triad and triumvirate planning components and have good contingencies in place to work around problems.

- Strategic Difficulties

- Failure to define the desired end states correctly

- Analysis irrelevant to the desired end state(s)

- Lack of creativity in identifying possible strategies

- Poor gap analysis

Conflicting Tactical Activities

In preparing and delivering components of the strategic plan, it is important to ensure tactics used do not undermine strategy. It often happens innocuously, often in an effort to maintain the status quo, or from a lack of information, but these tactics can gain purchase, and pull the strategic plan apart.

- Actions taken/not taken because of perceived threats to established processes
- Missed opportunities or compromises because of resistance/misunderstanding
- Too many ad-hoc activities/actions by too many people from within the organization
- Actions taken/not taken no longer support the strategic plan

End State Disappointments

Difficulties delivering because of lack of resources/abilities due to over estimation of resources and or time and/or loss of senior management support.

- Inaccurate forecasting of financial requirements
- Failure to manage expectations and coordinate tactical
strategies
- Ineffective change management strategies

Use Professional CRM Services ? Before and After Deployment

There are many components to delivering a CRM solution that is often the most appropriate, and best, business solution to improve cash flow and position for future markets. Taking the time to consult with your CRM solution provider is critical to a successful deployment because you want them to understand and be participants in delivering the desired end-state.

Have a set of measurable improvements in mind that can be used as both deliverables and to determine the success of the deployment in business terms, not just technical.

Post Deployment Metrics

Some possible metrics that can be used to track the success of a CRM deployment might include the following:

- Track qualified leads generated at the same/lower cost
- Track ability/ease of converting prospects to customers
- Track the customer share growth
- Track customer loyalty and retention rates
- Track cost of selling/servicing customers
- Track employee efficiency/improvements/feedback, etc.

SalesboomTM is a world leader in delivery of on-demand Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. Salesboom has over 28,000 subscribers from the SMB sector, with 3,400 customers in over 154 countries around the world. Salesboom.com web services solutions drive innovation, enable business realignment, and enriches customer relations across the enterprise.

Katie Campbell, consultant and writer. Has worked in IT sector in government, private and non-profit sectors with focus on technology and knowledge management. Tracking new technologies in CRM like http://www.salesboom.com