East Region Microsoft CRM Blog

The Best Value in CRM just keeps getting better…R7 for Dynamics CRM Online now available!

xRM Guy — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:18:36 GMT

Social CRM enhancements and even more enterprise class features are now included for CRM Online customers at no additional charge and available free for download to CRM On Premise customers. The details are all here!

There’s even a new landing page! And videos!

CAN YOU TELL I’M EXCITED!!!!!

New CRM 2011 VPC has been released to Partners

xRM Guy — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:57:20 GMT

Please be advised that the newest CRM VPC has been released and is available for download. Fair warning - it's a biggie so plan on downloading in during off hours. Enjoy!

http://bit.ly/iOIlLg

Optimizing Client Performance Guidance

xRM Guy — Tue, 10 May 2011 20:38:50 GMT

Thanks are due to the fine folks at the Microsoft CRM E2 (Engineering for Enterprise) team as well as the CRM Product Group for this timely whitepaper.

Here’s the link: http://bit.ly/mjV7EN

You’ll find information for both the web client and the Outlook client, specifically:6

A general approach to optimization and maintenance
Factors that can adversely affect the performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM clients
Options available for configuring Microsoft Dynamics CRM clients to overcome potential performance issues
Best practices for customizing Microsoft Dynamics CRM clients for optimal performance

PartnerSource link to the latest CRM Statement of Direction

xRM Guy — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:30:28 GMT

http://bit.ly/mljqVb SOD

Microsoft has delivered significant innovation and value in customer relationship management (CRM) software with the recent release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, a flexible CRM solution that provides the power of productivity through familiar, intelligent, and connected experiences for organizations of all sizes worldwide. This Statement of Direction (SoD) outlines the future direction of Microsoft Dynamics CRM over the short and longer term.

Got Sure Step?

xRM Guy — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:26:44 GMT

I am pleased to announce that the Sure Step 2010 team released their second update last Friday and there is some new content that will be of particular interest to CRM partners and customers. If you haven’t already taken a look at the Sure Step Methodology tools and templates, please make sure you do. It’s a great way to help keep your implementations going smoothly and to achieve repeatable project success.

If you’ve already taken the time to incorporate Sure Step into your CRM implementation process, you’ll want to check out what’s new. Special focus has been added for rapid deployment of CRM Online, new diagnostic tools and even some material on the Customer Care Accelerator!

Here are links to Sure Step on PartnerSource and CustomerSource:

Sure Step on PartnerSource

Sure Step on CustomerSource

Hey! We won a Beagle!

xRM Guy — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 19:44:41 GMT

Snoopy fans rejoice! Beagle Research Group, announced “The Beagle Short Tale Awards” for 2011. Beagle gives the annual awards for various aspects of video production and use by front office software companies in sales, marketing, service and education. The award is given for excellence in short videos (typically under six minutes) that are produced during the prior year (2010).

Here’s a link to our winning entry!

Claims-based authentication weighing you down?

xRM Guy — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:17:00 GMT

Get your head back in the clouds with this very timely whitepaper from your buddies at Microsoft. As you may already know, claims-based authentication allows your CRM users to more easily navigate multiple cloud based applications, like Sharepoint and other IT assets, seamlessly (gotta hate those messy seams!) without a VPN and is central to configuring Dynamics CRM 2011 for a secure Internet Facing Deployment (IFD) On Premise installation.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Configuring Claims-based Authentication white paper is now available for download from:

· Microsoft Download Center

And will soon be available for browsing on:

· Microsoft TechNet

Thanks to our great technical writing staff for getting this out to our many customers and partners so quickly!

CRM 2011 On Premise bits are now available!

xRM Guy — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 16:09:00 GMT

Get ‘em while they’re hot! Just got word that our most excellent CRM product team has once again exceeded expectations and delivered the On Premise bits early. You can access all the information here:

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2011/feb11/02-16OnPremisesPR.mspx

Or if you just want to start downloading the Server bits…

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=c3f82c6f-c123-4e80-b9b2-ee422a16b91d

Enjoy the pure chewy goodness!

Happy New Year!!!

xRM Guy — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 20:43:05 GMT

Technorati Tags: CRM 2011 CRM Launch Sales Tools Cloud Computing Microsoft

There is a ton of stuff going on right now behind the scenes to prepare for the upcoming launch of CRM 2011 and I wanted to shake off the cobwebs and “too-much-food-and-drink” lethargy from the holidays and start spreading the news! I hope everyone reading this had the opportunity for some rest and relaxation and quality time with friends and family over the past couple weeks – I know I did and I very much enjoyed it.

Now we are ready to kick off the second half of fiscal 2011 with the impending launch of CRM 2011 Online and in dozens of new markets worldwide. Check out the widget below to register to attend or to try CRM 2011 Beta for yourself.

Need help managing your workflows?

xRM Guy — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 23:56:06 GMT

Thanks to our friends at Engage and the Microsoft Public Sector team, there’s a cool collection of workflow utilities to help you tackle some of the more complex requirements your customers are likely to throw at you from time to time.

Thanks to Ben Vollmer for bringing this to my attention so I can bring it to yours! You can go straight to the Codeplex page below:

http://manipulationlibrary.codeplex.com/

There’s also a great explanation here from the folks at Engage that runs down the different categories of utilities and their functions. Enjoy!!

Don’t get forced! LOVE IT!!

xRM Guy — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 19:50:00 GMT

After years spent watching Marc Benioff make outrageous claims and empty promises I am so very happy to see Microsoft stop taking it on the chin and start telling the full story on how Dynamics CRM in the cloud can really work for our customers. This is a long overdue and I can't wait to see how this campaign continues to energize the marketplace and showcase how Dynamics CRM is a better choice than Salesforce.com

http://crm.dynamics.com/online/?tabid=fits-your-business/CRM#try-it-today

24/7/[Office]365–It’s all about productivity, baby!

xRM Guy — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 20:17:37 GMT

Big news today as the wraps were taken off the newly announced Office 365 online apps for everybody!

You can learn more and sign up for the Beta here!

More news for CRM Partners

xRM Guy — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 15:04:38 GMT

Many of you are familiar with DemoMate from Impresys, a great tools for capturing and presenting software demonstrations. Microsoft has been working with Impresys to give partners a better tool to deliver comprehensive demonstrations of Dynamics CRM.

For the CRM 2011 launch we will be providing “bite-sized” demos via DemoMate for different functional areas of CRM 2011. There is so much new stuff to like in this release it’s important for you, our partners, to get familiar with all the new capabilities and features of the software. Hopefully, you’ll find these nine recorded click-thru demos helpful in wrapping your heads around all the great improvements.

http://bit.ly/bcnj1G

There are also some links to help you as a partner set up your very own “Sneak Peek” events to showcase Dynamics CRM 2011. Check it out!!

Let the games begin!

xRM Guy — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 14:12:43 GMT

http://nyti.ms/af4rY5

It’s just a matter of time before organizations all over the world realize they have a far better option for CRM in the cloud than Salesforce.com.

Technorati Tags: CRM 2011,Sales Tools

Calling all Dynamics CRM Partners!

xRM Guy — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 14:28:45 GMT

The Global Readiness Tour materials are available now on PartnerSource for your review and downloading pleasure.

https://mbs.microsoft.com/partnersource/training/trainingmaterials/crm2011launchppts

Technorati Tags: CRM 2011

A rare bird!

xRM Guy — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 20:10:25 GMT

Hopefully this kind of positive press for Windows Phone 7 will become common but it’s nice to see something other than the normal Apple fanboi bashing of Microsoft, especially in a mobile device article.

http://yhoo.it/d2qpmW

Since I’ve already been asked a few times…

xRM Guy — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 19:24:58 GMT

…here is where you can download the CRM 2011 Beta bits so you can set up your very own test environment. There are also links to the Beta Implementation Guide and SDK so it should keep you busy for at least a solid weekend! :)

Irrational exuberance

xRM Guy — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:31:08 GMT

Very funny video.

The new Beta is here!! The new Beta is here!!

xRM Guy — Fri, 10 Sep 2010 16:03:00 GMT

For all of you who read this blog semi-regularly, I'm sure you rushed right over to the CRM 2011 Beta sign up site

and have already been notified (or soon will be) that you can activate your very own instance of CRM Online - free!!

Enjoy - this is the game changer!

"....Things are gonna start happening...now!"

To VPC or not to VPC, that is the question

xRM Guy — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 14:48:44 GMT

With apologies to the Bard, many of our partners have been using Virtual PC images to show CRM 4.0 to prospective customers – often with mixed success. Trying to run a couple servers on a typical laptop is usually not a very good representation of how the product works in the real world.

In addition, comprehensive VPC images can be somewhat fragile and temperamental, with the slightest change to the underlying virtual disk rendering the VPC image corrupted and useless – usually right before the demo is scheduled to start. But VPC’s also provide a great deal of flexibility in creating customized implementation environments to help a prospect see how CRM might fit into their existing IT infrastructure.

While there may still be compelling reasons to use CRM VPC images like this one, many of our partners have already discovered the joys of cloud computing for demonstrating CRM. In fact, Microsoft partners can sign up here to get a demonstration environment of their very own. Since we’re All In it’s a perfect time to start demoing from the cloud and showing the Power of Productivity.

More Great Press for Dynamics CRM

xRM Guy — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 17:38:40 GMT

http://www.ecrmguide.com/article.php/3896841

Gartner has just released their latest iteration of the Magic Quadrant for

Sales Force Automation and Microsoft Dynamics CRM is solidly in the leaders quadrant. Add this to the recent strong leadership showing in Forrester’s Wave study of CRM Suites and you can see the momentum growing in anticipation of the release of CRM 2011.

It’s a great time to be a Microsoft Dynamics CRM customer and partner!

A CRM 2011 Beta Public Service Announcement

xRM Guy — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 20:43:00 GMT

As anticipation and excitement build for the release of Dynamics CRM 2011, I know many of you have a lot of questions and want to know when you'll be able to get your hands on the product and see for yourself all the fantastic work the the product team has done. In the interest of spreading the word, here is a link to sign up for notification of the beta's availability.

We're getting close so sign up to be the first on your block with your very own CRM 2011 Online Beta instance!

A Post Worth Repeating

xRM Guy — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 18:51:06 GMT

Here’s a great post from Richard Knudson that includes a link to Bryan Nielson’s and Andrew Bybee’s WPC presentation. It gives you a great preview and should get you excited about the soon-to-be-released CRM 2011 Online beta.

Taking the Covers off Dynamics CRM 2011

Make you sure you have Silverlight! Here’s a permalink to the video too!

Best birthday present yet…

xRM Guy — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 01:58:12 GMT

Greetings from TechReady11, Microsoft’s semi-annual geekfest and technical training extravaganza. I have spent my birthday today in various technical training sessions and chalk talks. What can I say…I’m living right!

I tell you this not to evince sympathy or heckling but because I am really excited about what I’ve learned. You could say I’m in the clouds. While I am not at liberty to tell you about everything I have seen and heard, I can honestly say that the CRM Product Team has outdone themselves with CRM 2011.

Unfortunately, Aaron Elder of Avanade has beaten me to the punch for the sound bite but I must whole-heartedly agree with his assessment – CRM 2011 is a game-changer!! I can’t wait to share all the goodness with all my partners, our customers and prospects. We have the best CRM platform in the business no matter where you want to run it!

Stay tuned…

Doug Kennedy tells you what to expect!

xRM Guy — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:28:42 GMT

http://bit.ly/cpzaGB

Nice video intro for WPC 2010. Should be a great conference!