A CRM Riff

Microsoft Dynamics CRM – Quick Vids

2009-11-04T17:12:29Z

I’m luving these short Getting Started videos that ramp a new user up very quickly. These videos are designed to help you get started, learn how to configure Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and understand how features like reporting and workflow can make your staff more efficient. Click on the one below to see what I mean.

Score!

Bill Gates History on PartnerPoint

2009-11-02T15:56:55Z

Nosing around this morning and I find this excellent video on PartnerPoint that covers the ‘short-version’ history of Bill Gates. It’s very nicely done with a lot of commentary from the old guard folks like Steve Wood who used to live in the house behind one of my brother’s place. Definitely an interesting albeit short video.

Segments:

CWRMobility and Microsoft Dynamics CRM on the Zune HD

2009-10-28T17:24:41Z

John O’Donnell, one of my fav technical evangelists, is at it again with his traveling camera. Today he talks with Erik van Hoof from http://www.CWRMobility.com who stopped by at the CRMUG Summit to show John his company’s Microsoft Dynamics CRM product called CWR Mobile CRM running on his new Zune HD. Here’s the video.

It’s interesting to see how a Zune HD can be used for business applications as well as consumer applications. Most of us have a Zune and this opens new ways of getting to our CRM app. The last time I talked to Erik (2008 at WPC) I got so excited about improvements in the Mobile hardware and technology that I went out to buy a phone like his.

I’m now using a Verizon Imagio with the WinMo (Windows Mobile) 6.5 platform and everything just works. The battery life is a little better too. I’m not sure how the OS helped there because the battery is the same kind I’ve been using for a while now.

Nov CRMUG Pacific Northwest Regional Chapter Meet

2009-10-27T16:07:56Z

The next meeting of the CRMUG Pacific Northwest Regional Chapter features two intriguing user case studies: Rosalee Alan from PAML will discuss how her company leveraged workflow to improve customer service and Robert Hanlon with the Portland Trail Blazers will present tips from their unique deployment.

Meeting Date/Time: Thursday, November 5, 9:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.

Location:

Microsoft
Civica Office Building
205 108th Ave. NE, Suite 400
Bellevue, WA 98004

Audience: All CRM users are welcome to attend, regardless of whether they have joined CRMUG. Members of the CRMUG Partner Program are also welcome to attend. Partners that are not yet members of CRMUG are limited to two free meetings.

Agenda:

09:30 a.m. – 09:45 a.m. Welcome/Introductions
09:45 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. Robert Hanlon, Portland Trail Blazers
10:30 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. Chapter Business
11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. World-class Customer Service using Dynamics CRM, presented by Rosalee Alan, PAML

About CRMUG Regional Chapters
Regional Chapters enhance your membership in CRMUG by offering face-to-face interaction and knowledge-sharing with other Microsoft Dynamics CRM users in your region. By having meetings centrally located within your region, users from all job roles and levels in your company can participate by only driving a short distance. All job roles are welcome:

     • Customer Service
     • Sales
     • Information Technology

Join us so you can optimize the functionality, flexibility, performance and return on investment offered by CRM—and get better results from your CRM implementation back home. Feel free to invite CRM colleagues and other users within the region.

For more information about CRMUG, visit www.crmug.com.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Videos

2009-10-26T16:03:50Z

People favor learning techniques that speak to them. Some people want to have a book in hand. Others will only read online. And then there are those who prefer videos. For the learners who are in the latter category here is a collection of videos designed to help you do what ever you might want to with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Below I only highlight some the many videos available at the Video Resource page.

Get started

General overview of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

A navigation overview of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, along with a tour of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for Microsoft Office Outlook and Internet Explorer Web Browser. Length: 15:00 minutes

View this video...

Video: Sharing and assigning records

This video walks you through the steps of sharing and assigning records. Length: 3:02 minutes

View this video ...

Get data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Video: Importing customer data

In this video, you learn how to import your data, and avoid the pitfall of having to spend time on repetitive data entry: 3:09 minutes

View this video...

Video: Using duplicate detection

This video guides you through the steps of how to run duplicate detection, and then merge or delete duplicate records. 3 minutes

View this video...

Data migration overview

You have multiple options for migrating data into Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. The video shows you three of these options, including using wizards to import your information. Length: 10:00 minutes

View this video...

Get data out of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Video: Using Advanced Find

In this video, learn the steps for running queries in Advanced Find, including entering the criteria, or fields, that will help you filter your search. Also, save your Advanced Find search results as a personal view that you can access any time you want. Length: 3:11 minutes

View this video...

Bulk data export overview

An open source, bulk export tool available for download gives you another method to export information out of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. This demonstration shows you how to download the tool and how to use it to export your information. Length: 7:15 minutes

View this video...

Set up Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for your business

Video: Basic setup to get started

On your first login to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Onlineyou will be prompted to choose the currency of choice for your business. This short video will help you make the right choice for your business. Length: 2:07 minutes

View this video...

View more videos…

Lester Young - Blues for Greasy (1950)

2009-10-23T14:41:31Z

From YouTube, how ‘bout a little Friday jazz. It’s been that kind of week.

Life Magazine photographer Gjon Mili joined with jazz producer and Verve-label owner Norman Granz to produce the short film "Jammin

' the Blues" in 1944 with Lester Young, Red Callendar, Harry Edison, "Big" Sid Catlett, Illinois Jacquet, Barney Kessel, Jo Jones and Marie Bryant. The film was nominated for Best Short Subject at the 1945 Academy Awards, but didn't win.

The pair came together again in 1950 to shoot footage of leading jazz artists of the day, but when funding dried up, the film ceased production and sat on shelves for 50 years (except for a few snippets which found their way onto bootlegs).
Blues For Greasy is one of those pieces shot by Gjon Mili and Norman Granz, using musicians from his Jazz at the Philharmonic tour.

Harry 'Sweets' Edison: trumpet
Lester Young: Tenor Sax
Flip Phillips: Tenor Sax
Bill Harris: Trombone
Hank Jones: Piano
Ray Brown: Bass
Buddy Rich: Drums
Ella Fitzgerald: Vocals

If this doesn’t start your toes tappin’, nothing will. :o)

Social Networking Story on NPR today

2009-10-21T17:42:23Z

Talk to students at The Urban School, an elite private high school in San Francisco, and they will tell you that they used to be on MySpace, but not anymore. Facebook is where it's at for them and their friends.

Facebook is taking over more and more of the social networking space in the U.S. It had an estimated 95.5 million U.S. visitors in September, according to marketing research company comScore. MySpace still has a healthy share — around 65.7 million people — but numbers don't explain it all. If you listen to young site users explain their social networking decisions, the story of the two sites gets more complicated.

McAfee ScriptScan Solution for Dynamics CRM - redux

2009-10-20T15:34:51Z

This problem poked up it’s nasty head again and I have to wonder, what the heck? Did the customer never update his anti-virus solution or is it still not incorporated into the solution set. Geesh.

McAfee ScriptScan Solution for Dynamics CRM

It is possible to have performance issues when you’re using the combination of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and McAfee VirusScan 8.x in your organization.

McAfee has a feature called ScriptScan that scans and analyzes each webpage opened on your computer via either Outlook or a web browser. Since we rely on JavaScript on some of our web forms; load time of the actual page might take some time because it’s being scanned by the ScriptScan upon opening.

The current and not preferred possible workaround for this particular problem was to entirely disable ScriptScan on the client workstations and unregister SCRIPTPROXY.DLL. Understandably, not everybody felt comfortable doing this.

Read more…

Thanks to Menno for keeping on top of this.

CNN: Microsoft Reboots

2009-10-14T17:17:19Z

CNN article Microsoft Reboots by Jeffrey M. O’Brien sez:

“But here's some good news: On Oct. 22 Vista will be safely behind Microsoft (MSFT). On that day, the company will introduce a successor, Windows 7, and guess what? It doesn't suck. In fact, it's really pretty good. For all the pomp around each new version of the iPhone, the latest Kindle, or Google's next beta, Wave, Windows 7 is sure to go down as the technology launch of the year.

Critics love it, and IT managers are ready to buy. A recent Credit Suisse survey says that a quarter of corporate customers plan to upgrade within two years. Analysts estimate that the new OS could boost Microsoft's revenue by more than $3 billion over that time and ignite the entire ecosystem built on Windows — from computer makers like Dell and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) to third-party software vendors, resellers, and system supporters. It could be the shot in the arm the entire tech sector has been looking for.”

I concur. :o)

Microsoft Dynamics CRM: SOA Platform for Building Custom Business Applications

2009-10-13T16:15:10Z

This tasty video features Philip Richardson and Maureen Hughes talking about Microsoft Dynamics CRM: SOA Platform for Building Custom Business Applications. It is as applicable now as it was when this spiel was given.

Someone was asking me about this and I pointed them at this. Although a broad overview, I found it meaty and interesting. Enjoy.

Finding Answers and Solutions in the Dynamics Forums on MSDN

2009-10-12T15:58:01Z

The Dynamics Forums on MSDN can be your one-stop place to get answers. You probably already go there to learn how to do thinks for other products like Microsoft Office and Visual Studio.

You can favorite the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Developer Center and get to the forums as well as the SDK and developer community.

Once in the forums, start by searching to see if your question has been asked and answered already. Judging by the number of repeat questions, many readers don’t search to find already answered questions first. That can save you a lot of time. And if someone spends the time to help you with your questions, consider giving them credit by selecting the reply you like the best as the answer.

It’s the neighborly thing to do. :o)

The the slide deck: Microsoft Dynamics CRM at a Glance

2009-10-09T18:10:08Z

Leading Organizations Worldwide Choose Microsoft Dynamics CRM

2009-10-08T18:31:50Z

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 8, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced several global enterprises that have selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM as their relationship management solution of choice. Businesses are choosing Microsoft Dynamics CRM for its quick deployment, ability to easily adapt to meet unique business needs, and unparalleled value. Customers include Barclays Bank PLC, Booz Allen Hamilton Inc., the City of London, Hard Rock International Inc., Maccabi Healthcare Services, Polaris Industries Inc. and Vodafone Iceland.

“In these challenging economic times, businesses need customer management solutions that are fast, flexible and affordable, and that help them build stronger and deeper relationships with their customers,” said Brad Wilson, general manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. “At Microsoft, we’re proud to be able to deliver these types of solutions to tens of thousands of businesses around the world.”

Microsoft’s Give Drive

2009-10-06T19:18:28Z

It’s Microsoft’s annual Give Campaign and is my custom for the last four years I donate a late-bloomer sax lesson. Not only do I get to meet people returning to music, but the program gets a donation. Here’s my entry as of today.

The Giving Campaign Auction is just one of the many programs and activities to raise money for the United Way. You can win items donated by fellow employees, and donate something yourself. All funds are matched by Microsoft. The Auction tool is built this year by a group of volunteers from MSIT and they are using Windows Azure with a brand new Silverlight UI. It is so much easier to use than last year’s auction tool.

Richard Knudson: What if they took the “C” out of CRM?

2009-10-05T19:50:18Z

Three people pinged me this morning about this stellar blog called Richard Knudson’s Dynamics CRM Trick Bag.

“I’ve had a few recent customer conversations where the “C” part of CRM got in the way of the conversation. They were interested in developing a custom application that I knew would be a great fit for Dynamics CRM, but it wasn’t going to use much if any of the baseline feature-set of the product (sales, marketing, customer service). If you aren’t familiar with the platform, I can imagine it’s a little hard to think about an application built in Dynamics CRM that has nothing to do with its core features! But that’s really what the XRM concept comes down to: you can use the platform to develop any application, whether it has anything to do with “customers” or not.

The exchange I had with John was an extension of these XRM lines of thought: what would a real XRM platform look like? It won’t be too long before companies who aren’t using any of the built-in functionality start wondering why they’re paying for it. I’d be surprised if Microsoft hasn’t been approached already on the topic.”