A CRM Riff

Our own Amy Langlois (CRM SDK Doc Manager) and many CRM MVPs were listed in the top 100 influencers in the Dynamics World.

“Welcome to “The Microsoft Dynamics Top 100 Influential People 2009" This list is intended to provoke thought and reward those that have achieved something extraordinary within Microsoft Dynamics. We do invite your feedback and trust that you will return to view further lists that we are currently compiling.

The following is listed was compiled by assessing:

1) How many people are affected in Microsoft Dynamics by their decisions.

2) How many people do they have regular contact with in the Microsoft Dynamics Community.

3) How long have they been involved in the Microsoft Dynamics Community.

4) How many certifications do they have achieved.

5) How much positive feedback we got from our forums and voting.

Read more…

Let’s check in with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Accelerators and see what’s new.

Release 1.1 released for Event Management, eService, Notifications and Extended Sales Forecasting accelerators! Each of these accelerators has released 10 individual language versions including:

• Brazilian
• Danish
• Dutch
• Finnish
• French
• German
• Italian
• Norwegian
• Spanish
• Swedish.

• Customizations (entities, forms, views)
• Workflow defintions
• Business Intelligence elements such as custom reports (.RDL’s)
• Functional code samples (strictly adhering to SDK guidelines)
• Documentation for installing, operating, localizing and extending the solution
• An automated installer

Each accelerator will be fully supported as per any other customization for Microsoft Dynamics CRM that follows SDK guidelines. Additionally, all samples are supplied with full source-code so they can be extended further to meet specific customer requirements. Because of Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s services-based architecture and metadata-driven application capabilities, accelerators can be deployed for both on-demand and on-premise environments. Through accelerators, customers and partners benefit from new functionality on a more frequent basis, and they can be deployed to their environment quickly and easily.

This site will be the key source for consultants, developers and customers to collaborate in this community initiative. Check back in frequently for discussions, updates to solutions, new features and documentation. There are discussion forums for each accelerator and all community members are encouraged to provide feedback and share their experience and knowledge to make these solutions better for Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers and partners.

This is an exciting program and our objective is to assist all who deploy and use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to maximize their investment!

Enjoy a Microsoft Orchestra Summer concert at the Ballard Locks on a Sunny Seattle day. I had so many friends in this group which in the last six years has gone from a scary-small 25 to an impressive 82 musicians. And I forgot a pivotal piece of the camera tripod so I had the camera tied by it’s strap to the tripod.

This montage includes cuts from the music of Jurassic Park, Copeland's Rodeo, and the 1812 Overture. The canon booms are from a digital device. The director is Jim Truher. Those of you on Facebook have already seen this.

I’m working on a follow-up of a friend’s performance of Grondahl’s Trombone Concerto too. So keep your eyes peeled.  :o)

Many of you may have heard about the awesome pricing for Windows 7 that Microsoft is offering to customers for the next 10 days. The offer will be available from online retailers and directly from Microsoft through the Microsoft Store. Most of my family and friends are all over this so I thought I’d put it out there for my CRM family.

Windows 7: Be first. Save half.

Pre-order Windows 7 today at Microsoft Store. You'll get it for at least half off and be one of the first to get it. Hurry, quantities are limited.*

It's pretty simple

Windows 7 is coming on October 22, 2009. Here's an easy way to get it fast and save a bundle: Pre-order a Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade for $49 or a Windows 7 Professional Upgrade for $99 at Microsoft Store.   That's about half off the estimated retail prices.

Want more info? 

Go to the Windows team blog and find out all the details. 

* The offer begins on June 26, 2009 and will continue while supplies last, or until July 11, 2009, whichever comes first.

Customers seeking information before investing in technology often turn to Gartner, Inc., because of its detailed and methodical reviews. Among the most respected reports are its Magic Quadrants, which help buyers assess vendor strengths and weaknesses that can be used to meet the purchaser’s current and future business and technology requirements. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is pleased to note that in the 2009 Magic Quadrant For CRM Customer Service Contact Centers, published April 3, 2009 and written by Gartner Research Vice President and Distinguished Analyst Michael Maoz, Gartner positions Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the “Leaders” quadrant.

Microsoft is positioned in the Leaders Quadrant in the latest Gartner Magic Quadrant Report
on CRM for customer service, April 03, 2009

Read more on the CRM Team Blog.

The entire Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Implementation Guide, all 477 topics, are now published on TechNet. This represents a huge step in IT Pro content discoverability and ease of use for our customers and partners.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979443.aspx

Enjoy.

Today I’d like to highlight some Microsoft Dynamics CRM SDK featured download. These are a collection of the latest product updates, tools, sample code, and documentation sets for the product.

Featured Downloads

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 SDK

Get the same great information as the online version in a compiled HTML Help file. The SDK for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 contains all new information about creating plug-ins, working with custom workflow activities, data migration, using duplicate detection and using the new Web services. It also contains information for developers customizing the Web client or Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Microsoft Office Outlook, including scripting, integration of custom Web pages, sample code, and a brand new user interface style guide. In addition, the download includes over 300 code samples!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Logical Database Diagrams

Use these Microsoft Office Visio 2003 diagrams to explore the logical database structure for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. There is a diagram for each area of the product, showing the relationships between other entities in the system.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Implementation Guide

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Implementation Guide contains comprehensive information about how to plan, install, and maintain Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Deployment SDK

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Deployment SDK presents information to help you write code using the Deployment Web service.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Virtual Machine

This demo is a one computer setup with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and associated Microsoft Dynamics CRM clients for Microsoft Office Outlook and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

List Web Part for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

The List Web Part for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 provides a way to view and update Microsoft Dynamics CRM records using a Windows SharePoint Services 3.0 SP1 or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 SP1 Web site.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Help Update (On-Premise Edition)

Updated Help files for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (On-Premise Edition), Help version 4.2. All supported languages are included.

White Papers

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Internet Facing Deployment Scenarios

This white paper covers how to set up the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Web site to make it available from the Internet.

Developing ISV Applications using Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Microsoft Dynamics CRM supports a wide range of business applications with the essentials required for building, delivering, and maintaining these applications in a multi-tenant SaaS environment. In this white paper we explore how, with Microsoft Dynamics CRM, an ISV can quickly build, deploy, and manage line-of-business applications.

Improving Microsoft Dynamics CRM Performance and Securing Data with Microsoft SQL Server 2008

This paper provides an overview, benchmark results, and recommendations for implementing selected Microsoft SQL Server 2008 features that can improve the performance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and secure the CRM database.

Offline and Online Synchronization in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

This "nuts and bolts" white paper details the Offline and Online synchronization processes in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Performance and Scalability

Microsoft, together with Unisys Corporation, completed benchmark testing of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 running on Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. Benchmark results demonstrate that Microsoft Dynamics CRM can scale to meet the needs of an enterprise.

There are a lot of toys and ideas captured in these resources which can be optimized to provide your company with customized solutions. Enjoy.

I found this recent article by the Washington Post Facebook Taps Privacy Hawk as Lobbyist fascinating. What does a job change from one of a privacy advocate to that of defending Facebook against concerns that the company doesn’t protect your personal information well enough.

"Hiring Tim is going to be a litmus test for Facebook; he understands data collection and he's deeply concerned about it. Given his history as a privacy advocate, Tim is simply not going to be able to accept, without a crisis of conscience, any technique by Facebook that would unfairly use and reveal data."

Read more…

I just returned to work after a long vacation in the Baltic Seas (think Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, and the Scandinavians). My first herculean task is to get through my inbox. After an hour so far this morning I’m a third of the way through the box. Once that is finished I start updating my peeps and this blog.

                        The Malbork Castle in Poland.

                               St. Mary’s Church in Tallinn, Estonia.

Cheers,

JaAG

The Dynamics Forums has grown from three sub-forums to twelve. We have added international CRM forums as well as a dedicated CRM Online forum. Great Plains has joined us and we are working to get the whole family in one location. So when you visit the Dynamics Forums you will have a broader experience. Here’s how we look today.

Yesterday Microsoft rolled out Bing, our new search engine internally. Next week y’all get to see it. But if you go to Bing.com you can view a short video. Now the naming pundits are coming out in force, second guessing the naming strategy. Sigh…

Having played with bing for a while now, I have come to luv many of the new features. If you believe in Bill Gate’s observation that “The future of search is verbs.” you will be very pleased with the new capabilities of this search platform.

See Ballmer and WSJ’s Walt Mossberg talk about bing and the future of search engines.

The next PartnerPoint Member Webcast has been scheduled.  Sounds interesting:

For this one, we have solicited the help of two Sales and Marketing organizations that we have used and know well, EntreQuest and EZY Consulting.  We've asked them to help us help our members grow their businesses, and create solid and scalable lead generation programs, and the following webcast is the result of this effort.
5 Reasons Microsoft Partners May Not Hit Their Sales Goals in 2009
By Shahrouz Malekpour, EZY Consulting and Joe Mechlinski, EntreQuest

Selling today is much different than selling yesterday.  What worked before doesn't really work now.  As the leader of your sales organization, the sales responsibility falls on you….so what are you going to do different in 2009?  Join fellow PartnerPoint members for a special event with Sharhouz Malekpour of EZY Consulting and Joe Mechlinski of EntreQuest.  After studying and working with hundreds of Microsoft Partners, EZY Consulting and EntreQuest have found 5 reasons/areas that Partners fall short from hitting growth goals.  Improve these 5 areas and grow your sales. Each registrants receives 3 FREE LEADS.
Date:                    Thursday, June 11th at 2:00 p.m. EST
Format:                Webcast
Cost:                     $49.00 – Includes a FREE Sales Framework Gap Analysis, white paper, and 3 Leads
Register:               http://www.partnerpoint.com/Webcasts/tabid/953/Default.aspx

Presenters:

Each registrant will receive:

- Sales Framework Gap Analysis:

• This analysis will help you to identify the gaps in your sales & marketing organizations and allow us to provide a  “Jump Start Blue Print” with prioritization on resources and activities.

  - White Paper:

• PAUL REVERE NEVER MADE A SINGLE COLD-CALL:Why Word-of-Mouth Is Still the Best PR

  - “Single View” Sales Leads:

• Three leads pulled from a database called “Single View”™ - we have profiled 10K+ Enterprise Accounts worldwide and covering all major industries (Manufacturing, Healthcare, Education, Retail, Finance, Public Sector, Federal Government…).  The analysis is business intelligence addressing the account teams' need to identify potential Enterprise Account License & Service Opportunities.

- Link to Slide Deck and Recorded Webcast

Event Description:

Every once in a while you stumble across something that you wonder how you missed the first time it was posted. This is such a talk, presented by TED. Described thusly:

“In this deceptively casual talk, Charles Leadbeater weaves a tight argument that innovation isn't just for professionals anymore. Passionate amateurs, using new tools, are creating products and paradigms that companies can't.”

…this is a fascinating discussion not just about amateurs but about the power of passion.

Enjoy the moment.

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May (May 25 in 2009). Formerly known as Decoration Day, it commemorates U.S. men and women who died while in the military service. First enacted to honor Union soldiers of the American Civil War (it is celebrated near the day of reunification after the civil war), it was expanded after World War I to include American casualties of any war or military action. (wikipedia)

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders Fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders Fields.

-- John McCrae