Microsoft Dynamics CRM - The Danish blog : business

Better Together: Microsoft CRM and SharePoint

martinhj@microsoft.com — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 13:48:00 GMT

Whatch this live Webinar to learn about Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SharePoint Better together.

What
Organizations around the globe are empowering employees, lowering costs and streamlining processes by using Microsoft CRM, Microsoft SharePoint - or both. This compelling session will demonstrate the accelerated success that businesses are beginning to experience when combining the strengths of these two tools.

Why
Attendees will learn how Microsoft CRM and SharePoint deliver a flexible platform of development tools that can be used to meet 90% of the requirements for virtually any IT project - significantly reducing the costs to develop and maintain custom applications. In addition, you will learn how the search, document management, business intelligence and Web 2.0 capabilities of SharePoint can combine with the activity management, customer tracking, marketing campaign and workflow capabilities of CRM to enhance employee, vendor, distributor, partner and supplier relationships.

When
Today - Thursday, June 18th, 10:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m. EST

Sign me up!
Visit www.successaccelerators.com to register now.

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

Success with Microsoft Dynamics implementations - new valuable web site

martinhj@microsoft.com — Tue, 12 May 2009 08:52:00 GMT

With our new web site you can experience more success with Microsoft Dynamics by becoming more knowledgeable about better implementations.

A new web site and content is now available to help prospect customers learn more about how to be more successful with their Microsoft Dynamics investment by working with an experienced Microsoft partner that follows a proven methodology like Sure Step. This site is an integral part of the Sure Step strategy - to get prospect customers to ask partners the right questions about implementation processes and drive additional partner adoption of Sure Step.

Are you a partner?
For partners, this site helps communicate and justify to your customers the need for providing value-added services like training programs, fit gap analysis, etc. Also available is a to-customer fact sheet for Sure Step (through-partner co-branded) to help partners further position Sure Step to your prospect customers.

Are you a prospect customer?
For prospect customers, this site provides valuable information in the form of scenarios, case studies, sample implementation project documents and a reference guide. Before a customer buys a Microsoft Dynamics solution, the site provides information on what they can do to get more out of the investment. Customers are encouraged to work with an experienced Microsoft partner that follows a proven implementation methodology like sure step to address five success areas in an implementation project, including:

Securing Executive Commitment
Arriving at a Smart Budget
Undergoing Change Management
Ensuring Strong Project Management
Making Solution Modifications Manageable

Where to go?
Go here for more information and success
Go to Sure Step on PartnerSource

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the Lead - according to Gartner

martinhj@microsoft.com — Mon, 04 May 2009 10:00:00 GMT

Microsoft Dynamics CRM accelerates for Sales, Marketing and Service Management processes, we all know that. Now, with CCF – Customer Care Framework, Gartner acknowledges this by placing Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the "Leader" quadrant on the April 2009 released Gartner Magic Quadrant for Customer Service Contact Centers.

Gartner says this:

The addition of the Microsoft CCF is a boost to Microsoft Dynamics CRM's capabilities.
The user interface is intuitive and appeals to broad audiences familiar with the look-and-feel of Microsoft's applications.
Microsoft is investing in knowledge solutions, Web self-service, business process capabilities and industry versions, adding to its basic customer service functionality.
The concept of xRM, where the customer is given the tools to create its own brand of CRM solution, is useful to reach a broad audience

Valuable resources
Information on Microsoft.com
The Gartner report
CCF Deployment Guide
CCF Development Guide
Download CCF 2009 including SP1 go to 'Servers' and then 'CCF2009'.

Learn more from your Partner-newsletter in Insights and on PartnerSource.

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

The Power of Choice (4/3) - Lad dine potentielle kunder opleve Microsoft Dynamics CRM - nemt og gratis

martinhj@microsoft.com — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:00:00 GMT

This is the fourth article in the three ( :-) ) part blog post series on The Power of Choice – for partners and customers in Denmark we have released a Click-Try-Buy site, where customers for 30 days can try and get to love Microsoft Dynamics CRM for free! The article is in Danish since it only targets the Danish market.

Microsoft Danmark har frigivet et nyt dansk site for hosted CRM, hvor interesserede nu kan prøve løsningen på dansk GRATIS i 30 dage - se mere på www.microsoft.dk/clicktrybuy.

Interesserede kan bl.a. også læse om CRM og se fire korte film, der stiller skarpt på, hvad CRM kan gøre for dem i lige præcis deres situation - med en rolle i marketing, salg, service eller ledelse.

Hvad kan du bruge dette til som partner?
Du kan med dette site lade dine kunder og emner få succesoplevelser med Microsoft Dynamics CRM ved at prøve det i 30 dage.

Vil de herefter blive ved med at høste udbyttet, kan de direkte på sitet købe CRM fra jer som partner hosted løsning eller traditionelt installeret løsning.

Hvad kan du bruge dette til, hvis du er kunde?
Du kan med dette site få afprøvet mulighederne med Microsoft Dynamics CRM i en periode på 30 dage, hvor du også har gratis adgang til hjælp og vejledning i at optimere din brug af løsningen. Vil du herefter blive ved med at høste udbyttet, kan du direkte på sitet købe fremtidig adgang til løsningen hos en CRM hosting partner. Alternativt kan du naturligvis også implementere CRM som en traditionel løsning, serviceret af IT-afdelingen.

Er du allerede CRM-kunde, kan du med dette site lade en kollega få succesoplevelser med Microsoft Dynamics CRM ved at prøve det eller du kan ’invitere en ven’, som også skal prøve alle fordelene ved Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Blot send linket sammen med en invitation om at opleve styrkerne og effekterne ved CRM!

Se mere om styrkerne og effekterne ved Microsoft Dynamics CRM her.

Hvordan gør du som partner?
Ønsker du at tilmelde dig denne kampagne, så kontakt Martin Houlberg Jensen på martinhj@microsoft.com og hør nærmere om betingelserne.

Hvad siger markedet lige nu?
Ifølge en række analytikere vil der inden for de næste år kunne ses en stigning i danske virksomheders investeringer i CRM løsninger. Vi kan allerede se denne tendens og den er blevet yderligere forstærket af den økonomiske situation, der motiverer virksomheder og organisationer til at stille skarpt på procesoptimering, øget kundeservice og -loyalitet samt omkostningsreduktion samtidig med forretningsudvikling. Dette er essenserne af CRM!

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

Announcement: Sure Step Spring 2009 Release Now Available!

martinhj@microsoft.com — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 10:11:00 GMT

The Sure Step Team is happy to announce that the Sure Step Spring 2009 Release is available to partners today. In this release there are several new features to help partners deliver Microsoft Dynamics solutions on time, on budget and on spec. In the current economy, customers are looking for more efficient implementations to realize faster ROI with their Microsoft Dynamics solutions. And, this newest release of Sure Step will help partners deliver!

What‘s new in the spring 2009 release of Sure Step?
With the spring 2009 release of Sure Step, consultants for both presales and implementations will find valuable new questionnaires, requirements gathering documents, fit gap analysis guidance, product-focused testing scripts, and a variety of new templates across all implementation phases. The updates, which are most valuable to partners serving customers in the mid-market, include:

The “Standard” project type, which has been simplified, makes it easier for partners to use Sure Step for the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics solutions for mid-market customers.
A view of “key deliverables” for each project enables partners serving the mid-market the ability to more quickly and easily adapt Sure Step to their existing Microsoft Dynamics practice.
A new search tool makes it easier for partners to quickly find the right guidance for any implementation situation.
Role-tailored and product-specific guidance developed by partners provides even more best practices that can be applied to projects.
Improved product upgrade guidance helps set the stage for successful technical upgrades to current and future Microsoft Dynamics releases.
Additional Product-specific best practices, templates and tools included to make Sure Step compliant with all latest product releases including CRM Online

Go to PartnerSource for more information

Update now
Update to the spring 2009 release of Sure Step from within your client, or download/update at PartnerSource > Partner Essentials > Sure Step.
English content is available currently; additional languages will be released in a rolling schedule over the next two months. Please look to newsletters (Insights) or ‘Check for Updates’ in the Sure Step client for latest language releases.

Go to PartnerSource for Update

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

The short-cut for knowledge: Microsoft Dynamics Insights

martinhj@microsoft.com — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:02:00 GMT

You spoke and we listened. We need to give you information more clearly and coordinated, targeted and streamlined. You as a partner need to have a better use of the many information channels coming out of Microsoft.

The answer is the Insights News Tool.

Maybe you already heard about Microsoft Dynamics Insights, or just 'Insights' for short, and are even using it. If not, here are some quick pointers to get you started.

We are in the process of rolling Insights out to partners, replacing Journal, various e-mail lists and other information tools. You as a partner are encouraged to sign-up to Insights and get going with this tool as your primary news feed.

Soon we will be addressing our customer community with Insights as well and then all our partners will have the opportunity to participate in the communication, adding their own news and contributions.

What's so great about it?
Here are some of the benefits of Insights

Role tailored information streams - you decide the types of information you want
Quick overview of recent news from various sources
Present news and information from PartnerSource (and CustomerSource)
Gather information from RSS-sources like blogs
All in one place and with the filtering of your choice

What to do?
Here's what you can do to get started:

Install the Microsoft Dynamics Insights Tool
Select your area(s) of interest
Set-up the blog area on the lower right side to this blog :-)

For Danish partners here is more information on Insights at PartnerSource.

All partners: Get information, get knowledge, get Insight-s :-)

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

Microsoft Office Communications Server - addendum, download links

martinhj@microsoft.com — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 13:34:00 GMT

Thanks for all the input. This addendum post gathers download resources.

Trial Downloads
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2

Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2
Attendant
Group Chat: Server Client Administration Tool
Group Policy Documentation
SDK
UCMA 2.0 Speech Language Packs

Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile 2007 R2
Pocket PC
Smartphone

Microsoft Unified Communications Managed API 2.0 SDK
(32 bit) (64-bit)

Other
Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007 client
Office Communicator Phone Edition (2007 R2)
Conferencing Add-in for Microsoft Office Outlook

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

The new Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 R2 - imagine this together with CRM

martinhj@microsoft.com — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:11:00 GMT

Here is a brilliant opportunity to get more out of CRM and at the same time to cut cost on travel, shorten the customer service cycle and bringing colleagues closer together, not meaning geographically but purely process-wise.

OCS empowers collaboration with customized presence states, Group Chat, Live Meeting, sharing desktop and more, even with the customer, is just at your fingertips and all of this goes very nicely hand in hand with the CRM system.

Are you already working with presence states and saving valuable time in calling or chatting with the right person available immediately instead of trying to reach busy colleagues and chasing somebody, who can help? Save a lot of time by knowing on beforehand if he or she is available, and if not, get notified when they become available.

More great possibilities include:

Audio conference call with customers and colleagues - online, with the click of ONE button, just invite to an appointment in Outlook
Build it into live business applications and business processes - Microsoft Dynamics CRM for one :-)
Move conversations between applications and devices - only focusing on the task at hand
Instant messaging with more than just plain text (namely rich text) and with more than one person, even go to Group Chat

A lot of really nice and business wise features are at the center of the new OCS and I urge you to take a closer look at the material and product. Just think of the added business value and possible developments of the business.

Now, look out for an upcoming blog post on CRM closer together with OCS.

Powerful stuff!

Useful links

Product Overview

Understanding unified communications for the call center

Getting Started

Downloads

Deployment Guide

Attendant Deployment Guide

Supported Migration Paths and Coexistence Scenarios

Capacity Planning

Thank you to Dietmar Dossow for some very useful TechNet-resources.

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

The Power of Choice - be a good host to your employees and customers (3/3) - How?

martinhj@microsoft.com — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:25:00 GMT

Welcome to the third and final part of the blog post series on The Power of Choice. In this post I’ll focus on how you and your customers get the train rolling. So, not much talk, just right down to the stuff you’ll benefit from on both levels of The Power of Choice - the company’s IT Environment and the users Access.

The Power of Choice - level 1: Environment
Different environments can co-exist and be adjusted to the needs of each company. Whether you or your customer wants full or partly hosting for the CRM (or any other IT) solution, the real Power of Choice is to be able to combine it with on-premise or prefer one over the other according to the IT and business strategies.

Microsoft is renewing the focus on the right platform, with Windows Azure as an offer to companies to escalate the use of the cloud. You can think of Windows Azure as a new service-based operating environment specifically targeted for this new cloud design point, striking the best possible balance between two seemingly opposing goals. Windows Azure will be the highest scale, highest availability, most economical, and most environmentally sensitive way of hosting services in the cloud.

So, the combination of Software and Services gets fuelled and rockets away with Azure.

Learn more on Windows Azure

The Power of Choice - level 2: Access
When it comes to the access for the users they have different opportunities as discussed in part one. Again, one or more of them as the correct and optimal choice according to the process or users role in question, will give highest level of benefits and best user experience. For mobile users there are several solutions available for accessing CRM and thereby the customer data to support the best dialogue and business with them. In addition to our own CRM Mobile Express solution and framework, here are some mobility vendors for CRM supporting Windows Mobile:

Logotec Engineering

softBRIDGE

Softtrends Mobile CRM+

TenDigits

For partners - The Software-plus-Services Roadmap for ISVs
A new online portal specifically for your hosted ISV customers, providing easy access to S+S resources across all Microsoft online properties from a single location. The portal is available at: http://www.microsoft.com/hosting/ISV/default.mspx.

More good resources

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile Express Datasheet

Microsoft Success Stories with Software + Services

Mobility in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

I hope this series was relevant and useful. And I wish you benefit and fun with The Power of Choice.

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

The Power of Choice - be a good host to your employees and customers (2/3) - Why?

martinhj@microsoft.com — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 20:23:00 GMT

Welcome to the second part of the blog post series about The Power of Choice. In this post I’ll focus on why S+S if the right way forward for a lot of companies. Especially the challenging business situation in most of the world at the moment redefines the goals and terms you have to be aware of. Cost of ownership and financing continued business development are just two of the areas to consider with the IT platform in general and CRM in particular.

Customer opportunities
There are different challenges prompting customers to consider on-demand alternatives. Some companies are motivated by more than one of the following and the list can be extended as well. You as a partner should be ready to face the tasks together with your customer. With Software+Services this becomes an easier and more adjustable CRM strategy – agile to the environment of the business.

Low kick-off investment
Optimize use of IT resources
Rapid deployment
Demand for business continuity
Flexibility and agility
Engage across devices
Change Management
Need for cost management and cost flexibility

All of these points towards the strengths of software on demand – in the cloud – together with considerations around security and business focuses that will ask for software and data on premise. Companies may have software or data in their business that's a form of differentiation or even a competitive edge maybe that they want to keep more private.

Focus on business process, not device
Microsoft Dynamics S+S is centered around customer’s business processes. Customers have to be able to describe them, to customize them, to implement them in any way they want to, no matter how this gets deployed across desktop, Web, server and mobile.
The company makes The Power of Choice - level 1: Environment on their own terms considering:

Risk
Cost
Differentiation
Ambition
Time to market
IT Resources

Scoring all of these and maybe more dimensions will give you the map of where the process, business department or technology ambition is best supported and fueled.

Partner opportunities
Microsoft partners are the advisors, the experts when it comes to application of technology in businesses and they work closer together with their customers from the early phases of springing new ideas and innovation to implementation both technical and organization wise.

The budget once used for hardware can instead be partly used for other parts of the project, the consultants helps the customers taking full advantage of the cloud and the hosting of business environment. Business applications being activated and empowered in the cloud puts an end to many of the boundaries that you have on premise.

Information sources / some relevant articles

6 Things SaaS Needs To Do In 2009

Hosted/SaaS vs. On-Premise Systems

SaaS still on the rise, despite IT spending slowdown
Samme på dansk: Selskaber hungrer efter SaaS trods finanskrisen

10 Cloud Computing Predictions For 2009

Another good resource

Software-plus-Services Roadmap for ISVs

Stay tuned for part 3: “How?”

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team

The Power of Choice - be a good host to your employees and customers (1/3) - What?

martinhj@microsoft.com — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 03:25:00 GMT

Did you hear the concept before? 'The Power of Choice' - what is that? In this three part blog post I will give you my angle on the great opportunity for businesses to have IT in their own way - the best.

The first blog post is titled 'What' and will zoom in on what Microsoft means by 'The Power of Choice', more precisely what I mean and see as content in this area of wisdom.

The second blog post is titled 'Why' and will give you some USP's (Unique Selling Points) for customers and partners, users, administrators and sponsors.

The third and final blog post is titled 'How' and will give you starters for your own business or for your customers. It will list some resources for trying out and if you are new to Microsoft Dynamics CRM in general, it will also point you to some places for trying out this great piece of business value extending and people performance accelerating software.

So, let's get going with 'What'?

The Power of Choice - the basics
You have properly heard many sources report that the business world has gone through big changes and will continue to do so in the years to come. One of the major impacts are on the way companies integrate technology into their business and makes the two work together and support each other for growth and development. Another one is on how employees expect to be able to work and how the companies expect them to work and be agile to process changes and market demands.

This is what Microsoft’s philosophy addresses. With 'The Power of Choice' companies on 2 levels literally can choose how IT can best support and motivate both the business and the users operations. The choice is not and either or, you can choose to have both in exactly the extend you need.

The two levels of 'The Power of Choice' are the IT environment and the user’s access.

The Power of Choice - level 1: Environment
First, the company has the choice of how to run and facilitate the platform. Here you will meet the concept and techniques of Software+Service (see link for more information at the end of this blog post). The IT-department may choose to have the CRM-platform in-house - on premise - or to have it hosted - in the cloud. They can even choose to have a combination for example if that will fit the business and processes better. Some might want to host it themselves for the benefits of that. In the next blog post I will go into the different opportunities and what you gain.

The Power of Choice - level 2: Access
Second, the access for the user should be the best fit for the user. One might even have the need for more than one interface. With The Power of Choice companies can give access to CRM through a number of entrances including Outlook, the web, mobile, Office-applications, tailor-made applications, foreign applications etc.

In conclusion
The levels of The Power of Choice can be done independently. When going for a hosted CRM solution you have however to make sure that your hosting partner is supporting the demands you have.

The Power of Choice is given to the decisions makers, the IT-department and the sponsors. Take the best parts, combine them and boost the possibilities of your CRM.

This truly is powerful.

Good resources
Microsoft Dynamics CRM customer video: http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/product/customervideo.mspx
Software + Services: http://www.microsoft.com/softwareplusservices/

I hope this blog post has given you both answers and inspiration.

Look out later this month for part 2: “Why?”

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team