A Freaky Microsoft Dynamics CRM Blog : Live CRM

My last post!

mennotk — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 10:59:00 GMT

Don't let the title confuse you, it's only my last post here at MSDN! As most of you know, I've been blogging on MSDN since 19 December 2005! It is time to move on...

I made the decision to move my blogging addiction to my very own domain. On the new location you can continue reading about freaky CRM stuff, but I'll mix it up with some additional topics that interest me and hopefully you guys as well.

Please update your bookmarks, RSS Readers and OPML files.

Blog: http://www.tekoppele.com/blog

RSS: http://feeds.feedburner.com/crmfreak

It took me a lot of time and effort to design my new blog from the ground up. I want to thank Alex Vermeule, Scott Barnes Jaap Steinvoorte and Jron for their help and advice. Over time, I will slowly migrate all of my posts and comments.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Books

mennotk — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:00:00 GMT

Well if I have the believe Steve Jobs, nobody is reading anymore and I should not type this post! I'm disagreeing with the "almighty" Steve, though, as I believe that many people actually started reading more due to Internet and inventions such as RSS and email.

I'm sure you've seen many blogs talking about the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 books, what I'm trying to with this post is, though, to give you an overview of all of them, in no particular order. I actually hope this time to get some autographed books, as I know most of the writers...perhaps I'll be a technical editor / reviewer with CRM vNext, who knows...

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 "Unleashed"

Working Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0

Programming Microsoft Dynamics(TM) CRM 4.0 Developer Reference

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Step by Step

I am expecting to see the book Microsoft CRM 4.0 for Dummies but they haven't announced it yet. Will update once I get that information. If you know a book that should be listed here, drop me a comment and I'll update the list.

P.S. For the writers, just sent me an email to obtain my mailing address :)

Microsoft on Small Business and Microsoft CRM Live

mennotk — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 20:35:00 GMT

Three podcasts worth listening to....(read more)

Vertical Templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

mennotk — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 23:09:00 GMT

As you know we announced some very nice things at the WPC in Denver last month. One the things beside pricing was that we were going to release vertical templates to be used for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Well today is the day that we have released two Microsoft Dynamics CRM vertical templates; manufacturing and municipal government.

These templates include data models, user interfaces, user roles and workflows that showcase how Microsoft Dynamics CRM is relevant to customers in these industries.

Microsoft field marketing and partner communities should utilize these templates for demonstration purposes and as well as to expand and enhance vertical focuses.

Each vertical template includes the following materials:

README File
CRM Configuration XML Files
Workflows
User Roles
Demo Data
Demo Script

These templates are designed to work with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 today and will be updated for the upcoming release at the end of the calendar year.

The downloads are offered at no charge to partners and customers via Microsoft’s shared source initiative at www.codeplex.com/crmverticaltemplates.

Drop me a comment to tell me which vertical should be next. I will make sure to bring that message across.

Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Marketplace

mennotk — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 06:09:00 GMT

"You click a button and suck [Microsoft's template] into your system." ...(read more)

Microsoft CRM Live announcement at WWPC 2007

mennotk — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:21:00 GMT

I bet you already have read several web sites and blogs with the great news, but I still wanted to share it with you guys via my own blog. In March I had a similar posting coming from Convergence: http://blogs.msdn.com/mscrmfreak/archive/2007/03/15/microsoft-dynamics-live-crm.aspx

Microsoft’s CRM strategy is to deliver the “Power of Choice” to customers and partners. Microsoft gives customers a choice of how to deploy the system (software-as-a-service or on-premise software), a choice of how to access the system (Office/Outlook, browsers, mobile devices) and a choice of how to pay for the system (perpetual licenses or subscription). All Dynamics CRM solutions rely on a single multi-tenant code base, enabling easy migrations across on-premise or on-demand deployments.

Yesterday at WWPC 2007 we announced a whole new level of business productivity and value to the software-as-a-service market. Microsoft is making the Live CRM service available to customers at a very affordable price point. The first two service offerings for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM are:

Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Professional will offer full-suite CRM through Microsoft Outlook and browser clients, extensive workflow capabilities powered by Windows Workflow Foundation, and other rich configuration and extensibility capabilities The price for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Professional will be $44 per user per month; however, during 2008 it will be offered to customers at a promotional price of $39 per user per month.
Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Enterprise, which will offer all of the capabilities of the Professional product as well as offline data synchronization. It will be priced at $59 per user per month.

Customer Early Access Program
The customer early access program for Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM will begin this quarter and will extend through the remainder of 2007. It will offer the Professional version of the service (see below) at no charge to customers during the early access period; at the end of the early access period, normal service fees will apply. The program is initially targeted at companies with five or more CRM users within the organization, and customer signup will be offered through Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s network of certified partners. Companies that are interested in the early access program can visit http://www.crmlive.com to apply.

Building Web-Based Line-of-Business Applications on the Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM Platform

mennotk — Fri, 04 May 2007 23:11:00 GMT

Today I checked out the recorded session presented by Ben Riga and Jason Hunt at MIX07 in Los Angeles. The session is about one hour and 20 minutes and shows some really......(read more)

Live CRM launching tomorrow!

mennotk — Sun, 01 Apr 2007 10:24:00 GMT

Are you ready for something Live?...(read more)

CRM article for the Dutch speaking readers

mennotk — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 06:16:00 GMT

You all should know the Dutchie Ronald Lemmen by now. After exchanging only emails and blog comments with him, I had the chance to meet with him on Convergence last week in San Diego. Even though he is technical consultant, Ronald wrote a nice "Sales & Marketing" story on Channelweb. If you are interested in the article you can find it here: http://www.channelweb.nl/artikel.jsp?id=1906469

Maybe I will be contacted in the future do such a column or even better, help with a book...

Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM

mennotk — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 21:35:00 GMT

Yesterday at the closing keynote at Convergence, Steve Ballmer showed a live demo of the upcoming Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM service. Microsoft Dynamics Live CRM is powered by the upcoming release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, code-named “Titan,” which uses the same multitenant code base to deliver both on-premise and Software as a Service (SaaS) deployments, and allows customers to choose the right deployment model for their needs at any time. Microsoft launched a press release and you can read it here: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2007/mar07/03-14ConvergenceDayThreePR.mspx

Ronald Lemmen has some great screenshots of the application in acion, take a look at his post here! Infoworld has a nice article as well http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/03/15/HNcrmlive_1.html and so does eWeek: http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1986998,00.asp

I am curious what you are thinking of this "version" of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Please share your thoughts and ideas on the new Live webservice in the comments area.