• Rapid access to specific customer information can help differentiate a company’s products or services in the minds of potential buyers.
• Investments in new tools and services need to focus on the underlying issues rather than the symptoms to be truly effective in increasing productivity.
• Sales tools need to reduce time spent on administrative tasks and give sales people more time to focus on selling.
• Involving senior management and consulting with key employees are critical factors to the success of productivity enhancing initiatives. 

Read the complete research report: “The Empowered Sales Team: Enhancing productivity through the better use of information”

Implementing the right CRM solution can help your organization accomplish all four of these keys to enhancing sales productivity.  For example, Microsoft Dynamics CRM can provide:

• Rapid access to your customer and lead data through the native Microsoft Outlook® client, built-in Microsoft Office features, contextual data visualizations, and mobile access, all working together to put the right information in your sales professionals’ hands.
• Powerful workflows, guided sales dialog, and streamlined goal tracking and approvals that help your sales organization consistently implement best practices that resolve outstanding issues.
• Embedded Microsoft Office capabilities, full lead-to-cash visibility, guided sales processes, and actionable analytics to help your people spend more time selling and less time on administrative tasks.
• Individuals at all levels of the organization with the information they specifically need to make decisions. 

Learn more about how Microsoft Dynamics CRM will power your sales productivity. 

By Socius, Ohio Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner

4 Ways Microsoft Dynamics CRM Enhances Sales Productivity Through Better Information is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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In order to make the interactions between people doing information work and people doing structured task work more efficient, business and IT leaders need to be able to blend the structured tasks with the unstructured data across the business process flow.  Since information workers use productivity tools and collaboration solutions, such as online team workspaces, while structured task work is performed on relational line-of-business (LOB) applications like a customer relationship management (CRM) solution, these two modes of work can be blended through a tool called a “relational productivity application” (RPA).

An RPA merges the best aspects of the collaboration toolsets used for information work and the relational LOB applications used for structured task work.  In the Microsoft environment, the RPA is best accomplished by integrating the xRM application framework of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which is used to build relational LOB applications for structured task work, and Office SharePoint Server, the collaboration and document management platform used in information work.

Leveraging the Microsoft Dynamics CRM xRM (xRM) application framework can result in tremendous cost savings because xRM:

• Enables application developers to make use of a single framework for many applications

Contains pre-built functionality that makes it relatively simple for developers to use and re-use its extensible building blocks

• Is easily customized, reducing expenses for packaged software and specialized outside service providers
• Is built using Web services making it relatively simple to integrate with other applications, such as Office SharePoint Server, in an RPA

To learn more about how Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Office SharePoint Server merge into a “better together” scenario, in which the different types of workers involved in a business can access the information they need to work more productively and intelligently, download this complimentary whitepaper: 

Relational Productivity Applications – Leveraging Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SharePoint for Enhanced Business Impact

By Socius, an Ohio Microsoft Dynamics Partner

xRM and SharePoint: Bridging the Gap Between Collaboration and Task Work is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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As you are in the midst of a software selection process that can sometimes take a substantial amount of time and result in an extended implementation process, it may seem strange to suggest that leveraging business software systems can be a key element in keeping your business agile.  However, that is precisely what Microsoft suggests in a recently released white paper, “Making Business Dynamic”, in which they address this very issue head-on and provide some examples of how businesses like yours can leverage technology tools, available today and coming soon, to not only survive change, but to thrive in the midst of it.

In this paper, Microsoft draws particular attention to its customer relationship management solution, Microsoft Dynamics CRM (and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online).  Dynamics CRM, like all Microsoft Dynamics business solutions, is equipped to help businesses like yours stay nimble by:

• Enhancing your business and software user productivity
• Improving the way you gather and analyze business insight to improve business decision making
• Connecting you with your customers, suppliers and partners
• Managing accountability and compliance through workflows and visibility across the organization
• Reducing IT costs by leveraging previous infrastructure investments and simplifying customizations

However, Dynamics CRM goes above and beyond what the other Dynamics solutions are capable of today and already has its foot in the door of tomorrow’s emerging Microsoft technology.  While Microsoft Research is breaking new ground in machine learning, which is the ability of a software solution to become more intelligent based on predictive mathematical modeling, they have already rolled out machine learning in Dynamics CRM with its capability to automatically analyze incoming faxes and forward them to the correct e-mail alias.  As machine learning matures, it will continue to be applied to Dynamics CRM to automate previously manual processes. 

 Another way that Microsoft Dynamics CRM is ahead of its Microsoft business solutions counterparts is its cloud computing deployment, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.   While cloud technology will undoubtedly continue to evolve and touch every area of technology, it is already a means for organizations of any size to take advantage of the robust capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM without a large infrastructure investment and with the flexibility and scalability that will ensure that their solution grows with their business. 

 To learn more about how Microsoft Dynamics CRM and other Microsoft technology are helping businesses adapt and thrive in a changing world, download the complete “Making Business Dynamic” white paper!

By Socius, a Microsoft Dynamics Partner in Ohio, Kansas City, and California

Make Your Business More Dynamic with Microsoft CRM is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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So how do you know if integrating your business solutions is worth the risk? 

Alesa Lightbourne, Ph.D. addresses this very issue in a new white paper published by Socius, an Ohio-based Microsoft CRM and ERP partner, entitled: “Integrating Your ERP and CRM: Worth the Trouble?”

The white paper cites industry analysts and researchers as well as business executives who have successfully integrated their solutions and are reaping substantial returns on their investments.  Both Neundorfer, a clean technologies company near Cleveland, Ohio and Divisions, Inc., a facilities management company outside of Cincinnati, Ohio are featured in the paper as examples of organizations that have streamlined business processes and financially benefited from integrating Microsoft Dynamics CRM with their Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP solutions.

Download a complimentary copy of “Integrating Your ERP and CRM: Worth the Trouble?” and hear directly from Neundorfer and Divisions how their integrated solutions are benefiting their organizations through extended case studies and a testimonial video. 

By Socius, a Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner in Ohio, Kansas City, and California

Is Integrating a New CRM Solution With Your Current ERP System Worth the Trouble? is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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1.  What am I trying to fix – a software shortcoming or a faulty business process?

By implementing a new CRM solution, you are giving your organization a tremendous opportunity to become more agile and efficient.  Customizing your CRM software to accommodate all of your existing business processes can negate the positive effects of this opportunity, however.  If you think “it has to be this way because that is the way we’ve always done it,” then it may be time to evaluate that process.  Engaging a CRM partner who offers Business Process Reviews can help you determine which customizations will truly add value to your solution and which are simply entrenching old processes that ought to be revised. 

2.     Can I sustain the cost of this customization in the long-run?

Customization raises the value of anything.  This is especially true for CRM software.  You will not only have to pay up-front to have the custom code written and implemented, but you will have to repeat this process any time you upgrade your CRM software solution.  This can become costly very quickly.  If you aren’t prepared for these costs, having extensive customizations may prevent you from upgrading which could eventually land you on an unsupported version of your software, resulting in data loss or corruption and loss of business if your system goes down.  If this is a concern for you, you may want to look and see if there are third-party solutions or other alternatives to customizing your CRM solution. 

Selecting a CRM software partner that will guide you through the software selection process while keeping in mind a healthy balance of finding a solution that will fit your business needs and customizing a solution to meet your business needs can save you a lot of time, money, and frustration in the long-run.  Conducting a Business Process Review early in your software selection experience can help you better understand how your new CRM solution can best be customized to fit your needs as well as how you can reshape your processes to get the most out of your new system while sparing you the expense of extensive customizations. 

By Socius, a CRM Software Partner in Ohio

Customizing Your CRM Solution – Should You Do It? is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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Microsoft is promising that CRM 2011 will provide “The Power of Productivity” through next-generation cloud productivity features including:

Familiar Experiences

• A new and improved Microsoft Outlook client experience enables CRM information to be previewed and formatted using native Outlook functionality
• The contextual Ribbon that is familiar in Microsoft Office has been added to the CRM client for consistent navigation across products
• Role-based forms and views ensure that professionals have fast access to the relevant information that they need yet are prevented from seeing data that they are not authorized to view
• Users can create personalized views, add commonly used records and design personal dashboards to measure performance

Intelligent Experiences

• Users can quickly create and share inline charts with drill-down intelligence to visually navigate data and uncover new insights
• Businesses can rapidly configure multiple real-time dashboards to actively monitor business performance and improve decision-making
•  Organizational goals can be managed with flexible definitions for key performance indicators to track and measure progress against metrics
•  Employees can be provided with step-by-step guidance through any business process or interaction using guided process dialogs

Connected Experiences

• If you own Microsoft SharePoint Server, you can take advantage of contextual documents by easily provisioning SharePoint document repositories and embedding them directly within Dynamics CRM
• Leverage the .NET Framework 4 to develop and deploy custom code for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online using Microsoft Visual Studio and incorporate Microsoft Silverlight, Windows Communication Foundation and Language Integrated Query into cloud solutions
• Create, manage and help protect solution from creation to distribution through versioning, dependencies and security features.
• Quickly find, download and apply custom solutions and extensions using the new Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace (also coming in September 2010) which is embedded within Dynamics CRM

Sign-up to participate in the public beta of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

By Socius, an Ohio Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner

What’s Taking Shape for the Next Generation of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Cloud? is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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Last week, Microsoft introduced their new Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  This new solution serves as a strategic sales and service-enabled customer relationship management (CRM) platform that will allow health plans to quickly and easily move their marketing and sales processes online, a capability that Gartner researchers indicate will be the key to health insurers’ ability to compete in the changing marketplace.*

So, what makes the Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM a good choice for insurance companies?

Complete CRM Strategy
Spanning acquisition, retention, health and care management, and service, the Health Plan Sales Solution tightly integrates social media sites into the sales, service, and retention processes and serves as an easy to design and deploy complete CRM solution.

Seamless Integration
The interoperable framework of the Health Plan Sales Solution means that it can be pre-integrated to a seamless workflow across different applications, including several Microsoft ISV partner products that already support the framework.  As a Microsoft product, this platform will enable you to reduce custom legacy integration costs and maximize your existing investment in both Microsoft and non-Microsoft technologies.

Deployment Flexibility
The Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution can be deployed wholly on-premise, using Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, or as a hybrid solution that provides the flexibility, improved security, and cost management that health plan providers require. 

To learn more about the Health Plan Sales Solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, read Microsoft’s press release.

Try Microsoft Dynamics CRM Free for 30 Days!

By Socius, a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner in Ohio

* Health Insurance Exchanges Play a Key Role in Health Insurance Reform, April 20, 2010, Joanne Galimi and Robert H. Booz

3 Reasons Health Insurance Companies Should Consider Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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More than ever before, it seems that Microsoft is looking to cloud computing to carry their CRM solution forward by investing in improvements to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. 

In April at the annual Convergence conference, Microsoft announced a service update to Dynamics CRM Online which includes multilingual capabilities for North American customers, new portal accelerators to help existing CRM Online users manage events, partner relationships, and eServices, and new developer tools to enable the connection of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online with other on-demand and on-premises applications and services.

They also announced their direct integration between Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics GP and a new promotion for GP (Great Plains) customers to obtain CRM Online at a 60% discount – further evidence of their commitment to making their cloud computing option easy to integrate and use. 

Lastly, they announced their plans for their next release, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5, expected in the second half of 2010.  The primary message around this release was the international availability of Dynamics CRM Online to 32 global markets and 41 languages. 

This week, ZDNet confirmed what Microsoft alluded to: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5 Online will be released first, before the on-premise update will be available.  Putting on-demand before on-premise marks a great departure from Microsoft’s traditional release structure which had cloud solutions lagging months behind their on-premise counterparts.  Directions On Microsoft analyst Rob Helm commented, “This will be the first time I’m aware of that Microsoft has started running a version of its software in its commercial hosted services before it was ready to ship that version to customers.”

All of these announcements serve as indicators that Microsoft is committed to ensuring that users of both their online CRM solution and their on-premise Dynamics CRM software will have an industry-leading experience that carries their businesses into the future. 

Try Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online free today to see for yourself what Microsoft’s cloud computing solution is like.

By Socius, a Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Partner in Ohio and beyond

When It Comes To CRM, Microsoft Has Its Head In The Cloud is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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I looked at the features of Maximizer CRM vs. Microsoft Dynamics CRM to see how they stack up. 

Cost:  In the CRM Software pricing competition, Maximizer is the winner.  Their per-user pricing starts at $499 where as the Microsoft Dynamics CRM pricing for a full user is $995 plus server costs.  With such a large gap in pricing, there is obviously going to be a significant difference in functionality. 

Sales Force Automation (SFA) Features: 

Both products offer a full feature set of lead, opportunity, and territory management tools including analytics, real-time offline and mobile access, forecasting and tracking, and email marketing tools. 

 While Microsoft Dynamics CRM has direct integrations with other Microsoft Dynamics software including accounting and financial management business solutions like Microsoft Dynamics GP, Maximizer ties-in to QuickBooks accounting software.  This is the first hint that Maximizer is geared towards smaller organizations while Dynamics CRM is better suited to fit the needs of a growing small to mid-sized business. 

Service and Support Features:

The centralized case management features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Maximizer CRM are very similar.  Both provide automated creation, monitoring, and response mechanisms as well as searchable Knowledge bases and customized reporting. 

They both also have unique ways of streamlining service processes.  Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides team and group workflow so that customer data flows to the right people at the right time, while Maximizer provides an “at-a-glance dashboard” of service and support activity.  Both are viable ways of displaying this critical data; the question is: how do you want to see it?

Marketing Features: 

Both Maximizer and Dynamics CRM solutions contain similar marketing campaign planning, automation, and management tools.  At the center of Maximizer’s marketing functionality is email marketing automation including list and campaign management as well as anti-spam tools.  Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s email marketing functionality leverages elements of Microsoft Outlook, in which it is set.  

While Maximizer focuses on email functionality, Dynamics CRM focuses on workflow and connecting marketing to the rest of the organization.  The Microsoft Dynamics workflow model enables enhanced marketing and sales collaboration as well as automating information sharing through portals and reporting using other Microsoft applications. 

When you look at all of these functional areas together alongside cost, it appears that these two products are better suited for different types of organizations.  Maximizer has a slightly more limited feature set and integrates with small business tools.  Both of those facts, along with the lower user cost, indicate that it might be best suited for a smaller organization that does not have plans for significant growth.  On the other hand, Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s more robust feature set and direct integration with Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions make it a better solution for mid-sized businesses or small business gearing up for long-term growth. 

Find out first-hand which CRM solution is right for your business:  Try Microsoft Dynamics CRM for yourself for 30-days!

By Socius, a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner based in Ohio

Maximizer CRM vs. Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Which Solution Provides Maximum Functionality For Mid-Sized Businesses? is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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To be honest, A LOT! 

Here are the top 5 reasons you should attend Convergence 2010:

1.  Learn how to get the most out of Microsoft Dynamics CRM before you implement it.

• Through classroom and hands-on training, learn how to use the technical resources and support available to help you be nimble and responsive.
• Understand how to empower your people to use functionality you would own out of the box, and talk about any concerns you may have with the technical support team that helped develop the solution.
• Investigate additional Microsoft Dynamics functionality, plus third-party vendor solutions that could better position you for success.

2.  Connect with Microsoft Dynamics CRM users and product experts.

• See firsthand how users in organizations like yours have optimized their CRM solutions to drive business success.
• Consult with your Microsoft partner and Microsoft product experts about any questions that you have.
• Network with current users to help you better understand how they use CRM and how you can best prepare for a successful implementation.

3.  Get up to date, thorough knowledge of Microsoft products and technologies.

• Take advantage of 63 sessions dedicated to Microsoft Dynamics CRM – 17 of which are especially for an introductory level audience, like yourself. 
• Participate in classroom training, hands-on labs, and panel discussions about every facet of Microsoft Dynamics CRM so that you can make the most highly informed decision about your CRM solution.

4.  Learn the Microsoft strategy from Microsoft executives and find out the future plans for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

• Understand the product development strategy so you can plan how to maintain and deploy our solution over time.
• Attend executive keynote presentations to gain insight into Microsoft’s future direction and investments so you can align your business to take best advantage.

5.  Get to know your Microsoft partner (and enable them to get to know you) outside of the office.

• Through one-on-one meetings, shared meal-times, volunteer opportunities, and evening receptions, you can establish a relationship with your Microsoft partner that will help them better understand and support your business needs and style.
• Attend with InterDyn-Socius, and you’ll be welcome to join us at a special reception for all InterDyn clients on Monday evening where you can get to know Socius and our clients who use Microsoft Dynamics every day to accelerate their growth and profitability. 

By Socius, a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner located in Cincinnati, Columbus, and Cleveland, Ohio

What’s In It For Me? 5 Reasons You Should Attend Convergence If You Are Considering Dynamics CRM is a post from: CRM Software Blog

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