Since the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, Microsoft has encouraged users to do a 30-day free trial of CRM; and this has been successful in demonstrating key features like Outlook integration, sales productivity, analytics, service productivity, and basic marketing automation. But extended features, like data mart and communication platform integration, have not been readily available in trial demos. Thanks to release of , these features and other, are available by running a ClickOnce application.
The trial experience that is created is extended CRM, but also includes a provisioned and working SharePoint site, Windows Azure data mart, Lync accounts and integration with CRM, InsideView integration, Bing maps on CRM records, and two fully functioning portals.
What you get is above and beyond a regular Microsoft Dynamics CRM Trial. Customer Effective can assist users in a fully realized story about how people can leverage social, mobile, cloud-based business applications to amplify sales and drive productivity for their unique clients. The elements of the story (the features) are listed below. Please contact us at info@customereffective.com if you would like a full demo tailored to your unique business needs.
Role-based experiences: You will receive different logins for different roles. Below is a dashboard that was built exclusively for an inside sales rep. Each user will have a slightly different and streamlined user experience.
Lync Integration: You will receive Lync logins and presence will be enabled in CRM; which means when you see someone’s name in CRM and they have Lync, you will instantly see if they are available.
Twitter Integration: A Twitter feed is available on the Account form that follows the account record you are on.
Bing Integration: Fully interactive Bing map is available inside of Account, Lead, and Contact records.
Montage Integration: Montage is Microsoft’s web-based service that allows you to create content from a variety of sources and mash them up into one live document. This integration leverages CRM as a starting point in that process. You can learn more about montage here:
SharePoint: Fully provisioned, fully functioning, and integrated SharePoint Site that is ready to go from your accounts, contacts and opportunities.
Customer Portal: A live customer portal is created that pushes CRM data out (like products, events, and case information) and also lets customers submit cases or register for events.
Event Management: And speaking of events, once a customer (or lead) registers for an event, their information is registered against the event in CRM.
Partner Portal: A live portal built for that middle layer in the sales process. Using the roles that you are given, you can allow your ‘Partners’ to access CRM data from any browser without directly accessing CRM.
Contextual Forms: Visuals (icons) change on forms based on certain data. In the example below, a blue sky is visible when a lead is warm, but an iceberg is visible when a lead is cold. It’s a small thing, but it adds to the user experience and aids in adoption.
Data Enrichment: Leverages a data mart to ensure good, fresh data during the qualification process. The example below calls out from a lead form to make sure the data is complete, and lets you sync the right data into your records.
InsideView: Yes, this is standard now to some degree, but it is nice that this is set-up and users can see first hand the value of this integration. Inside view aggregates publically available data sources and delivers complete, clean, contact intelligence via Microsoft CRM 2011.
Let us know if you would like to see a full demo or personalized trial that leverages some of the social, cloud, and mobile CRM features listed above. Please contact us a info@customereffective.com.
Post by: Brad Koontz,
