Customer relationship management (CRM)

Customer relationship management (CRM) helps businesses build profitable customer relationships.The general purpose of CRM is to enable organizations to better manage their customers through the introduction of reliable systems, processes and procedures for interacting with those customers.

Implementing CRM :

A good CRM program needs to

• Identify customer success factor
• Create a customer-based culture
• Adopt customer-based measures
• Develop an end-to-end process to serve customers
• Recommend what questions to ask to help a customer solve a problem
• Recommend what to tell a customer with a complaint about a purchase
• Track all aspects of selling to customers and prospects as well as customer support.

Purposes of Customer Relationship Management :

A good CRM program can improve customer service by facilitating communication in several ways:

• Provide product information, product use information, and technical assistance on web sites that are accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
• Identify how each individual customer defines quality, and then design a service strategy for each customer based on these individual requirements and expectations.
• Provide a fast mechanism for managing and scheduling follow-up sales calls to assess post-purchase cognitive dissonance, repurchase probabilities, repurchase times, and repurchase frequencies.
• Provide a mechanism to track all points of contact between a customer and the company, and do it in an integrated way so that all sources and types of contact are included, and all users of the system see the same view of the customer.
• Help to identify potential problems quickly, before they occur.
• Provide a user-friendly mechanism for registering customer complaints.
• Provide a fast mechanism for handling problems and complaints.
• Provide a fast mechanism for correcting service deficiencies.
• Use internet cookies to track customer interests and personalize product offerings accordingly.
• Use the Internet to engage in collaborative customization or real-time customization.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM :

Microsoft Dynamics CRM will help you:

• Provide your employees with easier and quicker access to the customer data they need to do their jobs.
• Link all of your customer records together in one place.
• Help your marketing, sales, and customer service teams work better, together.
• Make it easier for your customers to contact you and get the information they need about their account, order, or shipment.
• Make your customers feel that they are indeed your most valuable asset

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On-demand CRM Vs On-premise CRM

The key factors that decide the appropriateness of a CRM deployment, whether on-site or hosted include the amount of integration required, customer processes, and the extent of operations required for a fruitful customer interaction.

An on-demand solution can be useful in scenarios where customer relationships are managed largely by the sales department which functions more or less as an independent entity. Small companies that wish to track and manage their leads without having to go through a major IT deployment can benefit from an on-demand solution. Companies in which customer relationship management is intertwined with the working of several departments including the company contact center are better served by opting for an on-site CRM solution that are more suited for the level of integration required with large organizations. Integration of legacy systems that contain vital customer data and run important business processes with a new CRM application is another consideration. Organizations in the services sector need to upgrade customer data constantly and access it in real-time from highly customized systems. For such companies, on-site CRM that offers real-time integration is a better alternative. In contrast, if data exchange between application silos does not happen in real-time and is carried out periodically, then an on-demand solution may do the trick. A CRM solution has to facilitate customer processes such that a company can leverage its expertise to the hilt and improve upon its shortcomings and compete in the market. It should provide or integrate with customer and process technologies that allow companies to identify the requirements of a satisfactory customer experience and provide them consistently. Since customer tastes and needs are dynamic, a company needs to evolve its business processes constantly to be able to fulfill customer expectations. To do this it needs a customer process solution that helps it to compete in terms of cost, products, and service level. This requires a high degree of application customization that is usually found in on-site CRM systems. The total cost of ownership of on-demand CRM is low for a short-term deployment. Even within an on-demand scenario, different solutions will have different breakeven points which a business should consider. While researching CRM solutions, it is best to consider the short-term and long-term scenarios and opt for a solution that is cost-effective in the long-term and also provides the necessary scalability. The costs of deploying and running an on-demand CRM solution for upward of three years can be more than those for an on-site solution. Thus, the rule-of-thumb for deciding company profiles fit for on-site and on-demand CRM would be that companies looking for a ready-to-use solution that does not require on-premise IT expertise, do not require a major integration between functions, do not focus on creating opportunities to up-sell and cross-sell, and do not update customer data in real-time can benefit from on-demand solutions. Companies where customer-related decisions are affected by the workings of several departments need to provide customer data to all these departments such as sales, accounts, marketing, and call centers are candidates for an on-site solution. When the growth of an organization is linked with achieving an edge over the competition by means of advanced processes and managing customer experiences and proprietary customer data, which is too sensitive for storing in a third-party database, an on-premise system is a better option. Large companies need to constantly identify key customer trends and create strategies for cross- and up-selling and present a customized experience. To this end, they need a CRM solution that offers the depth of applications for achieving cross-organization linkage and swift customer analytics. These attributes are found in on-site solutions.

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CRM Help Gain Loyal Customers

CRM Help Gain Loyal Customers

Publishing Guidelines: You may publish my article in your newsletter, on your website or in your print publication provided you include the resource box at the end. Notification would be appreciated but is not required.

By S. Maurer

Customer Relationship Management CRM Configurators - These applications are often very sophisticated and are used in situations where the product or service has many configuration options that impact design, performance, and cost.

According to the Giga Information Group, enterprises spend $3,5bn [$2,2bn] annually on Customer Relationship Management CRM software alone, plus three to five times that sum on related implementation, integration, and training issues.

According to manufacture research, it is 10 times more expensive to pursue fresh customers than to sell to existing ones.

CRM can help gain a greater share of a loyal Customer's business/services/manufacturing.

Establishing a strategy for change management, communicating those changes and driven benefits upfront, providing sufficient and continuous training, and above all monitoring results are winning components to help you achieve real ROI with your Customer Relationship Management CRM implementation.

CRM data integrity starts from data collection and leads all other steps back to the relationship with the Customer.

Customer Relationship Management CRM Opportunity Management - Helps sales people to focus on moving sales opportunities to completion.

CRM analytics software has been improving, thus increasing the ability to extract and analyze dates as regards Customer value and transaction profitability.

Effective CRM initiatives utilize enterprise software as an integral part of a successful strategy.

Customer Relationship Management CRM improvement is measurable and discernable - It is not hidden in vague notions and concepts.

S. Maurer is a 53-years old college graduated IT professional, with 30 years of experience in the computer & technology business. Now is the Correspondence Courses Director of the Abet Open University: http://distance-learning-mba-online-mba-program-executive-jobs.net and http://mba-library.com

ERP Brazil: Microsoft Dynamics NAV, AX, CRM localized family

When your company plans to outsource its manufacturing operations to such countries as Brazil, the ERP system for the overseas subsidiary is one of the first decisions to make.  In this small article we will concentrate on functional side of the Microsoft Dynamics ERPs, such as Microsoft Navision, Microsoft Axapta and Microsoft CRM

When your company plans to outsource its manufacturing operations to such countries as Brazil, the ERP system for the overseas subsidiary is one of the first decisions to make.  In this small article we will concentrate on functional side of the Microsoft Dynamics ERPs, such as Microsoft Navision, Microsoft Axapta and Microsoft CRM and we will not touch background technologies (Microsoft .Net vs. EJB/Java discussions)

• Localization.  It usually has two components: language translation (in the case of Brazil it is Brazilian Portuguese) and sales, purchasing taxes and government regulation/reporting.  In the case of Brazil we usually talk about these taxes & regulations: CNAE, CPF, IE, IEST, IM.
• Local versus International MRP brand.  This is usually the question beyond the functionality of the ERP ? you need to decide for yourself if you would like advanced localization features (usually provided by local made ERP ? Microsiga or Datasul to name two) or you want more control over your overseas operations from headquarters ? this will probably be international ERP brand, one of them we are evaluating here ? Microsoft Dynamics family (former name was Microsoft Business Solutions)
• Navision/Microsoft Dynamics NAV.  Around 2004 Microsoft Business Solutions tried to unify its international ERP offer.  As the result, in many countries, including Brazil, East Europe, Russia and others Navision kind of pushed out of the market another MBS ERP ? Microsoft Great Plains (currently Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0 ? Brazilian version is not available, however you can get local support from Alba Spectrum).  There were multiple reasons, including technical feasibility, they are beyond the scope of this article.  Navision is localized and has several years of successful implementation in S?o Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Salvador and across Brazil.  One of the strong points of Navision is Manufacturing module.  We see strong demand for Navision ERP implementation from multinational corporations with headquarters in Europe, especially continental: Germany, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal.
• Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX.  This is relatively new ERP ? its design was completed in the very end of XX century, Navision Software bought Axapta prior to be purchased by Microsoft Business Solutions itself.  Brazilian localization of Axapta is now complete and it will be released in the first quarter of 2006.  In Brazil Microsoft has experiment with Axapta pricing and it is now targeted to compete with Microsiga and Datasul from one side and with SAP Business One from another side.  Axapta implementation cycle is longer than for SAP BO, however Axapta is more flexible in its ability to automate upper midsize and large scale business.
• Microsoft CRM/Dynamics CRM.  Now we are in the process of upgrade from MS CRM 1.2 to its 3.0 version.  Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 will be more flexible to automate franchisee networks and nation-wide servicing organizations.  The question of selection is more simple ? if you are committed to Microsoft platform ? you should know that Microsoft CRM is promoted Worldwide.  Here we have to say some words about technical side of Microsoft CRM, especially considering some challenges of MS CRM upgrade ? it heavily uses .Net platform, XML web services and requires strong server side programming, if you need Microsoft CRM customization and custom pieces upgrade (Microsoft CRM SDK 3.0 is a bit different from MS CRM SDK 1.2).  In Brazil we saw instances of Microsoft CRM, coexisting with such corporate platform as IBM Lotus Notes Domino                                                                                          

If you need help ? give us a call: S?o Paulo: +55-11-3444-4949, USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, Europa: +44-20-8123-2580, +45-36-96-5520 or help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is ERP consultant at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx http://www.enterlogix.com.br ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, MS CRM, SAP Business One, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense

Microsoft Dynamics AX-GP-NAV-CRM: trends & international recommendations

Microsoft Dynamics project ? or formerly referred as Project Green should unify and modulate all Microsoft Business Solutions ERP applications: Microsoft Great Plains/Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Navision (former Attain) Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft (Navision) Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX. 

Microsoft Dynamics project ? or formerly referred as Project Green should unify and modulate all Microsoft Business Solutions ERP applications: Microsoft Great Plains/Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Navision (former Attain) Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft (Navision) Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX.  The challenge of unification probably will result in quality change for the unified interface, such as Web/Business portal/Microsoft Outlook & MS Office integration, Deployment of new technologies, such as Microsoft Sharepoint with workflow automation.  Plus the development platform for Microsoft Dynamics products should shift from proprietary tools, such as Microsoft Dexterity, C/SIDE, MorphX (no confirmation for Axapta yet ? but we guess it should follow) to C# and VB.Net with VisualStudio.  In this small article we will try to orient IT managers in Microsoft Business Solutions MRP products selection for international and regional markets.

• Microsoft Dynamics GP.  The regional markets for Great Plains 9.0 and following Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 version will narrow: United States, United Kingdom, Canada: both English and French speaking, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other English speaking countries in Asia, Africa and Worldwide, plus Spanish Speaking Latin America.  Microsoft Dynamics GP 10 will not be available for Germany, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Poland ? the last version localized for these European countries will be 9.0 ? June 2006
• Microsoft Dynamics NAV.  Currently Navision has very good presence in Europe, including East Europe: Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Slovakia.  Microsoft also localized Navision for new markets, where it just moved in: Brazil for example ? it was interesting development in Brazil ? first Microsoft probed Solomon, then Microsoft Great Plains 7.5 and in 2004 replaced it with localized Navision
• Microsoft Dynamics AX.  Microsoft Axapta, opposite to Navision or Great Plains where market shares are gained/divided and competition is based on renovations and product improvements, Axapta has great potential yet to be deployed, coming from its modern and very futuristic system design and architecture.  Being targeted to upper mid-market and corporate clients Axapta shows very good progress on emerging markets: in Russia for example the number of Axapta installation is similar and comparable with the number of Navision installations.  Plus, in 2005 large number of Microsoft Business Solutions gold certified partners rushed into Axapta consulting arena ? this is seen in the USA, UK, Australia and continental Europe.  In Brazil currently MBS in local Portuguese Axapta launching mode ? localized for Brazilian tax code
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  Is planned as front CRM solution for the majority of Microsoft Dynamics ERP system: integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP is available for GP 7.5, 8.0, 9.0 and CRM 1.2 and 3.0, Microsoft Navision ? through third party integrations, Axapta integration is planned.  Microsoft has Microsoft CRM as worldwide product, so you should not have any doubts regarding your regional market.
• Competition. Oracle is on the way with Oracle Fusion project, aiming on Oracle Financials/Applications/E-Business Suite, PeopleSoft, JDEdwards and potentially Siebel integration.  SAP with the purchase of new mid and small market ERP: SAP Business One and Mendocino ? for SAP R/3 is catching up

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com http://www.greatplains.com.mx http://www.enterlogix.com.br ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.

CRM Budget: How To Bring Your CRM Project In On-Budget

It seems that having a project come in On-Budget is the and holy-grail of project management, especially when it comes to CRM projects. With their 70% failure rate, CRM projects represent a significant risk to a small business' financial health and warrants more "measure twice, cut once" consideration before beginning.

Coming in On-Budget does not mean you managed to squeeze your project into whatever arbitrary budget you came up with when you first started. It also doesn't mean that you started with an overly generous budget.

It does mean that you develop a budget that takes into account an analysis of 4 critical areas:

1. PAYOFF. You need to know exactly how your CRM system is going to generate ROI. This will help you focus your project on the right areas. By knowing how you expect payoff to be achieved, you can plan to achieve it.

2 RISK. You need to figure out where the risk is in your project because "risk=expense". By figuring out what can go wrong, you can take measures to minimize and contain that risk.

3. SERVICES. Be sure to fully account for the variety of services that will be required. A few often overlooked areas that can increase your services bill significantly include: meetings, testing time, debugging time and "while you're here..." time.

4. TECHNOLOGY. Choosing the wrong technology is can be a huge waste of money. From the worst case scenario of a totally failed project to having to spend extra money to make the wrong software do things it wasn't intended to do.

What makes putting together a realistic budget so difficult for small businesses is that it's not what they do and they don't have the experience of having done several before. It's not what they do. So, they rely on the Sellers of CRM who have their own vested interest in not scaring off their customers with numbers that are perceived to be too expensive.

By putting together a realistic budget, you may very well find that the project is going to cost much more than you were intitally prepared to spend. It's best to find this out now and before you "sign on any dotted lines".

If you do find out the project is going to cost more, here are a few ideas of what to do:

- WAIT & SAVE. Perhaps you need to wait 6 months until you have a bigger budget. Use this time to get prepared for the project: learn more about the software choices, make sure you're business processes are as fine tuned as they can be, and focus on how CRM software will generate ROI.

- GO AHEAD. It may be more money than you were expecting, but may still be within your budget. If you're clear on how the CRM system is going to generate ROI and you're otherwise ready, go for it!

- SCALE DOWN. If you have a very clear idea of how the CRM software is going to achieve ROI and you can't afford the full project, focus in a smaller area to begin with that will have a payback. Use this payback to help fund future projects. It's always a good idea to start with smaller, high-payoff projects first.

- FIND MORE ROI. If you have a really clear and compelling business case for how a CRM system is going to improve your bottom-line, it's much easier to find the necessary funds to implement it.

- DOUBLE CHECK. Make sure you're choosing the right technology. Cheap software can often be expensive to implement. Double check to make sure you're basing your budget on the right CRM software. You may find that a software that costs more in licensing, ends up being an overall more affordable solution.

Coming in On-Budget means you started with a realistic budget. The Insider's CRM Success System goes into great detail on how to develop a realistic budget and provides the control forms and worksheets you'll need.

Scott Gingrich is the creator of The Insider's CRM Success Toolkit, the world's most complete and only guaranteed approach to successful CRM projects.www.thecrmcoach.com.

Microsoft CRM Selection

Microsoft CRM is recent (2001) CRM answer from Microsoft and attempt top get market share from traditional vendors: Siebel, Oracle, Onyx. Now it is targeted to the whole spectrum of horizontal and vertical market clientele. It is tightly integrated with other Microsoft Business Solutions products such as Microsoft Great Plains, Solomon, Navision (the last two in progress).

We would like you to give you Microsoft CRM selection advise, based on our MS CRM consulting practice, going back to its inception in 1999. This article is written in FAQ style for beginner level

1. What is your industry how strange it may look close to 40% of our clients or so-called orphan clients who needs help with Microsoft CRM customization are freight forwarding, transportation companies, who needs either improvement in Exchange-CRM connector or MS CRM integration with their freight forwarding system, where they would like to see on the fly resent shipment info. And also to mention freight forwarding companies are usually large (more than 50 CRM users)

2. How comfortable you are with Microsoft technology in-house support The old-days idea of Apple computer was to make computer absolutely intuitive and working for housewife. Now we know that this is not realized so far. If you compare MS CRM with Siebel you will see that MS CRM requires y0u to have Microsoft Certified people in staff. Everyone knows that Microsoft is so innovative that each product requires daily service packs and patches

3. Do you have Great Plains, Solomon or Navision CRM is usually integrated with ERP system and if you are looking at MS CRM you should benefit if you have ERP from Microsoft Business Solutions (Great Plains, Solomon, Navision, Axapta or Small Business Manager - SBM)

4. Operating System Philosophy - Microsoft likes clients who have no UNIX/LINUX/IBM/Apple etc inclination and staked on Microsoft Windows 2003/2000/XP/Longhorn, preferably staying on Intel platform (No AMD Athlon 64)

Have fun in selection and decision. We are here to help you: 1-866-528-0577

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Microsoft CRM, Microsoft Great Plains customization company, based in Chicago, Arizona, Colorado, California, Texas, New York, Georgia and Florida and having locations in multiple states and internationally (www.albaspectrum.com), he is Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer.

akarasev@albaspectrum.com

Microsoft CRM in Brazil: implementation, customization, support overview for consultan

We expect substantial number growth of Microsoft CRM implementations across Brazil and the need for Microsoft CRM implementation, support, tuning, reporting, training services, especially in such business metros as So Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Manaus. 

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is present several years on the US software market plus it makes advances in Europe.  We expect substantial number growth of Microsoft CRM implementations across Brazil and the need for Microsoft CRM implementation, support, tuning, reporting, training services, especially in such business metros as So Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Salvador, Porto Alegre, Curitiba, Belo Horizonte, Recife, Manaus.  In this small article we try to project US market lessons on Brazilian business climate.

• Sales.  Microsoft CRM in opposite to former CRM leaders, such as Siebel, Onyx, Saleslogix doesnt need hard pushing sales efforts.  It also should probably not be sold to the company top management, but rather to IT department enthusiasts, who are in charge for specific legacy business system support and data fixing.  Microsoft CRM is very simple from business logic and intuitively understood by IT group.  It is rather very simplified version of full-featured CRM, such as again Siebel.
• Installation.  Microsoft CRM should be either hosted or installed by in-house IT group.  And this is due to the fact, that MS CRM utilizes all the resent Microsoft technologies: MS Exchange Server 2003/2000, Active Directory, MS SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, MS Outlook client, Microsoft IIS, .Net components, etc.  This makes installation sensitive to existing setup of the above components
• Implementation.  The crucial in the implementation is Workflow design, which should be probably done by consultant with IT in-house specialist.  This process doesnt require a lot of business consulting knowledge and in our experience company middle management actually makes suggestions in the time of initial presentation.  In the case of MS CRM Sales module the workflow should organize leads processing up to the point of closing the deal and following invoicing.  When workflow is realized sales team works as excellent orchestra.
• Customization.  Usually MS CRM ties together existing legacy business systems and replaces large portion of them.  Typical case if you are freight forwarding client and have cargo tracking system you should more likely have lookup from the MS CRM account screen to the customer current shipments statuses.  This is usually made as small web application, created in Visual Studio.Net with MS CRM SDK and SQL queries to legacy database.
• Support.  Because MS CRM is web application it can be used by remote users and automate operations across the whole Brazil and even Worldwide.  The same should be said about MS CRM support your Microsoft Business Solutions CRM Partner can support your installation remotely from say office in So Paulo as if it is located across the street.

Good luck implementing, customizing and reports designing and if you have issues or concerns we are here to help!  If you want us to do the job - give us a call in So Paulo: 55-11-3826-3449, 55-113825-2586! help@albaspectrum.com

Author is MS CRM Specialist in Microsoft Business Solutions Partner Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Navision, Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving client in Brazil, USA, Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona, Toledo, Malaga, Seville, Buenos Aires, Mexico and having locations in multiple states and internationally

 

Microsoft CRM and Great Plains implementation: freight forwarding business automation example

In this small article well show you business automation example, where Microsoft CRM and Great Plains are integrated and customized to fit Freight Forwarding business processes

Microsoft Business Solutions offers several ERP applications: Great Plains, Navision, Solomon and its own CRM solution Microsoft CRM.  Targeting to automate all business operations, Microsoft CRM is now integrated with Microsoft Great Plains and in the close future it should have integration with Microsoft Navision.  In this small article well show you business automation example, where Microsoft CRM and Great Plains are integrated and customized to fit Freight Forwarding business processes.

• CRM.  Central Customer and Vendor records place.  Assuming you have agents across the USA and internationally CRM, being web-interface application and so, could be used across the globe with good internet connection.  The nice features of this product are central emailing you send email from MS CRM and receive responses from your clients back in CRM, where they are permanently stored and documented.  You can issue Quote and Sales Order directly in CRM if needed or could have them issues in Microsoft Great Plains with propagation to Microsoft CRM (deploying MS CRM-Great Plains integration tool BizTalk based connector).
  
• Accounting/ERP.  Microsoft Great Plains could play this role, being integrated with Microsoft CRM and with industry-specific business system.  In the case of Freight Forwarding/Transportation this business system could calculate fees and charged, associated with MBL/HBL and posted against agent accounts.  You could deploy SQL triggers for instant integration or stored procs for scheduled batches.
  
• Great Plains Customizations.  Freight Forwarding specifics require Shipment tracking with SOP and POP invoices posted and tracked against the shipment and probably regular/monthly Agent Settlement report, where you match customer and vendor invoices, associated with the agent shipments and create AR or AP document, depending on positive or negative balance.  This is Great Plains Dexterity customization or web-development (if you need your agents lookup features from remote locations)
  
• Microsoft CRM Customization.  Assuming that you have Shipment Tracking system, which might be SQL or Oracle based you need shipment lookups for your order takers and customer support personnel from Microsoft CRM screens.  Being designed for easy web customization Microsoft CRM allows you to incorporate .Net web application into its screens, such as Account, Contact, Lead, Opportunity, etc.  You use Web Forms and Microsoft CRM SDK to penetrate into MS CRM security realm and then ADO.Net to call third party MS SQL Server or Oracle data
  
• Implementation Advices.  Microsoft CRM should be probably tried as in-house pilot implementation with 5 users license and then you can purchase additional license as you have your users trained.  If you need MS CRM SDK C# or VB.Net programming you could subcontract.  Great Plains requires consultant help to be implemented and integrated, because it has sophisticated tables structure and documents flow mechanism.
  
• Data Conversion.  We recommend you to deploy Great Plains Integration manager to import Vendor and Customers plus open documents.  Historical transactions, if needed should be moved by outside consultant.  Microsoft CRM has import tool try it first and subcontract more complex attachments, for example.

Good luck with implementation and customization and if you have issues or concerns we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients  in Chicago, California, Texas, Florida, New York, Georgia, Arizona, Minnesota, UK, Australia and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ), he is CMA, Great Plains Certified Master, Dexterity, SQL, C#.Net, Crystal Reports and Microsoft CRM SDK developer. You can contact Andrew: andrewk@albaspectrum.com

 

CRM Business Relationship

 A business relationship is different from any other kind of relationship, being a personal or a social relationship. However, to understand what a business relationship means, it is necessary to identify what a relationship is.
A relationship is according to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary a connection between things. A different definition is that it is a memory of past interactions. Both definitions say something about a relationship even though that they do not say exactly the same. However, the definitions do not differ between business relationships and personal relationships, which is important because there is a different objective between the two kinds of relationships. Therefore, a business relationship can be defined as: A bond based on a rational objective, which is to do business with each other.However, as the interaction between the two actors increases, a certain relationship evolves and the knowledge about the other part is increased. Together they create a combined understanding and view of reality. The more common output of the relationship is a decrease in transaction costs, as transactions becomes routinely and the bond between the two companies is strengthening.
When talking about a business relationship, trust comes to mind, because relationships build on trust. However, can a relationship survive without trust? It is possible for a professional relationship to exist without trust, though in most cases trust is a part of the professional relationship. Various authors, such as Paul Greenberg in CRM at the speed of light, 2000, has argued that relationships build on memories of past interactions, because on the first encounter you do not know each other, however, on the second encounter you build the relationship on the previous encounter. He believes that it is the previous encounter that counts in the eyes of the customer. It is true that a need can create a genuine relationship, however, a long-term relationship needs trusts to be able to survive. Furthermore, the better one get to know the other, the better conditions the relationship has to succeed, if there is a honest approach to build the relationship. To some degree the two approaches towards creating a business relationship agree, however, if the objective is to create loyalty both the successful encounter and trust must be accomplished in order to create a successful long-term business relationship.
Rasmus Nielsen has specialised in CRM for several years and been consulting to various companies in Denmark and Australia on the topic. Rasmus also holds a M.Sc. International Business Economics
Other Articles from Rasmus Nielsen
www.frejaweb.net

Is Your CRM System Destined To Fail?

 Its time to put your trusty CRM software to work; to let it earn its keep. You're about to blast an email out to several thousand potential customers. First you run a search of people and companies you want to target. You soon realize somethings wrong when your list is far smaller than anticipated. A quick check reveals many profiles have not been filled in or are missing email addresses. Further inspection shows numerous records are incorrect; others are riddled with typos. And thats just for starters. With a sinking feeling, you realize this email blast isnt going to happen anytime soon.

Time for some damage control or preventative maintenance

Fortunately one of the most common reasons cited for the high failure rate of CRM systems - poor data quality - is also one of the easiest to avoid. Your CRM software is only as good as the information it contains. As the old programmers motto goes garbage in, garbage out. So how can you avoid incomplete, incorrect, irrelevant or out-of-date and generally unfit-for-use data from permeating your CRM software?

You need to gather your key CRM users together and write a standard guideline document, defining the CRM system rules of use.

10 questions that should be addressed:

1. Identify who has what rights to the system; who can Create, Insert,
Modify or Delete records? Forward this information to your system
administrator to record.
2. Decide on a procedure to check for any duplicates before creating a
record. Depending on what de-duping or data scrubbing features your
system has, this might require some simple searches before starting a new
record.
3. Do you allow abbreviations or acronyms? For example: IBM, or I.B.M,
or International Business Machines Inc. A policy on ensuring consistency
of input will help to avoid duplications in future.
4. Are records going to be created in Upper and Lower case and when are
CAPS acceptable?
5. By when do you expect records, notes and so on to be created or
updated? Same day, on return to the office?
6. Is the primary address of clients to be created as a postal or a
physical address?
7. Make sure everyone checks spellings if they are unsure. When in
doubt, ask the client or Google it.
8. Make rules for creating new tabs or Custom Objects (as
salesforce.com CRM calls them.) Every time a new Custom Object is needed,
it should first be approved.
9. Ensure that email addresses are put in correctly. Basic but common
mistake!
10. Set up procedures, if not supported by your crm software, of how to
create records from inbound emails.

Once your document is finished, get everyone to sign off on it. As
standard practice, ensure that document is handed to all new employees at
your company.

How do I reinforce this as time goes on?
Try this: select a couple of records - both good and bad - every week, to
put on the overhead at staff meetings. Make sure you dont unduly
embarrass anybody but watch this become the light-relief highlight of your
meetings! People learn best when having fun!

What if your database is in one unholy mess?
Has the rot set in so deeply that your database needs a complete overhaul?
Turn this seemingly insurmountable task into an opportunity to you. This
is an excellent excuse to re-establish contact with your clients and let
them know you care.

Importantly, help your staff understand what you need from the data to
facilitate more accurate marketing and reporting and hence the success of
your business and their careers.

By creating a sense of pride and ownership in the company database, you
are nurturing the essential process of buy-in, necessary for the success
of your CRM initiative. Dont compromise this critical tool by allowing
your CRM software to be infected by inferior data.
David Cowgill is a Senior Marketing Manager in San Francisco. His coverage area focuses on the technologies that facilitate managing CRM analytics and lead generation.

For further information contact:
David Cowgill
CRM Blog Founder
http://crm.blogs.com

 

Hosted CRM: What is it?

San Francisco, CA (ARTICLEMARKETER) August 09, 2005 -- When hosted CRM was first introduced, concerns were voiced about its drawbacks: the lack of customization, integration with other applications, support, third party storage, control over data control and the performance of service reps - not to mention the all-important security issue. Hostings biggest drawback is that your most important data is in a third-partys hands.

Although CRM, as hosted solutions are also known, are not as difficult or as costly to install as packaged solutions, they still require an infrastructure, significant IT resources, and time to deploy.

Application integration has been another challenge for ASPs. Since ASPs unilaterally update their code bases, this opens the possibility that an integrated business process could be broken by a change that you dont control.

Privacy and privacy laws are another concern: you must investigate what safeguards an ASP offers to protect your data. As you can see, hosted CRM isnt perfect. Aberdeen researchers found that when considering these problems, support for hosting dampens. One way around this might be a hybrid approach: rent now, buy later.


It Does Not Have To Be Either-Or

Another emerging trend is that companies adopt hosted solutions as a low-risk way of evaluating a CRM solutions capabilities before they buy into an in-house set up. This approach allows companies to mitigate risk and experience the benefits of rapid time-to-value. Once companies see a ROI, then they can choose to bring the solution in-house.

The decision between an in-house implementation and a hosted solution is based on many factors. It is important to evaluate your business plan, technology strategy, risk profile, IT budgets, IT resources, opportunity costs, customization requirements and industry-sector requirements.


Visit http://www.sales-force-software.com for more information.

David Cowgill
http://www.sales-force-software.com
e-mail protected from spam bots
 

Microsoft CRM is winning market share step-by-step from such the traditional CRM providers as Siebel, Saleslogix. In this article well show Microsoft

Nowadays VOIP-based technologies and Instant Messaging Systems are getting wider and wider spread. Each work desk or each personal computer has one or another instrument of information exchange, belonging to the VOIP or instant messaging systems. Currently the mostly presented information exchange systems are:
Skype (http://www.skype.com). Revolution system of sound compression the tolerance to the bandwidth of the channel enabled VoIP amusement features to the general internet world-wide user with microphone and headset, Windows/Linux/Mac OS X operating systems, internet access and free registration with Skype. Plus Skype application has instant messenger between skype users. New features and services SkypeOut and SkypeIn allow you not only to call to the regular phones from your computers with very low rates, but also accept the calls on your skype phone number in the SkypeIn system.
MSN Messenger (http://messenger.msn.com). Quite successful attempt of the Microsoft open the door to the instant messengers market. MSN Messenger gained market with the speed of light, due to the tight integration with Microsoft Windows. Every new version adds new functionalities MSN Spaces integration, audio and video transfer etc.
Yahoo! Messenger (http://messenger.yahoo.com). IM system of the Yahoo! portal, has standard set of features for communication, including audio and video stream transfer.
AOL Instant Messenger (http://www.aim.com). This is one of the veterans of the IM system market. Considering the popularity of AOL as internet provider AOL instant messenger holds substantial market share.
ICQ (http://www.icq.com). Yes we do not have to give you additional comments, we are targeting this article to IT professionals who were working in the Clinton era of American internet miracle and booming. Let us just add that with the release of version 5 ICQ introduced new features of the audio and video conversation.
VoIP & IM systems are popular not only in the home office environment, but are gaining popularity in the corporate market. One of the proves is the release of Microsoft Live Communication Server, which allows messages streams coordination and control. Natural idea should we enable VoIP and IM conversation with automatic protocol? It is always good to have paper copy of the MSN conference, related to the project, product, in the form of MS CRM Activity. Or, from CRM interface to call your potential customer via Skype. Or accept the incoming call via SkypeIn and record the call to the CRM database to be accurate with the following negotiations. The usage is really unlimited and is currently restricted only by human conservative nature
Now, lets consider the schema of MS CRM extensions to enable such a system:
The main component is Albaspectrum Media Core for MS CRM the module, providing media streams saving in the special database, interaction with the specializing connectors to IM/VoIP systems. Its function is also Activity creation in the Microsoft CRM system.
The second important component is modification to these forms: Contact, Account etc. Modification is adding phones, addresses, Skype, MSN, AOL, Yahoo identifiers. Also we have to add SkypeOut phone calls service. In the future we plan PBX/PSTN support via MS Office Communicator 2005
Planned addition - Answering Machine module, controlling incoming calls and messages from clients and saves them in Media Database. If manager is out of his desk, system will save the message and will create Activity in personal queue you will not miss no one customer call! Plus all the calls from non-registered clients/prospects might be associated with one or another Account, Contact, Lead, etc.

Lets consider the process of the phone call/receiving or message recording:
CRM User opens client form and reads telephone or skype ID to place the call. If she/he would like to talk to skype user Skype application must be installed of the local machine and she/he needs to be skype online user. If she/he calls to another Skype user, then we dont have additional requirements. In the case when call is placed on PSTN number, CRM user needs to have SkypeOut active account. In both cases when user picks up the phone or is absent CRM activity will be created with the relevant status. If the call was accepted, automatic call recording will be switched on, activity will be created with the indication on the phone duration. For MSN, Yahoo!, ICQ audio conversations all the mentioned above is relevant, except PSTN support (currently skype only).
The above described process is similar for instant messenger conversations, recorded by MSN Messenger, ICQ, Yahoo! Messenger, AOL Instant Messenger.
CRM User could appeal to Full-Text Search upon the saving to Media Database of text talks directly from the MS CRM interface.
For the users, who are accessing CRM over the internet we envision IM system support (as http://webmessenger.msn.com) in the MS CRM forms.
Good luck with integration! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

Boris is Lead Software Developer in Alba Spectrum Technologies USA nationwide Great Plains, Microsoft CRM customization company, serving clients in Chicago, Houston, Atlanta, Phoenix, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Miami, Denver, UK, Australia, Canada, Europe and having locations in multiple states and internationally ( http://www.albaspectrum.com)

Microsoft CRM Integration with IBM Lotus Notes Domino machinery dealership example

IBM Lotus Notes with Domino email server is traditional document workflow management solution for large corporate business, where you need audit trail on approval cycle and decision making. Microsoft Business Solutions CRM is very cost efficient solution to automate sales process. It might be surprising, but we see good strata of clients who are willing to deploy and integrate both systems: MS CRM and Lotus Domino. In our opinion these clients are balancing ERP platform risks and trying to protect and deploy investments into Lotus licenses, while deploying new and already leading CRM solution Microsoft CRM. In this small article well give you the integration example European division of one of the well known machinery manufacturer dealership network.

Custom Lotus Database. In our case client had custom database, which was designed back in the beginning of 1990th. Some dealers had Lotus Notes Domino 4.0 and some of them had 6.0 and 6.5. Technical excurse in Lotus Notes Domino 6.0 you can use Java 2 agents, and it seems to be platform independent (Microsoft Windows Server, IBM AS/400). To synch all the dealerships the decision was made to upgrade across the network to Lotus Notes Domino 6.0 (to be a bit conservative)

Domino Messaging. Obviously you have to have just one email server assigned to your url domain, and as traditionally Lotus Domino was the email server the replacement with Microsoft Exchange 2003 (which is natural choice if you purchase Microsoft CRM) was not an option. With Alba Spectrum Technologies MS CMR Lotus Notes Domino connector you can switch email messaging to Lotus Domino

Lotus & MS CRM events synchronization. IBM and Microsoft software designers designed CRM & Lotus events differently. Second phase of the project implementation will synchronize appointments, calendar events, etc. between Lotus and MS CRM.

MS CRM ODBC lookups to Lotus database. As the second phase we plan to implement lookups from MS CRM Account to cases with custom fields and Lotus notes lookup tab. This tab will be realized as web .net application, integrated into MS CRM web interface. This web application will have machine serial number, warranty & service info. As you probably know in MS CRM 3.0 you can deploy custom table in link it to MS CRM object as one-to-many. The most important is that it will be synchronized by MS Outlook and will allow you as a salesperson to work offline.

You can always have us help you with MS CRM customization, implementation, support & MS CRM SDK data conversion. Give us a call: 866.528.0577 or 1.630.961.598, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) - Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing and having locations in multiple states and internationally.

help@albaspectrum.comMicrosoft CRM Lotus Notes Domino Connector FAQAndrew Karasev

Microsoft Business Solutions CRM and IBM Lotus Notes Domino, being two groupware products from competing software development leaders, however could coexist within one organization computer network and even work together in collaboration. There maybe multiple reason why corporation would use both products: licensing, commitment to IBM Lotus Notes as legacy product, risk balancing staking on both Microsoft and Java/EJB/J2EE platforms, deploying Lotus advanced workflow to automate document management, etc. The need to synchronize MS CRM and Lotus Notes Domino databases is dictated by the ERP market and the connector is available. In this small article well answer on the frequently asked questions.

Messaging. Can MS CRM use Lotus Domino instead of Microsoft Exchange? Yes. MS CRM Lotus Domino connector allows you send messages from MS CRM objects: Lead, Account, Contact and all the future object, including Sales and Service modules

Outgoing Messaging. When Microsoft CRM send email from Account, Contact, Lead connector takes control over and sends email through Lotus Domino server. It has Java Agent at the Lotus side and MS CRM SDK custom piece at the MS CRM side. If you compare outgoing messaging with standard MS CRM Exchange connector, then mechanism is slightly different. Microsoft CRM Exchange connector places GUID in the message header and uses this GUID to identify the object in the responding email to push it back to CRM and attach. MS CRM Lotus connector doesnt use GUID instead it scans MS CRM objects (Accounts, Contacts, Leads) in smart cached way

Incoming Messages. When Lotus Domino server receives email Java Agent side of the connector triggers checking with MS CRM if addressor email matches with any Contact, Lead or Account email. In the case of the match email is transferred into MS CRM in the form of activity of email type. Again please note that connector doesnt use GUID mechanism. We found that matching is better approach and we have Microsoft CRM Exchange advanced connector which works with matching, without standard GUID mechanism.

Microsoft CRM & Lotus Notes Events synchronization. Future version of the connector will synchronize MS CRM and Lotus Notes objects: Calendar, Appointment, Fax, Phone Call, etc. Please, note that Lotus has different objects we have the matching table, please check with us.

Lotus & MS CRM Versions. Lotus should be version 6.0 or higher. The reason for this is simple version 6.0 supports Java Agent technology. MS CRM should be 1.2 or 3.0. Lotus could work in multiple hardware & OS platforms, such as Windows Server, AS/400, etc.

Product Pricing. It is US$3k basic pack, including 30 users and then $75 each additional user. In Europe price is proportional in Euro.

Support. Product is installed Worldwide and supported in Europe from German office, in the USA and Canada from Houston and Chicago, in South America, Africa, Australia, Asia, New Zealand from office in Sao Paulo Brazil.

Please give us a call if you have additional questions 866-528-0577 or 630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Canada, UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Russia. Alba Spectrum serves corporate clients in Aerospace & Defense, Oil & Gas, Chemicals, Manufacturing, Transportation & Logistics, Pharmaceutical, Food Processing, Placement, Healthcare & Medicine, Beverages, Agriculture, Non-profit, Distribution & Supply Chain Management, Financial Services, Furniture, Textile, Apparels, Conglomerates, Wholesale & Retail.help@albaspectrum.com

Microsoft Great Plains & CRM in Transportation & Logistics overview

 

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains and MS CRM (client relation management system) are very popular in various industries and market niches. In previous article we described Microsoft Great Plains implementation for transportation & logistics company. Having more material, we would like to share with you how you can leverage Microsoft Business Solutions products to automate your business. Well try to be both technical and business processes specific and be laconic to comply the rules of tiny article.

• Cargo/Shipment Tracking System. Transportation & Logistics industry is pretty mature and you more likely have industry standard (like Efreight) or custom system. So, if you plan to implement new ERP it should be tightly integrated with your cargo tracking system.

• Customer Base. This is the question of the core application. If you have to sell to a large number of prospects and track their relatively small shipments you should first consider Microsoft CRM, which has Sales and Service modules. In this case you should enable shipment status lookup from MS CRM screens. In the case when you ship to limited number of large customers you are focusing on the profitability of the shipments and looking at Great Plains as the core system.

• Agent Settlement. This seems to be logistics industry feature. You use agents and settle their AR/AP invoices on the monthly or weekly basis. In Great Plains you should use customer/vendor consolidation, available for Great Plains Professional version. Plus you will need Great Plains Dexterity or .Net customization to link SOP and POP invoices in the settlement process.

• eConnect. Each logistics business has unique business processes and this is why we see software developers in staff plus strong IT department. This makes eConnect (Microsoft Great Plains SDK) very popular among logistics companies. You can create Great Plains objects: Customers, Invoices, Purchase Orders, etc. Plus it allows you to eliminate GP licenses cost you can have users work with Great Plains through web forms

• Integration Technology. In the case of both Great Plains and Microsoft CRM you use MS SQL Server linked server technology. Then you deploy MS CRM SDK, Dexterity, Heterogeneous Stored Procedures.

• Programming Tools. You use Visual Studio.Net to program MS CRM lookups, in some cases you can use WebMatrix, but we do not recommend tools, which do not have rich debugging features.

• Reporting. Crystal Reports is the tool of choice. You should create heterogeneous SQL view and base you Crystal Report on this view. Microsoft CRM security suggests you to use MS CRM SDK or built-in Crystal Reports Enterprise to comply.

• MS CRM Messaging. Microsoft CRM Exchange connector has relatively straightforward mechanism GUID in the message header. If you need advanced messaging capturing emails, based on contact email or domain you main consider advanced connector, developed and supported by Alba Spectrum Technologies. In some cases you would like to use Lotus Notes Domino as email server this is also possible.

You can always have us help you, give us a call: 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is consultant and CTO in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Microsoft Business Solutions partner, serving clients in Illinois, New York, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Minnesota, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, Asia, Russia. He is Microsoft Great Plains certified master, Great Plains Dexterity, Microsoft CRM SDK C#.Net, Crystal Repots developer.

help@albaspectrum.com