Please join Hitachi Consulting for a demonstration of the power and flexibility of the award winning Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 on October 12^th, 2011 at 1:00 pm EST.

Click Here to register for this event. 

You will see the following:

• Outlook embedded CRM
• Navigation through Modules
• Dashboards & Analytics
• Views and ad hoc reports
• 360 degree view of Customers
• Sales Management – ROI
• Marketing Campaigns
• Qualify
• Sales Process Workflow
• Customer Service & Support
• Enter a Case
• Knowledge Base
• Dialogs & Escalation Workflow
• Customer Service Scheduling
• CRM for Field Service Automation
• Plus a few surprises to keep you on your toes

 Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 can provide your company multiple ways to improve productivity in every aspect of your business.

• Sales Solutions – Optimize your sales efforts with the familiar and intelligent features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Take advantage of a highly intuitive interface and embedded Microsoft Office capabilities to increase time with customers, shorten sales cycles, increase close rates, and achieve real-time insight.
• Customer Service Solutions – Microsoft Dynamics CRM meets the changing expectations of customers with a service solution that is robust and flexible. Users find familiar functionality and an interface that let them work in a personal, natural way. This intelligent solution informs customer service professionals with guidance that is insightful and actionable. The result is a connected, collaborative, and integrated organization.
• Marketing Solutions – Get a CRM marketing solution that is flexible, easy to use, and engineered to fit your business. Transform every touch point into a marketing opportunity and harness the undiscovered potential within your customer base. With familiar and intelligent marketing capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, you can market more effectively, improve productivity, and gain actionable insight into your marketing efforts.
• Extended CRM - Organizations also need to manage other relationships that are integral to success—employees, partners, suppliers, distributors, vendors, and many other critical stakeholders. Microsoft Dynamics CRM can easily be customized for these “Extended CRM” scenarios and enhance the value of all relationships, improve business relevance and fit, drive operational excellence and increase business insights.

Microsoft is again offering the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online “Cloud for Less” promotion. This deal essentially gives a discount by providing $150 cash back for each user seat purchased. So, buy 50 seats and get $7,500 back. Seats are $44 per user per month each so that’s a significant offer.

More detail is at http://crm.dynamics.com/en-us/offers/cloud-crm-for-less

Update Rollup 4 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 On-Premise is now available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?ID=27554%20

More detail about Update Rollup 4 and what it includes can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=2556167

KB 2547347 Update Rollup 3 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is now available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=26912

More detail can be found at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=2547347

When you’re in an entity such as Accounts or Contacts, toward the bottom is a list of letters that allow you to search records by alphabet. Most of the time you probably won’t need to change the configuration of this feature. But in some cases, such as when creating a custom field, you may want the alphabet search to use a different field or search criteria.

There are a couple different ways to configure the Alphabet Bar search. One is a new feature.

1. Changing the field alphabet search uses: This applies to both CRM 4.0 Online and On-Premise. It’s a simple change but not overly obvious because there’s nothing in the settings that reference configuring alphabet search. To change the configuration go to Settings, Customizations, and open the Entity (Accounts, Contacts, etc) you wish to change. Click Forms and Views, open a View (e.g. Active Accounts), and click Configure Sorting. The field that is showing in the Column picklist is what the alphabet bar search uses. Change the field to the one you want to search, Save/Publish, and you’re done. This change needs to be made to each individual View (e.g. Active Accounts, My Accounts, etc) that you want this change to apply to.
2. Customizing the Alphabet Bar: This is a new feature that is a little more complex and only applies to CRM 4.0 On-Premise. For companies who have implemented Update Rollup 15 for Microsoft CRM the Alphabet Bar can be customized. Details can be found on Microsoft’s MSDN site.

KB 2449283 Update Rollup 15 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=a43147c9-e87e-41b3-bf46-ac1244a0475c&displaylang=en

Update Rollup 15 contains a cumulative set of updates and hotfixes. For more information see Article ID 2449283 at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=2449283

I’d recommend reading the article before getting started so you understand what’s involved including the prerequisites. As always, I’d suggest doing a full backup of the MSCRM databases and even exporting customizations as a precaution. Also, I’d suggest installing this in your test environment and then testing for server and user issues before implementing it in your production environment.

Today Microsoft publicly released Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online, the cloud version!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 On-Premise and Partner Hosted versions have a release date of February 28th, 2011.

Here’s the public Press Pass http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2011/jan11/1-17MSCRMOnlinePR.mspx  

The updated CRM 2011 website has a free 30-day trial and limited time launch offer of $34 per user per month. http://crm.dynamics.com

Microsoft is also offering a cash back promotion for companies who switch to Microsoft CRM from certain Salesforce.com and Oracle products. http://www.cloudcrmforless.com

The Virtual Launch is on January 20th is at http://crm.dynamics.com/2011launch

The Chicago in-person launch is event is on March 8, 2011. Registration and detail are at https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032471465&EventCategory=1&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is hosting the Global Virtual Launch Event for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 on Thursday, January 20th at 9:00 AM Pacific Standard Time.

More detail and registration for the Virtual CRM 2011 Launch Event is at http://crm.dynamics.com/2011launch

There are also quite a few local in-person launch events being held throughout the United States. More detail and locations are at http://crm.dynamics.com/2011launch/?tabid=NAevents

The new 2011 version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is just around the corner due to be released in January.  On Tuesday, March 8th Microsoft is holding a Chicago launch event for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place.

Hitachi Consulting is a sponsor so I’ll definitely be there. I’d be glad to meet with you while I’m there so feel free to contact me in advance to make arrangements.

The previous Microsoft launch event for Microsoft CRM 4.0 was really nicely done and had a huge attendance. CRM 2011 is really hot right now so this should be a great event.

Location
Hyatt Regency McCormick Place
2233 S King Dr
Chicago Illinois 60616
United States

Date & Time
Tuesday, March 08, 2011 8:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Central Time (US & Canada)
Welcome Time: 7:45 AM

More detail and registration for the Chicago event can be found at https://msevents.microsoft.com/CUI/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=1032471465&EventCategory=1&culture=en-US&CountryCode=US

More detail about other launch event locations throughout the United States is at http://crm.dynamics.com/2011launch/?tabid=NAevents

Now that the hot new Microsoft Dynamics CRM version 2011 is just around the corner Microsoft is offering a pretty nice promotion for users of several competing products. It’s called “Cloud CRM for Less”.

Not only are they offering discounted pricing, they’re giving cash back when you switch from Salesforce.com, Siebel CRM, or Oracle CRM On-Demand!

The discounted price is $34 per user per month. That’s pretty compelling compared to other systems at $65, $125 or more.

On top of that, they’re giving back $200 cash per user license purchased! So for example if you switch 30 users you get $6,000 back.

To qualify you need to switch from one of the qualifying products, purchase at least 15 user licenses of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, and sign a two year agreement.

More detail is at http://offers.crmchoice.com/Cloud-CRM-For-Less/

A Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online 30 Day Trial of the current version is at http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crmresults/countdown/thirtyday.aspx

A beta  trial version of the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online is at http://offers.crmchoice.com/CRM2011Beta-Landing

The new Microsoft CRM 2011 version is really slick! If you’re using a competing product give Microsoft CRM 2011 a look.

Microsoft released Beta trial versions of both CRM 2011 Online and On-Premise. 

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online Public Beta trial signup page
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 On-Premise Public Beta trial download page

Symptoms

You can’t log in to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. When you try logging in to CRM Online with your Windows Live ID (WLID) the screen goes blank, or partially loads, and then appears to be stuck in a loop of refreshing, reloading, or resetting. After about 5-10 seconds of reloading it shows the error message:

Windows Live ID is unavailable from this site for one of the following reasons:
• This site may be experiencing a problem
• The site may not be a member of Windows Live ID

This appears to be an issue with Internet Explorer. Here’s what fixed the problem for me for both times I’ve run into it.

In Internet Explorer ( I’m using version 8 )

• In the top menu click “Tools”
• Select “Internet Options” from the dropdown menu
• In the window that opens select the “Security” tab
• Select the “Trusted Sites” checkmark
• Click the “Sites” button
• In the window that opens in the area that says “Add this website to the zone”
  • Enter https://*.crm.dynamics.com and click “Add”
  • Then enter https://login.live.com and click “Add”
• Close all open windows
• Close and then open Internet Explorer

Microsoft recently announced some updates to the next version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. I was expecting the next version to be “5.0” but Microsoft seems to like to change naming formats of their products occasionally. So now it’s officially Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. 

Here’s a press pass with more detail on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

The most recent updates include:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online will be launched by the end of 2010
• CRM Online will be available in 40 markets and 41 languages by the end of 2010
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 On-Premise will be launched early 2011
• An updated video overview of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is now available
• Microsoft will be launching Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace in September 2010
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Public Beta will be available in September 2010

Congratulations to Panduit!

This is a huge deal. For those of you not familiar with Convergence it’s one of Microsoft’s biggest events of the year. This year Microsoft, partners, and clients took over Atlanta for a few days.

Microsoft presents clients and their partners with different levels of awards based on projects they’ve worked on together. I’m not sure how many partners Microsoft has but I would guess in tens of thousands. Of all of the clients and partners out there our client Panduit, along with Hitachi Consulting, were presented with one of the highest level awards for Overall Excellence – Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  And Panduit is a Chicago area client. How sweet is that? 

Here’s a case study for the Panduit and Hitachi Microsoft Dynamics CRM project:
http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Case_Study_Detail.aspx?casestudyid=4000007014

And I’m not done yet. Another Hitachi Consulting client, T.D. Williamson, took home an award for Excellence in Innovation – Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Two major awards for our Microsoft Dynamics practice!

Here’s the list of winners on Microsoft’s Convergence site:
http://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/convergence/atlanta10/about_excellence.aspx

There’ve been some recent updates on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5 release and availability but no solid dates yet. The standard answer has been “second half of 2010”. But it now looks like “end of the year” was mentioned at the Microsoft Convergence event.

Here’s a press release from Microsoft where it says “Availability of the new product will begin in the second half of 2010”.

SearchCRM narrows it down a bit further stating “Meanwhile, the next release of CRM Dynamics on-premise, referred to as “CRM 5″ internally at Microsoft, will be released around the end of the year.”

I’ve updated my Microsoft Dynamics CRM Product Info page to include links to information and videos about CRM 5.0.

 The Online version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes a pretty nifty tool called Internet Lead Capture. This feature is really handy for companies who get lead emails from their website contact page. Below is a typical email from a website submission form:

From: administrator
Sent: Tuesday, April 27, 2010 5:49 PM
To: website_leads@yourcompany.com
Subject: New website lead

First Name:             Paul
Last Name:             Velgos
Company:               Hitachi
Business Phone:     (219) 561-7180
Email:                    pvelgos @ hitachiconsulting.com
Description:           Hi, I love Microsoft CRM

Whoever handles these frequently uses a manual process to manage them. Maybe they forward the email leads to other employees and hope the person does something with them. Or if they do track the leads they might copy and paste each line into a spreadsheet. For companies getting more than a handful of emails a day this gets to be a time consuming process and leads can fall through the cracks.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a method of automatically capturing the lead data from your website and also be able to easily track communication history and progress?  This is exactly what Internet Lead Capture does. No more copy and paste!

Internet Lead Capture is a wizard-based tool that enables you to create a website contact form, called a Landing Page, and add fields from CRM Online such as Name, Email, and Phone. When someone fills out and submits the form the information they enter gets converted into a Lead record within CRM Online and the data is automatically copied to the appropriate fields. Pretty slick.  Here’s how it works.

Selecting the Internet Lead Capture option loads the Get Started screen. In this area you can create new landing pages and view your leads. To create a new form click Create a new landing page.

This opens the Landing Pages window where you can create a lead capture page or a lead capture form. What’s the difference?

The lead capture page is hosted by Microsoft, offers a handful of color options and themes, and can be created by someone with zero technical knowledge.

The lead capture form gives you HTML code you can use to add the form to your existing website. This allows you to keep your website layout and appearance so the form looks totally seamless. 

In this example I’ll create a lead capture page by clicking the Create Page icon.

This opens the Create New Landing Page window. Here you can pick a name for your website address, page layout, and theme.

Clicking Next opens the Edit Lead Capture Page window. Here you can enter details about your company and also choose the fields you want to appear on the form. You can select from most fields that exist in the Leads entity. The default is Company Name and Last Name. I added First Name, Email, Business Phone, and Description. You can also choose which fields to make mandatory.  I chopped off some of the form because it’s a bit long but there are more options to add your company logo and privacy statement.

Then comes the Review and Confirm page that lets you see the final result and also go back to make any changes if needed. Clicking Finish brings up a page (not shown) that provides a summary and also the website address of your contact page.

When you enter the website address in your browser it displays your submission form. I filled out the form and submitted it.

When you go back to the Internet Lead Capture Get Started page there’s a link to View all leads. Here you can review the Leads and decide who to assign them to.

Once assigned they show up in the main Leads area of CRM Online. Here’s the Lead I submitted. Notice that the form data is copied to the correct fields. From here you can manage this Lead, store communication history, and determine if they’re a fit to do business with.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM includes a lot of tools to automate processes. This is just another small feature that can add up to some serious productivity gains.

I’m a bit behind on keeping things up to date around here. Interest in Microsoft CRM seems to have been very high so far this year so more projects has meant less blogging. I’m working on doing more frequent updates that are short and sweet. So here goes… 

KB 979347 Update Rollup 10 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5da4d352-1d3f-4426-9c17-b256c30afdb9

Update Rollup 10 contains a cumulative set of updates and hotfixes. For more information see Article ID 979347 at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=979347

I’d suggest reading the article before getting started so you understand what’s involved. There are prerequisites such as needing to have Update Rollup 7 installed before going to higher version including Update Rollup 10.

As always, I’d suggest doing a full backup of MSCRM databases and even exporting customizations as a precaution. Update Rollup 10 can be uninstalled but it’s better to be safe in case the uninstall has a meltdown. Also, I’d suggest installing this in your test environment and then testing for server and user issues before implementing it in your production environment.

 KB 977650 Update Rollup 9 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 was released on February 11th, 2010 and is available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=5869f2b3-d1a0-4f71-8be3-fde6e8053a2e

Update Rollup 9 contains a cumulative set of updates and hotfixes for Microsoft Dynamics CRM On-Premise. For more information see Article ID 977650 at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=977650

I’d suggest reading the 977650 article before getting started so you understand what’s involved. There are prerequisites including Update Rollup 7 and special considerations regarding Office and Exchange 2010.

As always, I’d suggest doing a full backup of MSCRM databases and even exporting customizations as a precaution. Update Rollup 9 can be uninstalled but it’s better to be safe in case the uninstall has a meltdown. Also, I’d suggest installing this in your test environment and then testing for server and user issues before implementing it in your production environment.

KB975995 Update Rollup 8 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 was released on December 18th and is available for download at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=c53b2916-6b93-4092-bdd3-a394c96ca000

Update Rollup 8 contains a cumulative set of updates and hotfixes. For more information see Article ID 975995 at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=975995

Before you do anything else I’d suggest reviewing the above article in-depth.

One key thing to note is that Update Rollup 7 is now a prerequisite for deploying Update Rollup 8. Update Rollup 7 made some pretty significant modifications to CRM and especially the CRM for Outlook Client.

As always, I’d suggest doing a full backup of MSCRM. Update Rollup 8 can be uninstalled but it’s better to be safe in case the uninstall tanks. Also, I’d suggest installing this in your test environment and then testing both for server and user issues.

Microsoft recently released an updated Statement of Direction for Dynamics CRM.

It covers upcoming Accelerators, Adapters, and XRM. It also gives an overview of the next version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, aptly code-named “ V.Next”, which most likely will end up being called Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0.

Microsoft customers can download the document through CustomerSource.