Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Microsoft is bringing customer relationship management (CRM) software into a new era with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.
It is a flexible CRM solution that works the way your people do, works the way your business does, and works the way IT
wants it to. Visit the links on this page for more information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0.
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Product overview:
Business moves at light speed today, requiring that every company continuously reexamine direction, strategies, suppliers,
partners - literally every variable and relationship that might lead to complacency. The intensified search for competitive
advantage may mean that some of your best customers pick up and leave without you ever knowing that there was a problem.
How well can you react to - and even predict - ever-shifting customer needs and competitor moves?
Infuse your organization with new levels of customer intelligence using Microsoft Dynamics CRM version 3.0, an all-new customer
relationship management (CRM) system that gives every customer-facing employee the information they need to truly impress
customers. With Microsoft CRM, you can create a centralized repository of customer data that sits neatly alongside Microsoft
Office and Microsoft Office Outlook - the applications your employees probably use every day. From Outlook, employees access
Microsoft CRM sales, marketing, and customer service modules to make sales decisions, market products, solve problems, and
get strategic views of the business. It’s CRM that works - and works very well - because it works the way your users already
do, works the way your business already does, and works the way technology should.
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Works the way you do
 Microsoft CRM is quite simply the fastest and easiest way to
add CRM capabilities to any organization that uses Microsoft Office or Outlook. Because it was designed to partner with
Outlook, Microsoft CRM delivers lower training costs, broader user adoption, less application-switching, higher productivity,
and an incredibly rapid return on investment.
Microsoft CRM can give your employees direct access to customer information through Microsoft Outlook, enabling access to
the information they need when they need it, in the office or on the road. Microsoft CRM lets you work the way you want
to work with features such as:
- Tight integration with Microsoft Office and Outlook, allowing employees to easily pull information from
Microsoft CRM into Office applications such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheet software and Word.
- Quick and easy access to your data through context-sensitive information for populating forms or taking
next steps without changing screens.
- Customized workspaces that allow users to create, save, and reuse favorite views of customer data without
the distraction of unneeded information.
- Service Calendar that allows service schedulers and dispatchers to schedule activities by resource, time,
or service.
- Powerful reporting and analysis tools that make it easy to identify opportunities and problems at a glance.
- Great mobile support that allows field workers to get instant access to customer data from any personal
digital assistant (PDA), laptop, or browser.
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Works the way your business does
 Microsoft CRM not only slips right into your employees’ lives
without disruption, it also adapts easily to your existing business workflow and processes. You or your information technology
(IT) partner can quickly modify application forms, data fields, and relationships and add new activities and objects without
writing a single line of code. This makes it easy to tailor Microsoft CRM to suit your needs and fit your business like
a glove. You’ll also find a number of elegant workflow innovations that speed use, including next-step suggestions and automatic
task assignment. Microsoft CRM also includes capabilities such as:
- A new marketing automation module that makes it easy to build customer or lead lists, create targeted marketing
campaigns, track the progress of those campaigns, and follow up on campaigns.
- Quick Campaign wizard that allows marketers and salespeople to send out e-mail blasts to targeted lists
and track response.
- Service scheduling that allows you to centrally manage all aspects of a service request, from logging and
dispatching to tracking and follow-up.
- Easy customization of Microsoft CRM to your business workflow by adding custom objects and activities,
designing custom views for different users, and building business logic into the CRM so that Microsoft CRM automates repetitive
tasks, tells users next steps, sends e-mails, and raises alerts for open items - nothing falls through the cracks, giving
your customers a better experience.
- Flexible reporting that enables managers to easily see how your business is doing - CRM data can be transferred
into Microsoft Excel for analysis or into Microsoft SharePoint Portal Server for updating executive dashboards or collaborating
on customer-related documents.
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Works the way technology should
Microsoft CRM works the way your IT staff wants it to because it’s based on proven, industry-standard Microsoft technology
that’s easy to learn and work with. You’ll enjoy a rapid, low-cost deployment; low support costs; and easy scalability as
your business grows. IT-friendly features include:
- Easy to modify forms, data fields, and information relationships so that users can get the customized information
they need.
- Streamlined installation diagnostic tools that reduce setup time and help ensure a successful deployment
of Microsoft CRM.
- Fast data searches across large volumes of customer data that help users find the information they need.
- Easy to use step-by-step Microsoft Exchange Connector Deployment Wizard that simplifies Microsoft CRM integration
with Microsoft Exchange and Outlook.
- Simple and fast connectivity to external data sources that gives users access to relevant information.
- Advanced management and notification tools that are centralized and give the IT staff the right information
to manage a CRM system.
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Fast facts about Microsoft CRM
- Editions: Microsoft CRM 4.0 is available in two editions: Microsoft Dynamics Professional Edition and Microsoft
Dynamics CRM 3.0 Small Business Edition – Compare editions
- Licensing:
Check out special offers, and review licensing options.
- Languages: Offered in English, German, French, Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Greek, Brazilian, Swedish,
Polish, Czech, Russian, Hungarian, and Turkish.
- System requirements: Review hardware and software requirements necessary to implement Microsoft CRM.
- Support: Support professionals and self-support options offer around-the-clock access to information. Evaluate support programs.
- Integration: Microsoft CRM integrates with key Microsoft products including Microsoft Office and Microsoft
Windows Small Business Server.
Learn why Microsoft CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Office are great business partners.
- Customization: Wizards help you customize Microsoft CRM, and your Microsoft Certified Partner can help
customize and integrate third-party applications, tools, and services. See integrating applications from independent solution developers.
- Training: eLearning from Microsoft Dynamics gives you access to training 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Review training options.
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What’s new in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 was designed to give businesses what they want most in a CRM system - a customer relationship
management that people will use.
It works the way your business does. Your information technology (IT) staff can integrate Microsoft CRM with existing systems.
Your sales forces can use Microsoft CRM without ever leaving Microsoft Outlook.
Microsoft offers CRM in two editions - Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 Small Business Edition and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0
Professional Edition. Both build on previous versions to help businesses of all sizes develop stronger and more profitable
relationships. Here’s a quick look at the latest Microsoft CRM features.
- Improved Microsoft Office Outlook integration: Work without leaving Outlook
The foremost design objective in creating Microsoft CRM 4.0 was tighter integration with Microsoft Office Outlook, the most
used application in the Office suite. Tighter Outlook integration means less application-switching, faster adoption by users,
and higher productivity for every customer-facing employee in your organization. Users can look up customer information,
send and manage e-mail, set up appointments, and capture customer discussions, all without ever leaving Outlook.
- New marketing automation module: Create sales and marketing campaigns fast
>Microsoft CRM contains sophisticated marketing capabilities for planning, implementing, and monitoring multi-tier sales
and marketing campaigns. Marketing and sales personnel can quickly create a list of leads, craft a letter or direct-mail
piece using integrated products such as Microsoft Office Word, launch the campaign, and then track the progress and results.
You can even track costs and revenue results of campaigns. Using the Quick Campaign wizard, marketers and salespeople can
generate a quick customer e-mail and send it to a targeted list in minutes. Microsoft CRM will automatically track the results.
See also Microsoft
CRM marketing automation module.
- New service scheduling module: Helps your staff sell more while improving customer service
Microsoft CRM includes a sophisticated scheduling engine that helps you sell and schedule services to customers. Through
the new Service Calendar, any authorized user—service managers, salespeople, or customer service representatives—can survey
companywide resources and book an appointment, which is automatically added to the customer’s Microsoft CRM record. You
can easily incorporate your organization’s business logic into the Service Calendar, specifying, for example, special skills
or workdays of different technicians. The Service Calendar shows companywide resource availability at a glance, helping
you service customers faster and make optimal use of resources such as people, vehicles, and facilities.
- Easier customization: Tailors to your company's needs quickly
Microsoft CRM can easily be customized for any business. Any non-technical user can create a new object with a few mouse-clicks—no
need to write code or even leave the application. This makes it very easy to tailor Microsoft CRM to a specific industry
or individual company. Deeper customizations that do require programming are also simpler, lowering the cost of having a
Microsoft Partner incorporate your business logic, customize the user interface, or link Microsoft CRM to another application.
Microsoft CRM also contains a host of workflow improvements such as auto-fill of name and date fields, and next-step recommendations
that speed application use and improve worker productivity.
- Improved reporting: Drill into the details fast
Getting information out of Microsoft CRM is just as easy as putting it in. You can of course export any subset of Microsoft
CRM data to Microsoft Office Excel spreadsheet software for analysis. Microsoft CRM also provides a number of standard,
one-button reports using Microsoft SQL Server Reporting Services as the underlying report engine. You can create custom
reports that are accessible from within Microsoft CRM through an e-mail subscription service or over a Microsoft Office
SharePoint Portal Server site. Users can save frequently used reports, which are refreshed with current data every time
they’re opened. Best of all, security clearances are built into every report. Users only have access to the data they’re
authorized to see.
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Marketing Automation in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0
Help your marketing staff present one professional company image to your customers
New Marketing Automation in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 enables you to extend the effectiveness of a key group of employees
- your marketing department.
Marketing staff members now have tools to help them identify, execute, and replicate effective marketing initiatives across
sales channels. Staff can assign, schedule, and track marketing campaign activities and measure campaign performance. With
Marketing Automation in place, you can integrate your sales, marketing, and service processes more effectively and present
one professional company image to your customers
- Works the way your marketing staff works
Marketing Automation in Microsoft CRM addresses five common marketing scenarios
- Target the best customers Your sales representatives need a way to easily target their best customers with
promotions, call-downs, and e-mail communications.
- Run quick sales campaigns Sales representatives can use this tool to help them quickly and easily connect
with business prospects and customers—perhaps to improve business quickly to make quarter-close numbers. Your representative
wants to quickly create a list, send a mailing, and track responses to keep connections up to date.
- Launch a corporate marketing campaign With responsibility for several well organized marketing campaigns
each year in support of new product launches, your marketing staff might want to automate task planning, list creation,
task assignment, cost tracking, and the many other tasks involved in complex campaigns. Now they can.
- Enable cross-department handoffs for sales-driven campaigns Sometimes your marketing staff plans a campaign
that your branch office or sales team executes. These efforts require cross-department collaboration, execution, and tracking.
- Send bulk e-mail messages Every company wants an easy way to gather a list of leads or customers, send
a mass e-mailing, and track responses.
- Create lists, plan campaigns, track results, and more
Microsoft CRM provides the following capabilities to meet marketing business needs:
- List creation Microsoft CRM enables you to create and manage lists of accounts, contacts, and leads. You
can create lists using the Advanced Find feature, a built-in search capability, or import lists from other sources.
- Quick Campaign Once a sales representatives creates a list, he or she can create a Quick Campaign. This
feature creates phone call, e-mail, and appointment activities for later execution, sends bulk mail-merged e-mailings, and
creates mail-merged letters and faxes. Microsoft CRM automatically tracks responses and makes it easy for representatives
to see what actions are finished versus outstanding.
- Campaign management Microsoft CRM makes it easy to run sophisticated marketing campaigns involving many
people, deliverables, and deadlines. The Help & Assistance Pane walks your marketing manager through the steps of planning
and executing a campaign, including planning tasks, marketing lists, focus products, follow-up activities, supporting literature,
and cost and revenue goals. The marketing manager can assign tasks to different staff members, import leads, convert leads
to opportunities, view costs and results, and more.
- Campaign response Track campaign results with built-in reporting and analysis tools based on Microsoft
SQL Server Reporting Services. Link responses to campaigns (ad versus seminar), automatically assign appropriate follow-up
(salesperson calls), analyze costs versus payoff, and create customized campaign tracking reports.
Microsoft CRM makes it easy for your marketing staff to take advantage of the customer data you already have. It's easier
to join efforts with sales and easier to judge the success of marketing efforts. Overall, Microsoft CRM works well for marketing
because it works the way you already work.
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Service Scheduling in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0
Helping your company reduce inefficiencies while improving customer service
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 includes a built-in Service Scheduling and dispatch system that provides a centralized, consolidated
view of your professional service workers' calendars and schedules. Your service dispatcher and service delivery staff can
use the Service Scheduling functionality to easily search for available time slots, specialized talents, and capital resources
(such as trucks) and to promptly schedule service appointments for customers. Microsoft CRM 4.0 helps you reduce resource
inefficiencies and deliver prompt, accurate service to customers, strengthening customer satisfaction.
- Scheduling appointments right the first time
For many businesses, a high priority of customer service is effectively scheduling service appointments. Doctor and dentist
offices, tax services, electricians, and many other businesses need an automated, efficient way to track resource availability
and plan for staffing needs. Businesses such as these need to understand what resources are required for each service and
when those resources are available. And, of course, your customers want service that is on time and on target. A service
appointment gone wrong can damage your standing with customers.
- Automated Service Scheduling works the way you work
Microsoft CRM 4.0 includes an appointment-based service scheduling capability that enables you to define your services,
resources, work schedules, and service locations. A sophisticated scheduling engine manages appointment booking and service
availability according to your business rules. You can adjust it to optimize scheduling and reduce resource usage and costs.
Point-and-click reports help service managers identify trends and adjust services and resources to meet demand. And because
service scheduling is an integral part of Microsoft CRM 4.0, your staff can easily reference customer histories, demographics,
and preferences in scheduling services. This functionality enables you to deliver more personalized, customized service
as well as feed customer service histories back into your marketing and sales processes.
For example, an automotive repair shop might define services in Microsoft CRM as brake jobs, front-end alignments, transmission
overhauls, and other service offerings. The repair shop might define resources as individual mechanics, vehicle bays, tools,
and parts. When a customer calls for a service appointment, any worker in the shop with access to a computer can schedule
an appointment. Depending on the service needed and time slots that are open, Microsoft CRM 4.0 displays the dates and times
that are available. The Suggestion Pane even lists resources and services that the customer has used before. With the customer
on the phone, the worker can schedule an appointment in a click. Then the appointment (scheduled and finished) becomes a
permanent part of that customer's Microsoft CRM record.
- Business benefits of Service Scheduling in Microsoft CRM
- Automate service scheduling and centralize dispatching of resources and services
- Enhance productivity, optimize resource usage, and lower operational costs
- Improve customer satisfaction with timely delivery of accurate services
- Meet response time commitments and avoid penalties
- Keep customers informed by setting initial expectations and keeping them apprised of scheduling updates if circumstances
change
- Adjust resource assignments in real time to meet high priority requests
With Service Scheduling in Microsoft CRM, you can centralize and automate scheduling, simplifying the work involved in booking
appointments and improving service delivery to customers. One more way Microsoft CRM helps you get closer to customers and
work more efficiently.
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10 compelling reasons to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM
Microsoft is bringing a new approach to CRM software with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0. It's a CRM solution that works the
way a company does, adapts to any business culture, and enables employees to stay in touch with customers without learning
complicated new programs.
Here are 10 compelling reasons to use Microsoft CRM 4.0 in your business.
- 1- Turns Microsoft Office Outlook into the one place where you can manage both customer data and communications.
Microsoft Outlook messaging and collaboration client is already the world's leading tool for customer communications.
Microsoft CRM extends the reach of Microsoft Outlook by turning it into a tool to manage customer information. It puts lead
information, marketing pitches, and sales call information into one central location for your sales and marketing staff.
- 2- Works tightly with Microsoft Office Excel so businesses can make decisions on the fly. Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet software is a powerful tool for turning data into information that can be analyzed and shared. Microsoft CRM 4.0 features an always-on connection to Excel that enables you to quickly turn customer information into dynamic snapshots
or PivotChart dynamic views. These views can help you understand in seconds how a sales increase or company expansion can
benefit the business.
- 3- Improves operational efficiency through the standardization and streamlining of processes. The Microsoft CRM 4.0 adaptive workflow engine enables a business to automate business processes in ways that employees can use each day.
Microsoft CRM can relieve your staff of mundane but vital work. It can automate time-consuming repetitive tasks, warn staff
of open customer issues, and automatically send important e-mail messages to customers and partners. So customer requests
and orders don't fall through the cracks
- 4- Works the way your business works. Microsoft CRM 4.0 can be tailored to work the way your business already
works. Microsoft CRM forms, relationship links, and customer views can be designed and modified without complicated programming.
- 5- Gives the right information to the right people. Certain employees need certain information. With Microsoft CRM 4.0, system administrators have the tools to make sure the right information is delivered to the right people—whether
they are using Outlook or the Web.
- 6- Targets your marketing campaigns so you're always in touch with the right customers. Today, it's more
important than ever that customers know about special offers and new services a business offers. Microsoft CRM 4.0 offers
a marketing automation module that simplifies the following tasks: Building customer and lead lists, developing marketing
campaigns targeted at specific customers, measuring the results of these campaigns, and developing follow-up marketing efforts.
- 7- Simplifies service scheduling to keep customers satisfied. One of the most challenging aspects of delivering
great customer service is ensuring you never let customers down by missing a service call or appointment. Microsoft CRM 4.0 provides a centralized, all-in-one view of all customer service requests and service professional calendars. Dispatchers
can quickly and easily match the right service personnel to a particular customer or type of service call.
- 8- Integrates with your existing systems to help break down information silos. Microsoft CRM 4.0 harnesses
the power of Web services through the Microsoft .NET Framework. This latest generation of Microsoft technology enables businesses
to connect isolated, legacy business systems and applications.
- 9- Enhances offline communications so everyone can be productive regardless of location. Microsoft CRM 4.0 is designed so your staff can be productive both in the office and on the road—even if they aren't connected to a network.
Information can be filtered so that people receive only the information they need such as meeting updates and sales figures.
- 10- Builds on the power of SQL Server Reporting Services to create insightful business reports. The SQL
Server Reporting Services engine is a powerful analytical tool for business. The Microsoft CRM 4.0 embedded reporting engine
integrates smoothly with Microsoft SQL Server to generate compelling data reports for business decision makers.
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