Microsoft CRM 3.0 - Far More Than CRM!

In the last year since Microsoft CRM 3.0 was released, at least 50% of the customer implementations I've worked on (and at least an equal percentage of prospects I've talked to about Microsoft CRM) desire to use the application in ways that are beyond the standard marketing, sales and customer service functions inherent in the application.

While the desire for application extendibility has existed for many years, what's been fantastic is the ability to show clients and prospects how easy it is to leverage Microsoft CRM's native utilities including custom entity builder, workflow manager, and a broad range of reporting (e.g., SRS, Excel) and application integration (e.g., CRM-GP Connector, CRM-Siebel Solution Accelerator) options to extend and verticalize the application to fit literally any business need.

For instance, following is a sample of how Navint's Microsoft CRM customer base is using and/or planning to use the application:

- An Independent Practice Association is relying on multiple custom entities to help its users manage the complex relationships among its member doctors, practices and related points of care

- A CPA firm is leveraging Microsoft CRM and SL's open architecture to create an integrated cross-enterprise environment between the applications which allows users to schedule client services in CRM and/or SL to drive and better manage client scheduling and billing

- A university Center For Career Education will rely on a series of custom entities, an ISV plug-in, and a number of custom SRS reports to help users track data on the services that they provide to students, alumni, faculty and parents

To further the point, Arash Ghanaie-Sichanie has posted an article on his blog that does a very good job outlining the architectural components of Microsoft CRM which shows exactly why Microsoft CRM can be used as a platform for addressing needs beyond the standard marketing, sales, and customer service functionality expected of a CRM application.