While commonly known that Saleforce.com charges its customers for their data - you will cry when you hear this...
This morning I was talking to one of Navint's new Microsoft CRM customers. They are in the process of terminating their relationship with Salesforce.com.
It turns out that their contract with Salesforce.com requires them to pay $10,000.00 for a full cut of their data. The only thing they can get for free is a flat file of Account and Contact data.
IMPORTANT NOTE: With the introduction of Microsoft's customer relationship management SaaS offering (CRM Live), when you decide to "switch" you're NOT going to get charged for data that is rightfully yours.
And for those of you...
1) Responsible for doing vendor comparisons - please add this to your list of items to consider when calculating TCO.
2) Responsible for negotiating contractual relationships with CRM vendors - make sure to draw attention to such clauses so that you don't have to end up paying for what is yours.
PS - Maybe this is why Marc Benioff is so defensive regarding CRM Live.
Showing posts with label CRM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CRM. Show all posts
Monday, December 17, 2007
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Microsoft CRM 4.0 (Titan) Features Overview
Microsoft CRM 4.0 is almost here!
Yes, version 3.0 is great but Microsoft CRM 4.0 (code named Titan) rocks. Microsoft finally lifted the NDA restrictions on October 1st so we can finally share with you what we can all look forward to in version 4.0.
If you were lucky enough to attend any of Navint's client summits in New England or New York, then you already saw and heard a bunch of what follows. If not then here's the top ten Titan features list that Mike Cross, Kris Kratky and I put together for Navint's recent client summits.
Note: There's one more Navint client summit scheduled on October 25th in LA for our West Coast clients.
Anyway, here's the the Microsoft CRM 4.0 top ten list. Let us know if you have any questions or if you want to see a demo of the new version.
(Disclaimer: What you are about to see is subject to change prior to Microsoft CRM 4.0's release at the end of this year.)
Navint's /Microsoft CRM 4.0 Top Ten
1) User Interface and Office Integration
- Office 2007 UI
- All CRM Activity Types Integrated with Outlook (get pop-up reminders for phone calls, etc.)
- Background Synch (no more manual synching)
- Word Mail Merge (for the web client too)
- Export to Excel (now includes access to EVERY object schema in Microsoft CRM)
- OneNote Integration
- Presence Management (with integration to Live Communication Server)
- Dynamics (GP, SL, NAV, AX) Integration
2) Architecture
- Multi-Tenant Architecture (CRM Live, Cheaper intra-enterprise deployments)
- Support For Internet Facing Deployment (no VPN needed!)
3) Internationalization
- Multi-Language (user-defined language specific UI)
- Multi-Region
- Multi-Currency (exchange rates are stored within the database)
4) Data Analysis
- Improved Advanced Find (now includes access to EVERY object schema in Microsoft CRM)
- Export to Excel (ODBC live/dynamic link)
5) Workflow and Reporting
- Workflow Manager (web client, added triggers, all entities support stages, Win WF based)
- Report Scheduling Utility
- SRS Report Wizard (create an SRS report in 7 clicks!)
9) Developer Treats
- Server Side SDK
- Offline SDK (improve online/offline consistency)
- Offline APIs (improve online/offline consistency)
- Plug-ins (replace call outs)
10) Resource Center
- New Menu Item
- Find and Share Best Practices
- Access Online Help
- Submit Support Requests (from within the application)
Yes, version 3.0 is great but Microsoft CRM 4.0 (code named Titan) rocks. Microsoft finally lifted the NDA restrictions on October 1st so we can finally share with you what we can all look forward to in version 4.0.
If you were lucky enough to attend any of Navint's client summits in New England or New York, then you already saw and heard a bunch of what follows. If not then here's the top ten Titan features list that Mike Cross, Kris Kratky and I put together for Navint's recent client summits.
Note: There's one more Navint client summit scheduled on October 25th in LA for our West Coast clients.
Anyway, here's the the Microsoft CRM 4.0 top ten list. Let us know if you have any questions or if you want to see a demo of the new version.
(Disclaimer: What you are about to see is subject to change prior to Microsoft CRM 4.0's release at the end of this year.)
Navint's /Microsoft CRM 4.0 Top Ten
1) User Interface and Office Integration
- Office 2007 UI
- All CRM Activity Types Integrated with Outlook (get pop-up reminders for phone calls, etc.)
- Background Synch (no more manual synching)
- Word Mail Merge (for the web client too)
- Export to Excel (now includes access to EVERY object schema in Microsoft CRM)
- OneNote Integration
- Presence Management (with integration to Live Communication Server)
- Dynamics (GP, SL, NAV, AX) Integration
2) Architecture
- Multi-Tenant Architecture (CRM Live, Cheaper intra-enterprise deployments)
- Support For Internet Facing Deployment (no VPN needed!)
3) Internationalization
- Multi-Language (user-defined language specific UI)
- Multi-Region
- Multi-Currency (exchange rates are stored within the database)
4) Data Analysis
- Improved Advanced Find (now includes access to EVERY object schema in Microsoft CRM)
- Export to Excel (ODBC live/dynamic link)
5) Workflow and Reporting
- Workflow Manager (web client, added triggers, all entities support stages, Win WF based)
- Report Scheduling Utility
- SRS Report Wizard (create an SRS report in 7 clicks!)
6) Data Integrity and Enhancements
- Data Enrichment (Export CRM data to excel > Update it > Import it to update CRM records)
- Configurable Duplicate Detection (includes cross-enterprise notifications)
- Data Enrichment (Export CRM data to excel > Update it > Import it to update CRM records)
- Configurable Duplicate Detection (includes cross-enterprise notifications)
7) Data Import and Migration
- Data Import Wizard (supports import of data into ANY entity)
- Asychronous Processing (improve the speed of importing data)
8) Entity Relationships
- Many to Many
- System to System
- Self Referential
- Data Import Wizard (supports import of data into ANY entity)
- Asychronous Processing (improve the speed of importing data)
8) Entity Relationships
- Many to Many
- System to System
- Self Referential
(Do you have any idea what this means?! Woo-hoo is all I can say!)
9) Developer Treats
- Server Side SDK
- Offline SDK (improve online/offline consistency)
- Offline APIs (improve online/offline consistency)
- Plug-ins (replace call outs)
10) Resource Center
- New Menu Item
- Find and Share Best Practices
- Access Online Help
- Submit Support Requests (from within the application)
With over 100 new features in Microsoft CRM 4.0, this top ten list barely scratches the surface. Future posts will get into much greater detail. We promise.
Please email us or give us a call if you want to see a Microsoft CRM 4.0 demo.
Also, Microsoft has promised Navint that upgrades to 4.0 are going to be smooth and seamless. More on that subject in future posts. Stay tuned.
Sunday, March 18, 2007
Are you being strategic about CRM?
In an article in CRM Magazine, Woody Driggs of Accenture made the point that successful CRM starts with strategy.
I agree.
Too frequently, we at Navint see companies getting caught up in the software and technology aspects of CRM: e-mail marketing, workflow, dashboards, fancy reports, and all the other bells and whistles that make CRM "cool."
The one thing they forget about is their strategy for competing in the marketplace, and how it drives their CRM strategy and tactics.
What good is e-mail marketing if you are targeting the wrong people or have an ineffective message? Or perhaps you are communicating with people who don't have e-mail and prefer fax?
What good is workflow if you are automating processes that shouldn't even exist or that deliver bad data?
What good are dashboards and reports if they are reporting information that does not help you create or maintain a decisive advantage in the marketplace?
So what should you do to ensure a successful CRM implementation?
First of all, don't make the mistake of thinking that CRM is just software and that it will solve all your problems. CRM is just one aspect of your overall strategy, and it includes not only technology and software, but people and processes, too. And whenever people are involved, significant effort in change management is required.
If you are at the beginning of a CRM implementation, then be sure to start with your overall business strategy, as well as your marketing strategy, and consider the following questions as a starting point:
1. What is your competitive advantage? How can you strengthen it?
2. How do you acquire new customers? How can you do it better?
3. How do you service existing customers? How can you do it better?
4. How do you market to and grow the revenues from existing customers? How can you do it better?
5. What are the best ways to communicate with prospects and customers in your industry and market?
6. What do you need from your employees to ensure a successful implementation? What do you need to do to help them?
If you have already implemented CRM, and want to get more out of it, then revisit your strategy on a regular basis - at least annually, if not more frequently - and consider the questions above and how they relate to your CRM implementation. Make any necessary adjustments.
Finally, be sure you have the right implementation partners and advisors as you embark on your CRM journey. If the partners you are considering don't bring up the issue of your strategy near the beginning of your relationship, then it might be smart to look for somebody who does.
Because without the strategy, you've got nothing but an expensive contact manager with some silver bells and golden whistles.
I agree.
Too frequently, we at Navint see companies getting caught up in the software and technology aspects of CRM: e-mail marketing, workflow, dashboards, fancy reports, and all the other bells and whistles that make CRM "cool."
The one thing they forget about is their strategy for competing in the marketplace, and how it drives their CRM strategy and tactics.
What good is e-mail marketing if you are targeting the wrong people or have an ineffective message? Or perhaps you are communicating with people who don't have e-mail and prefer fax?
What good is workflow if you are automating processes that shouldn't even exist or that deliver bad data?
What good are dashboards and reports if they are reporting information that does not help you create or maintain a decisive advantage in the marketplace?
So what should you do to ensure a successful CRM implementation?
First of all, don't make the mistake of thinking that CRM is just software and that it will solve all your problems. CRM is just one aspect of your overall strategy, and it includes not only technology and software, but people and processes, too. And whenever people are involved, significant effort in change management is required.
If you are at the beginning of a CRM implementation, then be sure to start with your overall business strategy, as well as your marketing strategy, and consider the following questions as a starting point:
1. What is your competitive advantage? How can you strengthen it?
2. How do you acquire new customers? How can you do it better?
3. How do you service existing customers? How can you do it better?
4. How do you market to and grow the revenues from existing customers? How can you do it better?
5. What are the best ways to communicate with prospects and customers in your industry and market?
6. What do you need from your employees to ensure a successful implementation? What do you need to do to help them?
If you have already implemented CRM, and want to get more out of it, then revisit your strategy on a regular basis - at least annually, if not more frequently - and consider the questions above and how they relate to your CRM implementation. Make any necessary adjustments.
Finally, be sure you have the right implementation partners and advisors as you embark on your CRM journey. If the partners you are considering don't bring up the issue of your strategy near the beginning of your relationship, then it might be smart to look for somebody who does.
Because without the strategy, you've got nothing but an expensive contact manager with some silver bells and golden whistles.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Microsoft CRM Mobile Express Rocks!
Based on various client requests, I've spent the last number of hours installing, configuring and playing around with the Microsoft CRM Mobile Express client which you can download from the Micrososft community website called gotdotnet. Unfortunately this site is going away in the next couple of months (however, I'm pretty sure that the majority of their code will still be supported by the general community).Anyway, the Mobile Express client rocks! Installing and configuring the code on your CRM server allows CRM users to access Microsoft CRM from almost any internet-capable phone or handheld device - and yes, that means Blackberries, Smartphones, Treos, etc...
What's more is that the Mobile Express client includes an administrative interface which allows system administrators to 
determine the specific data fields to display on each entity available within the client. I'm sure that this capability serves to increase application performance and/or allows organizations to display custom fields or specific data sets that are relevant to their needs.
determine the specific data fields to display on each entity available within the client. I'm sure that this capability serves to increase application performance and/or allows organizations to display custom fields or specific data sets that are relevant to their needs.Contained in this post are a couple of screen shots I took of the administrative interface. Because I installed Mobile Express on my VPC image, I can't offer a picture of the client interface, but I think you can still get a pretty good idea from these shots.
One other thing, because the install requires a fair amount of modification to the web.config file and the CRM sitemap, I recommend using Visual Studio or some other XML editor to make the neccesary updates.
Sunday, March 4, 2007
Why All The Trash Talk | The Truth About Salesforce.com
Clients and prospects who have worked with us know and appreciate the great lengths that we take to avoid "sleaze" in our approach to promoting the products we represent (i.e., Microsoft Dynamics CRM).
To further the point, at Navint, we pride ourselves on a consultative, requirements driven style of selling. In other words, if at the end of the day the steps of our sales process (which often includes a side-by-side comparison of competing products) helps a prospect determine that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is NOT right solution for them, we will happily walk away from the table.
Ironically enough, this approach is exactly why: 1) those same prospects call us back, 2) our clients love us, and 3) Microsoft recognizes Navint as one of its premiere partners in North America.
Alright, enough with the self-promotion. On to the main point of this post.
In the past number of months while talking with prospects who are trying to decide on the best CRM solution, we have inevitably run up against Salesforce.com. And to be fair, as far as SaaS solutions go, Salesforce.com is a great product.
Yet, it's also important to note, that the vast majority of unbiased technology research houses (i.e., ones that don't accept payment by vendors in exchange for stellar reviews) have ranked Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 literally neck in neck with one another. For example, check our recent post on the Forrester Wave ranking of mid-market CRM suites.
Needless to say, what I find absolutely amazing are the lengths that Salesforce.com will go in trash-talking its competitor's products. (And in certain cases, I'm talking outright lies! Yes, lies.) What gets me is that a small number of our prospects actually end up believing this stuff (or at the very least, relying on such material, ask us to substantiate their decision to NOT choose Salesforce.com).
In response to questions like these, first I try to remind the audience that Microsoft leverages a partner channel in selling their products. In other words, Microsoft is very much aware of its limitations and biases as a software vendor and so it made the conscious choice to sell its business solutions products through a partner channel (who, not surprisingly, care little about software in comparison to satisfying their client's business needs).
And if that point doesn't begin to get the gears turning, these series of questions usually do:
To further the point, at Navint, we pride ourselves on a consultative, requirements driven style of selling. In other words, if at the end of the day the steps of our sales process (which often includes a side-by-side comparison of competing products) helps a prospect determine that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is NOT right solution for them, we will happily walk away from the table.
Ironically enough, this approach is exactly why: 1) those same prospects call us back, 2) our clients love us, and 3) Microsoft recognizes Navint as one of its premiere partners in North America.
Alright, enough with the self-promotion. On to the main point of this post.
In the past number of months while talking with prospects who are trying to decide on the best CRM solution, we have inevitably run up against Salesforce.com. And to be fair, as far as SaaS solutions go, Salesforce.com is a great product.
Yet, it's also important to note, that the vast majority of unbiased technology research houses (i.e., ones that don't accept payment by vendors in exchange for stellar reviews) have ranked Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 literally neck in neck with one another. For example, check our recent post on the Forrester Wave ranking of mid-market CRM suites.
Needless to say, what I find absolutely amazing are the lengths that Salesforce.com will go in trash-talking its competitor's products. (And in certain cases, I'm talking outright lies! Yes, lies.) What gets me is that a small number of our prospects actually end up believing this stuff (or at the very least, relying on such material, ask us to substantiate their decision to NOT choose Salesforce.com).
In response to questions like these, first I try to remind the audience that Microsoft leverages a partner channel in selling their products. In other words, Microsoft is very much aware of its limitations and biases as a software vendor and so it made the conscious choice to sell its business solutions products through a partner channel (who, not surprisingly, care little about software in comparison to satisfying their client's business needs).
And if that point doesn't begin to get the gears turning, these series of questions usually do:
- How might your day-to-day sales operations be affected by Salesforce.com outages? Will you be able to access and use your CRM data, if Salesforce.com data centers are hit by outages?
- Why is Salesforce.com investing more money ($50M) on automatic back-up capability (Mirror Force) than on cumulative research and development efforts during the first 61⁄2 years of the company’s existence ($41M)?
- How is the Salesforce.com guarantee on outages affecting the third-party applications offered on AppExchange and the uptime for these solutions integrated to the salesforce.com applications?
- How does Salesforce.com guarantee that third-party applications will still work when the core salesforce.com application is upgraded to a new release?
- How can Salesforce.com guarantee security of your data when they provide APIs to third parties to connect to the central system?
- Can they show that over the life of the solution that Salesforce.com will provide better long-term TCO than Microsoft Dynamics CRM? (Note: If they do, they are lying again.)
- What if you ever get sick of paying the per user per month Salesforce.com annuity? Despite their "No Software" promise, will Salesforce.com ever offer an on-premise alternative? (Probably not but you can be sure that you'll be charged to get your CRM data when you want to end the contract.)
- Salesforce.com's rather consistent application performance problem is another area to question but I should leave that for a separate blog post.
And for those of you feeling as sleazed out right now as I do - I'm sorry - but it had to be done. And by the way Marc Benioff, when Microsoft CRM 4.0 is released in August 2007 and offers its customers the choice of hosted and on-premise, Josh Greenbaum's words are sure to come true.
Tuesday, January 2, 2007
Quick Take - The CRM Connector For GP
As many of you know, early December 2006 marked the re-release of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for Microsoft Dynamics GP.
With this re-release, organizations are able to leverage the Connector to integrate their CRM and GP environments more quickly and at a lower cost than is required for typical enterprise application integration (EAI) projects.
Following is a quick summary of what I have learned about the Connector based on research and implementation experience.
To download the re-released Connector Guide, go here. (Note: To download the Connector Guide, you will need to be an active Microsoft Customer or Partner). Along with the Connector Guide, Microsoft also recommends reviewing the Connector Guide Release Notes.
A Summary of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for Microsoft Dynamics GP
- CRM Candidates: Microsoft CRM 3.0 Professional or Small Business Edition
- GP Candidates: Microsoft Dynamics versions 8.0 and 9.0
- Versions Supported: English Only (i.e., USA, AUS, CAN, NZ, SING, S. AFRICA, UK)
- Additional Licensing Required: Yes (1 CRM user for integration and 1 SQL 2000 CAL for the CRM integration user)
- Additional SQL Server Requirement: As briefly referenced above, SQL Server 2000 is required by BizTalk 2004 to handle messages between CRM and GP. (Note: No other version of SQL Server can be used with BizTalk 2004.)
- Deployment Scenarios: Microsoft recommends a three server deployment where each component (CRM, GP and Connector) lives on its own separate server. If a two server deployment is necessary, the Connector should be installed on the server running GP. Microsoft also supports a single server deployment leveraging Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition BUT does not recommend this scenario for organizations with more than 5 concurrent CRM and GP users.
- Additional Knowledge Requirements: BizTalk Server 2004 (Partner Edition), eConnect (versions 8 with SP4 or 9), Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ)
- Additional Knowledge Required (if Customizing CRM-GP Integration): Visual Studio .NET 2003 and BizTalk Server 2004 SDK
- Connector Tool Descriptions: Settings and Administration Tool (for basic Connector setup including the ability to select specific CRM and GP entities to be published for integration), Data Synchronization Tool (for data migration, synchronization, and correlation between CRM and GP), Integration Monitor (for monitoring integration points between CRM and GP)
- Integrated CRM-GP Entities: Customers/Accounts, Contacts, Items, Products, Orders, Invoices (Note: 1. any of these entities and the standard field mappings they contain may be modified using the Connector Tools described above, and 2. organizations may also customize the standard Connector mappings using Visual Studio .NET 2003 and BizTalk Server 2004 SDK)
- Basic Information Flow: Quotes are created only in CRM which can be converted to Orders in CRM. Orders created in CRM can be submitted to GP. Orders can also be created in GP or received from CRM which can be converted to Invoices only in GP. CRM can only read Invoices from GP. (For more information on the standard information flow and field mappings between CRM and GP, please read the Connector Guide.)
- Known Limitations: The CRM Connector For Dynamics GP has a number of known limitations which are documented. For more information on these limitations please refer to the Connector Guide.
With this re-release, organizations are able to leverage the Connector to integrate their CRM and GP environments more quickly and at a lower cost than is required for typical enterprise application integration (EAI) projects.
Following is a quick summary of what I have learned about the Connector based on research and implementation experience.
To download the re-released Connector Guide, go here. (Note: To download the Connector Guide, you will need to be an active Microsoft Customer or Partner). Along with the Connector Guide, Microsoft also recommends reviewing the Connector Guide Release Notes.
A Summary of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Connector for Microsoft Dynamics GP
- CRM Candidates: Microsoft CRM 3.0 Professional or Small Business Edition
- GP Candidates: Microsoft Dynamics versions 8.0 and 9.0
- Versions Supported: English Only (i.e., USA, AUS, CAN, NZ, SING, S. AFRICA, UK)
- Additional Licensing Required: Yes (1 CRM user for integration and 1 SQL 2000 CAL for the CRM integration user)
- Additional SQL Server Requirement: As briefly referenced above, SQL Server 2000 is required by BizTalk 2004 to handle messages between CRM and GP. (Note: No other version of SQL Server can be used with BizTalk 2004.)
- Deployment Scenarios: Microsoft recommends a three server deployment where each component (CRM, GP and Connector) lives on its own separate server. If a two server deployment is necessary, the Connector should be installed on the server running GP. Microsoft also supports a single server deployment leveraging Windows Small Business Server 2003 Premium Edition BUT does not recommend this scenario for organizations with more than 5 concurrent CRM and GP users.
- Additional Knowledge Requirements: BizTalk Server 2004 (Partner Edition), eConnect (versions 8 with SP4 or 9), Microsoft Message Queuing (MSMQ)
- Additional Knowledge Required (if Customizing CRM-GP Integration): Visual Studio .NET 2003 and BizTalk Server 2004 SDK
- Connector Tool Descriptions: Settings and Administration Tool (for basic Connector setup including the ability to select specific CRM and GP entities to be published for integration), Data Synchronization Tool (for data migration, synchronization, and correlation between CRM and GP), Integration Monitor (for monitoring integration points between CRM and GP)
- Integrated CRM-GP Entities: Customers/Accounts, Contacts, Items, Products, Orders, Invoices (Note: 1. any of these entities and the standard field mappings they contain may be modified using the Connector Tools described above, and 2. organizations may also customize the standard Connector mappings using Visual Studio .NET 2003 and BizTalk Server 2004 SDK)
- Basic Information Flow: Quotes are created only in CRM which can be converted to Orders in CRM. Orders created in CRM can be submitted to GP. Orders can also be created in GP or received from CRM which can be converted to Invoices only in GP. CRM can only read Invoices from GP. (For more information on the standard information flow and field mappings between CRM and GP, please read the Connector Guide.)
- Known Limitations: The CRM Connector For Dynamics GP has a number of known limitations which are documented. For more information on these limitations please refer to the Connector Guide.
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