Everywhere I go I see more and more people using their mobile devices to do “stuff” that they used to only be able to do on their laptops. iPads, Androids, slates, tablets, extremely large phones are all out there and getting better and better. I was even sitting in the airport and watching a grandmother text as fast as her teen-aged granddaughter and I thought to myself, “How many of these folks sitting in the airport waiting for their flight, are doing work on their device or just doing “stuff” (email, surfing, games)?”
Well, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Product team is working on the “CRM Q2 2012 Service Update” which will include massive improvements and capabilities around mobility and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. I wanted to share some of the information regarding “CRM Anywhere” which is the model Microsoft is trying to achieve as part of this service update. Microsoft is making a major investment to develop a groundbreaking mobile solution that will support a wider variety of browsers. The update will include a new cloud-based, cross-platform native mobile client for Windows Phone 7.5, iPad, iPhone, Android, and Blackberry devices called Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile. This new release will also host the mobile configuration, administration, and security in the cloud to provide zero touch upgrades once the initial installation is complete.
Functionality will include the full breadth of features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM including dashboards. This is great so you don’t have to install multiple apps to see all the different slices of your data on your device. Another cool feature is that everything is administered centrally, so you publish once, no matter the number of different platforms may be being used in the field. This is great!
The catch – isn’t there always one? 🙂
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile is going to be provided to customers on a per user, per month basis similar to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online subscription model. Microsoft has slated initial pricing at approximately $30.00US. Not too expensive for the benefit of a field force. Close one deal in the airport and it will more than cover the costs for the year!
Please check back on the Perficient Microsoft Blog site for additional information and features that will be in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Q2 2012 Service Update.
