Better Together SharePoint and Microsoft CRM

The IT Leader's Guide to Multicloud Readiness

This guide provides practical key insights and important factors to consider to make informed decisions in your multicloud journey.

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As SharePoint 2013 is released for both on-premises and online (Office 365) the story with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and SharePoint continues to evolve. Recently I was asked by a prospect to outline the possibilities with CRM and SharePoint so I thought I would share.
First there is the out of the box option to store documents contextually related to records in CRM. With very basic configuration, CRM and SharePoint can easily share folders that have all types of documents in them from proposals to quotes, etc.
 
The next option is to utilize SharePoint for Enterprise Search. This would allow a user to search across all entities in CRM from well indexed and searchable data in SharePoint. There is an option to build this directly in CRM as well but it is something to consider to leverage the out of the box search and index functionality built into SharePoint
One of the neat functions we have built in the past is a search capability against all documents in SharePoint from CRM. The user is presented with a contextual search tool and is then able to search for documents based on key words in SharePoint that are related to the record they are on in CRM but respects the security model in CRM. Very useful and cool stuff!
Dashboards innately in CRM are available out of the box. Some clients look for more robust options with a mash-up of data from other systems. Some of our clients have taken data from CRM and presented it on a dashboard in CRM. Some nice stuff and allows non-CRM users to see CRM related data on a dashboard for KPIs across the enterprise.
A final use case for SharePoint with CRM is for a customer/client portal. Utilizing CRM Contacts to authorize who gains access to the site, customers can access secure content through an individualized portal in SharePoint. They could potentially manage cases, pay invoices or view shared content. This can also work as a Partner profile as well.
These are just some of the key features with CRM 2011 and SharePoint 2010/2013. Take a look for yourself or let me know if your company has come up with other cool SharePoint ideas with CRM.