From yesterday’s announcement:

Salesforce will support Windows, Windows 8.1, build “interoperability Salesforce and Office 365,” Microsoft’s subscription-based productivity suite, and integrate OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, and Outlook in various capacities. Salesforce will use Microsoft’s Azure broadly.

Who would have ever thought there would be a picture containing both a Microsoft CEO and Mark Benioff (Salesforce.com CEO)? Though they are in the same picture they are not hugging. Interesting bedfellows to say the least! Most of these decisions come down to money. A better way for Microsoft to make money and for their customers to take advantage of their investment.
As many of you know, Salesforce.com was started by Oracle executives, Oracle executives/former executives continue to be large investors and the system backbone is written on top of the Oracle database engine. So though there is a partnership there won’t be any ownership happening anytime soon (for those in the M&S conspiracy business).  Salesforce.com by the way also has a very strong partnership with Google as well (which has a competing solution to Microsoft Office 365).
In the announcement article on CRN, Jeff Davis, CEO of Perficient, is quoted. You can read the full article here. As you may or may not know, Perficient is both in the Salesforce.com and Microsoft Dynamics CRM business. Though these are direct and major competitors it is just a part of the all up solution for our customers – and it’s important that our customers have options.
Salesforce was looking for a platform and Microsoft is a platform and software company. For our non-Dynamics CRM customers that are currently utilizing or looking to utilize Office 365, SharePoint, OneDrive and more, this will be a nice opportunity for better communication between the system and Saleforce.com. It will allow (at some level) for Salesforce.com users to have better access to their documents and related tools to be able to be more productive in their jobs. This will be better than today where there is limited to no interoperability but is in no way as good as a native Microsoft technology like Dynamics CRM.
So what does this mean for our Dynamics CRM customers? This means Microsoft will have to continue to strongly invest in the future of this technology to make it stronger, faster, smarter than it has ever been before. It will help enable our customers to be more productive and efficient with the tool in order to increase revenue for their organizations. It will mean that more extraordinary things are coming and soon from the Dynamics team at Microsoft because that is what we expect and that is what our customer’s continue to demand. It is an exciting time to be part of this space for both us and our customers.
This partnership fits well with Microsoft’s continued cloud first and mobile first strategy. Azure is continuing to gain momentum as the cloud choice for major software vendors like Oracle and Salesforce.com. Microsoft will continue to compete head to head against Salesforce.com as they always have. It will force Microsoft to continue to be very good with the innovation. It also validates the “One Microsoft” strategy.
There is an awesome and amazing line-up of things to come from Microsoft for Dynamics CRM. With the CRM 2013 release and now the spring release of Dynamics CRM, Dynamics CRM is a valuable offer and at an incredible price point.
As they said in The Godfather Part II, “…keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”

Very exciting time for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 as the Spring 2014 Release is about to be available. Key themes for this release for both online and on-premises:

 Marketing
– Drag and drop visual Campaign Designer
– Lead lifecycle management
– Scalable Email Marketing
– Improved Sales & Marketing Connector
Sales
– CRM tablet app enhancements
– Insight company insights
Customer Service
– Unified Service Desk
– Enterprise Case Management
– Entitlements & SLA’s
– Merge Cases, Parent/Child Cases, Automatic Case Creation and Social Care
Social
– Social Listening
– Listen & Analyze
– Monitor & Respond
– Social Insights
Platform
– Server-side Sync
– SharePoint Integration Enhancements
– Sandbox Environments (for online users)
– Compatibility
Many details can be found in this Release_Preview_Guide_April_2014 that tells the story from Microsoft.

This week Microsoft made a very strategic acquisition of Parature to fill a gap that customers need that Microsoft Dynamics CRM has not been able to fulfill in the past without third-party software. Customer Support/Knowledgebase/Portal are features that Parature offers and I am sure like other recent Microsoft acquisitions Microsoft will do a nice job in tightly embedding this technology directly in CRM and give it a similar look and feel.
In mid-2014 Microsoft is scheduled to release a major update to the Service Module of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013. I would anticipate that the Parature integration would be part of that release for both their online (cloud) offer and on-premise. As Microsoft continues to grow its cloud offerings this is just another piece of the puzzle. Nice move by Microsoft and solidifies Dynamics CRM in this space.
You can read more details on the announcement directly from Microsoft here

Many people have been asking me lately, “So, what is new in the new version of CRM?” Microsoft recently released an overview of the new items for CRM 2013. This will be release for both on-premises and online in October 2013. Very exciting changes coming including four key themes of:

• Redesigned user experience
• Process agility
• CRM on the go
• Social in context

Take a look at the overview and then if you need more information on how this may impact your organization, go to the release site from Microsoft.
This release will be a game changer for CRM clients for both on-premises deployments and those that are in the cloud. The code base with be the same so it will allow for organizations to move between the two environments if desired.

The latest from Microsoft concerning the next release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM (2013) scheduled to be released in October 2013. This documentation (Release Preview Guide) contains the latest information as of this morning from Microsoft about what will be contained in the release. As you can see above it contacts the key these me have been discussing for some time
– Reimagined User Experience
– Process Excellence & Agility
– CRM on the Go
– Enterprise Collaboration
– Platform Enhancements
Take a look at the document and let me know your thoughts. Exciting stuff to come that will affect both online (cloud) and the on-premises deployments of CRM.
Release_Preview_Guide_September_2013

We recently had one of our long-time Perficient customers go-live with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online (which is part of the Office 365 platform) with great success and ease. After utilizing SharePoint and Exchange online for years, they realized they had reach the limits of SharePoint in managing their day-to-day business and needed more in order to help take it to the next level. They needed a platform that they would be able to track their relationships with their business, people and activities related to the clients they serve. They needed something that would be accessible anywhere and utilizing any browser they desired. They needed something that required no infrastructure as they had no full-time IT staff. They needed something that would expand as their business grows.
This with business throughout the state of Texas and over 175 people in their company, they selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online via the Office 365 platform. Utilizing the same Office 365 platform they had in place (with the same administration and the same users) they enabled CRM Online and we started to work. It was just 60 days from go to the time all of their people were trained on the new process/system. Putting their business in CRM allowed them to not only track information that they had not been able to in the past but now grow their business and expand beyond what they were capable to handle in the past. As the CEO of the organization said, “This new platform will revolutionize our business”. It was very easy for this organization and there have been many others who have also been able to take advantage of this environment with very little effort.

Also, sign up for this upcoming webinar:

Understanding Identity Management with Office 365

Wednesday, September 25, 2013 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM CT

 
What is Connect Health? Connected Health is a model for healthcare delivery that uses technology to provide healthcare remotely. Connected Health aims to maximize healthcare resources and provide increased, flexible opportunities for consumers to engage with clinicians and better self-manage their care. Connected Health uses technology to deliver patient care outside of the traditional care setting. There are many tools to enable connected health that a Healthcare provider requires. One of those is Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Healthcare Providers. You can read more about that here. You can also view our healthcare page as well for details.
So you may ask yourself, why is Connected Health needed? Healthcare leaders continue to face demands for cost control while also demonstrating improvements in quality that make care more patient-centric. If healthcare organizations are to manage, evaluate and transform healthcare delivery under radically evolving market conditions, then IT solutions are more essential than ever before. The goal is to have all stakeholders work to better coordinate care for patients and members, making it easier to deliver high-quality care while spending investment dollars wisely.
 
What we are finding as the Top Trends in Healthcare are Meaningful Use Stage 2, Mobile Health, Social Media, TeleHealth & Remote Monitoring, Accountable Care Organizations (ACO), Patient Engagement and Healthcare Portals. The foundation of the connected services offering is CRM/Social Analytics which is at the heart of the Patient Engagement experience for organizations. This is specifically targeted at providers across the country at some of the 825+ large hospitals with 300+ beds.
Don’t underestimate the power of the connected healthcare provider with the community, prospective patients and patients of the system. If can be powerful if done correctly and can help take healthcare provider organizations to the next level in a very competitive marketplace. What is your prospective? Share and let me know your thoughts please!

 
The SOCIAL story continues to evolve for Microsoft. In particular the social story related to Microsoft Dynamics CRM continues to evolve.
Help accelerate your success with social: In 2012 Microsoft Dynamics CRM (CRM) introduced its own internal social networking components to allow users to connect and share unstructured but useful data throughout the enterprise. With the purchase of Yammer last year by Microsoft, CRM now includes full and robust integration of Yammer throughout the CRM experience. Yammer allows CRM and non-CRM users to share information in a private social network. This allows employees to be more transparent with information about their customers and prospects.
 
Social monitoring and analytics: Earlier this year Microsoft announced the acquisition of Netbreeze. The capabilities acquired with Netbreeze will enable Microsoft to bring social analytics and monitoring to CRM customers to help them drive sales, optimize campaigns and engender customer loyalty. You can read more details about the Netbeeze in the Press Release from Bob Stutz. The Netbreeze functionality will be embedded directly into CRM and should not be of any additional charge to organizations when this rolls out later this year.

Drive business agility: Last year Microsoft also acquired MarketingPilot. This is a full-fledged marketing tool that will enable organizations to take advantage of outreach with their clients and prospects.  This Integrated Marketing Management Tool has four core components: marketing resource management, campaign management, spend management and media buying and planning. These components will allow for more touch points with clients through a very personal and private communication channel. MarketingPilot is a stand-alone product with connections directly into the CRM marketing module. These is an extra cost for this functionality.

CRM empowers users to better understand their clients with connection to InsideView and D&B/Hoovers. This enables professional sales people to have good business intelligence prior to interacting with their prospect and clients. CRM is also enabled with links to Twitter and LinkedIn to view data from there two site contextually directly inside CRM. This is useful and powerful to help take the experience to the next level within CRM.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM and the social experience. This experience is leading to better user adoption from users and quicker ROI for organizations. A connected system with social interactions allow for everyone to quickly communicate with one another. Let me know about your social experience with CRM and I will keep you posted with the latest info on what Microsoft is doing.

We have created a solution for healthcare providers to better serve their potential patients (community members) and current patients. A few months back I wrote about Big Data in Healthcare in the Cloud. Now we have a solution that will help organizations organized that data in an efficient and effective way. This solution has three key areas. Click on the headers below and see a small demo of the solution.
Relationship Management in Healthcare: Patient and Physician Relationships
Understanding the relationship between patients/members and their doctors, as well as doctors and their patients/members is becoming more important to Healthcare Providers throughout the country. Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Patient/Provider Relationship Management system, the Outlook interface enables users of the system to work seamlessly throughout their day to search, identify and facilitate the right conversations between interested parties.
Relationship Management in Healthcare Community Outreach
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Patient/Provider Relationship Management system allows professional marketing departments to track all outreach (events, communications, campaigns, etc.) in one centralized, user friendly tool. The system will allow healthcare providers the 360 degree transparent visibility into marketing activities and more.
Relationship Management in Healthcare Patient Service
Being responsible to patient/member needs is becoming more important everyday for healthcare providers. Being able to track these interactions and giving clear transparency throughout the organization will allow for better patient satisfaction. The utilization of a Knowledgebase will allow for routine inquiries to be quickly handled and leverage repeatable workflow processes.
You can download a one page pdf that describes the details. Feel free to contact me with any questions and/or interest.Perficient_CRM_Healthcare

Last week while at the annual Microsoft Dynamics Convergence in New Orleans (with 10,000 other people- partners, clients and MS employees) there was a great session on Advanced Analytics for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Many of these options have been available for the last few years since the release of CRM 2011 (both online and on-premises) like Charts, Dashboards, Export to Excel, Pivot Tables and Reports (SSRS). Some items have been enabled/enhanced since the release of Microsoft Office Excel 2013 like Power Pivot, and Power View. Some very cool stuff with a lot of possibilities. By the way, there tools come with Excel 2013 Pro and just need to be enabled.  One of the neat items now available with Excel 2013 is the concept of “Apps for Office”. Take a look here for information on the apps that with data from CRM can help take your analytics to the next level, like Bing Maps and Bubbles just to name a few. To find the Customer Analysis Templates for Microsoft Dynamics CRM you can find them here (specifically for PowerPivot and Power View). Finally for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Chart Enhancements you can find the details here. Give them a try and see how Powerful CRM data can be for your organization without involvement from developers.

As another Convergence comes to an end I wanted to share some of the key items from the anual conference. It is impressive to see how far Microsoft Dynamics CRM has come. Just five years ago CRM was barely mentioned and all the attention was focused on the Dynamics ERP packages. Though the conference covers all Dynamics products lines, the CRM product is all the talk. From the keynote speakers to the demos of new features it was all about CRM this year- which is very cool. Relating to CRM there were three key items that were focused on.
1. Marketing– Last year Microsoft acquired MarketingPilot. They have now re-written the user interface and are launching some imbedded and integrated elements with CRM. This will allow for functionality like email blasting, tracking and analysis that in the past was not available with CRM. A very cool look and feel and some outstanding functionality for professional marketing departments. Details on how and how much should be available in the next 30 days.
2. Social Interactions– Microsoft announced this week that is has acquired NetBreeze (you can read more details here). This will enable multi-lingual social analytics. This should ultimately be included innately in the application once Microsoft has worked out all the details on how the two platforms will work together. Look for something in the next few quarters. By the way, some Yammer integration is currently available with CRM but a lot more to come.
3. New Process Driven User Experience– in December Microsoft released it’s December 2012 release to the CRM Online environment. This new User Interface will be the groundwork for their future direction of the product. Flat, modern, less clicky user interface that will be accessible and useable on all types of devices (laptops and tablet devices). In the next release of CRM (Orion) which will come this summer, the new process driven user interface will be available for both on-premises and on-line and will be available on all entities (even custom). The processes will also be available to go across multiple entities like lead to opportunity to quotes to orders. Very useful and more expandable.
 
These three items are setting the stage for a very exciting 2013 with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and many changes/enhancements to come to the product. I hope that more of our Dynamics clients can join us in Atlanta in March 2014 for Convergence next year.