CRM Blog

Getting started with Microsoft CRM 2011 online

Microsoft offers a free, fully-functional 30-day trial of its online CRM product. To activate, simply visit the Dynamics CRM website and start a free trial account. To register, you only need to set up your organization by proving basic business details. Within minutes you have your own custom URL from which you access Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

After setting up your own account, you will have options to work with a temp database to try the features in Microsoft CRM or you can import existing contacts and CRM information right away.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online supports a number of platforms. You can open your CRM from within Outlook, on a mobile device or using a Web browser.

Activating your subscription – Partner of Record

Microsoft has made it really easy to activate your monthly online subscription. All you need is to go to Subscription section in your CRM and activate the number of licenses you require.

Accent Gold Solutions recommends working with an accredited or certified CRM business partner as they will be able to work closely with you on your project and provide a wide range of professional services in addition to the services you receive from Microsoft. These include advice, training, technical and application development, configurations and customisation, support and much more.

Working with a Microsoft Business Partner significantly increases the chances of your project being successful and delivering ROI in the shortest time. For CRM software projects in particular, we strongly advise against trying to deploy the products without working with a qualified, experienced business partner.

It’s important to note that working with a Microsoft partner or specifying a partner of record does not change the fees you pay to Microsoft. Also it doesn’t change or limit the support you receive from Microsoft. If your business partner supplies additional services, they will of course be able to quote for these.

Free Microsoft CRM 2011 online Training - Designating Accent Gold as your Partner of Record

Though we do realize that some businesses might prefer to roll out their Microsoft CRM 2011 online projects by themselves its always good to have a partner of record, and because it does not cost your business anything to designate a partner of record Accent Gold is offering FREE training to business who makes us their Partner of Record. (Please see table of training hours below)

To designate a Partner of Record for Microsoft CRM 2011 online follow these steps:

1.) When logged into Microsoft CRM 2011 online, go to Resource Center

2.) In the bottom right corner under  Connect with Us, select Designate a Partner  

3.) Enter Accent Gold Solutions as your Partner of Record and also enter the 10 digit Autorization code:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Evaluation

Click here to access and download our Free Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Analysis.

Topics addressed include:

1. Salesforce.com vs Microsoft CRM
2. Pros and Cons of SaaS vs On-premise CRM
3. Crucial User Adoption Factors
4. Total Cost of Ownership of Microsoft CRM

Microsoft CRM 2011 Review Webinars

Join us for our webinar series as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation.

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Running Your CRM Business with Google Apps for Business on Your Mobile phones

Google CRM Software and Google Apps allow CRM business owners to manage their operations on the move using mobile phones and other mobile devices. These online tools also give employees access to office documents from their mobile devices, so that they can work on them from any location with an Internet connection.

Here are some of the features that make Google Apps so great for mobile office operations:

• Multi-platform – A mobile phone comparison shows that Google Apps are compatible with most mobile devices including those using Android and iOS platforms.

• Highly versatile – The apps provide just about everything needed for mobile office operations, so there is less need for installing and maintaining multiple applications.

• Constantly improving – The Google Apps suite is not static and there are continuous improvements and upgrades.

• Flexibility – Google Apps are compatible with many types of document formats.

• Effectiveness – Google Apps have a proven record in saving money for clients and increasing ROI.

CRM-Google Apps for communicating

Users can sync their Gmail, Voice, Talk, Blogger and Buzz accounts with Google Apps. Once synced, they can access these apps from any location having Internet access.

Video chat capability is on the horizon although this will require sufficient broadband speeds in order to work effectively. With Google Apps, you can do so much more than simply send emails. You can communicate in real time over chat or voice links. Text messages are free with Google Voice and international calls are available at discounted rates.

Location-based services

Google Apps provides access to useful location services like Google Maps, Google Latitude and Google Earth. If your GPS or other location-tracking system is activated, you can register you real time location on Buzz and other networking platforms.

Maps and Latitude allow you to pinpoint your location and navigate while traveling for business. You will also have the capability of tracking employees, clients and others and helping them to reach their destinations. Google Earth provides highly detailed 3D images of locations around the globe allowing you to scan sites and familiarize yourself with the environment prior to actually traveling there.

Mobile search apps

When you are the go, the capability of searching for destinations on the move can be very useful. Google Apps offers the traditional Google Search along with Goggles, Voice Search and Google SMS for mobile phones.

• Google Search – Enter queries just as you would on your desktop. Find places to eat or stay on the fly from traditional Google search results or from more specialized results like Google Places.

• Goggles – Goggles searches for image rather than keyword results. The app can identify products, storefronts, barcodes, business cards, print ads, signatures and more.

• Voice Search – With this app, you can voice your queries rather than typing them into your smartphone. Available for iPhone and BlackBerry, while Android phones use the Voice Actions app.

• Google SMS – Search through text messages.

News services

To stay informed, Google Apps offers Google Reader, Google News, eBooks and iGoogle services. These platforms allow you to select newsfeeds based on focused topics and keywords. For example, you can choose feeds to retrieve news related to precious metals trading or to the world of real estate financing.

Google Ebooks allows you to download full text books for reading on your mobile device. You can store up to 8000 books on average with the capability of full text search within any book.

With iGoogle, you are able to customize your smartphone browser, so that news, weather, videos and other page elements are just where you want them located on the screen.

Collaboration, organizing, management and productivity

With Google Sync, you can access your Google Calendar and Contacts right from your iPhone or Android smartphone. Google Docs allows users to create and edit a wide variety of office documents from mobile devices.

Your mobile office can also collaborate using Google Cloud Connect for Microsoft Office. With this setup, multiple users can simultaneously read and edit MS Office Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents. Google Apps provides a separate sharing URL for each MS Office file.

An offline editing capability is included with the ability to “smart” sync offline document changes. Google Docs saves all revisions to files in a revision history document.

Office administrators can remotely clean data from lost or stolen phones, lock idle devices, require passwords and perform other administrative functions from their mobile devices.

CRM & Mobile e-commerce

With the Google Shopper app, customers can find information on any product by searching using text or voice, or by scanning the product’s barcode. The Shopper app can also locate online and offline stores. The upcoming Google Wallet app will allow users to pay for products using their mobile phones opening up a new frontier for mobile business activity.

This is a guest article by Ruben Corbo, a writer for the website Broadband Expert, a mobile phone comparisonsite where you can find mobile phone providers in your area and compare prices on the latest new mobile phones.

SugarCRM works with Google Apps-PDF

Click here to access our Free Sugar CRM 6 PDF.

With this document, you will be able to identify the key enhancements within Sugar CRM.

Topics addressed include:

1. Calculated Fields
2. Favorites and Favorites Dashlet
3. Twitter and Social Media integration
4. Reporting (filtering, scheduling)
5. User interface improvements (there are many!)
6. Sugar Mobile 1.0 details
7. and much more

Excel Tool to Compare CRM Systems

Click here to download our Free Excel CRM Comparison Tool.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key similarilites and differences between 9 of the top CRM systems, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix, GoldMine, Sage ACT!, Pivotal and more.

Comparison Topics include:

1. Key CRM Features
2. Pricing (Licensing, etc..)
3. Available Modules (e.g. SFA, Marketing, Service, etc)
4. Feature Details (Sync, Call Center, Quoting, E-commerce, Lead Management, Security, Workflow, and much more.
5. Hardware and Network support (Microsoft, Linux, etc…)
6. Industry/NAICS

National CRM Training

With locations throughout the United States, Accent Gold Solutions is able to provide CRM training and implementation service whereever you are. Please contact us to find out the best way to get your CRM project underway. Remember, step a is to figure out what your business requirements are, and step b is to select the best CRM system for your individual needs.

Being certified in various CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage ACT!, SAP CRM and more, we are confident we can advise you as to the proper CRM software to fit your business.

Whether you are in Riverside, California or Albuquerque, New Mexico, we can get your CRM solution designed, implemented and trained so that your users will love it and use it. We define our success by your CRM adoption rate. So call us to get started

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MS CRM Dynamic – CRM in business

Almost all organizations require a software to manage their data centrally. Often the major driver for implementing CRM in business is the need for high quality sales processes and reporting. CRM software applications provide accurate forecasts and data for sales, marketing, and customer service operations. The MS CRM Dynamic structure offers a metadata capability, which allows this data to be easily retrievable for reports and dashboards.

Microsoft CRM Dynamic – Database Structure

The extremely flexible Microsoft CRM Dynamic structure enables the user to have full access of applications that are streamlined to provide the best virtual business environment possible. The security model is highly flexbile, yet prevents any unauthorized access to the files.  The overall structure of the software allows the deployment of smaller databases. Web services are used to control the platform layer, the goal of which is to make sure that the components function according to predetermined business workflow rules.

Microsoft CRM Dynamic 2011 Evaluation

Click here to access our Free Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Analysis.

Topics addressed include:

1. Salesforce.com vs Microsoft CRM
2. Pros and Cons of SaaS vs On-premise CRM
3. Crucial User Adoption Factors
4. Total Cost of Ownership of Microsoft CRM

Free SugarCRM 6 Assessment PDF

Click here to download our Free Sugar CRM 6 Evaluation PDF.

With this document, you will be able to identify the key enhancements within Sugar CRM.

Topics addressed include:

1. Calculated Fields
2. Favorites and Favorites Dashlet
3. Twitter and Social Media integration
4. Reporting (filtering, scheduling)
5. User interface improvements (there are many!)
6. Sugar Mobile 1.0 details
7. and much more.

Free ACT! 2011 Evaluation and Feature Review

Click here to access and download our Free Sage ACT! 2011 Feature Evaluation and Review.

With this document, you will be able to identify the key improvements within ACT! 2011 as well as ACT! 2010.

Items addressed include:

1. User interface enhancements
2. Social Media
3. E-Marketing, Mail-Merge and Online Surveys
4. Sales Opportunity redesign
5. Flexible Reporting, Dashboard and OLEDB interface
6. Advanced Outlook Integration and Invitations
7. Advanced Outlook Sync for Contacts and Calendar
8. Simplified Importing design
9. Smart Tasks (Workflow)
10. Advanced Lead Management and Importing
11. Administrative improvements
12. and much more.

Nationwide CRM Consulting and Training

With locations throughout the United States, Accent Gold Solutions is able to provide CRM training, consulting and implementation service whereever you are. Please contact us to find out the best way to get your CRM project underway. Remember, step 1 is to figure out what your business requirements are, and step 2 is to select the proper CRM system for your individual needs.

Being certified in various CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix CRM, Sage ACT!, SAP CRM and more, we are confident we can advise you as to the proper CRM software to fit your business.

Whether you are in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania or Riverside, California, we can get your CRM solution designed, implemented and trained so that your users will love it and use it. We define our success by your CRM adoption rate. So call us to get started!

MS Dynamic CRM 2011 Review Webinars

Join us for our webinar series as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation.

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Two variations of MS CRM 2011

Microsoft comes in 2 flavors. The first is On-Premise. This is a bit more expensive and is the next generation after Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. The second flavor is MS CRM 2011 Online. To be clear, this is where Microsoft is focusing most of their attention. They have decent market share with the on-premise product. But they are now going toe to toe with Salesforce.com in competing for the SaaS market.

Pricing Comparison of CRM Online

Officially, Microsoft Dynamics 2011 Online is at $34/month per user. Additional storage can be purchased for $9.99 per gigabyte per month

Pricing Comparison of CRM On-Premise

MS CRM Workgroup includes the server license and allows for up to 5 users. This is priced at $2,100. MS Enterprise Server also requires a CAL for each user and costs $4,100. MS Client Access License (CAL) is $795, and the configuration requires a Enterprise CRM server license.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Evaluation

Click here to access and download our Free Microsofty Dynamics CRM 2011 Analysis.

Topics addressed include:

1. Salesforce.com vs Microsoft CRM
2. Pros and Cons of SaaS vs On-premise CRM
3. Crucial User Adoption Factors
4. Total Cost of Ownership of Microsoft CRM

Free TCO Calculator for Comparing MS CRM

Click here to access and download our Free CRM TCO Calculator Tool.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key TCO line items that are relevant for any CRM implementation. We have also included data for comparing CRM software systems such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix and more. You will be able to view the 3 Year and 5 Year Total Cost of Ownership for both SaaS (Online/On-Demand) and Licensed (On-premise) pricing models.

Total Cost of CRM tool includes:

1. Annual License/User price
2. Support
3. Hardware (incl. Server and Users)
4. Implementation
5. Staff
6. Network
7. Mobile
8. and much more.

Nationwide CRM Consulting and Training

With locations throughout the United States, Accent Gold Solutions is able to provide CRM training, consulting and implementation service whereever you are. Please contact us to find out the best way to get your CRM project underway. Remember, step 1 is to figure out what your business requirements are, and step 2 is to select the proper CRM system for your individual needs.

Being certified in various CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix CRM, Sage ACT!, SAP CRM and more, we are confident we can advise you as to the proper CRM software to fit your business.

Whether you need CRM Consulting in Columbus, Ohio or Atlanta, Georgia, we can get your CRM solution designed, implemented and trained so that your users will love it and use it. We define our success by your CRM adoption rate. So call us to get started!

Microsoft CRM 2011 Review Webinars

Join us for our webinar series as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation.

Search terms for Compare CRM:

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What is SaaS CRM?

SaaS means Software-as-a-Service, and the trend in the market right now is clearly from the license model toward the SaaS hosting model. As this is not a traditional pricing model, this article aims at covering the key CRM pricing questions that you need to ask.

CRM Startup Costs

This is a nice area for vendors to cash in on. Certain vendors have charged over $50,000 to simply begin the online service.

Contract Extensions

Be sure to find out what the pricing model will look like when your current CRM SaaS contract expires. Certain vendors are well known for giving stunning price breaks on the initial 12-24 months – yet not extending that pricing. If you are promised a price extension, get it in writing before you move ahead.

Included Features

This is a difficult area to analyze. It can be helpful to create a grid in Excel and compare the various features that each CRM system is touting. Be detailed, so that you can make a true apples-to-apples comparison. Although it might seem that all CRM solutions have the same basic features, this is not really true from our experience. 

Future Features

Don’t just analyze the features you need now. Make sure your strategic staff has discussed and analyzed the direction of your company. And make sure to bring up these points with your CRM vendor.

ERP Integration

Although everyone says that integration is possible, make sure to really define what “integration” means. Is it a view into the tables? Or rather an import? Does it include workflow or automation?

Synchronization

Does the CRM allow for offline synchronization. i.e. Are my users able to work in the CRM system while on an airplane flight? What are the extra costs involved with offline CRM sync?

Does the CRM allow for mobile integration? What mobile solutions are able to sync with the CRM? iPhone? Blackberry? Android? Windows Mobile 7? What are the extra costs involved with this mobile integration?

Storage

One of the most hidden costs in any CRM implementation is Storage pricing.  Do yourself a favor and clarify the storage costs for (a) for the database size as well as (b) attachments. Secondly, find out if those prices are on  per database or rather a per user basis. This is particularly crucial when examining Salesforce.com.

Data Extraction/Migration

PWill it cost me anything to move my data away from this CRM system in the future. Certain CRM systems will not allow this for the introductory pricing package. Therefore, unless you first upgrade for a year (per user), you don’t have access to your data. Be careful, or this one may come back to haunt you.

Bonus 1: Free Excel CRM Price Calculator. This tool will compare On-Premise as well as Online CRM Pricing.

Click here to access and download our Free CRM TCO Price Calculator.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key Pricing line items that are relevant for any CRM implementation. We have also included data for contrasting CRM software systems such as Microsoft CRM, Salesforce.com, SugarCRM, Sage CRM, Sage SalesLogix and more. You will be able to view the 3 Year and 5 Year Total Cost of Ownership for both SaaS (Online/On-Demand) and Licensed (On-premise) pricing models.

TCO line items include:

1. Implementation
2. Annual License/User price
3. Network
4. Support
5. Mobile
6. Hardware (incl. Server and Users)
7. Staffing
8. and much more.

Bonus 2: Free Excel Tool to Compare CRM Solutions

Click here to access and download our Free Excel CRM Comparison Tool.

With this tool, you will be able to identify the key similarilites and differences between 9 of the top CRM systems, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix, GoldMine, Sage ACT!, Pivotal and more.

Comparison Topics include:

1. Pricing (Licensing, etc..)
2. Key CRM Features
3. Industry/NAICS
4. Hardware and Network support (Microsoft, Linux, etc…)
5. Available Modules (e.g. SFA, Marketing, Service, etc)
6. Feature Details (Sync, Call Center, Quoting, E-commerce, Lead Management, Security, Workflow, and much more.

National CRM Consulting and Training

With locations throughout the United States, Accent Gold Solutions is able to provide CRM training, consulting and implementation service whereever you are. Please contact us to find out the best way to get your CRM project underway. Remember, step 1 is to figure out what your business requirements are, and step 2 is to select the proper CRM system for your individual needs.

Being certified in various CRM systems such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Sage SalesLogix CRM, Sage ACT!, SAP CRM and more, we are confident we can advise you as to the proper CRM software to fit your business.

Whether you are looking for a CRM implementation in Denver, Colorado or Des Moines, Iowa, we can get your CRM solution designed, implemented and trained so that your users will love it and use it. We define our success by your CRM adoption rate. So call us to get started!

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Pricing Webinars

Join us for our webinar series as we explore the points outlined below – and hope to provide you valuable insight about this top-rated CRM solution. We hope that our comparison with Salesforce.com will help you on in your CRM evaluation. We will be hosting this series every Wednesday at 11:00 am December – February.

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