Microsoft CRM Customization: Plug-ins and Add-ons

Posted on September 6, 2010 by admin

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is one of the most popular CRM systems.  One of its competitive advantages is its flexibility to extensions and modifications with its settings as well as its programming tools.  In MS CRM it is possible integration with external systems, such as Accounting applications, Document management, Call Centers, email servers etc.
It is often the case, when you have to do custom programming, as existing settings and adding custom tables and objects directly in MS CRM user interface do wonderful job, but still have their limits.  In those situations CRM technical consultants deploy plug-ins and/or Extensions, often referred as Add-ons

1. Plug-In – this is external business logic, which could be integrated into Dynamics CRM to redirect documents, master records or results of the business logic into CRM.  It is common practice to deploy MS CRM objects custom event handlers

2. Add-On – this is typically separate programming project, extending CRM, where you can introduce new entities (beyond the custom tables, available directly in CRM) – via Microsoft CRM SDK programming

All the entities and structures are stored in MS CRM in the database.  Plug-ins and Add-ons have to be realized via CRM SDK programming. MS CRM SDK is API for developers, allowing you to manipulate objects in CRM.  In theory it is possible to work directly with MS CRM Database insert and update bypassing CRM SDK.  However this approach is not recommended, even for your company in-house customizations.  And this is prohibited, when you do custom add-ons or plug-ins for external MS CRM customers, as you will need to register your MS CRM module with Microsoft Business Solutions.  The advantages of deploying MS CRM SDK include the fact that SDK programming gives you direct inclusion into MS CRM user security realm

Plug-ins and Add-ons are >Net assemblies.  As Software developer you deploy Microsoft Visual Studio for programming, compiling and final project builds.  It is common to use C# or VB.Net programming languages.  We will give you more details on Microsoft CRM SDK programming and projects maintenance in Visual Studio in the following publications
If you are planning to work on new Microsoft CRM user forms – it is important to make their design matching targeted MS CRM version.  At this point MS CRM SDK doesn’t provide design compatibility instruments.  Some of MS CRM software developers have better luck in interface look and feel replications, some of them do not.  But, it is recommended at least to try to match current MS CRM version user interface design patterns

If you are planning to become Microsoft CRM ISV, offering out-of-the-shelf Add-ons and plug-ins – you will face the questions of Installation key generation and module licensing.  You may consider several ways – first approach is when you require the customer to purchase the same number of Custom module license keys as the number of MS CRM users.  Second approach is more flexible, where you link your license key to specific CRM user, who is in reality your extension user

Andrew Karasev, Alba Spectrum Group, http://www.albaspectrum.com help@albaspectrum.com 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918, serving GP customers USA and Canada Nationwide: California, Minnesota, New York, Quebec, Ontario, Illinois, Texas, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Virginia, Florida, new Mexico, Iowa, Indiana, Alaska, Hawaii. Local service is available in Houston/Dallas: Richmond, Rosenberg, Katy, Galveston, Sugar Land; in Chicago: Naperville, Aurora, Plainfield, Romeoville, Batavia, Downers Grove, Schaumburg, Rockford, Elgin, Crystal Lake, Joliet, Hinsdale, Lisle, Montgomery, Oswego

Business CRM: Perfect Business Solutions To Optimize Profits

Posted on September 6, 2010 by admin

In today’s cut-throat business environment, it is necessary to streamline various operations associated with a business to achieve peak competence and realize business goals swiftly and with a high degree of efficiency. Business CRM helps companies and corporates achieve their sales and management goals by reducing the risk elements associated with various aspects of the business.

Business CRM solutions are achieved by combining the business knowledge of the clients with the expertise of consulting companies, which helps in formulating a coherent strategy and developing a clear plan. The objective of the exercise is to help you develop and grow as a company and achieve peak performance, and maximize your turnover and profits. It can help you maintain, grow, and improve customer service features.

The process begins by reviewing the existing business systems comprehensively. With their rich expertise achieved by working with major corporate companies and institutions and partnering with CRM’s like Microsoft CRM and others, they are well placed to recommend and make customized plans, integrate, train, and support the ideal business CRM solution that suits your line of business.

A customized plan is designed to accurately balance the management reporting and information technology needs with the needs of the customers and sales reps. The plan is intended to make things move quickly and show up results within the shortest span of time. The plan also includes other crucial aspects to maximize business prospects such as recommending technical and software requirements, accounting and back-end integration review, a comprehensive training plan to implement the strategies charted out, and establishing timelines for the tasks to be completed.

This unique business CRM solution, if implemented as strategized, can help businesses acquire new customers while retaining existing ones, and develop a profitable relationship with the customers by increasing sales, improving and optimizing marketing performance, and gaining customer loyalty by providing high-quality customer service and satisfaction.

Business CRM solutions use the Microsoft CRM software and other CRM software to help achieve your sales goals.

Retail Stock Brokerage and Wealth Management Firms Enhance Customer Equity with Sage CRM

Posted on September 5, 2010 by admin

The recent stock market boom in India has resulted in a lot of erstwhile small to mid sized stock brokers expanding to become larger in size and scale with a network of sub brokers and an extensive direct sales team to cater to the increasing number of individual investors in the market. Retail brokerages have also diversified to extend Wealth Management services covering stock trading, investments in mutual funds, insurance products, and a host of other retail financial products. The focus has also been on advisory services to strengthen the  ‘stickiness’ in their relationship. We now have a new breed of ‘relationship managers’ that dot the financial services sbusiness. This sudden business expansion has made it imperative for these companies to adopt new technologies and proven best practices in CRM to ensure customer satisfaction, profitability and productivity.

Challenges

Typically, brokerages advertise in various media to generate enquiries. Leads get generated through e-mail, phone-ins, web registrations or walk-ins and are generally captured at their in-house Call Center. These are then routed by the Customer Service team to the concerned sales person, sub broker or agent based on location and expertise. These leads are further qualified, profiled and their credit worthiness checked before initiating a relationship with them. If the leads

are managed and allocated manually, it is quite possible that a number of them may slip through the cracks and get lost. Furthermore, brokerage companies spend huge amounts of money on advertising and other campaigns. Since there is no established process to track the effectiveness of these campaigns and calculate the return on investment from business generated through these leads, the company is unable to determine which marketing program is actually driving increased business and often unable to optimize their Marketing investments.

After an account is set up the customer starts building up his investment portfolio through trading and other investments. In the course of these transactions, he is likely to have a number of queries or issues related to system access, funds credit, account status, asset appreciation and other updates. These queries and complaints need to be captured and addressed in a timely fashion or escalated for intervention and action while maintaining acceptable turnaround times.

Time is of essence in this business therefore any delays in responding to customer issues can result in customer dissatisfaction and potential attrition. The company also needs to maintain internal timeline service commitments for responding to queries to ensure that their customers remain satisfied. Automated systems are required to ensure the right persons are involved to address specific issues with proper controls and an escalation process in place. Detailed trading and investment information of customers is generally available in disparate systems depending on the investment type, namely, stock trades, insurance, mutual funds. Since this cannot be easily accessed by the customer service team, they are sometimes unable to respond to simple

customer queries in real-time. If data on customer transactions were to be made available to the customer service team, they would have a 360 degree view of the customer which would

greatly reduce the time taken to address customer issues and improve customer delight.

Solution

Sage CRM is an easy to use, fast to deploy, feature rich Customer Relationship Management software with out-of-box and configurable business processes. With modules for sales, marketing and customer service. Sage CRM comes with features such as lead management, sales automation, customer service, campaign management, interactive Dashboards and reports.

Using Sage CRM, leads can be managed across multiple channels like Phone, E-mail, SMS, Web enquiries, and Walkins. Leads are tracked from first contact to final closure with a

well defined work flow that has built in assignment and escalation rules. An example of this would be where a sales person ‘on the move’ gets a lead assigned to him on his mobile via SMS based on his territorial responsibility. He is therefore able to take action instantly and efficiently utilize his time on the road. It also enables the sales team to effectively analyze and manage the sales pipeline and review the history of each prospect, hence reducing administrative tasks to a minimum. Sales representatives and managers can have instant access to sales reports, graphs and forecasts for immediate analysis and decision-making.

Sage CRM customer service enables the Call center of the brokerage house to streamline call ins, E-mails and other contact points into a central repository and enable a smooth interaction with end customers. With Computer Telephony Integration (CTI), Sage CRM enables a seamless handover process from call-ins. The Customer service rep can retrieve the appropriate customer record to quickly address customer issues. Similar process is established with e-mails sent in by

customers. Information availability is complete with the necessary integration of Sage CRM with back-end transaction systems which makes the job of the Customer service rep even

more seamless. The solution also tracks every customer interaction which ensures that the most up-to-date information is available. It helps users adhere to work-flow processes whereby customer issues that remain inactive for a predefined period of time, are automatically escalated. By enabling bidirectional exchange of customer data and consolidation of customer transaction and communication information on a single screen, Sage CRM provides customer service

professionals with a 360-degree view of the customer. They can access relevant information including transactions, calls and escalation history and all communication sent and

received. The built-in reporting function comes in a userfriendly and presentable format so that details of customer issues and requests can be analyzed easily.

Benefits

Sage CRM offers the following key business benefits to stock brokerage and wealth management firms :

1. Streamlines the Lead Management process thereby ensuring that leads are not lost.

2. Build up Risk profiles of customers to leverage future product selling opportunities.

3. Integrate the Call center with the Sales and Operations teams to offer a seamless

experience to customers.

4. Enable relationship managers to have a 360º view of their customers thereby ensuring a more proactive approach to managing them.

5. Integrate disparate systems within the organization thereby eliminating ‘silos’ of information and improving operational efficiencies.

6. Improve customer servicing capabilities with better response times and more empowered customer service reps which in turn leads to higher customer satisfaction levels.

To know more about Sage CRM Solutions you can visit http://www.sagesoftware.co.in

Manish,
Content Writer for Sage India on different software products

CRM Systems For Sales Management That Track Sales Leads To Get Instant Reports

Posted on September 5, 2010 by admin

What are CRM systems?

The term CRM systems refer to Customer Relationship Management systems. These CRM systems are designed to help companies keep customer and client information in one easy accessible location.  The better CRM systems of software include much more then this however. They also include Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Contact Management. The combination of these elements in CRM systems will provide busy sales force managers the opportunity to stay on top of everything related to sales and make sure there are no missed opportunities that cause a loss of sales.

Aren’t CRM systems only for large corporations?

For many years it was only the large corporations that could afford CRM systems. They were very expensive and usually the SFA and contact management software was sold separately. In addition, these expensive CRM systems were very difficult to set up and required extensive training of sales personnel before they could successfully use the CRM systems to their advantage. These CRM systems also contained many features that most companies, particularly smaller ones would never use.

The CRM systems have changed a lot in recent years.

There has been a lot of work done on creating better and more affordable CRM systems in recent years. There are now CRM systems that are affordable and can be tailored to fit the specific needs of businesses of all types and sizes. These new CRM systems include all of the best elements of SFA, CRM, and contact management software.

New CRM systems are much more user friendly.

The newer CRM systems are much easier to set up and very little training is required to get employees ready to take full advantage of all of the features in the CRM systems. This is particularly true of the CRM systems designed by a company called Avidian that has developed its CRM systems to integrate right into existing Microsoft Outlook. This means that these CRM systems can be up and running in as little as a few hours.

Good CRM systems track sales leads.

One of the biggest problems for sales force managers in any companies is keeping up with everything that is going on with sales personnel and sales leads. Good CRM systems alleviate these problems. The contact management features in CRM systems allow the information about sales leads such as names and addresses to be easily stored and instantly accessible. In addition, the features in the CRM systems allow instant access to all of the documents developed with each sales leads such as correspondence.

Tasking is much easier with these good CRM systems.

Most of the time good sales leads aren’t developed because busy members of the sales force may simply drop the ball when it comes to follow up. With the right CRM systems all of the tasks that need to be done are automatically calendared and some, such as follow up e-mails are even generated automatically by the CRM systems. With such CRM systems there are no missed opportunities. These CRM systems also make it easy to identify the sales trends that the company executives need to know about.

Sales managers can get instant reports with these CRM systems.

Sales managers and everyone else involved with companies can get instant reports with these CRM systems. The better CRM systems have numerous reports built right into the CRM systems that can be accessed instantly. Reports can also be customized to fit the needs of the individual companies. Not only do the CRM systems keep individual sales personnel up to date on what needs to be done, b but the CRM systems keep the sales manager current on what has been done.

With good CRM systems sales forces can be brought up to a higher level.

The competition to sell products and services has never been more intense and much of this is due to the advances in technology like the Internet.  The top CRM systems provide the newest and best technologies to allow companies to raise the capabilities of their sales force to a higher level. This allows them to use CRM systems to get a step ahead of competitors. The CRM systems may not be tight for everyone, but for most companies with a sales force, particularly ones that are growing, CRM systems can be the right investment.

Author Bio: James Wong is the co-founder and CEO of Avidian Technologies, makers of Prophet, The easiest CRM software for Outlook, CRM – Your Business Solution.
For more information about Avidian, visit www.avidian.com

CRM Systems For Sales Management That Track Sales Leads To Get Instant Reports

Posted on September 5, 2010 by admin

What are CRM systems?

The term CRM systems refer to Customer Relationship Management systems. These CRM systems are designed to help companies keep customer and client information in one easy accessible location.  The better CRM systems of software include much more then this however. They also include Sales Force Automation (SFA) and Contact Management. The combination of these elements in CRM systems will provide busy sales force managers the opportunity to stay on top of everything related to sales and make sure there are no missed opportunities that cause a loss of sales.

Aren’t CRM systems only for large corporations?

For many years it was only the large corporations that could afford CRM systems. They were very expensive and usually the SFA and contact management software was sold separately. In addition, these expensive CRM systems were very difficult to set up and required extensive training of sales personnel before they could successfully use the CRM systems to their advantage. These CRM systems also contained many features that most companies, particularly smaller ones would never use.

The CRM systems have changed a lot in recent years.

There has been a lot of work done on creating better and more affordable CRM systems in recent years. There are now CRM systems that are affordable and can be tailored to fit the specific needs of businesses of all types and sizes. These new CRM systems include all of the best elements of SFA, CRM, and contact management software.

New CRM systems are much more user friendly.

The newer CRM systems are much easier to set up and very little training is required to get employees ready to take full advantage of all of the features in the CRM systems. This is particularly true of the CRM systems designed by a company called Avidian that has developed its CRM systems to integrate right into existing Microsoft Outlook. This means that these CRM systems can be up and running in as little as a few hours.

Good CRM systems track sales leads.

One of the biggest problems for sales force managers in any companies is keeping up with everything that is going on with sales personnel and sales leads. Good CRM systems alleviate these problems. The contact management features in CRM systems allow the information about sales leads such as names and addresses to be easily stored and instantly accessible. In addition, the features in the CRM systems allow instant access to all of the documents developed with each sales leads such as correspondence.

Tasking is much easier with these good CRM systems.

Most of the time good sales leads aren’t developed because busy members of the sales force may simply drop the ball when it comes to follow up. With the right CRM systems all of the tasks that need to be done are automatically calendared and some, such as follow up e-mails are even generated automatically by the CRM systems. With such CRM systems there are no missed opportunities. These CRM systems also make it easy to identify the sales trends that the company executives need to know about.

Sales managers can get instant reports with these CRM systems.

Sales managers and everyone else involved with companies can get instant reports with these CRM systems. The better CRM systems have numerous reports built right into the CRM systems that can be accessed instantly. Reports can also be customized to fit the needs of the individual companies. Not only do the CRM systems keep individual sales personnel up to date on what needs to be done, b but the CRM systems keep the sales manager current on what has been done.

With good CRM systems sales forces can be brought up to a higher level.

The competition to sell products and services has never been more intense and much of this is due to the advances in technology like the Internet.  The top CRM systems provide the newest and best technologies to allow companies to raise the capabilities of their sales force to a higher level. This allows them to use CRM systems to get a step ahead of competitors. The CRM systems may not be tight for everyone, but for most companies with a sales force, particularly ones that are growing, CRM systems can be the right investment.

Author Bio: James Wong is the co-founder and CEO of Avidian Technologies, makers of Prophet, The easiest CRM software for Outlook, CRM – Your Business Solution.
For more information about Avidian, visit www.avidian.com