Executive Insight

Community Improvements

2008-06-26T16:11:00Z

By Craig Dewar

Over here on the community team we have been hard at work on many improvements for you. This past week we released two of them to you.

Thomson Reuters Partnership – We know you value all the different content that is available here on the community and we are constantly on the lookout for new things to add for you. We have now finalized a partnership with the Tax & Accounting practice of Thomson Reuters. They are a leading provider of technology and integrated information for tax and corporate professionals in accounting firms, corporations, law firms and government. The first result of this partnership is the RIA SEC/GAAP Watch blog which features announcements and analysis on all the important changes going on in the world of the SEC, FASB and GAAP space. We know many of you in our Finance community will find great value from subscribing to this feed. We are also exploring republishing some of the articles from a variety of Thomson Reuter publications for your use.

Business Networking – The Microsoft Dynamics Community grew out of our Convergence conference and the desire to provide you a place to learn and connect with each other year round. A big part of this is forming and maintaining long term relationships with others in the community. The new business networking release gives you a set of tools to help with this. You can access this new functionality in the networking section here. The way this works is just like in real life… you just exchange business cards with people. Below you can see my business card from the community. All I need to do is select the send business card option and enter the people I want to network with.

Later this year we will extend this functionality to have the community platform automatically suggest people that you might like to network with. It will do this by finding the people with profiles most similar to you. People with the same sorts of jobs, in the same industries, with similar sized companies and so on.
We hope you enjoy the improvements and look out for even more in the near future

Get networking!

About the Author

Craig is a 13 year Microsoft veteran with a breadth of experience across the company. Craig currently leads the Microsoft Dynamics Community team who focus on events such as Convergence and the application of online community in business. Prior to joining Microsoft Craig spent time working in the telecommunications and legal industries. Craig originally comes from Wellington, New Zealand and holds a BSc in Physics from Victoria University.

Just how instant-on is an instant-on CRM solution?

2008-06-18T23:41:00Z

By Bill Patterson

One of the most popular questions I seem to be answering lately seems to be, "How long will it take me to implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for my business?" I love this question. Not because there is a canned response that I can offer (in fact, quite the opposite) that appeases the individual asking the question, but rather because the response has such a wide array of "correct" answers that simply need to be applied to the appropriate business situation.

Let me explain: CRM is a combination of both art and science; for every creative marketing campaign, sales pitch or strategy for turning an un-happy customer into a loyal one, there are an equal number of statistical correlations and process coefficients that make-up your typical sales forecast or marketing ROI analysis. For every successful business that has deployed CRM in a day or week's time, I've met an equal number of organizations that are still 'implementing' CRM after one month or one year. The answer, like most fuel efficiency guidelines, is that your mileage will certainly vary.

What I can tell you is that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online can greatly accelerate your time to business value. For instance, the time that it takes you to sign-up for CRM Online and have an environment ready for use is measured in minutes as opposed to the hours or days it might take to procure a server and have it shipped to you. The time it takes to import your key data (business contacts, appointments and communications) with one mouse-click is measured in seconds as opposed to the hours it might take for an IT professional to respond to your inquiry. The time it takes to learn Microsoft Dynamics CRM's Outlook interface, well, is almost-instantaneous to those already using one of the world's most widely-adopted e-mail and calendaring utilities.

For those keeping score at home, we've yet to eclipse one hour of time, but what we have yet to include is anything to do with applying CRM strategies across your business. This is usually where my humor gets the better half of me. When asked the question above, I usually respond with something along the lines of "Well, we removed the need for servers not the need to do the CRM part" (ok, not funny, more witty, but you get the idea).

From a pragmatic standpoint, and in broad generality, your time to deploy CRM typically increases with every distinct user group wanting to be included within the active user community. You can apply the economic law of decreased marginal returns to your deployment and the law most certainly holds true. I have found guidance of "one week for every distinct user group" to be directionally sound for most ballpark estimates.

What I do find is that most successful SaaS CRM deployments are engineered at a team or departmental level within a singular line of business. It is the combination of lower upfront costs with the need to act and grow at an organic, autonomous pace that many businesses find SaaS CRM to be so appealing. And precisely why so many customers are finding our new delivery model so appealing for their business.

But enough from me - how about hearing from some of our successful customers who have really taken this instant-on capability to heart? Here are three examples of customers who have all adopted Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online across their business in less than a week. Good luck with your CRM project - which I hope you begin here!

Lure Executive Search - customized executive staffing CRM system in less than a week.

Video: Dynamics CRM Online - Keeping Customers - Microsoft Small Business

High5 Sportswear - rapid customer service adoption in 2 days time.

Video: Microsoft Dynamics High 5 Sportswear Case Study

1-888-TRASH-IT.com - centralized customer management system in less than a week.

Video: Dynamics CRM Online - From Trash To Cash - Microsoft Small Business

About the Author

Bill Patterson is the Director of Product Management for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online at Microsoft Corporation and runs worldwide Product Management and Product Marketing teams for this new online service. Bill has been working in the CRM market for the last nine years and has led successful implementations of CRM projects and initiatives for organizations in Professional Sports, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Homebuilding, and High Tech industries. He has been with Microsoft Corporation since 2003 – and led several projects for Microsoft Business Solutions – including launching Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, and now Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online.

A former developer, technical evangelist, and system architect, Bill’s passion remains in building CRM solutions to address unique customer needs and helping businesses reach their full potential when implementing CRM applications and strategies within their organization. Originally from Boston, MA and a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, OH, Bill is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan and will always find the time to mix-it-up on the ice with a little ice hockey.

How do we get better at what we do?

2008-04-30T16:15:00Z

I recently read a blog posted by Seth Godin (a very popular marketing blog) and a question in his blog resonated with me. He asked a very simple question: “Are you better at what you do than you were a month or two ago?” We can and should all ask ourselves this question from time to time. It’s good to get the reminder.

However, the follow up question for me is “How do we get better at what we do?” The first thing I point to for Microsoft Dynamics users is CustomerSource. (CustomerSource is an online resource for Microsoft Dynamics customers who are enrolled in a Microsoft Dynamics service plan.) It can be a tremendously valuable resource if you take the time to complete an ELearning course or download a training manual, search the Knowledge Base for the answer to a question or review a technical white paper. There are a myriad of other possibilities for gaining more information to help you be more productive and get better at what you do.

But the reality is that one of the best ways to get better at what you do is to learn from other people – to share what you know and ask questions of others. To be a part of a community where you can engage in the dialogue.

With this blog posting, I’d like to encourage you to engage in this community. Here are a few ideas:

Actively use CustomerSource. Give us feedback on what you like, what you need more of and how we can make the web site better for you.
Take advantage of the Microsoft Dynamics Finance, Sales & Marketing, or Customer Service Communities. Just as we state on our web site, these communities can help you “find tools and resources to help foster community collaboration with your peers and industry experts.” But those promises can’t be delivered on, if you don’t engage in the communities.
Join a local user group in your area for your products where you can get together on a regular basis with others to share and learn. I recommend AXUG, GPUG, CRMUG, NAVUG, and the user group for SL as good starting places, depending on which products you use.
Attend a Convergence event where you can network, share ideas and participate in detailed product demonstrations and hands-on learning sessions with other customers from around the world. There are two every year. The next Convergence events take place in Copenhagen, Denmark, Nov 19-20, 2008; and in New Orleans, U.S.A., March 10-13, 2009.
Take advantage of our newsgroups where you can ask questions of others, or subscribe to RSS feeds where information on topics of your choice can be sent directly to your desktop each day.
Respond to this blog with your own ideas for ways to get better at what you do.

The key word here is ENGAGE. The more you engage with us at Microsoft and with other Microsoft Dynamics users, the better you can get at what you do, and the better we can get at providing you with the tools to do your job better.

Take the time to engage. We’d love to hear from you.

Christine

About the Author

Christine Bell is the Director of Global Services Product Management for Microsoft Dynamics. In her role, she strives to enable our customers to realize their full potential every step of the way with their Microsoft Dynamics solution by delivering comprehensive services including training, support, from the moment they make their purchase decision through their lifetime as a Microsoft Dynamics customer. Christine has worked in the ERP/business solutions industry for more than 12 years and is currently based in Paris, France.

Role Tailoring, the differentiator that really makes a difference!

2008-03-27T16:18:00Z

By Kim Ibfelt

As I have been engaging with our Microsoft Dynamics ISV’s, Partners and Customers at Convergence 2008 in Orlando, a recurring theme is how we can make our products better at addressing the specific and unique needs of our customers and their users. With the world and the markets opening up in a pace never before experienced, the need for our customers to use software and technology to serve their customers better and enhance their competitive edge is accelerating day by day. We in Microsoft are working hard on many fronts to make this possible. We are adding and enriching the features of the applications. We are developing many new capabilities to the platform to allow for better integration with our customers’ other solutions and for integration across the supply chain. We are enhancing the reach of our solutions by adding rich mobile capabilities and we are working hard at providing better reporting and analytical capabilities.

The response we get from the partners and customers to all this work is tremendous and each of these areas is opening up for new business opportunities for everybody in the Microsoft Dynamics community. But when I have been showing the coming release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 to prospects and existing customers one thing seems to stand out, the Role Tailored User Experience. The Role Tailored User Experience in Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 is not just a fancy new menu structure or a cool new UI with some bells and whistles. With Role Tailored User Experience the user gets the data and functionality they require, exactly where they need it and when they need it. Role Tailored User Experience is saturated throughout the solution and it implements all the findings on the individual and unique needs and requirements of the different user roles of Microsoft’s Customer Model that is based on comprehensive user studies.

But even more importantly, Role Tailored UX allows ISVs to further tailor the solution to more closely meet the needs of the specific roles that use their solutions. And as partners implement solutions, they can further tailor the user experience to the individual customer requirements. All the way down to the individual user, there are rich tailoring capabilities that ensure that all users of the system will be able to get exactly the user experience they need and deserve to be as productive and effective as possible. And in a world where competition among business and retaining good employees are ever increasing, having a system that truly empowers your users to focus on their work is a differentiator that really makes a difference.

Kim Ibfelt

Director of Program Management

About the Author

Kim Ibfelt,

Kim Ibfelt holds a Master of Science degree from the Technical University of Denmark (1989). Since his graduation Kim has been working with many different aspects of IT in companies like IBM, Navision and Microsoft.

In the last 15 years his primary focus has been managing Software Development projects on a variety of platforms and in different business environments. Since 1999 Kim Ibfelt has been working with Dynamics NAV. His current position with Microsoft is Director of Program Management for Microsoft Dynamics NAV at the Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen (MDCC).

Kim’s main area of interest is how you in Software Development can obtain predictability, quality, effectiveness and creativity at the same time through the use of a proper and balanced set of processes and tools. Kim is convinced that these characteristics go hand in hand even though he understands that he in this connection might represent a minority.

The Community of Business

2008-03-19T17:39:00Z

By Kirill Tatarinov

I had the privilege to keynote this year’s Convergence event in Orlando with Steve Ballmer, Michael Park, and Kevin Schofield. We had nearly 10,000 attendees this year and it is always a pleasure to connect with customers and partners around the Community of Business. This event touches all of us in a very impactful way, and I wanted to send out a quick summary of key announcements and give you a flavor of what Convergence is all about.

The overall theme of this year’s event was Customer Driven Innovation – Delivering the Business Applications of the Future, today through continuous innovation driven by our customers. From a positioning standpoint, there were several key messages that we drove over the course of the week:

Software – plus – Services
Role Tailored User Experience
Foundation for Driving Long-term Value and Growth
Strengthening and Preserving Our Customers Investments

There were many exciting announcements made this week. We previewed Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live, and announced a major expansion of our alliance with EDS where EDS will incorporate Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a key offering in the EDS Global CRM Practice. We showcased integration between Microsoft Dynamics and Windows Essential Business Server 2008, and announced a rich set of services that extend existing Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM applications to the web. We discussed a new set of new migration tools, a combination of software and best-practice services to help companies that have outgrown their QuickBooks software make a “smart move” to Microsoft Dynamics GP. We also highlighted the Feel IT methodology developed in conjunction with the IT University of Copenhagen that uses images rather than words to uncover users’ unfiltered emotional reactions of using Microsoft Dynamics products to create software that people truly love.

It was also great to see a lot of positive press and analyst uptake around this event. Here are just a couple of quotes:
"They see CRM as a market they can target in the enterprise. With every software company, when they started, CRM was a standalone product – with Oracle, with SAP early on, and obviously with Siebel.” "With the new management team in place [at Microsoft], they're really looking at cross-integrations we wouldn't have seen in the past. Five years after all these acquisitions, there's a bigger commitment than I've ever seen." – Ray Wang, Forrester Research quoted in TechTarget

“The real star of the show is a new set of online services designed to extend Dynamics CRM and ERP applications to the Web as online solutions and provide choice to customers.”-Renee Boucher Ferguson, eWeek

“Although Microsoft sometimes gets dinged in the area of software usability (typically by Apple aficionados), Microsoft's Dynamics division is trying to create software that is not just usable, but desirable….” -Mary Hayes Weier, InformationWeek

It was a very exciting week. I had many opportunities to interact directly with our customers and partners on a one-on-one basis, and enjoyed provocative conversations on a wide variety of topics related to our business. As always, your feedback is very helpful and I thank you for providing compelling thoughts and ideas.

I want to thank everyone on the MBS Marketing, Development, AR/PR teams, and crews that have worked so hard to make this happen and deliver the conference on a strong note. Most importantly, I want to thank all of you, our customers and partners, for sharing our vision.

Kirill Tatarinov
Corporate VP
Microsoft Business Solutions

About the Author

Kirill Tatarinov is the corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) at Microsoft Corp. and oversees the MBS business, with responsibility for sales and marketing, R&D and operations. MBS develops and markets the line of Microsoft Dynamics products that manage financial, customer relationship and supply chain management functions for organizations of all sizes. Learn more

Teamwork

2008-02-20T21:47:00Z

By Hal Howard

People are social creatures. We need to belong. We use all sorts of descriptors to describe that belonging. I was born in that town or country. I went to that school. I live in this neighborhood. I work for this company. This list goes on and on. For the most part, it’s a simple way to describe who we are.

In the workplace, we create similar groupings. For the organization I lead, the most common groupings are product, location, feature area, and job discipline (developer, tester, program manager, …). These labels describe us and give a sense of belonging. Every person on the team can be described in part using these descriptors. Jane is a developer working on core finance in Fargo on GP. Carl is a tester working on inventory costing in Copenhagen on AX. And so on.

Unfortunately, they sometimes also define walls that can become a barrier to successful teamwork and limit our overall effectiveness.

If Jane and Carl draw too hard a barrier around any of those attributes then they may never find a reason to work together. It could very well be that Jane is also an expert on testing systems involving the validation of complex datasets; a problem for which Carl is currently trying to find a better solution. If Carl erects barriers that say I’ll only ask other testers for their opinion or I’ll only ask people that work on AX or I’ll only ask people in Copenhagen then he’ll lose the opportunity to get Jane’s input. That could well result in a suboptimal solution or costly reinvention.

As the managers of a large organization, my leadership team and I are constantly faced with situations like the one above. We can’t simply say please solicit input from everyone on everything. Nothing would be accomplished. Individuals would be overwhelmed with requests, a large percentage of which they should and would ignore. Our task becomes understanding the capabilities and experiences of our team members in a much more granular way than their current assignment, staying open to input from across the organization, and connecting the dots; then enabling team members to get credit for helping each other and for accepting help. It sounds easy, but it’s not. It requires constant vigilance and constantly re-examining our own definition of the barriers.

The other problem created by hardening these barriers is limiting the organizations ability to take on new challenges. When we plan the next wave of development in our organization, it could well be that we’ll need fewer developers in a particular feature area on a particular product. That means that the developers on that feature area/product combination could be needed to do a number of things: test the same area on the same product; develop the same functional area for a different product; or learn a completely different task, in a completely different area, on a different product working closely with people from another location.

Again as the leaders of a large organization, we are faced with the situation above on an ongoing basis. Customers prioritize their needs without regard to the capabilities of our teams. We are required to grow new capabilities, reorganize work, and ask individuals to take on new challenges. Supporting a learning culture and hiring and rewarding team members on their ability to adapt is required. Maintaining the right balance of expertise and flexibility is important. Assessing organizational and individual capability and bringing in new talent and expertise is also a must. Having a strong system for on-boarding new team members and making them productive is critical.

In our case, having a strong engineering system that spans products, common metrics for measuring success, and simple things like common terminology for describing the state of a project enable people to adapt to new challenges without losing all sense of belonging or productivity. We are constantly working improve these systems.

I’m sure teamwork is also required in your day to day work. I hope the above examples give you cause to examine the barriers your organization creates and what you can do to manage them for good of your organization, your team members, and your customers.

Best Regards,

Hal Howardd
General Manager
Microsoft Dynamics R&D

About the Author

Hal Howard is the general manager responsible for all R&D efforts related to MBS ERP and Retail Management solutions.

Hal joined Microsoft in 1994 from the process control industry, where he was a software engineer for industrial automation. During his tenure at Microsoft, he shipped the first three versions of Exchange Server, worked on unified storage, and led the Microsoft® Passport group through its first five releases. He joined Microsoft Business Solutions in June 2003 to focus on engineering strategy. Hal has worked as a software developer, tester, program manager, product unit manager and general manager over the years, and holds multiple patents for technologies in Microsoft Exchange Server and Passport.

Hal holds degrees in computer science, mathematics & physics and lives with his wife and two children in Redmond. In his spare time, he enjoys playing golf, racquetball and various games of strategy.

“How can I be sure that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live will work where other CRM projects have failed?”

2008-02-05T21:12:00Z

By: Bill Patterson

I was recently talking to a new customer of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live – our next-generation, online service currently available to early access customers, and the above question was posed to me by their Regional Vice President of Sales. In our conversation I learned quite a bit of their lengthy history regarding their previous CRM adventures –first with a large-scale, enterprise wide initiative led by their CIO (now no longer with their company) and most recently with an online Software-as-a-Service provider (led by a sales manager now working for that same online vendor). In both cases, CRM just failed to lift off – never fulfilling the promises made by both vendors’ sales pitches or the visions set on down from their companies board of directors. Having long been in the CRM space, and a survivor of several successful deployments of CRM projects, I was intrigued to learn more about their dreams of realizing the benefits of CRM, why they continued to retry new CRM offerings when others had failed, and what is different in this project (minus certain individuals) that is leading to their early success with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live.

In the scenarios recanted to me, I learned two important lessons about why the previous CRM investments failed to click, and an important “lesson” on why Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live is paying early dividends for this tried-and-true, sometimes black-and-blue, CRM veteran. This posting attempts to recap our conversation:

It was long determined that in order for the CRM project to be successful, that their solution needed to deliver three specific capabilities:

Allow a sales person to view only customer information located within their sales territory.
Give a sales person the ability to produce Customer Quotes and enter new Sales Orders.
Work remotely when sales people were travelling away from the office.

First, the Integration horror story: an Enterprise-wide deployment of, and I quote, an “expensive, sluggish, and designed-for-people-who-have-not-sold-a-product-for-one-hour-of-one-day solution”. Back in 1999, when first-generation, “one-size-fits-all” CRM was dominating the cover of every CIO’s favorite trade magazine, their organization’s IT department bought into the promise of a centralized customer system, with tight control originating from their large IT staff. Having just successfully navigated the pre-Y2K obstacle course that was their ERP upgrade, this group was riding high on their delivery confidence. As my new colleague recalls: “The thinking was that ERP was light-years more complicated than a simple Sales Automation project, so this was project supposed to be a breeze. Then we got our first bill for scoping integration from our new ERP system to our CRM system, and wow – we knew we were in for some trouble.”

In product demonstrations and on the vendor’s website, each of these scenarios was specifically mentioned as benefits of using their leading enterprise CRM project. However, when it came down to actual implementation, Requirement #2 single-handedly derailed a multi-million dollar project:

“When it came down to Quote and Sales Order integration- that is where we saw our problems with our first CRM project. Our CRM vendor claimed that this should be solved by the ERP system, while the ERP vendor claimed this should be a function of CRM. We tried to build it ourselves using their professional services groups, but we quickly realized the cost of that system almost equaled our projected sales for the quarter. It just wasn’t going to happen. Without the ability to enter sales orders, our sales team just rejected the application. That marked the end of that project. Funny thing is – both solutions are now owned by the same organization.”

Attempt #2: Close, but still not quite right: In their second attempt of deploying a CRM solution, many of the sales personnel – feeling like their IT organization just couldn’t ever get a solution right for them, acted out on their own and purchased an online alternative to their Enterprise CRM solution. Billed as an “Instant-on” and “No-IT” alternative, the solution proved to initially be easier and more flexible than their previous approach, but their sales personnel still struggled with working away from the office – or Requirement #3 listed above.

While this online vendor claimed to have Offline Synchronization functionality, sales personnel could not create Customer Quotes or Sales Orders when working without an internet connection – something frequently experienced by their national sales team during intercontinental flights on the way to or back from a customer visit. In addition, sales personnel complained that they were unable to manage a single Contact list or Appointment book between their online CRM system and Microsoft Office Outlook – which led to inconsistent data capture in CRM and missed appointments assigned by team members through the CRM web interface.

“I didn’t think we were asking for the moon when we said that we needed one-way for managing our sales Appointment book. The fact that we had some sales people using our online CRM and others using Outlook really presented some challenges towards keeping team members on the same page. We had a few cases where team members assigned follow-up meetings to sales representative using the online application, but the sales representatives never got the appointment because they were using Microsoft Outlook. With two copies of information – none of which seemed to get to the right individual, this led to a few missed meetings and some unhappy customers. We needed to simplify – and fast.”

Third time’s a charm: Last fall, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live was unveiled through an early access program to organizations looking to combine the rapid benefits delivered through an online solution with the richness of client software like Microsoft Office Outlook. Leveraging new innovations provided by Microsoft Dynamics are finally delivering a solution that is addressing the pains of this long-disappointed sales organization.

“A breath of fresh air – it just worked for us. We’ve been to the dance before, and for us to finally have a solution that works within the applications we know and use on a daily basis, for it to work offline and synchronize orders entered by sales personnel when working remotely or on a flight across country, and for us to have the ability to integrate to our back-office systems – we’re, forgive me, amazed that it’s taken us this long to finalize realize that CRM can work for us.”

Lessons Learned: When I asked my new colleague what lessons were learned during this process, as many organizations find themselves in a similar situation than his organization was in just 6 months ago, he responded with the following insight:

“First, build your ‘Top 3’ list. Throughout our journey, we knew that we needed to deliver on just three things in order to gain adoption. While we were surprised that it took us so long to find a solution to address those ‘Top 3’, it [the list] remained our compass for measuring a successful CRM deployment. Second, don’t assume that the easiest answer is not the answer for your business. Our sales people use Outlook to manage their contacts and their appointments. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live works within Outlook. Why would we want our sales people to learn something entirely new when they can use an application that they already are using? It just made sense and that’s why we love it.”

Back to the question titling this post: “How can I be sure that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live will work where other CRM projects have failed?”

Don’t change a thing. Add CRM capabilities into the applications you know and use today using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live – your sales people, and more importantly your customers, will thank you.

Bill Patterson
Director, Product Management
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live is currently available in an early access release to organizations located in the United States and Canada. For more information on how to become an early access Customer or Partner, please visit http://crm.dynamics.com/ for additional program information.

About the Author

Bill Patterson is the Director of Product Management for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live at Microsoft Corporation and runs worldwide Product Management and Product Marketing teams for this new online service. Bill has been working in the CRM market for the last nine years and has led successful implementations of CRM projects and initiatives for organizations in Professional Sports, Financial Services, Manufacturing, Homebuilding, and High Tech industries. He has been with Microsoft Corporation since 2003 – and led several projects for Microsoft Business Solutions – including launching Microsoft Business Solutions CRM 1.2, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, and now Microsoft Dynamics CRM Live.

A former developer, technical evangelist, and system architect, Bill’s passion remains in building CRM solutions to address unique customer needs and helping businesses reach their full potential when implementing CRM applications and strategies within their organization. Originally from Boston, MA and a graduate of Miami University in Oxford, OH, Bill is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan and will always find the time to mix-it-up on the ice with a little ice hockey.

Partner productivity on Microsoft Dynamics AX is key to success

2008-01-29T14:26:00Z

By Hans Jørgen Skovgaard

Microsoft Dynamics AX is a product that is very flexible and allows for an incredible array of setups and customizations. It is a powerful tool but also a frightening one in the hands of the novice. To be honest we have seen customizations which purpose was to implement a feature set that already existed in the product! This was surely an alarming experience as this was probably as low as partner productivity could go.

To enable new partners to be efficient, we must provide tools that allow them to make good decisions and solid estimations around the scoping of each implementation project, whether that is an upgrade or a new implementation. The Sure Step Methodology is one of the biggest partner productivity investments we’ve done and there is an enormous benefit for partners, especially the ones which don’t already have a structured implementation methodology. Following this methodology helps to ensure that the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics AX will give you the superior capabilities that you seek in enterprise resource planning (ERP).

We’ve seen two different customization strategies from which our customers typically choose. The first approach is to do a full implementation from the beginning and the second is to implement the standard system with only mission critical customizations and then go live with this system. Subsequently, analyzing what business processes the features of standard Microsoft Dynamics AX will cover to meet user needs and in which scenarios further customizations are needed to meet the user’s needs. Both customization approaches are supported by the Sure Step Methodology.

To ease the implementation effort we have created additional tools. The Rapid Configuration Tool (RCT) for Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0 is a tool that supports both partners and customers in the implementation and configuration process. It does this by providing and linking project management features, easier configuration access, communication support and documentation on how to configure Microsoft Dynamics AX.

The Sure Step Task Recorder provides a tool to automate and simplify the creation of documents and how Microsoft Dynamics AX works in relation to the customer requirements. As a result, the task of documenting and identifying business processes is dramatically reduced. The resulting documentation can be used to reduce the ramp-up time for new users of the system and used as documentation for the customer’s approval during implementation and future business processes.

So, we are constantly looking for new and better ways of helping partners and customers with tools and information. Additionally, the book “Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 4.0” (which you can purchase online at Amazon.com) is another great implementation resource. The book has been well received and most partners that I have visited have copies. As we go forward, we will look into how Microsoft can provide more resources for partner and customer productivity.

About the Author

Hans Skovgaard drives the Microsoft Dynamics AX Supply Chain Management (SCM) development organization at the Microsoft Development Center in Copenhagen. The SCM centre of excellence currently has ~200 people that drives the production and logistics feature set in Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Hans Jørgen Skovgaard, B.Sc in EE, M.Sc in AI and a MBA from IMD, with + 20 years professional software development and management experiences, joined Microsoft in 2003 as Product Unit Manager for the Microsoft Dynamics AX product line. As part of the Navision acquisition by Microsoft he facilitated and managed the introduction of engineering excellence initiatives, aligned developer competence, built new teams and organized training for new developers.

Prior to his engagement with Microsoft Dynamics AX he was VP of Engineering of 3 years at Mondosoft, a search engine company. And before with Baan as VP of CRM development in the ERP company, totaling 10 years, where he among others architected a product configuration technology which was acquired by Baan. He lives in Denmark with his wife, Nomi, and 3 lovely daughters, Ristil, Simone and Mikala. He is a Black belt in karate and a mountain bike enthusiast.

Social networking –professionally

2008-01-21T21:24:00Z

By Klaus Holse Andersen

As we all get hit by more and more social websites and see the phenomenal growth of sites like Facebook you have to wonder what we do to keep the same professional network and share of experiences at work.

Microsoft Dynamics has long been driving deep connections between customers with events like Convergence, where customers meet and share experiences as well as learn about the latest advances in the applications they use. We have just finished Convergence in Copenhagen and are getting ready for the event in Orlando March 11-14. Part of Convergence is specific sessions where customers share experiences. These events also spawn online communities where users exchange best practices.

In Orlando, one of our key topics will include industry software and services. Partners that are part of the Microsoft Dynamics Industry Solutions program will be demonstrating their solutions and they will preview their plans for delivery in combination with our Microsoft Dynamics AX 5.0 launch this summer. We will also highlight solutions from across the globe that are Certified for Microsoft Dynamics. As the depth of our industry solutions increase, we see similar growth and community development with our Microsoft Dynamics customers.

We see a lot of excitement around Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0! I know that several partners will be showing solutions that highlight the sales, marketing and relationship management capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. There will also be solutions for Case Management, IT Support, recruiting and much more.

I look forward to seeing you in Orlando

Klaus

About the Author

Klaus Holse Andersen is corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions (MBS) Sales and Operations – a position he was promoted to in March 2007. Klaus is responsible for the overall sales strategy and field engagement within MBS including Operations & Training, Field Engagement and the MBS International Sales team. Klaus is also general manager for Microsoft Development Center Copenhagen (MDCC), Microsoft’s largest development center in Europe. Read More

Have you ever heard the expression: “What you don’t know won’t hurt you”?

2007-11-26T19:45:00Z

Have you ever heard the expression: “What you don’t know won’t hurt you”? Someone mentioned this to me the other day, and I thought that has to be one of the silliest expressions I’ve ever heard. Without even thinking hard, I can come up with a multitude of things in my day-to-day life that would absolutely hurt me, even if I didn’t know about them going on.

From a business point of view, the list gets even longer: for example, just because you aren’t aware that two of your biggest competitors have joined forces doesn’t mean that merger isn’t going to potentially eat into your market share.

Why do I bring this up? Well, I spend hours every day working on ways to ensure that Microsoft Dynamics customers get the most value and the biggest return on investment they possibly can from their Microsoft Dynamics solution. I passionately believe that one of the best ways to derive value is to make use of the many resources available on CustomerSource.

Now, here’s where the expression I mentioned above comes in, and here’s my first question for you: Do you know what CustomerSource is? If you don’t know, will you be harmed? You can bet there’s a good possibility of it. More than 50% of the Microsoft Dynamics customers today either don’t know what CustomerSource is, or don’t know how to access this great resource.

So, let’s stop a minute and refresh on what CustomerSource is. It’s pretty straightforward and simple – CustomerSource is a self-service Web site jam packed with information and tools for Microsoft Dynamics customers who are enrolled in the Business Ready Enhancement Plan or Software Assurance. Once you’re enrolled in the Enhancement Plan or Software Assurance, and we have your email address (your email address is CRITICAL and you can submit it by completing the form located here), you receive an email explaining how to access the site.

From there, viola! You’re into CustomerSource and have amazing amounts of information at your fingertips. What kind of information? And how can it help you be more productive and get more value from your Microsoft Dynamics solution? Let me give you a few examples.

Example one: Assume you’re bringing in a new accounts payable clerk and you want her to get up and running on your Microsoft Dynamics solution quickly. Instead of trying to train her yourself or send her to classroom training, you might want to show her how to access the great training resources on CustomerSource. CustomerSource provides you and everyone in your organization with UNLIMITED ACCESS to all our online training materials including courseware, ELearning, learning plans and certification prep guides so that you can quickly ramp up on how to complete the tasks that are most important to your specific job.

Example two: Assume you are receiving an error message every time you try to complete a specific task in the product and don’t know what to do to fix it. Go to the CustomerSource Knowledge Base and quickly and easily find out more about this error message and the steps needed to resolve the problem. There are tens of thousands of Knowledge Base articles, and you can very easily narrow the number to your area of interest by using our sophisticated, yet simple search tools.

Bottom Line: CustomerSource keeps you up to date on the latest product versions, news about key customer events, information about your service plan, and much more. You can access 16 local sites in 7 languages today, and additional local sites and languages are coming throughout the year.

I get pretty excited about CustomerSource, but don’t take my word for it. In October, more than 550 customers confirmed that they want access to CustomerSource too, by signing up at our customer event, Convergence Copenhagen.

Again, if you’d like to learn more about how to access CustomerSource, you can easily submit your contact information here and we’ll send you an email right away inviting you to access this invaluable resource. Remember that you must be enrolled in the Business Ready Enhancement Plan or Software Assurance (for Microsoft Dynamics CRM) in order to take advantage of the great tools on CustomerSource.

You can also take a tour of CustomerSource, located here, to make sure you’re getting the most out of this site.

To close I’d like to recommend a new expression to replace the old. What about “The more you know, the smarter you do business”?

Best Wishes,
Christine Bell
Director, MBS Global Services

Welcome to the Microsoft Dynamics Executive Insight Blog

2007-10-18T18:39:00Z

Welcome to the Microsoft Dynamics Executive Insight Blog! I am very excited to have this opportunity to be the first Executive Insights blogger on the Dynamics Community Website. Over the course of the next year this area will feature weekly blogs on a wide variety of topics. We have lined up a number of leaders from within our business group to share their thoughts and insight. The topics will vary week-by-week and I expect we will see everything from industry trends to thoughts on products, scenarios and design. Be sure to check back and see which Microsoft Dynamics Executive is blogging and what they have to say.

Thanks to all of you who have signed up, profiled yourself, and have been actively participating in the community so far. We are excited to see it come alive and continue to grow. With more than 1200 registered users the community is really starting to gain momentum. We know it can only get better with more participation so if you are a reader but have not joined yet I invite you to sign up and get involved.

We have big plans for further improvements driven by your feedback. Over the course of the next 6 months we look forward to launching both a Sales and Marketing and a Customer Service community. We will also release our Networking functionality that will allow you to connect with others that share similar roles, interests and products.

Again Welcome to the Executive Insights blog, and a sincere thank you to all of you for your participation. We really do have the best customers and partners in the world. Your excitement, enthusiasm, and creativity are simply amazing. I look forward to seeing you in person whether it is Convergence Copenhagen in October or Convergence Orlando in March.

Best Wishes,
Kim Carnesale
General Manager, Microsoft Dynamics Marketing