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