Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 Online

The "cloud" version of the business application for sales management, marketing and customer service. In addition to a public cloud since March 1, 2011 to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 it became available in two options – to local installation and in the form of lease through Microsoft partners.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the tool for customer relationship management which allows:

• reduce the cost of involvement of new clients, increase quality of marketing data and analyze return from marketing investments;
• reduce a cycle and cost of sale, to manage "funnel" of sales, to increase the number of the closed transactions;
• increase sales to the existing clients, reduce customer service cost, increase their satisfaction and loyalty.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 provides the new level of productivity of personnel, offering well familiar tools for the business analysis and joint work which include:

• Intuitive and usual interface. Specialists of sales departments, marketing and customer service can work in well familiar Microsoft Outlook interface, via the Internet browser or the mobile device. In Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 role approach to the interface and flexible personalisation is implemented that accelerates work with a system and provides fast receiving necessary customer information.
• "Reasonable" technologies and business analysis. Technologies of the managed user scenarios, the built-in analytical information representation, means for management of the purposes of employees and a panel of key indicators of activity allow to obtain in real time the most up-to-date information for effective work of staff of departments of attraction, sales and customer service.
• Joint work. Flexible integration into Windows Azure, contextual opportunities of Microsoft SharePoint and new Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace do a configuration and the Microsoft Dynamics CRM setup simpler and easy.

It is possible to subscribe on the solution Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online to the address http://crm.dynamics.com/ru-ru/trial-overview. Within this subscription of the company can as independently, and using partners to configure the business processes and to begin full use of the solution. The free 30-day trial subscription for the solution Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is available. After this period customers will be able to continue use of the solution, having paid a subscription with the credit card or on the account. All settlement transactions are performed by Microsoft Ireland Operations Limited company which is engaged in licensing of products of Microsoft in the territory of the Russian Federation and in all other European countries. It is also possible to purchase Microsoft CRM Online within the corporate agreement of Enterprise Agreement.

New version of 2012: specific Features

Support of mobility

On February 6, 2012 Microsoft announced fast entry into the market of a pool of the mobile applications for Microsoft Dynamics CRM intended for work with a system on devices running operating systems BlackBerry Windows Phone 7 iOS, Android 2.2 and above.

According to the statement of the company, this release is created taking into account the existing support of browsers Internet Explorer Chrome, Firefox and Safari. An exit of release is planned for the second quarter, it will take place within regular updating CRM.

Craig Dewar, the director of division of Dynamics CRM, noted at the same time that updating of mobile applications will happen along with the basic, but functionality and possibilities of everyone can vary in relation to opportunities of each mobile platform.

Among new mobile systems capabilities – the component placed on the server providing management, security and including remote cleaning of confidential data from the device in case of its cracking. IT administrators will be able to carry out settings of mobility of CRM without recoding, the Dewar told.

Also it is said in the statement that applications will allow to work with data in a standalone mode and to synchronize them on connection to main system. At the same time the price for use of mobile service will be $30 for one user a month. Each subscription allows connection to three devices. At the heart of this pricing model there is a user, and payments for placement of software tools on the server are not levied.

Meanwhile, the close competitor of Microsoft in the market of CRM, Salesforce.com company proposes the Lite mobile application mobile solution free of charge. The full-function version on an unlimited number of subscribers is available without additional costs, but at the price of $50 at the rate on one user a month to versions of Professional and the Enterprise Edition.

A number of suppliers of CRM, including Salesforce.com, began to implement actively HTML5 in mobile solutions, trying to write as a result one large-scale application which will work at different platforms. Microsoft, apparently, does not hurry and takes more weighed actions.

According to the Dewar, the company watches closely development of HTML5 and constantly works on mobile aspect of its application. "It is very important technology in terms of development. But today efforts of the company are aimed at providing the best interaction with the existing devices", - he emphasized and added that, most likely, Microsoft will get to more active work with HTML5 on a release of Windows 8.

One more functional feature planned in the forthcoming updating which will be applied both in local, and in the cloud version of CRM - Activity Feeds. It is a tape of activity which will provide to users of CRM the flow of updating of information similar to a news feed on Twitter and Facebook.

The Dewar noted also that Microsoft is going to add new features for the business analysis (BI) in the local version of CRM created on the basis of technology of visualization Power View in SQL Server 2012. In the cloud version this functionality will become available much later.

Independence of browsers and operating systems

The company Microsoft announced in the spring of 2012 important improvements in the new version of the popular system for customer relationship management of Microsoft CRM (Customer Relationship Management) which should be issued until the end of the first half of the year. In particular, now the web system interface will be available in such browsers, Chrome as well as Firefox (earlier – only Internet Explorer). Besides, developers promise to release full client applications for mobile platforms iOS, Android and WP7: earlier only the web interface with limited opportunities was available to mobile devices.

It is remarkable that the statement for expansion of the supported browsers was heard in only several weeks after submission of the new version of the popular SharePoint web portal. Full support of third-party browsers as many potential customers work with CRM systems in hybrid environments became a key message of the new version of SharePoint just, and there are no Internet Explorer browsers just on a number of important target platforms. This time the company reports that one more its industrial product gained independence of corporate client platforms.

The leader of the Australian development team, preparing the new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for release, Thomas Gudman, reported in the blog that this version will receive full compatibility with such browsers, key for corporate environment, as Chrome, Firefox and Safari. Also developers announced already ready mobile clients for all the mobile platforms which were really demanded today: iOS, Android and Windows Phone.

Special attention when developing the new version of Microsoft CRM is paid to work in the hybrid mode. This mode integrates the cloud and locally installed server components. According to representatives of Microsoft, such flexibility in use of their solution can become a decisive argument for customers.

Microsoft will make friends CRM and Skype

Microsoft is going to release update of the Dynamics CRM Online system, in the new version it will be merged into social service Yammer and a communication framework of Skype. The company declared it on October 31, 2012 officially.

Besides, follows from the statement of corporation that mobile CRM the version will enter the market in the middle of 2013, and it will work not only on devices based on Windows 8], but also based on iPad.

Updating of CRM Online is planned for December, 2012. One of features of a system will still remain optionality of interfaces in relation to other products of Microsoft. In particular, it is relevant for those who got used to use the Microsoft Outlook interface: they will be able to leave it in the user preferences.

And integration with Yammer will become only "the first social group" of the new CRM platform: users will be able to post from CRM in Yammer and vice versa. In further Microsoft is going to make completely "seamless" integration of two systems that users of CRM could use virus opportunities of social network completely. Let's remind also that CRM vendor of Salesforce.com included social software of Chatter in the system already many years ago.

From the interface of new Dynamics CRM Online it will be possible to make calls by Skype also. Other new announced features are among support of browsers Firefox and Chrome on Windows PC and also browser Safari on Mac. Besides, in a system support of customization of seris based on.NET will appear and API.

Sales in Russia

Clients are interested, but do not hurry to buy

The Microsoft CRM Online service became available in Russia in November, 2012. In September, 2013, nearly a year later since solution launch, in Microsoft told TAdviser as the situation with its sales is.

According to representatives of the company, about 7 of 10 clients in Russia addressing to Microsoft concerning the CRM system, are interested in its cloud version, however characterize this interest in corporation more as "theoretical".

Exact number of users of Microsoft CRM Online in the company do not open, however say that the quantity of real subscriptions to service exceeded one hundred. The first public message about commercial implementation of service in Russia appeared in March, 2013: the speech then went about use of the solution in Pushkarsky Settlement hotel complex in Suzdal. In June, 2013 it was announced the beginning of use of service by MailBrand company, the rendering service in express cargo delivery, and one month later – in Yota Devices.

"The small number of users of a cloud CRM system is not connected with its any features – functionally service does not differ from locally set solution. Matter in psychological unavailability of the Russian clients to use of a public cloud at the moment, mainly – because of concerns concerning safety of data", -Alyona Gekler, the area director of Microsoft Business Solutions in Russia [[Guecler Alain|]] explains.

The data center based on which the cloud CRM system of Microsoft is provided to the Russian clients is based in Europe. Microsoft does not exclude that the location of data center of service and storage of client data in Russia could raise the trust level to a public cloud from local potential users, however the company is not going to build own DPC in the country yet.

The area director of Microsoft Business Solutions in Russia also notes that Russia for the present considerably differs from America and Western Europe in terms of demand for a cloud: in these regions about a half of users of CRM Microsoft is the share of a cloud solution. Microsoft, however, is sure, as in Russia theoretical interest in cloud CRM already develops into practical.

"I remember 2002 when I wrote articles about CRM, and said to me: "To whom it is necessary, the companies at most need the ERP system, and if there is spare cash for the elected enterprises, and there and so normally". But now, 10 years later, any company which works with the client does not see the business without CRM in this or that section. It is sure that the same will be also from cloud CRM", - Alyona Gekler believes.

Microsoft looks for in Russia DPC for cloud CRM

Microsoft looks for in Russia the partner – provider of IT services - based on DPC of which it would be possible to organize providing a cloud service of Dynamics CRM to local customers, TAdviser in December, 2013 the corporate vice president of Dynamics CRM MicrosoftBob Stutz told. Some options of such cooperation are now studied, he added.

According to Bob Stutz, now at the global level of 68% of all transactions on Dynamics CRM it is the share of the cloud version of a product. With a release of the new version of a system about 20-25% of clients pass to cloud Dynamics CRM option, he says.

Cloud Dynamics CRM gained the greatest distribution in the USA, more and more users at it appear in Great Britain and some other countries Europe. In the countries of Eastern Europe, including Russia and also in China, sales to cloud CRM grow not so quickly so far, Bob Stutz notes. One of the reasons of it he sees more alerted relation in these countries to data security issues when using software solutions according to the SaaS model.

In Europe the company has two large DPCs - in Dublin and Amsterdam, and these resources allow to provide a cloud service to the Russian customers now, the corporate vice president of Dynamics CRM Microsoft says.

"However, if we want to provide really high quality of services to the Russian customers, we need data center in Russia. Especially it is relevant for providing service to a public sector: such clients, as a rule, do not agree to transfer data to a cloud if the DPC based on which service is provided is located outside Russia", - he adds.

Already renders cloud services based on partner DPCs of Microsoft in a number of the countries, the corporate vice president of Dynamics CRM Microsoft says. For example, in the countries of Asia as such partner for corporation HP which at the same time not only provides the platform for a hosting of service acts, but also is engaged in its sales.

Microsoft has own DPC in Singapore, however the countries of Asia is very big region therefore one own data center of corporation is not enough there, Bob Stutz explains need of this step for a case with HP.