Technology Management's Software Answers Blog

Your Chance to See Microsoft CRM Up Close

On Thursday 26 November Technology Management will be hosting an event for those interested in looking at Microsoft Dynamics CRM in more detail.

It will be a workshop type event, where break-out sessions will allow attendees to pick and choose which sessions they go to.

As well providing a general overview of how the system works ‘as one’, breakout sessions will include more detailed information on sales management, service management, marketing campaign management, customisation and web integration.

Follow this link to learn more and to book your free place.

The more a system does, the more you rely on it

This week we’ve had a situation where a customer we work for has been unable to operate the way they expect for nearly two days because of a single hardware failure. It caused serious disruption to their business and while we we worked hard to provide as many workarounds as possible, it must have affected sales.

How can this happen? Well the customer has a Small Business Server that they installed roughly six years ago. At the time they had an AS400 that ran their business software and at that stage only wanted a server for file storage and email  for 20 odd users – SBS seemed the perfect answer. Since then they have replaced their AS400 with a SQL based Dynamics NAV system and taken advantage of the integrated possibilities to for instance, put 30 odd handheld terminals in their warehouse.

Trouble is with Small Business Server whenever a user logs on their password is checked with the SBS Server. With standard Windows networks we can share this process across several servers so that if one fails, one of the others can certify that the password is correct and allow access. SBS however, because its designed for single server networks, has been hobbled by Microsoft to stop this.

What this meant for our client was that although the other four servers they have now were up and going, they could not access them because their passwords could not be verified. Frustrating to say the least. Very quickly we got them access to Dynamics NAV via switching to database security but the warehouse terminals cannot work that way so they ended up back on paper. 

What caused this was a power supply failure in a five year old computer – it was on 4 hour response maintenance with IBM but after first sending a motherboard and then finally a power supply from their spares base in Hungary it took over 48 hours to get fixed. To be fair to IBM, all the big maintenance organisations work like this now, the small ones are even more useless as the simply cannot carry the variety of spares needed.

We could have rebuilt the network if we had realised how long the repair was going to take but in the heat of the situation you don’t know that and should you do several hours work when you hope you’re only a couple of hours away from the fix. This is an especially difficult call when you know that if you go down this route it will take more work and therefore disruption to change it all back again once the original problem is solved.

So the lesson relearned for me is that each business needs to be able survive a single point of failure, if having a application not being available is going to cost serious money. A risk assessment on at least an annual basis to say if this particular bit of kit goes down can we operate and what’s the worst case to get it back up and running.

There is maximum pressure on budgets at the moment so its tempting to spend on stuff that’s going to push the capabilities of your system forward. Just watch that if you consistently do that, something doesn’t unexpectedly happen which takes you backwards far to rapidly.

The good news is that Microsoft have, with the introduction of Windows Server 2008 R2, recently made the virtualisation technology we need to do this, very affordable. This tips the balance between risk and cost of insurance very much back in favour of not taking the risk. 

And our role as advisors in all of this? Well we had been talking to this client about upgrading their systems but obviously had not translated the technical risks into implications to their business well enough. It is difficult to get the balance right sometimes.

I hate the scare tactics used in the past by amongst others, the year 2000 consultants and security vendors but we have to make sure the risks are understood. First point on that I guess, if I’m honest, is making sure we stop and think the possibilities through for each client so that we truly understand what could happen whenever we change anything.

Technology can make help businesses achieve levels of performance they could not remotely dream of achieving with it – if that technology then fails it can also have very serious consequences.

Learn More About Customer Relationship Management Software

October and Novembers sees two events that focus on the role of customer relationship management (CRM) software in your business.

The first, on Thursday 15 October, entitled Adopting a Successful CRM Strategy, is a short morning seminar that explores the challenges and opportunities of CRM. During the morning the team at Technology Management will share their experiences of how to go about making the project a success, with tips on how to justify the investment to your board.

The second event - Microsoft CRM Up Close - is being run on Thursday 19 November and will take you into the details of Technology Management’s CRM offering, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. There will be optional break out sessions throughout the morning that will enable you to look at the specifics of the product relevant to your requirements.

Both events are free and will be held at Technology Management’s offices in Wolverhampton.

Eriks and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Case Study

Here’s the latest in our series of case study videos on Technology Management TV, featuring Eriks, a leader in products supply, procurement, management and repair of technical components and equipment.

In this video Eriks explains the benefits of using Microsoft Dynamics CRM, supplied to them by Technology Management.

Adopting Successful CRM Strategy – New Date Announced

Following on from the success of our first seminar that covered the fundamentals of getting your customer relationship management (CRM) strategy right, I’m pleased to announce that we’re running the event again on Thursday 15 October at Technology Management’s seminar room in Wolverhampton.

We’re keeping this event nice and short (we’ll be done by 11.00am), so this is an ideal opportunity for those that are really busy.

Visit the event page if you’d like to learn more about what’s covered and reserve your seat.

Microsoft CRM for Mobiles gives you access on the move

Our CRM team today installed CRM Mobile accelerator onto Technology Management’s internal CRM system. Used through a browser, it’s accessible from any smart phone (not just Windows Mobile devices but for instance iPhones as well) which  makes accessing and even updating accounts, contact details and even cases really easy from anywhere.

I’m going to find this really useful, it means that wherever I am in the world I can lookup someone’s name and phone number and then a single click will make the call.

Similarly if I get asked about a support or project case I can lookup the details and even add a update straightaway.

This is another new option that Microsoft have added to CRM for free, while Microsoft often get flack for the cost of their licences this is an instance where they have given real added value for no extra charge.  

Microsoft give SME’s world class reporting

Business Intelligence for most small to medium companies today, is regarded as difficult to use, costly, inflexible, and fragmented, that’s if they use it at all. To many companies do not have confidence in their ability to get the information they need quickly and accurately – its their number one complaint about ERP systems.

Some have invested in tools to extract information from companies like Cognos and Business Objects. These have had five figure price tags and then needed almost as much consultancy as the ERP main system took to get anything sensible out.

For several years Technology Management have used the tools that came ‘free’ with SQL Server to provide analysis and reporting capabilities against Dynamics systems. Often front ended by Excel pivot tables they allowed customers to use flexible drag and drop reporting. SQL 2008 moved the game on because it allowed us to build KPI type dashboards and visualise data in much more comprehensible way. Its good but if we are honest using Excel as front end tool doesn’t make it as polished as we wanted so we’ve been looking for a better affordable solution.

Microsoft had much better product called Performance Point Server, great tool but the £20k server plus £120 per client cost has restricted it to enterprise companies.

The great news is that Microsoft have now discontinued Performance Point Server as a separate tool and bundled it into SharePoint, its going to be part of the Portal product from now on.

That means that Dynamics customers can obtain the Performance Point and SharePoint server tools for the cost of the Dynamics Client for Office (DCO) licences.

That’s means that you get £30k (Performance Point and SharePoint Servers)  worth of tools for just £99 (for Standard) or £198 (for Enterprise)per user. In addition there is a current offer of 3 licences for the cost of 1 which really makes it too good to miss.

Every Dynamics customer should buy into this. From where I’m sitting every customer will end up with it eventually, its just a question of when.  SharePoint 2007 is good but the 2010 version coming next year is awesome. 

SharePoint will become as common as Windows Server in the future, customers who have bought into it just find more and more uses for it. With these new tools included as well its going to be almost mandatory.

Microsoft Dynamics Flexible Payment Plan

Microsoft have launched a new Flexible Payment Plan for buying Dynamics Licences in the UK this week. For Dynamics software purchases over a value of £20,000 they will now take payment over three years AT NO ADDITIONAL COST.

This is not using Microsoft Finance so there are no arrangement fees or interest changes, just three separate payments for a third of the cost at the start of each of the three years.

This is a great scheme allowing companies to take advantage of some of the best ERP and CRM software out there without facing a prohibitive up front investment.  It can be used for either completely new licences or additions for existing customers.

Its a paradox that when times were good, companies often told us that they were ‘too busy’ to implement a new system. Now times have got tougher, they have the time but are cautious about committing to the investment. Breaking the payment for a new system down like this means they can start now to get the efficiency they need while they have the time.   

Congratulations to the Dynamics guys at Microsoft for coming up with this unique proposition.  

Microsoft CRM App for the iPhone

iPhone users seeking access to their Microsoft Dynamics CRM software via their phone now have the iDcrm app available for free on Apple’s App Store.

According to the makers you can manage, display and schedule your activities and those of your colleagues. You can access data related to each entity e.g. on an account you have access to related contacts, opportunities, activities and more.

The application works on- and offline.

Details about the app can be found here.

Adopting a Successful CRM Strategy

This July Technology Management hosts a seminar that explores how your business can go about developing a customer relationship management (CRM) strategy and how to figure out whether investing in software can be justified.

In addition, we’ve invited a customer along from a leading engineering company to share her experiences with adopting Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

The seminar is on Thursday 9th July in Wolverhampton and is free to sign up here.