Big Changes for Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Here’s What You Need to Know About Dynamics 365

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Microsoft recently announced that Microsoft Dynamics CRM will be discontinued on November 1st, replaced by Dynamics 365. Dynamics 365 represents an evolution of Dynamics CRM that will combine customer relationship management tools with enterprise resource planning (ERP) capabilities and predictive artificial intelligence in a cloud-based environment

As you can imagine, this is an exciting step for today’s on-the-go businesses. Over the coming weeks, IOTAP will be sharing what we’ve learned about the many changes that have been incorporated into the new Microsoft Dynamics 365 product. To begin, here’s an overview of the changes that will roll out on November 1st.

What changes are in store with Dynamics 365?

Microsoft’s vision for Dynamics 365 is to offer organizations a flexible way to manage customer relationships and business operations in any kind of environment while providing a greater level of personalized automation. The software will have a variety of purpose-built apps to manage important business functions such as those below:

  • Financials
  • Field Service
  • Sales
  • Operations
  • Marketing
  • Product Service Automation
  • Customer Service

The other big change in addition to delivering purpose-built applications is that Dynamics 365 will be available in two editions- the Enterprise Edition and Business Edition. The Enterprise edition applications will include all the great innovation, technology, and extensibility that we are all currently used to seeing. These applications are also available as Plans and also include tiered pricing. Please contact us to learn more about the pricing and which plans may be better suited for your organization.

The Business edition is expected to be a simpler and more small business-friendly version of the well known Dynamics suite. The sales and marketing applications in the Business application are going to be available in the Spring of 2017. Currently, the Business Edition of Dynamics only includes Financials. The pricing for the business edition is certainly more geared towards the SMB marketplace and is expected to be at $40/user/month. In the Business edition, the number of users you can have on the plans is limited to 300 total users. The features and functionality of the Sales, Marketing and customer pieces are not all known and available at this time.

Dynamics 365 Relationship Insight Tools Help Deliver Better Customer Experiences

Dynamics 365 is built to allow businesses to focus on all aspects of personalized customer experience delivery. On-going analysis of data in Dynamics 365 allows sales professionals to nurture customer relationships and plan daily activities. Tools like Relationship Assistant, Email Engagement, Engagement Analytics, and Auto Capture help connect the dots to ensure that customers receive the personal touches they’ve come to expect.

  • Relationship Assistant: This app will allow service providers to monitor all activities, opportunities, and customer communication in a single location that is able to gauge that relationship’s health. Dynamics 365’s business intelligence capabilities will help your organization find patterns in the data and make informed decisions to optimize your communications based on analytics and analysis.
  • Email Engagement: Author and monitor messages inside Dynamics 365. Track email performance and get insights into your most invested prospects with Dynamics 365 business intelligence capabilities. Microsoft’s Email Engagement app makes it easier to send the right message to the right person at the right time.
  • Engagement Analytics: Compare successful deals to current communications to discover patterns and optimize engagement with an app backed by artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. Understand prospect sentiments, and use metrics to inform your outreach and turn leads into sales.
  • Auto Capture: With the Dynamics 365 Auto Capture app, you can instantly analyze your Microsoft Exchange inbox to locate important messages and trace them back to your communications via Dynamics 365. This is another example of Microsoft using artificial intelligence capabilities to improve communications and increase efficiency for sales and service professionals.

More Options and Opportunities with IOTAP and Microsoft Dynamics 365

IOTAP helps you use Microsoft products to create the opportunities that power their businesses. The new Dynamics 365 offers expanded options and opportunities for personalization and intelligent automation throughout your business. The product’s improved selection of apps, coordination between platforms, and integrated solutions will unlock an entirely new universe of business process possibilities.

What does this mean for Dynamics CRM Online customers?

If your organization is already invested in Dynamics CRM, your service will continue uninterrupted until it comes due for renewal. And if your organization wants to purchase Dynamics CRM before the October 31st deadline, that option is available. When it comes time to renew, your Dynamics CRM subscription will convert to Dynamics 365.

Check back for a detailed analysis of more Dynamics 365 features in the coming weeks, or contact IOTAP today to learn more about the changes coming to Dynamics CRM.  

3 Ways IOTAP Helps Clients Deliver Amazing Customer Service with Dynamics CRM

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CRM is perfectly named for what it does: help companies deliver customer relationship management. But if you know anything about CRMs you’ll know that there are hundreds of potential tools on the market, making it difficult to choose the right one in this era of increasing digital transformation. Today, we’ll help make your CRM software choice easy by sharing three ways in which Microsoft Dynamics CRM makes delighting customers possible.

At IOTAP, our focus is on helping businesses connect, communicate and collaborate with their customers. What that means is that we customize Microsoft’s CRM solutions to help you amaze your customers and help your business take the next step in its digital transformation. Below, we’ve captured three of our favorite CRM examples. If you’d like to learn more, please download our e-book about case studies of successful CRM systems.

1.       Manage Complex Claims Processing in One System

The home warranty industry has exploded in the past few years as more and more consumers outfit their homes with internet-of-things devices in addition to traditionally covered equipment like HVAC systems. As a result of this digital transformation, home warranty providers have struggled to manage ever-growing amounts of customer data and an increasingly complex claims management process. So what did one of the country’s largest home warranty providers do? Turned to IOTAP to unify its service environment using Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

IOTAP customized Dynamics CRM to provide claims agents with a single view of a customer’s home warranty account and claims. Combined with the ability to update customer claim and policy data from anywhere using mobile devices, IOTAP’s Dynamics CRM implementation allowed the company to cut the time required to process and track a claim for both its service agents and its customers.

2.       Speed Up Service Time

Customers lose patience quickly when their support issue has to move through multiple departments for resolution. And when they’re dealing with issues related to their internet service provider, that frustration only grows.

Recently, a regional broadband service provider faced mounting customer frustration caused by the multiple systems it used to manage its support calls. If Tier 1 support couldn’t fix the problem, the company issued a paperwork order to Tier 2. If Tier 2 couldn’t resolve the issue, the company created a new work order which its field service technicians would pick up the next morning. As you can imagine, the process was slow. Work orders were often lost, and customers were not happy.

Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, the broadband company implemented a digital transformation to a one-call tiered support system for customers. Tier 1 level support is handled through Microsoft Dynamics CRM dialog functions, which allow service reps to ask guided questions that fix the most common problems. Issues that require higher levels of support are immediately routed to Tier 2 support. If needed, the Tier 2 service reps route case information directly to field technicians through tablets and smartphones. Those engineers, already in the field, are able to resolve the case quickly and move on to the next job.

The switch to Dynamics CRM and the digital transformation it created has helped the broadband provider rebuild its customer confidence and provide much more efficient cost-effective customer service.

3.       Provide Personalized Service

When serving people in need, it’s critical to understand an individual’s entire history in order to provide the proper care.

Recently, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting developmentally disabled adults with the resources they need to lead independent lives was struggling as the organization grew. Serving more clients meant more coordination was required between the multiple people and agencies supporting its population. With no central client management system, processing each case required time-consuming research that stretched the organization’s limited resources.

The organization’s solution was to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online in order to provide its staff members with access to full client records that include clients’ status with each program—from acceptance through services received. Dynamics CRM Online saves staff time through easy document attachment and automatic call logging that can create new records for clients who are not yet in the CRM. As well, the non-profit’s staff can search a wide range of programs in Dynamics CRM to help with specific client requests while they’re on the phone with the client. Changes like these allow staff members who have more time and better information to provide caring, personalized service in real-time.

How Can Microsoft Dynamics CRM Help You?

If you’d like to learn more about how Dynamics CRM can help your organization amaze your customers, please download our e-book about case studies of successful CRM systems. Or, contact us today to discuss how IOTAP can build a personalized CRM service experience for your customers.

Five Questions to Ask your Microsoft Dynamics CRM Provider

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM can often create headaches for even the savviest of IT professionals, regardless of whether your CRM installation is on-premise or online. As with any external relationship, due diligence in vendor selection will eliminate many of the issues that can arise with a Dynamics CRM instance before they occur. Here are five critical questions to ask your potential Dynamics CRM providers to ensure a headache-free installation and an effective working relationship:

What is Your Dynamics Support Response Time?

Twenty four hours can feel like an eternity when faced with a deadline. Sales teams need CRM data to help close deals, finance teams use Dynamics instances to track overdue contracts, and account managers rely on Dynamics CRM to help ensure the health and satisfaction of their customers. If a CRM provider is unable to respond to requests or cases in a timely fashion, you may find that your Microsoft Dynamics CRM is being under-utilized (i.e. a resource wasted).

How Many Experiences Do You Have with Dynamics CRM?

It may seem obvious, but the breadth of experience a CRM provider has provided a strong window into their ability to serve you and your team as effectively as possible. All instances of Microsoft Dynamics CRM are unique and customized to the myriad purposes of the tool’s users. A provider with strong installation and service experience over multiple years is more likely to have faced, and solved, your issue in the past. CRM providers that have worked in your industry or function are much more likely to have a successful solution in place more quickly.

How Many CRM Installation References Can You Provide?

As a continuation of your provider’s experience, their ability to provide references is a natural next step. Speaking to previous or current clients will give you a clearer picture of your potential Dynamics CRM provider’s ability to foster positive working relationships, along with real-world examples of problem-solving and customer service. Don’t be afraid to ask for references that closely mirror your own organization’s profile.

How Reliable and Robust is Your Product Knowledge?

Is your potential provider an expert on all aspects of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM? Are they aware of the latest developments and updates for the product from Microsoft? Are they familiar with the most common bugs that occur with your specific Dynamics instance and, more importantly, the most effective solutions? These are the types of questions for which any successful provider should have answers.

What are Your Dynamics CRM Support Options?

Many businesses no longer operate on a standard Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 5:30 schedule, while IT teams have become accustomed to working what has become close to a 24-hour-a-day job. The provider of your Microsoft Dynamics CRM instance should not only understand the unique schedule on which your team operates, but also be willing to provide direct and responsive support in a way which fits your business and allows your staff to successfully resolve any issues. As with response time, immediate support can mean the difference between success and failure.

While there are no guarantees with any third-party vendor, especially when it comes to IT relationships, addressing these matters before the contracts are signed will alleviate the unnecessary stress that can come with a Microsoft Dynamics CRM instance. The next step following a successful installation is to explore helpful add-ons, like Report Scheduler, to make your Dynamics CRM instance work for you.

Microsoft – Putting People at the Center of Everything We Do

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It’s winter, the time of year when every gathering seems to be centered on sharing food, warmth, and time together. These simple traditions have been humanity’s best defense against once-lethal long nights and freezing temperatures since time immemorial. From a business standpoint, this season is a fascinating example of how effective human kindness can be.

I’m particularly interested in creating a warm and inviting atmosphere for everyone right now because in the last few years there’s been a sharp upswing in “brand switching,” or customers leaving one brand for another. Many of these customers cite poor service among their reasons for leaving.

In the US alone, this “switching economy” has increased by roughly 30 percent in the last five years. That means that 1.6 trillion consumer dollars are waiting to be won over. In India that number is$331 billion, with a whopping 88 percent of customers stating they’d swap brands due to poor service. Here are just a few ways to help make your company the inviting place customers are looking for.

Marketing:

  • A personal touch can go a long way toward winning customers over. Unfortunately, simple segmentation doesn’t do the trick anymore. No longer are customers impressed that you know they buy socks. Knowing they buy seasonal socks every third Thursday, on the other hand, allows you to add personalized value to your campaigns.
  • No two customers are alike when it comes to shopping and doing research. Knowing which channels different folks like to frequent allows you to focus in and talk to clients on their own terms.

Sales:

  • Gathering insights into new prospects shouldn’t just be about making that first sale. Forge strong connections through shared contacts and interests and you could be on your way to a lasting relationship. Remember to add these personal details to each client’s profile for the next rep or service agent down the line.
  • Collaborative selling can be a great way to show customers how much their business matters to you. By adding an expert to your video conference or coauthoring proposal documents on the fly, you’ll build customer relationships that matter.

Service:

  • When asked, 32 percent of customers said they switched brands due to being handed off to too many different agents. While you can’t always avoid transferring these folks, you can make sure they don’t have to repeat their basic information each time.
  • Keep detailed customer profiles, and make sure new notes are added to these after each call. You can also use the data in these profiles to match customers with agents that share their interests.

Brand switching is a massive force for change, and lots of customer dollars are at stake. Give customers a warm, inviting environment, however, and you may find that this winter of customer discontent is your favorite season after all.

If you’re looking for more tools designed to help your marketing, sales, service, and social teams keep the customers you have and welcome those you don’t, take a test drive of Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Written by: Kelly Rigotti

Source: https://community.dynamics.com/b/msftdynamicsblog/archive/2016/01/11/putting-people-at-the-center-of-everything-we-do

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 Now Available: Ushering in a New Era of Intelligent Customer Engagement

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 is now available!  The new release is not only our most comprehensive ever, but it also represents a huge leap forward in our journey to deliver intelligent customer engagement.

Over the past few years, we have been focused on transforming our CRM offerings to leverage the full power of Microsoft – harnessing the strength of the intelligent cloud to help companies deliver amazing customer experiences across the breadth of sales, service, marketing, and social engagements.  Our strategy is clear: to enable organizations to personalize customer experiences – engaging customers at the right time, in the right place and with the right content; to give them the tools to be more proactive, and to empower them with the intelligence to be able to predict trends and identify patterns — to know what the customer needs and wants before they do.

Available both as CRM Online and on-premises in 130 markets and 44 languages, Dynamics CRM 2016 is focused on empowering employees to deliver the optimal experiences to customers, as well as engaging customers across all channels.  We’re bringing all Microsoft has to offer in productivity and intelligence into a single experience.  We’re bringing the advanced analytics and machine learning capabilities of the Cortana Analytics Suite to preview our first intelligent, adaptive processes for sales, customer service and social:

  • Intelligent selling with cross-selling recommendations so sales reps can predict which products and services a customer will need during the sales cycle.
  • Intelligent customer service with knowledge articles recommendations to empower service agents with answers to questions so they can more effectively resolve customer cases and solve problems on the spot.
  • Intelligent social with machine learning capabilities powering sentiment analysis, as well as the ability to process significant streams of data to detect social posts that are most likely to be customer service cases or new leads.
  • Intelligent collaboration with Delve functionality to surface trending content that is most relevant to what a person is working on.

In addition, we are also delivering significant enhancements in productivity, mobility and customer service:

Productivity – Capabilities in CRM 2016 are seamlessly embedded into productivity tools, including Office 365. In CRM 2016, we’ve enhanced the CRM app for Outlook, delivered templates for our immersive Excel experience, simplified the creation of personalized sales documents in Word and enabled seamless access to contextual CRM documents across SharePoint, Office 365 Groups and OneDrive for Business.

Mobility – CRM 2016 features full offline mobile capabilities for phones and tablets, the ability to create task-based mobile apps, Mobile Application Management with Microsoft Intune and next-generation Cortana integration that surfaces CRM data for key sales activities, accounts and deals, and mobile marketing with SMS capabilities available with Dynamics Marketing in four countries.

Unified Service – CRM 2016 delivers a single, unified solution for Customer Service across self-service, agent assisted-service and field service. Building on the integration of Parature knowledge management in spring 2015, we now have a new role driven agent experience with the Interactive Service Hub, native Knowledge Management, surveys to capture the voice of the customer and field service capabilities with our recent acquisition of FieldOne.

The CRM team and I are very excited about capabilities we are delivering today, and we are also looking forward to the next phase of our journey. As we look to the future, we will continue to combine the strength of the intelligent cloud platform to our business application service where organizations will be empowered and proactive – saving costs, increasing customer loyalty and even saving patient lives. For example, combining the field service capabilities from FieldOne with the power of the Azure IoT suite will be able to deliver predictive maintenance right to the user, so companies can move away from a break-fix model to actually provide service before a breakdown.  This will save time while creating efficiencies and predictability and increasing customer loyalty.

Intelligent customer engagement is here with Dynamics CRM 2016. This comprehensive release further strengthens our position as a leader in the CRM market and most importantly, brings even more value to our customers.  We can’t wait for everyone to give our new capabilities a try!

Jujhar Singh, General Manager, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 

SOURCE: https://community.dynamics.com/b/msftdynamicsblog/archive/2015/11/30/microsoft-dynamics-crm-2016-now-available-ushering-in-a-new-era-of-intelligent-customer-engagement

What’s New in CRM 2016?

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Are you ready for 2016? Dynamics CRM 2016 focuses on maximizing customer engagement. Dynamics CRM 2015 offered a simple and seamless user experience across the application that focused on improved productivity of customer-facing employees through applications like Exchange, Excel and OneDrive for Business for easier task management. The 2016 version provides several enhancements with intelligence and mobility features, including integration with applications like BI and Office 365.

Dynamics CRM 2016 presents a unique design for you to manage all your customer-facing activities through a single experience. Toggling between different functions in Excel, writing proposals in Word, accessing documents stored in OneDrive for Business, increasing the productivity of your sales team through Delve; you can do all this and more directly from the CRM platform while improving your customer service process.

Below are some of the enhancements that are in store for Dynamics CRM 2016: If you’d like to learn more, check out a video demonstration of the new features.

New Excel Templates:

Dynamics CRM 2015 allows you to conduct analysis in Excel directly within the platform, view sales data in familiar Excel templates, get analysis and insights directly into the sales process and efficiently manage sales forecasts, eliminating time and effort required to switch between applications. In addition, it allows you to export and analyze Excel data from your mobile device with Dynamics CRM 2016 apps for tablets and smartphones.

excel-template

CRM App for Outlook:

Getting key sales capabilities within the Outlook desktop and mobile browser has become more streamlined. You will be able to open documents using different applications like Word or PowerPoint on various devices like iPads and smartphones. Now, you have the option to get contextual information from Dynamics CRM delivered right in your mailbox for quick and easy review.

crm-for-outlook

Improved Outlook Experience:

Harness the power of O365 Groups, in 2016, you can get easy access to Excel templates and create personalized sales documents in Word. Easily track emails and add contacts with the touch of a button from within an email. You can also generate new records to track emails through a web browser on a PC, or a mobile browser on a smart phone

Enhanced Mobile Experience:

Full offline capabilities are now available for your sales and service professionals on smartphones and tablets across all major operating systems. Quickly complete sales related activities while on the go and streamline important deals, accounts, and activities with verbal instruction to Cortana

enhanced-mobile-experience

SMS Marketing:

Build your sales pipeline and chart out your marketing activities, from planning, and execution to measuring your marketing performance. You’ll be able to create powerful SMS campaigns and integrate them with your multi-channel campaigns. Easily configure inbound SMS campaigns, send outgoing promotional SMS messages and maintain a database of your marketing contacts.

sms-marketing

Cloud Enhancements:

Discover information that’s most relevant and interesting to you. Track documents wherever they are stored (via OneDrive or O365). You will also be able to get a list of trending documents from Delve inside CRM. View a consolidated set of documents across SharePoint, OneDrive for Business and O365 groups. Discover information that can help you with your current opportunities or accounts.

Cortana Integration:

Dynamics CRM 2016 embeds various sales activities, accounts and opportunities into Cortana to provide the most relevant information to your sales team. Get access to advanced data management and advanced analytics capabilities and improve your customer service with the Cortana Analytics Suite.

cortana-integration

Improved Document Generation:

Build personalized sales documents with Document Generation using pre-defined Word and Excel templates with one click. Ultimately, saving you time in building documents. Automatically have CRM data from account summaries, quotes, and invoices, and product sheets extracted.

Enriched Data and Analytics:

Turn business critical data into intelligent action and achieve elevated business transformation. Obtain intelligent product suggestions for cross-selling and recommend solutions to solve customer service issues. You will also be able to gain insights into your business and efficiently predict customer needs with Azure Machine learning.

Microsoft Social Engagement:

Evaluate and drive social engagement within Dynamics CRM 2016. Easily pinpoint leads from social media and understand the social buzz around a product. You’ll instantly gain access to powerful social tools and connect with customers, partners, and prospects on various social media sites. Obtain social insights about your brand and get a true understanding of your position in the industry.

microsoft-social-engagement

Superior Customer Engagement:

Superior customer engagement is the principal goal of Dynamics CRM 2016. By delivering end-to-end customer solutions across field service, assisted service and self-service, Dynamics CRM 2016 drives its entire focus on delivering remarkable customer experiences. Reap benefits of productivity and intelligence through a single platform to personalize experiences and have proactive and contextual interactions with customers to identify and meet their distinct needs. You can also check out the Dynamics CRM 2016 Release Preview Guide here.

CRMUG Summit 2015: Attend IOTAP Happy Hour & Win An Apple iWatch

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Early Bird Discount Ends Sept 15th, RSVP For A Chance To Win An Apple iWatch!

Join IOTAP in Reno, Nevada October 13-16 for peer-to-peer training and networking opportunities! CRMUG Summit is the only user-led conference, designed for users by users. It’s your annual opportunity to go deep into your Dynamics CRM questions and find solutions that will maximize your company’s potential to reach the next level.

This year, we encourage you to Go All IN and experience:

 

  • Interactive learning

    Choose from among 120+ educational breakout sessions. Arrive early and take advantage of optional, instructor-led classroom training.

  • Insightful conversations

    Get the practical knowledge and timely tips, tricks, and strategies you can use to get maximum value from Dynamics CRM.

  • Incomparable networking

    Enjoy nearly unlimited ways to meet and learn from other, knowledgeable users.

  • IOTAP Happy Hour

    Join us on Wednesday, October 14th at 5:00 PM at Bistro Napa located at the Atlantis Casino Resort & Spa (across from the Convention Center) for an hour of drinks, food, and fun. RSVP now and enter for a chance to win an Apple iWatch!

Resetting the AutoNumber Counter Automatically at the Start of the Year or Month in Microsoft Dynamics CRM

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The IOTAP CRM Advanced Auto-Number add-on for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and On-premise is designed to automatically generate a unique reference ID sequence, based on a format that you may configure as you choose. For example, you could select:

1. Account: ACC-000006-0515 (The prefix, ACC, is chosen as an identifier by the user; the six digits in the middle are a sequential counter, and the suffix displays the month and year)

2. Quote: QUO-002-JU78D6 (Here, the suffix is simply six random characters)

3. Order: PO#00008-021513 (In this example, the suffix displays the month, date, and year)

While the addition of auto-numbering makes your use of Microsoft Dynamics CRM much simpler and more intuitive, what is even better if the counter can reset automatically!

The latest version of Advanced AutoNumber add-on for Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows you to reset the counter automatically at the start of the year or month based on the configuration settings.

For example, you may have a 5 digit auto-number where the first two digits represent the year and the last three digits would be a rolling count of records for a given year.

For 2014, the records would have a sequence such as 14001, 14002, etc… and then for 2015 the first record would be numbered from 15001, and so on. To deliver this, the counter needs to recognize the start of a new year and automatically reset. We’ve made it easy to do this; simply set the “Reset Counter” field to “year” as shown in the screenshot below:

autonumber

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a great platform to build CRM solutions for small business to an enterprise organization. However, to enhance the platform, add-ons from different partners provide a great way to improve the user experience and improve productivity. Check out the various add-ons that you can purchase from our online store:

Upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Compatible Add-ons

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We are happy to let you know that all our add-ons are now compatible with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015.

2015-Add-ons-banner

This 2015 compatible version has been released as a separate solution file which the keyword “2015” in the file name for easy identification.

Our existing add-on customers who are on the active support are entitled to a free upgrade to the 2015 version!

Before upgrading to the newer version of the add-on, following points are to be noted:

Add-On Zip file – The add-on zip file contains user-guide and 2 solution files. The solution file with 2011 in file name work in CRM 2011 as well as CRM 2013 whereas file with 2015 in the name work in CRM 2015 only.

License activation – In order to start using the add-on, you will need to get the license activated. We have now introduced online license activation in all our add-ons. For detailed instructions refer to user-guide section 2.5 Activating a paid license.

 

Upgrade path- We have made some major technical changes to our code-base, hence there is no direct upgrade path for the 2015 compatible add-ons. Before installing this newer version, you will need to delete any existing older version solution. Please note that on deletion of an existing solution, the add-on related configuration settings will be lost.

All IOTAP CRM add-ons are managed solution, hence the un-installation is direct and clean. However, there are few important points to consider when uninstalling which have been listed down by each add-on below:

  • Record Clone: If you have manually added clone button to any additional entity (other than those which were already available out-of-box) then you will need to first remove the clone button from those entities. Once the dependencies are removed then the add-on can be uninstalled directly.
    Further to let you know that we are presently working on a newer version of a clone which makes adding cloning to any entity in CRM very easy (to be released mid-march 2015). This is a good news for our clone customers who need to use cloning across many entities other than the ones on which cloning is provided by default.
  • Advanced AutoNumber: Before deleting the solution, the autonumber configuration records need to be deleted. Only then the autonumber solution file can be uninstalled.
  • Report Scheduler: If you have too many scheduled records then you can export those records (RS Scheduled entity) and re-import it back after installing the newer version by following the instructions in report scheduler user-guide section 2.18 Upgrading to a higher version of the add-on.
  • Email 2 Case Automation: The configuration settings will be lost on uninstalling. Kindly make a note of the current settings before uninstalling.

Feel free to email [email protected] if you have any questions or need help with the upgrade.

Never Forget Birthday Greetings Ever Again- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customer Loyalty and Retention Tip

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One of the most effective ways to impress your Contacts is to remember their birthdays. A simple wish from you on their birthdays is proven to show your attention to them, leading to personal openness to you and subsequent success of sales. The problem is how you manage to remember each and every client’s birthday?

The standard functionality of Microsoft Dynamics CRM does not allow you to filter out the contacts with Birthdays, month-wise or date-wise. Birthday Reminder add-on for Microsoft Dynamics CRM bridges this gap by providing this ability.

BirthdayReminder

CRM Birthday Reminder add-on helps Sales and Marketing team keep track of birthdays of CRM Contact by displaying the Upcoming Birthdays on the Dashboard. It displays the Contact Name, Day – Month and Age.

Features:

  • Be notified on the Dashboard as the birthday of each Contact approaches
  • CRM Users can select contact whose Birthday reminder needs to be activated
  • Ability to browse to Contact details form directly from the Birthday reminder panel in Dashboard

Perhaps the best part of Birthday Reminder Solution is that it is completely free to use!! 

To download and try the solution, visit the Birthday Reminder license request page

Further, if you would like to receive Birthday Reminder notification’s in your email, then feel free to check-out CRM Report Scheduler add-on! This add-on will automatically email you a list of Contacts who’s Birthday or Anniversary is approaching.

ScheduleUpcomingBirthday

And if that’s not enough, then the next release of Report Scheduler add-on will have enhanced functionality to send automatic Birthday Wishes to your customers on their Birthday!

CRM Dynamics is the great platform to build CRM solutions for small business to an enterprise organization. However, to enhance the platform, add-ons from different partners provide a great way to improve the user experience and improve productivity.