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Microsoft Offers Peek At Next-Gen CRM
4foot10 writes "As reported by VARBusiness.com, Microsoft's next release of its Dynamics CRM application, code-named 'Titan', is moving a little closer to completion. Today, the vendor is making the new software, which uses a single code base to support on-premise and software-as-a-service deployments, available to several hundred business partners for testing, giving them an early start on developing complementary solutions."
Isn't that the type of product that MS server used to origionally oertake Novell? MS's power in fields like that trick people into using MS server vs. Linux. I'm not an expert on this topic, though. But as Novell faces doom thanks to their "partner" when GPL3 comes, Microsoft would love to pass the time developing apps that corparate people would want.
For those of us who haven't eaten alphabits in a few years, what's a CRM, and why do we care?
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At least in the instance of hosted applications, it's an opportunity for online application vendors to rub their shoulders with the huge vendors such as microsoft.
:)
We've already begun using online spreadsheet tools to replace (almost) a few office applications, but the scope for apps like a centralised CRM database rooted in a b2b myspace style mashup is on the cards now - should be very interesting to see who gets there first.
me first me first!
erm hmmm... Web 3.0 anyone?
Dammit, we just got done doing a 1.2 -> 3.0 migration. It was not pretty. Come to find out, we can't even access parts of it over the Internet anymore. At least the consolidation of the two code bases will solve THAT problem.
On the keyboard and alphabetically it's only one letter off of DRM (not to mention it rhymes)... Something tells me this is targeting big business and not the consumers... That or marketing needs to be shot.
and I know what each word means. But I still don't know what it is - or at least, what I think it does doesn't seem like a billion dollar business.
"Manages customer relations, duh"
Well thank God that open-source doesn't have that problem.
"which uses a single code base to support on-premise and software-as-a-service deployments"
And after that, they're going to leverage their synergies!
"Customer relationship management (CRM) is a broad term that covers concepts used by companies to manage their relationships with customers, including the capture, storage and analysis of customer information."
And:
"CRM is not just a technology, but rather a holistic approach to an organisation's philosophy in dealing with its customers. This includes policies and processes, front-of-house customer service, employee training, marketing, systems and information management. Hence, it is important that any CRM implementation considers not only technology, but furthermore the broader organisational requirements."
More at: Customer Relationship Management
Microsoft had had a very bad name in the security industry for a long time. Here is a product that uses a lot of them, windows MS SQL etc.. (I am still to RTFA). Why do they think that any company will be ready to use their product, especially when SugarCRM, another free product have been getting rave reviews. What advantages can Microsoft offer that the grand daddies in the industry do not? I see this as a total failure. They are here for the heck of it, and CRM is the big companies is tightly integrated with the entire manufacturing/sales wing and that arena is dominiated by Oracle Apps, SAP, Peoplesoft^W Oracle.
Microsoft: "You've got questions. We've got dancing paperclips."
But as Novell faces doom thanks to their "partner" when GPL3 comes
The only effect the GPL3 has on Novell is that it makes Microsoft's agreement not to sue meaningless for GPL3 software. Except for the hysterics from people like you, Novell is legally no worse off than they were before the agreement (well, actually, they are $200M+ richer).
start of this year.
And now already they are already to release another version?
I have a hunch they are using managed C# code.
I have little confidence in a product which is not written in lean-mean native C++ based code.
With Microsoft CRM, your customer relations can be as good as Microsoft's.
(Note: the monopoly CRM module, including customer abuse and forced upgrades, costs extra.)
I used to work for a Microsoft Gold partner and we've had this application forced upon us since day one. After migrating from Version 1.2 it decided to trash the database so we had to restore from backups. It has always had a web interface which seemed to me be more eye candy than anything useful. I primarily had to work in CRM customer service modules and by comparison to Request Tracker which it replaced it was painful. One of the most curious aspects we found was the Modules didn't really seem to fit to together. Anything we entered in customer service didnt show up under the customers account in the client management screens. Basically, as with all new MS products, the hype was much better tan the reality..
You know all those commercials narrated by William H. Macy (a.k.a. The Shoveler), that all end in the phrase: "Software for the People-Ready Business" ?
Those are about Microsoft's CRM.
Microsoft CRM (Customer relationship management). Interesting idea. WGA. Deciding what can and cannot be played/viewed. Having a great help-desk that only ever gets used because people buy a new video card and need to reactivate Windows. In fact, I didn't even know that Microsoft had customer relationships (apart from, we give you a piece of crappy software and you pay us to try and use it). Last time I was involved in Microsoft CRM, it went something like this:
....
Me: Hi. I just bought a new video card and now Windows is asking me to reactivate.
MS: Thanks for calling Microsoft. How can we help?
Me: I just bought a new video card and now Windows is asking me to reactivate. How do I do this?
MS: Thanks for calling Microsoft. Your call is important to us. All our operators are busy at the moment. Please hold the line. **Microsoft jingle plays**
MS Rep: Thanks for calling Microsoft. How can I serve you today?
Me: Err... I need to reactivate Windows
MS Rep: How many computers do you currently have Windows installed on?
Me: None, it's broken
MS Rep: The Microsoft(TM)(R)(C)(Patent Pending) XP Operating System is for use on one computer only. Because your copy is not installed on a computer, you are in violation of the EULA subclause 287.111, where it clearly says that you must install Windows (TM) (C) (Patent Pending) on ONE computer only.
Me: Yes, I am trying to install it on this computer
MS Rep: You cannot install it on that computer because you are in violation of the EULA by not having it installed on any computer at all
Me:
I have no idea what this product is, but let me guess: It's another "web" based application from our good friend Bill that only works in Microsoft Internet Explorer. Am I right?
I'm still keeping the MSDN DVD with Microsoft CRM server, version 1.1.4 :-)
The last time Microsoft tested CRM software, some Microsoft contractor called and thought our company was in New Jersey; that was in error by thousands of miles. Apparently Microsoft has a strict rule: Never release a first version that actually works well.
If you work in support you probably use something almost identical already. You know; RT, OTRS, Bugzilla, Remedy.
A CRM usually has a couple of add ons though. A link to a comprehensive database of customers which records all interactions with them via email, telephone, snail mail etc so that marketing can look for purchase preferences to send them junk mail and customer services can make sure customers are happy rather than annoyed.
The other thing is usually a workflow add on (many ticket systems already have this) so that you can take a customer request through various business processes, be that a sale, a problem resolution, whatever. It makes sure that they eventually get through to the end without dropping through the cracks.
There's various other features depending on the vendor but you can pretty much roll your own CRM system using some of the open source ticket management systems, they just need a little tweaking.
Deleted
My company has been "beta testing" this fancy new CRM business for nearly a year. We've moved our customer info out of the old AS/400 and we've moved our help desk from Heat to CRM to track call tickets, projects, etc. I can't say it's been a smooth transition, but that may be due to the fact that the consultant working with us isn't the best. (I won't get into that much but we spent hours in "training" while he attempted to figure out what he was trying to train us.) On the bright side, because we got in so early, I'm told we've had a lot of input into what goes into the program.
There are two sides to this CRM program that I can see. The first is how well it actually manages customer relationships. The second is more technical. As far as the first thing goes, it manages information pretty well (I'm no sales person, but it's pretty straight forward and easy to use). The technical aspect, though, is troubling.
Due to our size, we don't use a hosted solution, we run our own server in house. There's a plugin for Outlook that gives access to the system, or you can use your favorite MS browser to access the system if you don't have Outlook, or if you want it to work faster and not drag your system down. The whole thing is just web based forms. There are two separate clients for Outlook. The "laptop version" and the "desktop version."
The desktop version will do three things - 1. Allow you to access the CRM system. 2. Make starting and closing Outlook an excruciatingly long process. 3. Prevent your computer from shutting down unless you manually close Outlook, with no helpful error/warning messages. It just sits with outlook open, and you can tell it to shutdown over and over.
The laptop version has all the "features" of the desktop version, but it installs a personal version of SQL Server so you can access customer info when you're offline. This has the added benefit of being an incredible memory hog. When I first tried it I only had 512 megabytes of memory, and it was more than happy to use 100-200 for the Outlook/CRM Combo even when I wasn't offline. It was so bad I requested extra memory, but they told me to quit using the laptop version (I don't need all that customer info at my fingertips anyway).
Just recently we discovered that you can aim IE (but not Firefox...go figure) at the server and access the entire system that way without bringing Outlook to it's knees. This has the added benefit of loading the pages more quickly, however there is always lag from when you click on an item to when it creates the new window, to when it puts all the controls on the new window. Sometimes it's long enough to be frustrating, but other times it's just long enough to remind you it's a browser app. If they could make it snappy so it ran more like a local app, that would be a big improvement, but I haven't seen it yet.
Wow, this got long... So in conclusion, with my personal experience the system works, and probably looks great on paper, but suffers from bugs and technical issues more than design flaws. That's not to say it's designed perfectly, but I would go so far as to say it's designed reasonably well. But I'm in the technical department, so I have limited contact with it. Our sales people might have differing opinions.
Open Source, php/Apache/mySQL based, not perfect but way better than any of the offerings from the Borg.
DG
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As rancid as Microsoft's products can be, they tend to improve over time. Compare this to the PeopleSoft CRM product (now owned by Oracle) which is kind of like someone's crazy Rube Goldberg device.
Or is it more like the kind of software that walks into their shop and says `Really nice place you have here, pity if it would burn, eh? Luigi here is really disappointed with your negative attitude to us.'
Well, that's the way Microsoft has managed its partnerships with third party software developers for years. Perhaps they have established their Dynamics CRM solution to leverage that expertise.
Acronym Finder suggests that this stands for Product/Project Lifecycle Management.
For trouble-ticketing?
OMFG. If you're doing trouble-ticketing, Heat just IS the app for you to be using.
Yeah, there's a couple add-ons for various CRM programs that do some trouble-ticketing, but they're sorta poor-mans helpdesk.
Question, which CRM app are you using?
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Product is the P you're looking for.