Training Dynamics CRM 4.0 immersion courses

Training Dynamics CRM 4.0 immersion courses

Training is one of the foundations of CRM adoption – if people don’t know how to use a system, and if it’s not clear how a system will benefit them, they won’t use it. The same goes for the partners who implement CRM systems.

So how do you take someone with an IT background and bring them up to speed with CRM in a hurry? One solution might be an immersive course – stick them in a CRM boot camp and drill them until they know a CRM solution backward and forward.

“Actually, I hate the term ‘boot camp,’” says David Minutella, vice president of education for Training Camp, a developer of IT training programs that’s rolling out just such an accelerated set of courses dealing with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. “We call it accelerated training – we get you in there, house you, and then have you in a classroom for 10 hours a day so you can focus what you need to learn.”

Having attended a boot camp, I can assure you that a program like this would suffer little from an absence of tear gassing, draconian haircutting policies and random yelling, although occasional forced push-ups might help focus attention, but that’s neither here nor there. The program takes students from their home organizations and houses and feeds the students, who have access to lab facilities – and instructors – 24 hours a day. Minutella says the outcome-based learning of this program is based around a lecture-lab-review format, or as he puts it simply: “we teach it, teach it again, then teach it one more time.”

The two courses, Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Applications and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Installations and Deployment, aim to instill in-depth knowledge of the configuration, management and customization of the application, as well as instruction on new features, installation and networking with Windows Vista. The take away for the companies sending the pupils to the accelerated training is an in-house expert on Dynamics CRM 4.0 who’s ready to work on the solution upon arriving home after just a few days away away (Applications is 10 days and Installations and Deployment is seven days, but the training doesn’t have to be bak-to-back); for students, completing the course and exams means they’ll get the Microsoft Certified Business Management Solutions Specialist and Professional Application certifications.

The program launched last month, and Minutella said “there’s already been quite a bit of interest.” Training Camp also wants to launch a third track dealing with customizations to Dynamics CRM 4.0.

Results Software Unveils CRM Business Suite 2012

Results Software Unveils CRM Business Suite 2012

Results Software, developers of the award winning Results solution, today announced rollout of the 2012 Results CRM  Business Suite product. Product rollout includes the Small Business and Enterprise Editions of the Results CRM Business Suite desktop  & hosted versions, Results for the Web, and the Results Time Management Portal. Powerful new features, such as enhanced QuickBooks and SmartVault® integration  and an updated and highly intuitive user interface, enrich the user experience and make Results the go-to CRM and business management solution for improving operational efficiency and accelerating business growth while supporting working from anywhere at anytime.
"Our focus continues to be on helping users streamline workflow and improve their bottom line. As such, we consistently listen to client feedback and implement suggestions into the Results products that help businesses better manage  operations," said Sam Saab, President and Founder of Results Software. "We also continue to expand and enhance integration between Results CRM and other industry-standard applications and platforms such as QuickBooks, Outlook®, Constant Contact®, SmartVault, and SharePoint®, creating a single data  hub for the whole organization to work from. Centralized data visibility across the organization offers empowerment and the convenience that we want to provide to our users."

Results CRM Business Suite 2012 includes the following enhancements:



Addition of a full Purchase Order Data Entry module along with support for bi-directional synchronization of Purchase Orders with QuickBooks.

Expanded project/job integration with QuickBooks to automatically capture job costs for labor, material, and other expenses.

Ability to instantly convert quote/estimate line items to assignable activities and tasks for professional services organizations.

Expanded SmartVault integration, including support for SmartVault Notes and placing SmartVault Docs and Notes buttons on every data entry screen.

Expanded support for QuickBooks price levels in Results, including ability to directly assign a contact to the appropriate price level.

Ability to instantly view complete order history for any product being added to a Quote, Sales Order, Invoice, or Purchase Order.

Results for the Web (R4W) 2012 and the Results Time Management Portal enhancements include:



New, highly intuitive user interface.

Streamlined menus with familiar, easy-to-use Microsoft  2010 "ribbon" view.

Redesigned Data Management Centers (DMCs) to include column filtering and grouping.

Compatibility with all standard browsers-Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome.

Full support for the iPad  and all other tablets.

Dreamforce 2011 Focuses on Post-PC Revolution

Dreamforce 2011 Focuses on Post-PC Revolution

Salesforce.com is getting ready for Dreamforce 2011, its hallmark cloud -computing event. This year's conference is planned for Aug. 30 through Sept. 2 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, and will focus on something that's been in the news plenty in recent days: The post-PC  revolution.
As Salesforce sees it, the post-PC revolution will further accelerate the social  enterprise . There is clearly a rise in companies working to improve the way they collaborate, communicate and share information with customers and employees in the cloud. That rise, Salesforce said, is transforming companies into social enterprises, which it defined as those that build social profiles of customers, create internal social networks, and listen to and engage with customers over the Internet.

Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce, offered a bold statement with which his competitors likely disagree. "Each year at Dreamforce, we set the agenda for the cloud-computing industry, and this year will be no exception," he said. "At Dreamforce 2011, we will showcase customers that have embraced innovation and transformed themselves into social enterprises."

Cloud Battles

The gestalt the technology market is wandering through is moving to an ever more web-centric world, a world that surrounds companies like Salesforce -- and favors them, according to Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group.

"Salesforce is not really known as a social-networking company by any stretch of the imagination," Enderle said. "Both Salesforce and IBM are having a little trouble grappling with it as a result. On the other hand, it's not like the social networks are flooding into the businesses overtly, it's more covertly and carried by the employees."

As Enderle sees it, Salesforce's take on the market is correct. But He questioned whether the company can position itself to leverage the evolution. While Salesforce was initially one of the biggest enterprise cloud players, he noted, cloud leadership has shifted to the likes of EMC and IBM.

Tapping Relevant Trends

"To a large extent I think Salesforce needs to return to being more relevant in the trends that they themselves helped create," Enderle said. "Salesforce is doing a marginal job riding these trends. The right thing to do is to get back and start talking about yourself as a leader. But the danger is that they aren't anymore, and they need to address that."

Salesforce will work to trumpet its cloud leadership at Dreamforce with sessions on government, healthcare and the social world. Special guests at the annual user and developer conference include Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google. The event aims to teach attendees how their companies can take advantage of Salesforce's cloud offerings. The company expects more than 25,000 people to attend the 450 sessions.

Airlines Lure Premium Customers

Delta Air Lines' master sommelier Andrea Robinson opened up bottle after bottle of white and red wine from France, Italy, Australia, the U.S. and other parts of the world.
As she tasted them Monday, a blue bucket sat on the table next to her. It was there so she could spit out each sip, ensuring she didn't get tipsy and could distinguish between the different wines. By the time she's done in the next few days, Robinson will have tasted and smelled roughly 2,000 bottles.

The delicate work of a sommelier has become more important as U.S. airlines fight for premium passengers willing to shell out up to thousands of dollars to fly business  class on international and transcontinental flights. The idea isn't to make money on the wine -- the passengers in those seats drink for free -- but rather to keep those customers coming back and encourage their well-heeled friends and co-workers to join them. Other airlines including United Airlines and American Airlines also work with wine experts to help them choose what to serve on their flights.

And there's a market for it: According to the International Air Transport Association, through the first four months of this year, there was an 8.5 percent increase year-over-year in premium passenger traffic, which includes business class and first class seats. Those seats are among the most pricey and profitable for airlines. The trade group expects fuel costs to weigh on premium traffic, and stronger growth in the second half of the year will depend on how well the economy holds up.

Robinson's task is to choose 30 labels for Delta, which is based in Atlanta. The wine and champagne will be served in Delta's BusinessElite class cabins in 2012. The world's second-largest carrier expects to order some 1.6 million bottles for the service. The still wines Robinson looks for range from a retail price of $25 to $30 a bottle, while dessert wines will run $30 to $35 a bottle and the champagne will run $45 to $50 a bottle.

"If it costs $20, it has to taste like $40. That's what I'm aiming for," Robinson said.

She is looking for wines with a distinct taste that will come through when sipped at 30,000 feet (9,000 meters) by bankers and vacationers alike, because passengers' sense of taste and smell can be diminished when in flight.

Delta's domestic coach passengers can buy glasses of wine, though the selections won't be as chic and won't get the same special attention from Robinson. Coach passengers on Delta international flights get wine for free.

Sommeliers are also working with other airlines.

Doug Frost, a Kansas City author who writes and lectures about wine and also is a master sommelier, is the wine and spirits consultant for United Airlines. He helps select tens of thousands of cases of wines and spirits each year for the carrier. Ken Chase, a Canadian classically trained wine merchant with an international reputation, does wine selections for American Airlines. According to the airline, Chase selects fine wines for various routes paying close attention to menu parings, as well as the ethnic, cultural, seasonal and stylistic differences of each destination.

Delta also is mindful of the destinations it serves when it selects wines. Some of the offerings on Robinson's taste menu came from Chile and Argentina. Delta has a big presence in Latin America.

The selection of wine, though, isn't the only thing that's important. So, too, is the flight attendants' knowledge of the offerings so they can answer business class passengers' questions. Delta is offering wine training for flight attendants.

Julie Pearson, who has been a Delta flight attendant for 23 years, attended Monday's wine tasting. The 44-year-old works in the BusinessElite cabin on the airline's Boston to Amsterdam route. Some passengers will know exactly what they want, while others have questions and enjoy the ability to taste the different wines on board before making a selection.

"A good sign for the flight is when all my wine glasses are dirty -- and that happens a lot," Pearson said.

IT Software Spending Will Focus on CRM in 2011

A new survey indicates that customer relationship management (CRM ) software will have the largest spending increase this year among all types of software. The survey, by industry research firm Gartner, said 42 percent of respondents expect to increase their CRM spending from 2010.
About 39 percent will increase outlays for office suites, and 36 percent for enterprise resource planning. The survey was conducted among 1,500 heads of IT departments in 40 countries through last July. The questions were oriented toward actual budgets for last year and projections for 2011.
Opportunities in 'Greenfields'
The growing increase in CRM spending comes as spending on application software in general is rising a projected 31 percent this year. The largest increase is taking place in the Asia/Pacific region, which is growing 37 percent. Latin America application spending is growing by 35 percent, and the EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) region by 27 percent.
Gartner describes both Latin America and Asia/Pacific as "greenfields" with the greatest sales opportunities.
Hai Hong Swinehart, a Gartner research analyst, said key areas for general software investment include the online channel; software as a service (SaaS ) deployments; and technologies that enable customer loyalty management, cross-sell and up-sell opportunities, and levels of customer service that are more targeted.
"Software application vendors should continue to build, fund and invest in software sales and marketing programs as the market is recovering," Swinehart said. He added that a market downturn and its aftermath are "disrupters that create great marketing and sales opportunities" if a company has "the right products, market programs, and funding."
Social CRM
For CRM buyers, Swinehart said, spending is focusing on customer retention and ways to enhance the customer experience, and there is increasing interest in "technologies that encourage development of customer communities and social networks."
Gartner said SaaS within the CRM industry could top $4 billion in revenue by 2014, which would make it nearly one-third of the entire CRM market. The segment with the strongest growth is marketing automation, driven by campaign and lead management and analytics.
The survey comes at a time when, according to Gartner, CRM is in a new era that is more about relationships and less about management. This new emphasis, the research firm said, is being driven by social media, and is yielding a "more open, honest and balanced approach" that works with customers to provide mutually beneficial relationships.
Earlier this month, Gartner reported that the CRM market is entering a three-year shake-up period with rapid changes. That report said the keys to the shake-up are the rise of social CRM and SaaS, the market reshuffling led by Salesforce.com, and the selling of CRM software from consultants and system integrators.

Business Intelligence software to reach 65.4 m revenue in 2011

Business Intelligence software to reach 65.4 m revenue in 2011.
The market for business intelligence (BI) software in India is forecast to reach revenue of 65.4 m this year, up 15.7 per cent over 2010, according to consultancy firm.

Worldwide, business intelligencesoftware market revenue is forecast to grow 9.7 percent to reach 10.8 billion in 2011. business intelligencewas ranked number five on the list of the top 10 technology priorities in 2011, according to  annual global CIO survey.
It is a sign of the strategic importance of business intelligencethat investment remains strong, research director.
He said this market segment had remained strong because the dominant vendors continued to put Business Intelligence, analytics and performance management at the centre of their messaging, while end-user organisations largely continued their business intelligence projects hoping that resulting transparency and insight would enable them to cut costs and improve productivity and agility down the line.
He said the market for business intelligence platforms will remain one of the fastest growing software markets despite sluggish economic growth in most regions.
It said decision making in India historically has been based on either gut feelings or on the business experience of managers.
Business intelligence will allow enterprises to make more fact-based decisions.
Business intelligence promotes revenue growth and faster innovation through shorter product and service life cycles and the ability to find where value is being created in the business, it claimed.