CRM Archives - GUJRAT INDIA

Microsoft CRM Integration & Customization: SharePoint Document Gateway

MS CRM is very close to document workflow automation, including Microsoft Office documents: Words, Excel, etc. The document workflow was perfectly automated about 10 years ago in Lotus Notes Domino. In this small article we describe the solution based on MS CRM integration with MS SharePoint.

Microsoft CRM is new player on CRM applications market and it is gaining its market share. Having different paradigm in its design (it stakes on Microsoft OS and technologies and completely disregards alternative platform, such as UNIX, Linux, Oracle, etc. based). Microsoft CRM market is very diversified: from small (5 users) to large (several hundred MS CRM User licenses) and it serves variety of industries: Transportation, Logistics, Lawyers, Pension Funds, High-Tech, and many others. Deploying technologies, like Windows Active Directory, Microsoft Exchange 2003/2000, SQL Server, Crystal Reports Enterprise, Biztalk, Microsoft Outlook, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Great Plains and Navision in close future – makes CRM a beloved system for Microsoft oriented IT departments.

Let’s go right to the topic.

Major issue with storing documents in MS CRM in the form of attachments to Activity is inability to work on these attached files in cooperation with other colleagues, who do not have to use CRM. When several service people serve requests from the same client this is required. Currently you can use alternative way when you store office documents in the folders of your file system and when modifying document, you save it and reattach to CRM. This is inconvenient, because first it requires all your editing users to have CRM licenses, which delays CRM implementation.

We seem increasing popularity of document storage systems, like Microsoft SharePoint, Oracle Files, etc. Such systems, being implemented gives you time savings, related to documents revisions and versioning, approval cycles and workflows, web access through web-portals systems and the like.

The target of our product is Microsoft SharePoint integration with MS CRM for document storage. Let’s take a look at the high level technical realization details:

oMain modification from the MS CRM side is standard system behavior change when you open attachment in Activity. Standard unmodified CRM suggests you to store documents in the file system. Modified version sores document in SharePoint Document Library (the required library is subject for setup by MS CRM system administrator) or keep it in MS CRM as is (for documents of minor importance). From the moment of saving the document in SharePoint Document Library it is not stored in MS CRM – CRM will now store only the link/reference to the document. Also you are given the ability to open and modify the document at the place of opening, which speeds up MS CRM user performance substantially.

oTable, storing the links to the documents sits in separate database and doesn’t deal with MS CRM tables (you know that you are banned to do structure changes in MS CRM db)

oDocument saving into MS SharePoint process occurs in MS CRM and with its assistance – SharePoint bridge, which does addition and update for the existing document into destination Document Library with MS SharePoint Web Services calls

oUpon the addition into Document Library, MS CRM – SharePoint bridge registers the document in the special table for the future data extraction or notification mechanism registration

oThen, interested users can work with the documents just using MS Office 2003 or other programs/editing tools, assuming these tools have access to MS SharePoint

oFeedback is provided by MS SharePoint Event Handler component. This is special handler, inspecting document change status, transferred from MS CRM to document storage (SharePoint), and report Activity owner on the changes with home page notifications (User home page in MS CRM). User in turn can review the history of the document editing – who, when and where is the change

oOpening Activity, where document is “attached”, and in fact placed into MS SharePoint Document Library, and pressing opening button, MS CRM user gets live version of the data

oThis approach allows you seamless work with MS CRM document in the whole informational space of your company

oAdditional enhancements to this product might be document library management directly from MS CRM (web interface – meaning remotely), administrative interface for MS Sharepoint documents revision, ability to create reports on the document storage status, rights/access management (Author, Reader, Contributor etc) from MS CRM, portal pages integration into MS CRM to name a few.

Happy programming, implementation, customization and modification! If you want us to do the job – call use 1-630-961-5918, 1-866-528-0577! help@albaspectrum.com

The Benefits of Vtiger CRM for Your Business

The Vtiger CRM is a type of enterprise-ready Open Source CRM software principally designed for small and medium sized companies. It combines the advantages of Open Source software with additional enterprise features which adds more value to the end user.

It is a professional CRM application that is fully featured with no ongoing license fees and 100% Open Source. Furthermore, the setup cost is very low and there are no per-seat fees. If you want to customize it to suit your business process and systems, there is the opportunity for you. It is fully integrated with a range of third party software systems and there is also the availability of onsite or hosted cloud solutions.

Moreover, there is no upfront capital expenditure as well as the possibility of allowing unlimited users and unlimited traffic. No matter where you are in the world or what language you speak, the Vtiger CRM is international and multilingual. It runs on an SSL secured 128bit encrypted web access and has a short implementation time thereby giving you a quick ROI. It is also integrated to ERP systems with the provision of web portal for customers and partners as well as the integration of Microsoft Outlook, Office, Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird.

The installation of Vtiger CRM is very easy as all the necessary software like Apache, MySQL and PHP are integrated and executables are made accessible for Windows and Linux (RedHat, Debian, SuSe, Fedora and Manddrake) operating systems in SourceForge.net. As a result of this, you don’t need to be concerned about setting up database, web server and other software.

Furthermore, the Vtiger CRM provides customer relationship management solution for small and medium sized companies with a well loaded features on a secured, customizable platform. It is a web-based, platform-independent CRM and Groupware system that is centred on Open Source technologies which helps you in formulating strategies for cross-departmental processes that will allow you to methodically develop your existing and new customer relationships.

It supports your business’ internal processes and employees in sales, marketing, customer service and back-office personnel, to better organize your customers’ data like accounts and contacts, sales leads, potentials and pipelines, quotes, sales orders as well as trouble tickets and products knowledgebase, and so much more. As a result of this, if you want an improved customer service which will in turn lead to more sales and profitability for your business, a Vtiger CRM is surely your best bet.

What’s The Difference Between CRM, DAM, ERP And MIS – And Why You Should Integrate Them With W2P

For maximum productivity in web-to-print (W2P) it’s necessary to integrate the online sales portal with other business management systems. In some cases these will already exist within the print service provider’s business, and in others they may be added subsequently, but either way, it’s valuable to understand how they function and what benefits integration with W2P would bring.

CRM:

Customer Relationship Management tools support the sales role by recording all customer contact whether it is sales or service related. From this information a CRM system can prompt follow-up calls or other contacts and generate promotional offers for both existing and prospective customers, backed by a record of previous purchase history and notes on any problems.

Feeding W2P activity information into a CRM system is an obvious move as it’s important that all customer interaction and purchasing activity should be visible within the print service provider’s organisation. This not only gives sales and management staff a more complete view of how much business a customer is doing with the printer, but also a sense of how they prefer to interact – do W2P sales follow sales visits, calls or email promotions, for example, or do they tend to occur independently of them?

This information can also provide pointers for the maintenance and development of the W2P portal itself. If initial W2P orders are followed by a reversion to phone, fax or email ordering, for example, this may mean that the portal is not sufficiently easy to use or doesn’t support the type of work that the customer wants to place.

DAM:

Digital Asset Management systems have been around for a while, pre-dating widespread broadband internet, and were often used to provide access to hi-res picture libraries for graphic designers, ad agencies and magazine or catalogue publishers, with on-line interfaces for image selection. Nowadays they may also store master layout documents, images and graphics that are frequently used by customers of template-based W2P.

A value-added service that can tie customers in to their printer, a DAM system can be integrated with a W2P portal to enable the correct templates, images and graphics to be accessed during online construction of template-based jobs. For speed of display, often low resolution RGB images are used to provide the customer preview; when the job is approved for print, these are replaced with high resolution print-ready CMYK versions, a task that can be automated with the correct integration between W2P portal and DAM.

Any W2P system that includes template-based job creation will by default have some degree of DAM functionality, which should be sufficient if you’re starting from scratch. If there’s an existing DAM system, integration with the W2P portal may be possible to save duplication, or it may be simpler to transfer the relevant files into the W2P system.

ERP and MIS:

Often used interchangeably, Enterprise Resource Planning and Management Information Systems largely overlap in planning and executing jobs more efficiently, managing quoting, job numbering, planning and scheduling, allocation and use of resources – both mechanical and human – and consumables and stock replenishment, finishing, shipping and invoicing. In addition to improving customer service through more accurate quoting and job tracking, ERP and MIS help printers gather business intelligence via analysis of customer data and can play a useful role in achieving compliance with quality and environmental standards.

MIS solutions, the type more familiar to most printers, provide analysis of costs based on ink usage, production time, media use and wastage. This analysis may extend to material, equipment and operator performance, in addition to stock management and generation of invoices and delivery notes. Some MIS vendors provide CRM functionality as a module, or web-to-MIS connectivity. Sales staff are also supported via mobile access to MIS, making it possible to quote and book jobs from the customer’s site.

While MIS offerings generally provide outputs that can be used with financial systems, ERP solutions differ in that they generally provide the financial tools as well, which may include CRM, human resources and payroll. ERP proponents point out that this all-in-one approach avoids the potential difficulties inherent in connecting disparate systems from multiple vendors and can avoid problems by alerting users to situations such as customers having exceeded their credit limits or payment terms before further jobs are accepted, for example.

Close integration of either MIS or ERP systems with W2P allows online customers to benefit from automated pricing, ordering, job scheduling and status visibility, while giving the printer reliable information about work in progress for production control, profitability analysis and cashflow planning.

Microsoft Dynamics ERP Selection: GP, AX, NAV, SL, CRM – Notes for Consultant

Microsoft recently (in September 2005) renamed its ERP product: Great Plains – Microsoft Dynamics GP, Navision – Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Axapta – Microsoft Dynamics AX, Solomon – Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft CRM – Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The idea is probably nice – to unify future concordance product under Microsoft Dynamics name. There are multiple possibilities, however in getting all MRP systems merged into one Microsoft Dynamics and what should be taken as base and what should be phased out. We can not be judges – we will give you some facts for you to take into consideration. This article is planned as a first entry point to look “under the hood” of Microsoft ERP applications and probably compare the facts with the competition: SAP (especially SAP Business One if you are small or mid-size company or international branch of multinational corporation), Oracle E-Business Suite/Oracle Financials, also referred as Oracle Applications.

o Microsoft Dynamics GP 9.0/Microsoft Great Plains. This ERP was initially architectured by Great Plains Software – Great Plains Dynamics and Great eEnterprise hit the market in earlier and middle 1990th. If you remember those old-good-days of IT boom – nobody knew which operating system will win: Unix/Solaris, Microsoft Windows, Apple MAC OS. This is why – the traditional (and pioneering way) for those days was to create a shell, written in C language to abstract you from Graphical platform. Great Plains Dexterity was this shell, programming language (sanscript). The second fundamental idea was to abstract Great Plains Dynamics from database platform, however the abstraction was done on the level of “budget” database platforms: Ctree/Faircomm, and Btrive, later on Pervasive SQL 2000, for Microsoft SQL Server 6.5/7.0/2000 Great Plains used atomic stored procs approach to speed up database access. Nowadays Microsoft Dynamics GP/Great Plains versions 5.5, 6.0, 7.0, 7.5 are available for Ctree and Pervasive, however since version 8.0 Microsoft Great Plains is available on MS SQL Server/MSDE platform only. Currently Microsoft Great Plains 9.0 is offered in USA, Latin America, Canada (including French Canadian version for Quebec), UK, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and other countries where official language is English – such as South East Asia, for instance.

o Microsoft Navision/Navision Attain/Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Some ERP analytics believe that Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions (later renamed into Microsoft Business Solutions) bought Navision Software (est. in 1984). The fundamental ideas of Navision come to its own shell – C/SIDE, database proprietary platform: C/SIDE, etc. Navision was designed to be flexible and grow with your business – from small to upper mid-market. Navision Software had its own marketing plans prior to be purchased by Microsoft and expanded in continental Europe, UK, USA (competing with Great Plains Software and Solomon Software). When Navision was bought by Microsoft – Microsoft Business Solutions offered and promoted Navision in East Europe: Russia, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, etc. Plus it tried Navision in Brazil (over 100 implementations – 2005). Navision is more flexible to localization challenge (than Microsoft Great Plains)

o Microsoft Axapta/Microsoft Dynamics AX – it seems to be rising star for Microsoft and it can compete with upper ERP/MRP mid-market. Axapta has modern design and its ability to expand is still in its architecture modern model (versus Great Plains or Navision – where we see integrations with MS Office, Web Fronts/Business Portal/eConnect/eCommerce type of improvements). In late 2005 we see US and UK MBS VAR activity to sign for Axapta and consultants training.

o Microsoft Dynamics SL/Microsoft Solomon – this ERP is for project-driven organizations.

o Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0/Microsoft CRM 3.0. This CRM solution from Microsoft is abreast of the majority of Microsoft recent ideas and innovations: Microsoft Exchange, Active Directory, XML Web Services driven MS CRM SDK with C# and VB.Net sample code. Currently MS CRM 1.2 and 3.0 has integration to Microsoft Dynamics GP 7.5, 8.0 (with service patch) and 9.0 (coming…)

Please do not hesitate to call or email us: USA 1-866-528-0577, 1-630-961-5918 help@albaspectrum.com

Getting Started With CRM (Customer Relationship Management)

It amazes me how many businesses or midsize company sales or service departments that do not take full advantage of modern CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Either they are using an ancient version with limited capability or they still rely on paper based processes. Some have invested heaps of money in a full ERP solution with supply chain, finance and human resource automation, but have never integrated a front-end sales and marketing solution.

The competition in the marketplace in general and from Microsoft and SalesForce in particular have made entry level CRM possible for all size businesses and departments. With all players focused on cloud based solutions and each offering their own set of integration options, there are many ways to spend very little money to get started, making it possible to invest and build on your solution as results are gained. Gone are the days of a twelve to twenty four month implementation plan before results can be gained.

CRM is intended to be a full life-cycle solution for managing customers from marketing to after sales support. The below is a sample sales solution that can broadly be implemented within five days and cost you less than $10,000. This give you a foundation to build onto. If you select a cloud based solution, you only pay on-going license fees based on usage and have no upfront hardware costs.

The functionality below are some of the areas you can consider implementing for under $10,000. Costs are kept in check by “time-boxing” the solution. The idea is to offer a time based solution that involves the key stakeholders to get a solution going within a week.

Sales Automation:

Account, contact, opportunity and activities
Basic workflow
Customisation of Objects and Fields
Data mapping, transformation, migration and data validation
Notes and Attachments
Lead Management, Routing and Assignments
E-mail templates and tracking
Analytics, reports and dashboards
Product catalogue
End user training

Note there are many areas not included in the above, such as territory management, full life-cycle management, contract management, customer portals, Service dashboards, etc., but the above is more than enough to improve your business and establish a foundation for the future.

The five days roughly include:

Day 1: Initiation and Analysis including a design workshop

Day 2 & 3: Configuration and Review – prototyping a solution based on design workshop for immediate feedback, allowing time for minor changes.

Day 4: Data Migration

Day 5: Training and Wrap-up

We are not promising a perfect solution, but instead a usable software that allows room to maximum staff efficiency in rolling out a foundational improvement to managing your client life-cycle.

Give your local technology partner a ring for more information.

3 Ways Inconsistent Pricing Can Cost You Customers – How To Fix It Using Web Based CRM

There is not a lot of information around on what inconsistent pricing can do to your customer relationships, which is unusual. It makes you look bad, can cost you sales and cripple staff productivity. However there is good news. Recently a small selection of web based CRM providers have introduced software that can make even the most complicated pricing models simple and accessible to sales teams of any size.

Firstly let’s deal with the negative impact of inconsistent pricing. When you start business, pricing is pretty straight forward. Generally you have a single price list covering all your products and services. But what happens when you raise prices on some products? What happens if you open a new office that charges different rates? Or you open an office in a new location with a different pricing scale for that community? What about wholesalers or special clients, do they get different rates? You might even run a time sensitive special discount, how do you manage that?

This is when your pricing gets messy and begin to affect your staff and customers. There are 3 chief problems caused by inconsistent pricing:

1. Time Squandered

Most companies manage their pricing by publishing PDF documents or excel spreadsheets for personnel to refer to. When you have a wide range of products staff may find it difficult to find the price applicable to the customer they are talking to. Or they may not even be able to locate the most up to date pricing document.

This wastes time and staff efficiency. They should be interacting with customers not searching for prices. It can also make your sales team look ignorant and amateur, clients expect them to know the correct prices– it is their job.

2. Overcharging

Assuming that your team don’t have or can’t find the most up to date pricing information they might quote the client a price that is incorrect.

If the customer is given a price that is too high they may decide to go with your competition instead. Costing you a sale. The customer may also engage in ‘salesman shopping’ where they call your company multiple times asking for the price until they find a sales person who will give them a reduced rate. This is simply unprofessional and it makes your organization look sloppy. No-one wants to rely upon a company that can’t even get their own pricing right.

3. Misquoting– Price Too Low

So what happens when your sales team quotes a price that is too low? If you decide to honor the price quoted you could end up running that particular deal at a loss. If you tell the customer that the price you provided was incorrect and provide the correct price then you run the risk of losing the sale. It’s a no win situation.

To avoid these pitfalls it is important to have consistent pricing information that is easily handy to all staff. The easiest way to achieve this is through Web Based CRM software.

Web Based CRM (customer relationship management) systems are hosted by your CRM provider online, meaning your staff can log in anytime, from anywhere all they need is an internet connection.

A few of the newer web based CRM providers have even created software modules designed to streamline complicated pricing models. For example these systems allow you to program different prices based on quantity breaks (if you buy 1 bowl it is $ 7.50 each but if you buy 10 + bowls they are $ 6.00 each). You can also flag customers who get special prices, your staff only need to look up the customers name in the database and they will see the prices that specific customer has been approved to receive. And if you have a time sensitive special price, no worries. You can schedule the start date and end date using your Web based CRM, meaning your staff will only see that price while it is still applicable.

However the biggest benefit is simply having your up to date pricing information all in the same place. So staff can quickly confidently provide quotes to potential customers.