Welcome to big CRM stylin’! Here you will find the latest information regarding Microsoft Dynamics CRM and occasionally other Dynamics solutions.
The focus is on general news and tips for the intrepid CRM Administrator, as well as something for even the newest CRM user.
|
Note: this article was also published within the Avanade Blog community. Check it out!
These are thrilling times for technology. With the launch of Microsoft Windows 8 and the debut of new hardware like the Surface tablet, Microsoft is taking a very calculated leap of faith in the mobility trend. The effect of Windows 8 on the average consumer will be interesting to watch but the real question is the impact of this technology on the business world. More specifically, I’m excited to see how Windows 8 will enable new mobile CRM options and impact how businesses manage customer relationships with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
In my last post, I’ve outlined a clear case for the mobile CRM trend in the enterprise. It would make quite an impression to customers if your salesperson schedules an appointment, creates an order, and automatically e-mails an invoice on the spot – all on their tablet PC. This sample scenario highlights two of the most evident advantages to mobile CRM: improving productivity for on-the-go users and enhancing customer relationships.
So, as we look ahead regarding Windows 8 and Dynamics CRM, what do we know now, and what can we expect to come?
Choose Your OS: Windows 8 RT vs. Pro
Before contemplating the future of Dynamics CRM, it pays to review the hardware and OS options at hand. Organizations must first decide which of the existing two versions of Windows 8 to focus on: the tablet-oriented RT version and the full true version of the OS –Windows 8 Pro. The essential difference between the two boils down to one question: will your organization ever need to run legacy Windows applications?
New hardware releases like the Microsoft Surface RT permit a lower cost mobile hardware solution for your organization, but can’t run legacy applications designed for Windows 7 or older versions. In contrast, the soon to be released Windows Surface Pro and other similar PC’s running the Pro version are true laptop replacements. Although a costlier option, it can provide tablet mobility and legacy app support without the cost of remaking your current business application environment. Both have their pros and cons, and a review of your organization’s existing architecture should be considered before any Windows 8 implementation is begun.
Dynamics CRM Refresh: Now More Mobile Friendly
For years, Dynamics CRM 2011 has made positive waves across the business world, but Microsoft decided a “refresh” is in order to align the software with the recent release of Windows 8 and Office 2013. So far, Dynamics CRM insiders are aware of two future releases in the pipeline.
The first and upcoming December 2012 Service Update for Dynamics CRM 2011 is no slouch. Highlights include cross-browser support, touch optimized interface, a new “Flow” user experience to enhance workflows, native integration with social and communication apps like Skype and Yammer, a refreshed Office 2003 design user experience, and an enhanced API for developers. These forthcoming features are exciting to contemplate and they immediately prepare your Dynamics CRM deployment for the mobile future.
The next release, code name ‘Orion,’ is the second known future release of Dynamics CRM. Not many details are currently available, but what we do know is that it is the next major release version for Dynamics CRM and is planned for the second half of 2013. We can predict that Orion will be similar in style to the December update but powered by its own unique code base, along with expanded customization and development tools for a better mobile experience.
Better together: Mobility, Windows 8 and Dynamics CRM
In the past, Dynamics CRM offered a mobile solution but with a limited deployment and utility. Its best experience resided primarily on the desktop. With Windows 8, the future is a new open frontier for mobile CRM applications. Immediately available in the Windows Store are powerful Windows 8 apps like Power8CRM, Resco Mobile CRM and Dynamics CRM KPI, which leverage all the latest features in Windows 8 to deliver compelling mobile CRM solutions. More are sure to be available very soon in 2013.
Ultimately, the best experience for your mobile users lies in application solution tailored the way you do business. With the latest in mobile PC hardware, CRM ecosystem and infrastructure, the keys to a successful mobile CRM implementation are in place. Microsoft Windows 8 and Dynamics CRM are now poised to bring all this technology together into an ideal solution to meet your mobile requirements and support your mobile users.
 I jumped like this guy, but I strained something bad. To the Dynamics CRM community,
My apologies for not being as faithful to this blog as of late; there have been big changes! After five awesome years at Emerging Solutions, I’ve decided to move on and sign up with Avanade. I’m leaving not just talented colleagues at Emerging Solutions, but great friends as well. Due to our combined efforts, the Microsoft practice and especially the Dynamics CRM team has grown tremendously in recent years, and I wish them continued success!
Onwards to the future. After several weeks at Avanade, they continue to impress. I really could not ask for more regarding the resources they provide in my role as a Consultant. They’ve invested in the CRM team by having me attend a CRM Boot Camp with @coloradojules and @davidyack, showing their solid commitment to their employees. Additionally, their international presence demands a new level of consulting, and I hope to quickly get up to speed and make waves. Undoubtedly, my goal is to be the best while learning from the best. Many thanks to the Avanade team for making me feel welcome!
Finally, as many of you already know, the Dynamics CRM Team has been feverishly busy making CRM 2011 even more awesome. Check out my news roundup below for the latest.
- The Dynamics CRM 2011 Roadmap announced that Service Update R8 is coming soon with big changes this end of Q2. Download the Release Preview Guide here! A quick summary below.
- Mobility: a new cloud subscription service called Dynamics CRM Mobile will provide rich native apps to several mobile devices. CRM, anywhere.
- Browser Flexibility: this is a big one. Dynamics CRM will soon run on any modern browser (IE, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari) on various platforms. Non-Windows users should be pleased (you know who they are).
- Social: updates to the popular Activity Feeds will be added, with features such as a Like button and filtered views.
- Industry Templates: new verticals like Life Annuity Insurance, Non-Profit, Health Plan Sales, and Wealth Management continue to address customer needs.
- SQL Server 2012: the latest version of SQL also is supported for CRM 2011, with significant performance boosts.
- Certifications: Microsoft data centers and extension Dynamics CRM Online achieved compliance on important certifications regarding cloud computing standards.
- Dynamics CRM 2011 Update Rollup 6 significantly improves performance and should be a must-install. Note: once installed, you can’t roll it back.
- The R9 update to Dynamics CRM is coming soon, and brings social analytics and data-enrichment components.
 In your quest for CRM customization glory, there are times when you need the perfect icon graphic for your brand new custom entity. The normal procedure for custom entity icons is time consuming, and requires some graphic editing skill.
- Browse open source icon galleries online for the appropriate icon (preferably in PNG or GIF format)
- Edit the icon in an image editor to resize it in 3 separate files:
- For image editing I recommend the free Paint .NET software
- Small: 16 x 16 pixels
- Medium: 32 x 32 pixels
- Large: 66 x 48 pixels
- Upload the 3 files to a new or existing solution in CRM 2011 as a web resource
- Open the custom entity in the Settings > Customizations section (or solution)
- Click on the “Update Icons” button
- Apply your icon web resources to the custom entity
- Publish your customizations
- Clear your browser cache and refresh CRM to see the new icons
I’ve been there and felt your pain. Rather than using precious consulting time on image editing, I decided to group 22 of my custom open sourced icons in a solution file and share it with you. Feel free to download it below!
Please note this is an managed solution file, meaning that you can’t modify it. If you want to add your own custom icons, I suggest you create a new unmanaged solution.
The included icons are in PNG format, and were procured from free and open source websites. I included a variety that will hopefully address different industries and needs.
With this solution file, the new procedure is easier!
- Upload the managed solution file to CRM 2011
- Open the custom entity in the Settings > Customizations section (or solution)
- Click on the “Update Icons” button
- Select and apply your icon web resources to the custom entity
- Publish your customizations
- Clear your browser cache and refresh CRM to see the new icons
I hope this free custom icons solution proves valuable to you in the future. Be sure to drop a comment if you have some feedback.
The Build list has been updated up to Update Rollup 13. 
As many Dynamics CRM 4.0 aficionados know, Microsoft releases regular updates to iron out documented issues. CRM 2011 is no exception, as several Update Rollups have already been released since RTM.
Note that the On-Premise build numbers I list below may be different than what you will find in CRM 2011 Online. Microsoft continuously adds new updates behind the scenes, thus the likelihood of having a greater build number in comparison to the latest Update Rollup version.
To determine your current build number from the IE web client, simply:
- Browse to your CRM 2011 website
- Click on the File tab
- Navigate to Help
- Click on “About Microsoft Dynamics CRM”
To determine your current build number from the Outlook CRM client:
- Open Outlook with the CRM Client installed
- Click on the File tab
- Click on the CRM side tab
- Click on the “About Microsoft Dynamics CRM” button
A window will pop up with your build number listed. If you used Outlook, you will see the build numbers for both the Server and Outlook CRM Client (sample screenshot below).
See below for a chart of the Dynamics CRM 2011 build versions. I’ll try to keep it current, so be sure to bookmark and check back later!
| Version |
Release Date |
Build Number |
KB Article |
| Release Candidate |
|
5.0.9688.53 |
2461082 |
| Beta (On Premise) |
|
5.0.9585.106 |
|
| Beta (Online) |
|
5.0.9585.107 |
|
| RTM |
February 16, 2011 |
5.0.9688.583 |
Download RTM |
| Update Rollup 1 |
April 7, 2011 |
5.0.9688.1045 |
2466084 |
| Update Rollup 2 |
June 2, 2011 |
5.0.9688.1155 |
2466086 |
| Update Rollup 3 |
July 28, 2011 |
5.0.9688.1244 |
2547347 |
| Update Rollup 4 |
September 22, 2011 |
5.0.9688.1450 |
2556167 |
| Update Rollup 5 |
October 25, 2011 |
5.0.9688.1533 |
2567454 |
| Update Rollup 6 |
January 20, 2012 |
5.0.9690.1992 |
2600640 |
| Update Rollup 7 |
March 22, 2012 |
5.0.9690.2165 |
2600643 |
| Update Rollup 8 |
May 3, 2012 |
5.0.9690.2243 |
2600644 |
| Update Rollup 9 |
Not released because of delay in the Q2 Service Update |
|
|
| Update Rollup 10 |
August 16, 2012 |
5.0. 9690.2730 |
2710577 |
| Update Rollup 11 |
October 11, 2012 |
5.0.9690.2835 |
2739504 |
| Update Rollup 12 |
Jan 7, 2013 |
5.0. 9690.3236 |
2795627 |
| Update Rollup 13 |
March 26, 2013 |
5.00.9690.3448 |
2791312 |
 For all those following the latest news in the CRM market, it’s evident that Microsoft’s recently announced future milestones are truly noteworthy.
In the latest Statement of Direction (May 2011) announcement, Microsoft has laid out plans to accelerate the development cycle of Dynamics CRM as well as hints to future significant features, probably most notably multi-browser and cross-platform support.
Accelerated development cycle
Since its inception in 2003, Microsoft CRM has evolved over five versions into Dynamics CRM 2011, the enterprise-class application and framework it is today. Over the course of its history the Microsoft CRM development team traditionally released each version in 2-3 year cycles. Each new major version required customers to plan each major upgrade extensively, at times with a sizable investment.
Per the new announcement, Microsoft has committed to shorter development cycles which will bring new enhancements and features to all Online and On-Premise customers. This will allow users to enjoy the latest innovations as they are developed, as well as providing minimal impact to existing deployments.
The newly announced development cycle includes:
- Updates: similar to the current Update Rollups, these are enhancements that will be delivered to the Dynamics CRM platform semi-annually at Spring (Q2) and Fall (Q4) of each year. Updates will not require significant implementation planning like Upgrades. They will also deliver compatibility for future Server, SQL, .NET and Office versions.
- Upgrades: these are new future versions of Dynamics CRM that will provide the next level of milestone features to the platform. These releases will likely require more implementation planning from customers than the Updates. The next scheduled major release is for Spring (Q2) of 2012.
The Evolution of Social Media and Collaboration
The focus of Customer Relationship Management applications should be relationships, and the recent announcement for Dynamics CRM reiterates that emphasis. Mentioned in the announcement is additional feature support for social media and collaboration tools.
Per the statement of direction, there will be new support for:
- Micro-blogging: encompassing important status updates and notifications regarding business events and actions.
- Business activity feeds: delivering configurable real-time notifications regarding important relationships and significant business events.
- Social intelligence: identification of data patterns and streams to enhance customer service and marketing decision-making.
The Perks of going Microsoft
If your organization is a “Microsoft shop”, there are clear advantages to deploying Dynamics CRM and investing in the other Microsoft technologies besides Office.
While it’s not really new news, Microsoft reiterated its commitment to extend capabilities across Microsoft products. Its most recent example is the easy-to-deploy integration between Dynamics CRM 2011 and SharePoint 2010. Other points of native integration for Dynamics CRM already include Microsoft Lync and Microsoft Office, as well as the ability to synchronize with back-office applications such as Dynamics GP. Deploying these investments will provide a new user experience as well as have clear business value.
Not mentioned in the statement is the recent sizable investment in Skype. There’s a good bet that Microsoft has a plan for Skype integration in future updates to Dynamics CRM. At this point in time, we can speculate that it could provide an enhanced call center solution.
Dynamics CRM anywhere, anytime, on any device
One of the early pain points that I’ve discovered in my experience with Dynamics CRM is its inability to function seamlessly with other browsers beyond Internet Explorer, and by extension other operating systems such as Mac and Linux. There are new and persistent expectations with cutting-edge devices such as mobile smartphones and tablets. While there may be competitive and technology reasons for this historical reliance on Internet Explorer, this limitation is unacceptable for some key users. Workarounds like the compatible MSCRM Mobile Express solution and mobile apps help, but in the end cannot provide the full user experience native to the IE Web and Outlook Client.
To my great delight, Microsoft announced multi-browser and cross-platform support for the next future release of Dynamics CRM. Per the statement:
- CRM anywhere: deliver immersive user experiences that match users’ particular context or work “mode” – whether that is on the road or in the office. This facilitates a new agility and productivity in how users respond to different situational requirements.
- Cross-device: provide device-specific application experiences that are natural and intuitive across a range of platforms and form-factors.
- Multi-browser: provide targeted user experiences that work on different web browsers by utilizing HTML5 for structuring and presenting content.
Microsoft naming HTML5 as the vehicle for multi-browser support is noteworthy. Could this be the new future trend, versus platform-centric apps?
The New York Times article “In a New Web World, No Application Is an Island” addresses this very topic, and is a highly recommended read. Per the Times article:
Engineers say the technology will make it possible to write Web applications, accessed with a browser, that are as visually rich and lively as the so-called native applications that are now designed to run on a specific device, like an iPad or an Android-based tablet.
HTML5 has shown to be quite promising. Dynamics CRM is positioning itself to be at the forefront of this new web application technology.
Conclusion
There are clear advantages to combining other Microsoft business technologies with Dynamics CRM, and will only be easier to integrate in the future. Key pain points in the past (such as multi-browser support) will be addressed, and new social collaboration tools to enhance Dynamics CRM are promised and will be soon forthcoming.
These key initiatives will continue to keep Microsoft Dynamics CRM an innovative and competitive leader in the enterprise CRM market.
Page 1 of 1912345...10...»Last »
|
About Me Christian Espinoza is a Microsoft Dynamics Consultant with Avanade in the great city of Chicago, Illinois.
More profile info can be found in the About Me page.
|
Recent Comments