Centricity360 a HubSpot Sales Solutions Partner

Centricity360 is proud to announce a new partnership with Hubspot. We are now a Hubspot Sales Solutions Partner. HubSpot, if your don’t already know has a new CRM. Its a perfect sales tool for small and medium size businesses. The great part is it is FREE to use.

How fortunate we are! A Wealth of Hosted CRM

by Lauren CarlsonCRM Analyst, Software Advice
Jul 12, 2011

Read more:http://www.softwareadvice.com/articles/crm/salesforce-alternatives-5-systems-to-consider-1052011/#ixzz1V6MVTvEc

Optimizing Performance for CRM Online 2011 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Team Blog – Site Home – MSDN Blogs

Internet Connectivity Bandwidth and Latency

Depending on how you configure CRM Online 2011, the application may need to make a number of round trips to the server to retrieve forms and data. This can have a real effect on performance especially when you consider the internet connectivity for a user or location. Even a high bandwidth connection can appear slow if the connection has a high degree of latency. Satellite links are an excellent example of this. A typical broadband Internet connection has latency of less than 100 ms, and 25 ms is desirable. A satellite Internet connection normally suffers from latency above 500 ms. When you have a lot of latency in your connections, you rarely “fill the pipe” with the amount of data it could theoretically handle. We have designed CRM Online to work best on networks with latency under 150 ms. There are a number of simple tools out there to measure bandwidth and latency. A common tool used is the ping command, but pinging the URLs used for CRM Online 2011 will not respond because we have disabled this for security reasons. You may also want to consider Visual Round Trip Analyzer , Fiddler, and httpwatch as alternative tools to measure network latency.

Internet Browser

The latest Internet Explorer 9 is available from Microsoft. With the enhancements to the browser, the performance can be enhanced when using CRM 2011 with this browser. IE 9 is not a requirement to run CRM 2011 however. It is recommended to run the “Fix It” after install, for more details: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/282402

System Customization and Design

1.  Consider your use of Javascript. A few lines of Javascript can greatly enhance the user experience by automatically updating data as a form loads or as data is changed. This can also cause a performance issue if there is a lot of javascript code running on a form. If you are using any jscript on your forms, make sure that code is optimized. It really can affect form load times, for example. There are a few good posts about this at http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jscript/archive/tags/javascript+performance+ie/default.aspx.

Note: To test if Javascript is an issue with performance, we recommend removing all Javascript from a form to test the performance with and without Javascript to determine the extent to which the javascript customization may be affecting things.

2. Consider your use of iFrames. More iFrames on a form will result in slightly longer form load times. If your iFrame is not on the form’s primary tab, use onClick Jscript for the tab on which the iFrame resides. This way the iFrame isn’t loading every time a record is opened, only when a user clicks that tab.

3. Consider the number of Sub-Grids added to the form. Each sub-grids used in a form is querying the CRM Online system in the background for a set of data to load into the grid. While the query executes in the background, each sub-grid control adds more HTML to the page and will take slightly longer to load as a result.  With the recent update sub-grids are now loaded asychronously for better performance, however still keep in mind the more you have can still effect load time.

4. Consider using Role Based forms, CRM 2011 allows personal forms to display fields necessary pertaining to a user’s security role. This will auto hide certain fields that may not be necessary for all users.

5. Consider adjusting security roles to only allow users the functionality they need for specific records. The ribbon will update displaying the allowed functionality for the user for the specific records they are currently viewing. The less options displayed, may allow the ribbon to load faster.

6. Remove extraneous fields. Configure the form to only display fields needed for that record.

7. Check your machine. Be sure that your computer is suitable meeting the system requirements for CRM 2011. Note that the system requirements are minimal requirements needed to run CRM 2011 successfully (CRM 2011 Implementation Guide). However, increasing performance of a user’s machine based on hardware specs can increase performance as well.

Optimizing and Maintaining Microsoft Dynamics CRM White Paper

This link currently is focused on CRM 4.0, but still has relevant content that can help. An updated version will be released soon with two documents one for client and one for server.

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/en/details.aspx?FamilyID=ba826cee-eddf-4d6e-842d-27fd654ed893&displaylang=en

Optimizing Performance in CRM Online Blog

http://blogs.msdn.com/b/dynamicscrmonline/archive/2010/05/24/optimizing-performance-in-crm-online.aspx (this has been directed towards CRM 4.0, however many of the tips are related to the latest release CRM 2011).

CRM Online Update Release 1 Information

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=2466084

Optimizing Performance for CRM Online 2011 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Team Blog – Site Home – MSDN Blogs.

180 Systems Newsletter is a great read…..

To stay on top of what is happening now in the ERP, CRM, BI world, I recommend reading 180 Systems News and Views. Always informative and bleeding edge.

Read it here!

http://www.180systems.com/news/September-02-2010.htm

Richard

Centricity360

Know who your best customers are and reward them accordingly….

I read an article in the Globe and Mail this morning that really rings true for a lot of small business. Do we spend to much time trying to reward new customers and not enough marketing toward rewarding our existing customer base. Let’s not erode brand loyalty by alienating our premier customers and leave them out of our reward or discount programs. Rewarding your best customers in a way that recognizes their valued status is a key strategy that can keep people coming back to your business again and again.

Globe and Mail – Treat each customer the same, or reward the best?

http://ow.ly/1Q99p

Richard

Centricity360

Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Non-Profits…..

I do enjoy working with non-profit organizations, helping them grow and implement new technology. It’s a great way to volunteer and gain experience at the same time. Today, Microsoft announced the availability of Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Non-Profits at a minimal cost for licenses. I think this could really help a lot of Canadian based Non-Profit’s to track not only donors and volunteers but  it also has  customizations for donation and pledge management, basic membership management, basic volunteer tracking, campaign management, dashboard reports, and support for online payment solutions. Very interesting! Read the article here:

News Press Release
Microsoft Announces Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Nonprofits and NGOs

 http://ow.ly/1vQ6Q

Richard

Centricity360

Four Dirty Little Secrets of CRM Requirements Lists

In reading many articles over the weekend I came across an article from Computerworld on “Four Dirty Little Secrets of CRM Requirements Lists”, it really did hit a home run for me. The article really is a pattern interrupt in the common thinking that features and functionality is everything when it comes to evaluating a new CRM solution for your business. The secrets are these:

“Secret 1 – Features are less important than User Adoption…
Secret 2 – Features are less important than Data Credibility…
Secret 3 – Features are less important than Platform…
Secret 4 – Features are less important than Reliability…”

The two secrets that stand out for me are #1 and #2. In my experience with clients who have implemented CRM it’s less about features and functions and  more about “how can my employees use this as an effective tool to make their life easier?” or “how can automating processes with CRM save time?”. When evaluating a CRM solution for your business ask yourself  “what processes can I automate or improve” rather than looking at it in terms of what are all the functions and features that I need. Most of todays CRM have the fuctionality or can be customized to meet your needs. Data credibility is everything, that is why secret #2 is so critical. Without credible data your CRM system implementation will fail. Having a strong data migration plan that puts reliable data into the system so users can get started right away.

referring article Computerworld:

http://bit.ly/72M2qa

Richard Bolton

Centricity360

Microsoft Dynamics CRM goes Social Media

Microsoft is set to release (Soon I hope ;o)) an accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM:

http://www.microsoft.com/Presspass/press/2009/jul09/07-08MSDynamicsCRMAcceleratorsPR.mspx

The solution looks like it could be a valuable tool for those running MSCRM and potential looking to track and measure their social media efforts. Here is a You Tube presentation on the product:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Aj4MAJEAII

Respecting your customer data

As I have mentioned in previous blog entries your customer data can increase the value of your business, don’t under estimate this value add, no matter how big or small your business is.

I recently read yet another blog posting (The Customer World blog worth reading, Treat Data With Respect) that reviewed a research article released by Royal Mail. Within the article it stated “an estimated 90 per cent of companies fail to exploit data they already hold on their customers!”

Here are some of the top findings from that report:

• Only 15 per cent of companies declare their data as an intangible asset on their balance sheets.
• Data is proven to be a fundamental asset. A firm understanding of a customer database can significantly bolster the bottom line and add value to the company itself, potentially adding millions to a sale price.
• Most companies are getting less than half of the potential value from their customer data.

By addressing the data problem, enterprises could potentially increase their value by up to 30 per cent. It is imperative that enterprises look at ways and means to design a customer data strategy road map and extract value from it.

However, for data to be trusted, it must be accurate, timely and reliable.

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An awesome, awesome posting! Let me reiterate one key phrase from this finding “By addressing the data problem, enterprises could potentially increase their value (business value) by up to 30 per cent”.

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Take that to the bank.

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Richard Bolton

C³⁶⁰

Mold CRM to fit your business

I was reading an article today on itbusiness.ca and the initial situational analysis really captures some key business pains that typical Canadian companies have and it sets up a really good case for implementing a CRM application to improve business processes:

“John Brooks Company Ltd. was a mid-sized Canadian supplier with a serious problem: it didn’t really know what its salespeople were up to. To make matters worse, with the technology the company was using, there really wasn’t any way of finding out.

John Brooks, which supplies pumps, spray nozzles, filtration equipment and engineered systems to customers across Canada, tried two customer relationship management (CRM) solutions implementations. They both failed. The company ended up with islands of data across its seven Canadian offices.

Mike Sandor, director of IT for the Toronto company, says the lack of a centralized data store was a major threat to customer intelligence. The company would have situations where a sales rep would leave a territory and his notebook would come back displaying only a command prompt. “Everything’s just gone,” says Sandor. “So the new sales guy would walk in and say, ‘I’m from John Brooks,’ and the guy would just look at him and say, ‘Well, you were just here last month,’ and he’d have to say, ‘Well, I’m starting over.’ It was very embarrassing.”

In addition, every Friday, regional sales managers would get a stack of paper with “spreadsheets and God only knows what else” they had to make sense of, so they could coach and mentor their sales teams. The national quoting system data could not be understood either — a serious problem when you’re dealing with about 20,000 customers. And there was no sales activity management because some salespeople were working with Maximizer, some with Outlook and some with GoldMine.”

Here are some of the business pains that I see in this situation and how a CRM solution can easily solve them:

• “it didn’t really know what its salespeople were up to” and “there really wasn’t any way of finding out”. By implementing a CRM application that is accessible to key personnel throughout your organization it effectively opens communication on all account information. C level managers and sales managers can review accounts online and work with field sales people to close accounts. Open communication leads to great close rates.
• “The company ended up with islands of data across its seven Canadian offices” and “some salespeople were working with Maximizer, some with Outlook and some with GoldMine.” Consolidating the entire company onto one CRM application platform with one centralized database can negate any threat of salespeople leaving with critical information in their possession, prevent embarrassing situation like starting over with existing accounts and improve accessibility to critical customer intelligence. The more customer information to mine in your company database the better you know your customers, the greater chance of selling and up selling even more. “That’s gold. Jerry! Gold!” 
• “regional sales managers would get a stack of paper with “spreadsheets and God only knows what else”. After implementing a CRM application the sales reporting process becomes much easier to maintain for everyone involved. Stacks of paper and spreadsheets get replaced with online visibility into sales funnels, opportunity and account management, forecasting, quotes and contracts etc. A truly more efficient way of doing business resulting in more pure selling time and customer service.

Think CRM!

Richard Bolton

Centricity360

Source:

Itbusiness.ca

Mold CRM to fit your business Ensure workflow for users is eased, not complicated

 by Adam Pletsch