Customer Effective Blog

Big News in Dynamics CRM Q2 2012 Update: Mobile iOS and Android Versions, Cross-browser Support, Social Upgrades

Microsoft announced today that the next service upgrade (due between April and May of this year) will include a number of big enhancements. At the heart of these updates is the concept of ‘CRM Anywhere’, which means you should be able to access Microsoft CRM from your favorite hardware – not just Windows-based form factors. The Release Preview Guide is here and below are some of the highlights.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile

The next release will include a cloud based mobile CRM service called Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile. This will be a hosted (subscription based) mobile solution that is based on CWR Mobility (it actually is CWR Mobility, but it will be available directly from Microsoft as a Marketplace offering). The mobile clients and service will start at $30 per user, per month and supports the use of up to three devices per user. This is considerably less than $65 for the comparable offering from Salesforce. The supported devices are listed below:

For those that want – or need to – run the mobile offering on-premise on their own servers, they will continue to purchase CWR Mobile CRM directly from a CWR partner under a perpetual license model. The mobile client and UI are identical to between the hosed and on-premises solutions.

 

Browser Flexibility

In addition to mobile flexibility, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Q2 2012 service update provides the ability for end users to access the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Web Client across all modern Internet browsers on various platforms. This includes browsers such as Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari running on PC, Apple Macintosh or iPad. This is a huge advancement, as the last few years have seen more enterprises becoming client platform agnostic.

 

Enhanced Social Experiences

This updates adds even more social capabilities to the very popular micro-blogging Activity Feeds feature that was introduced last fall. Activity Feeds feature updates in this release:

• Ability to “Like” and “Unlike” Activity Feed posts.
• Improved filtering capabilities, including the ability to filter @names in a timeline.
• Improved following capabilities. You will now be able to filter based on CRM views; meaning even if you don’t follow a particular opportunity or account, if an activity is triggered that would make it visible in your personalized CRM view, then it will appear on your activity wall.
• Update to the Windows 7.5 Activity Feeds Mobile app.

Customer Effective and AssureSign to present Webinar on February 15 at 2:00pm Eastern

Customer Effective and AssureSign Present: Increase Efficiency. Decrease Cost. With AssureSign for Microsoft Dynamics CRM

We are excited to announce a FREE webinar on February 15, 2012 at 2:00pm Eastern Time

The webinar will cover topics including:

• How companies have integrated AssureSign Electronic Signature Technology into Microsoft Dynamics CRM 
• How to merge your documents with Microsoft Dynamics CRM data fields and send them out to one or many recipients for signature using a single interface. 
• How to track the progress of documents out for signature, send executed copies to all required recipients, and bring completed documents back into Microsoft Dynamics CRM. 
• How to streamline your business processes by integrating electronic signatures, keeping all documents electronic, and eliminating overnight charges or delays associated with faxing

 

Visit the Events Page on our website to Register for this great Webinar

Customer Effective Announces Microsoft CRM for Health Plans Webinar Series

Customer Effective is excited to announce a Winter Webinar Series for Health Plan Providers. You will see how other Health Plan Organizations are using Microsoft Dynamics CRM to better manage their business. We will show you that CRM is not just a Sales Force Automation tool. Join us for our webinar series and learn how our team can help you leverage Microsoft CRM 2011 in your organization.

Sales & Marketing (Group and Individual) - February 2, 2012
Time: 2:00pm to 3:00pm EDT
This webinar will touch on topics including:
> Managing Quote Activity
> Outbound Marketing Campaigns
> New/Renewal Opportunity Management
> Agency Performance Management
> Reporting and Dashboards

Operations (Group Plan Administration) - February 23, 3012
Time: 2:00pm to 3:00pm EDT
In this webinar, the following topics will be covered:
> Policy Holder 360 Degree View
> Group 360 Degree View
> Underwriting
> Reporting and Dashboards

Call Center (Sales and Customer Service) - March 13, 2012
Time: 2:00pm to 3:00pm EDT
The highlights of this webinar will include:
> Group and Individual Agent Case Management
> Telephony Integration with CRM
> Knowledge Base
> Reporting and Dashboards

Please visit our website for more information on how to register for this educational webinar series!

Don't Miss the 2011 Customer Effective CRM Customer Conference in October

Mark your calendars! The fourth annual Customer Effective CRM Customer Conference is coming up in October. We will be hosting the conference at the Westin Poinsett Hotel in beautiful, Downtown Greenville, South Carolina on October 19 - 21. 

This year's conference will highlight Industry Roundtables for Insurance, Capital Markets & Banking, and Manufacturing on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday will be a day full of sessions on a wide range of topics surrounding Microsoft Dynamics CRM, a keynote  by Mary-Jo Foley of ZDNet, and a customer presentation. On Friday we will wrap up the conference with another customer presentation and a customer panel discussion. 

Visit our website to learn more about the breakout sessions we will be offering this year and to fill out your registration form. As always, registration is FREE. 

 Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

We hope to see you in Greenville in October!

Greenville, SC ranks as Top City

Customer Effective is proud to call Greenville, South Carolina home and it turns out, we aren't the only ones who think it's a great place to live, work and play. Greenville made its mark on several rankings lists this year. 

Greenville was ranked number one on fDi Intelligence's first ever list of the top 10 micro cities of the future. The assessment of the cities evaluated categories including Economic Potential, Cost Effectiveness, Human Resources, Quality of Life, Infrastructure, and Business Friendliness. fDi Intelligence is a specialist division of the Financial Times. Read the article in GSATC here. 

Greenville was also ranked 13th on Forbes "America's Best Cities for Young Professionals" list. This list was created after analyzing 100 of the largest U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, on seven factors: local unemployment rates and 2010-2012 job growth projections, number of small and large businesses, the median salaries for 24-34 year old employed college grads, Moody's cost of living index, and the percentage of the population ages 25 and older with college degrees. Read the Forbes article here! 

GSA Business also reported on the Men's Journal article "Grow the Right Way. Greenville, S.C." whic honors Greenville as one of the 18 cities on the magazine's Best Places to Live 2011 guide. You can read more about this honor here.

Customer Effective Honored as 2011 East Region Partner of the Year

Customer Effective is excited to announce that they were selected as the 2011 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year for the East Region. This marks the second consecutive year Customer Effective has received this award which is based on a number of criteria including delivery of innovative market‐leading customer solutions built on Microsoft technologies and achievement of high levels of customer satisfaction.

Customer Effective President, Scott Millwood says, “We’re really excited to receive this recognition from Microsoft’s East Region in back‐to‐back years.We keep helping our customers achieve success with Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft continues to recognize our high level of execution and
performance. That is the essence of a great partnership. As good as last year was, this year is looking
even brighter. We look forward to our continued partnership with Microsoft and working with our
clients to drive productivity.”

The award was presented at Microsoft’s World Wide Partner Conference held in Los Angeles,
California in mid‐July.

Visit our website to read the full press release.

Customer Effective Announces Insurance Industry Success and participation in ACORD LOMA

Customer Effective is excited to announce their continued success in the Insurance Industry and their participation with Microsoft at the 2011 ACORD LOMA Insurance Systems Forum taking place in San Diego, CA on May 22 -24.

The team at Customer Effective continues to build on their success in the Insurance Industry through recent project wins at Munich American Reassurance, Glatfelter Insurance Group and Prime Holdings Insurance.

“At Customer Effective, we understand the unique challenges that the Insurance Industry faces,” says Tap Haley, Director of Insurance Solutions for Customer Effective. “That is why we have developed a Dynamics CRM solution tailored specifically to the Insurance industry. Since we are not starting an implementation with a blank slate, we are able to help organizations achieve a return on their investment more quickly by applying our insurance-specific solutions. The common theme across almost every insurance organization we have helped is the inability of end users to leverage critical data in a meaningful way because it resides in a variety of systems such as claims, underwriting, policy management, commissions and others. Our Dynamics CRM based solution helps bring these data sources together and in the familiar user interface of Microsoft Outlook.”

 

Please read the entire Press Release on our website

Customer Effective Announces CSX Transportation's Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customer Excellence Award

Customer Effective is excited to announce that CSX Transportation was acknowledged by Microsoft for their successfull CRM implementation with the 2011 Customer Excellence Award for Excellence in Building Customer Relationships.

There were a total of nineteen awards and sixty-one finalists this year so the team at Customer Effective is extremely proud that CSX was recognized with this honor. 

“We’re thrilled that CSX is receiving this level of recognition from Microsoft for using Dynamics CRM to enhance their customer relationships and drive significant improvements in productivity,” says Michael Elliott, Chief Operating Officer of Customer Effective. “It is gratifying for our team to be a part of a project that helps so many people in diverse roles interact more effectively with their customers.”

CSX Transportation's CRM project goes to show that Dynamics CRM is a crucial to creating a comprehensive view of your customers.

“Microsoft’s CRM software is critical to supporting CSX’s effort to provide a 360 degree view of our customer. We are using it to store data from other systems, to enable field operations to put in their local knowledge of the customer, and to empower our sales force to have all of the customer information known corporately to enhance customer satisfaction” said John Couch, Director of Marketing at CSX.

You can read the entire press release and learn more about this award by clicking here

Customer Effective Announces Financial Services Industry Badge and Product Certification by AMR Research and Microsoft

Customer Effective Inc., a 2010 Microsoft Inner Circle and East Region Dynamics Partner of the Year award winner focused on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, is announcing two key accomplishments in the financial services market: Industry Certification for Financial Services from AMR Research and the “Certified for Microsoft Dynamics” designation for its Capital Effective financial services solution.

Financial Services Industry Certification by AMR Research requires a thorough review of Customer Effective’s industry experience, personnel and customer references by AMR Research analysts. “Certified for Microsoft Dynamics” for Capital Effective requires rigorous testing from an independent source, proof of adoption in production customer sites and recommendation from customers. Capital Effective is a Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution built by Customer Effective to address the sophisticated requirements of financial services firms in insurance, capital markets and banking.  

“Achieving certification for Capital Effective and attaining our Industry Badge in Financial Services demonstrates our continued investment in delivering high quality, industry specific solutions for our customers,” says CEO, Scott Millwood. “These advanced certifications insure our financial services customers that we deeply understand their business processes and requirements and are uniquely capable of helping them achieve success with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.”

“From the moment we met the folks at Customer Effective we knew that they understood our business model and spoke our language. They came to the project with experts from our industry and pre-built templates to help us get the most from Microsoft Dynamics CRM, says Eric Souza, Director of Information Technology for Berkshire Partners, LLC, “The Customer Effective team has the right level of industry knowledge, technical skills and project leadership to help Berkshire achieve success. It’s great to see AMR and Microsoft recognize their commitment to the financial services space.”

Anticipating the Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace

At the Worldwide Partner Conference in July, Microsoft announced the Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace.  When completed, this service will allow developers of all Dynamics platforms to showcase their applications to users.  First at bat from the Dynamics roster of products is the CRM Marketplace, which will allow partners, like Customer Effective, to share their specialized vertical CRM solutions.  The Marketplace will allow users to download apps directly  from CRM 2011, as well as directly connect with  partners.  Users will be able to search for applications by Business Need (Marketing, HR, Finance), Industry Focus (Financial Services, Manufacturing) and geography.  Users will also be able to evaluate and rate the solutions on the Marketplace.

The Marketplace is set to launch this month (September).

In an interview with Channel9, Microsoft's's Dan Bien says:

Initially, it will be a search able repository of download-able custom solutions and extensions to help accelerate and/or extend the value of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and on-premises deployments. Publishers of solutions can get also more detailed web analytical information about their listings. In the future, Marketplace will provide e-commerce and offer financial transaction capabilities for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and on-premise, as well as Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions.

The Marketplaceis set to launch this month (September).  Check back to CE Blog for frequent updates.

 

 

 

 

 

Customer Effective Top Finalist for the 2010 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year

Greenville, SC - - June 23, 2010 - - Customer Effective Inc., a Microsoft Inner Circle and Gold Certified Partner focused on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, announces their selection as a finalist for the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year award. This award recognizes Customer Effective for delivering consistent, high-quality, predictable Microsoft Dynamics CRM services which help ensure significant business benefits for customers. Customer Effective has also demonstrated strong business leadership and success with new customer additions and revenue growth.

“This is a killer award and we’re thrilled to be a finalist,” said Scott Millwood, President of Customer Effective. “We’ve knocked out some great work this year. Our leadership in helping our clients achieve success on the CRM platform and extending CRM into collaborative web portals really caught fire in 2010. Our team loves to see all of that hard work and dedication being recognized at this high level. Now we’re ready to pour on the gas in the upcoming year!”

Awards will be presented in a number of categories, with winners and finalists chosen from a pool of almost 3,000 entrants worldwide. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year Award honors partners who have exhibited excellence in providing innovative and unique solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

“Congratulations to the 2010 Partner Award finalists for delivering such creative and superior Microsoft solutions and services,” said Allison Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group, Microsoft Corp. “It’s incredible to see the level of expertise our partners continue to exhibit as they create and deliver innovative solutions and services to grow their businesses, meet customer needs, and drive down costs.”

About Customer Effective

Customer Effective, with headquarters in Greenville, S.C., is a leading innovator in customer interaction solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics Customer Relationship Management (CRM).  The company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, CRM Consultant and Solution Implementer having completed hundreds of Microsoft CRM implementations and development projects.  Recent CRM and Microsoft awards include recognition as the 2009 Microsoft Dynamics Financial Services Partner of the Year, being named to the 2009 Microsoft Dynamics President’s Club, recipient of the 2008 and 2009 Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle distinction, and member of the 2008 Inc. 500 list. For more information, visit www.CustomerEffective.com.

Convergence Recap

Want to know what’s new with Dynamics CRM, but didn’t get a chance to attend Convergence 2010? 

Customer Effective’s Scott Sewell will be presenting a recap of Convergence 2010 on Tuesday, May 4th at 9:00 AM PST for the XRM Virtual User Group.  You can register for this session or join the XRM Virtual User Group here.

If you are not a member of the XRM Virtual User Group you should be.  Whether you are new to extending Microsoft CRM or an old pro, they have both beginner and advanced sessions, and you can’t beat the price—it’s free.

Live from Convergence 2010

We’re down in Atlanta for Convergence 2010, Microsoft’s annual get-together for Microsoft Dynamics partners and customers.  Since it was in our back yard in Atlanta this year, we saw a very good representation of CEI’s customers at the conference.  If you weren’t here, you missed out on a fantastic Customer Effective customer dinner at McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant.  I would definitely recommend coming next year for the food alone.

There have been a high level of announcements and buzz around Microsoft and the cloud, showing that Microsoft is taking cloud computing very seriously—for example, expanding Dynamics CRM Online to 32 new markets.

The keynotes and the big announcements are great, but my favorite part about Convergence is getting to meet the people.  I got to catch up with the CRM product team.  They are a great bunch of people—all short on sleep from long hours working on the upcoming release of CRM 5, but they always take the time to answer questions, and they really value feedback on what they are doing.  Speaking of which, if you are not registered at Microsoft Connect, you should be—that’s where you can send product feedback and suggestions to the CRM team.  There still is time to send feedback/request changes for CRM version 5, but time is running out.  I’m really getting excited about CRM 5—we’ll tell you more about that later. It was also great to run into some of my CRM MVP buddies, people like Larry Lentz, Julie Yack, Mitch Millam and others.  These guys are always there to help in the CRM Community, and great people to know.  I got to hang out with CRM MVP Scott Sewell—we both work for Customer Effective, but since he’s in NYC and I’m in SC, I have to come to Convergence to see him.

I was able to spend some time working at the Microsoft Dynamics CRM booth on the expo floor, and got to meet a lot of CRM users.  I also got a lot of questions from users of other Dynamics platforms, such as AX, GP, and NAV who were considering adding Dynamics CRM.  The booth had workstations set up with CRM and some of the new accelerators, so it was a great place for users and prospective users to take a hands on test drive.

I continue to be amazed at the impact that Twitter has had on conferences like Convergence.  There is no way that anyone could attend every session that they wanted to, but I just followed the hashtag #CONV10, and I was able to see a lot of what was happening in the sessions that I couldn’t attend.  Scott Sewell had one of the best feeds going,, and if you want to know what happened at Convergence from a CRM perspective, read his feed (and follow him).

del.icio.us Tags: #CONV10,Convergence,Microsoft Convergence,Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Using Microsoft Dynamics CRM internally - "Eating the dog food"

At Customer Effective, we like to use the term “eating the dog food” almost daily to describe our attitude towards running our entire business inside the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application/ platform.  We truly have an xRM implementation in place and having used it for over 5 years, you can imagine we have developed a lot of additional functionality, enhancements, extensions, etc.  Quite often we demo our internal use of CRM to prospects and existing customers.  We have built a very robust Professional Services Automation module inside CRM to manage our projects.  We leverage the service module to manage cases, develop workflows based on case type, etc.  We use the Marketing module and take advantage of valuable third party integration with ExactTarget and Hoover’s.  We run our business based on metrics displayed in our CRM Dashboards. You probably get the point, we live, breath, eat, sleep, and dream about Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  And every once and awhile we get to share our experience as we recently did with one of our marketing partners, PointClear, via our case study on the DemandGen Report website – Customer Effective Pumps Up the Pipeline

2010 Microsoft Dynamics CRM / xRM Education Day schedule has been posted

The Customer Effective 2010 CRM / xRM Education Day schedule has been posted.  The first two cities - Charlotte, NC and Washington, DC.  This allows us to continue the success we had in 2009 with our Education Days in various cities.

Additional dates will post soon for Atlanta, Philadelphia, NYC, etc.  If you are interested in learning more about those geograhies or would like to request a new location, please contact us at marketing@customereffective.com

Registration for the first two locations is active! We look forward to seeing you.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM / xRM Education Day - January 20th, 2010 - Charlotte

Microsoft Dynamics CRM / xRM Education Day - Feb 3rd, 2010 - Washington, DC

Windows in Financial Services Article - Customer Effective – Elevating Microsoft CRM to Maximize Performance Through Continued Innovation

Viewpoints: An Inside Look at Innovative Business Models

Jerry Seinfeld’s punch line in one of his routines is “who are these people?” That is a question that every organization deploying CRM software should ask as well. But they need to know more than the who. With a plethora of data and the need to access, parse and process it, the opportunity to retain a customer and make a sale is more important than ever, especially in a withering economy and more importantly in the field of financial services.

Scott Millwood, CEO, Customer Effective, www.customereffective.com, shares some thoughts, best practices and hands-on knowledge as a practitioner of CRM and the innovation it needs to address, embrace and deploy.

Read the rest of the article here -

http://www.windowsfs.com/uncategorized/customer-effective-%E2%80%93-elevating-microsoft-crm-to-maximize-performance-through-continued-innovation

Customer Effective 2009 Microsoft Dynamics CRM User Conference Video

This video provides an overview of our 2009 User Conference held in Greenville, SC from October 28th thru October 30th, 2009

http://www.customereffective.com/2009%20User%20Conf%20Video

Customer Effective’s Microsoft Dynamics CRM Expertise Delivers Business Expansion Opportunities for CAPTRUST

Greenville, SC - - November 12, 2009 - - Customer Effective Inc., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and value-added reseller of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, recently completed a customized Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation for CAPTRUST - an investment advisory and retirement plan consulting firm. Preferring a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, CAPTRUST chose Customer Effective for their Microsoft Dynamics CRM expertise. Customer Effective’s technical and development services were leveraged to implement CRM using the solution’s xRM platform to help build more than 20 business applications on a single platform for CAPTRUST. These business applications give CAPTRUST more efficient processes, help recruit financial advisors, and provide differentiated services to clients. The xRM platform was especially attractive because of its technical flexibility allowing CAPTRUST to maintain tight control over sensitive business data.

As part of the project with Customer Effective, CAPTRUST created an online fiduciary management tool for retirement plan sponsors – the first of its kind in the industry. The company was also able to build a portal for financial advisors twice as fast than with any other development strategy.

“We sought out a technology solution that would make our processes more efficient and consistent across all client touch points and let us make rapid changes,” says Garrett Klas, Application Development Manager at CAPTRUST. “With xRM and the expertise offered by Customer Effective, we are able to better support the expansion of our business with unique advisory tools that we can get to market quickly.”

Live from the Customer Effective 2009 User Conference

Great session with users from different industries discussing their experiences implementing Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

2009 Customer Effective CRM User Conference - Oct 28-30 - Greenville, SC

Customer Effective is proud to welcome customers, partners, and prospects  to our corporate headquarters and the historic Westin Poinsett in Greenville, SC for our 2009 Microsoft Dynamics CRM User Conference.

Sponsor Partners - Microsoft, Scribe, ExactTarget, Hoovers

 

Topics

CRM Development, XRM Solutions, CRM Portals, CRM Workflow, CRM Marketing, CRM Service

Customer Panel and Presentations - Real World CRM Success Stories

CRM Statement of Direction / Version 5 Roadmap (Microsoft)

 

Agenda Overview

Wednesday, October 28th

6pm to 8pm - Registration and Welcome Reception 

Thursday, October 29th 

7:30am - 8:30am - Breakfast

8:30am - 9:30am - Keynote Address 

9:45am - 10:45am - General Sessions
11:00am - 12:30pm - Breakout Sessions  

12:30pm -1:30pm - Lunch 

1:30pm - 2:45pm - Breakout Sessions  

3:00pm - 4:15pm - Breakout Sessions 
6:30pm to 9:30pm - Customer Appreciation Dinner

Friday, October 30th
8:00am - 8:30am - Breakfast

8:30am - 9:45am - General Session 

10:00am - 11:15am - General Session

11:15am - 12:00pm - Closing Remarks

1:00pm - 4:00pm - CRM Overtime

 

                                    REGISTER NOW

 

Customer Effective Earns Exclusive Appointment to the Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and President’s Club

Microsoft Honors Customer Effective for Outstanding Customer Commitment and Sales Accomplishments

 

Greenville, SC - - August 12, 2009 - - Customer Effective Inc., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and value-added reseller of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, has been named to the 2009 Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and President’s Club for the 2^nd consecutive year.  This is Customer Effective’s third Inner Circle and fourth President’s Club achievement.

 

In acknowledgment of exceptional service and sales performance, Customer Effective received this recognition during Microsoft Corporation’s 2009 Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans.  This elite group represents the most outstanding partners whose sales achievement ranks them at the top echelon of the Microsoft Dynamics global network of partners.  In addition, these top partners have demonstrated exceptional overall company performance by delivering valuable solutions that help Microsoft Dynamics customers drive their business forward.

 

“We’re thrilled to acknowledge the dedication Customer Effective has shown to providing an unsurpassed level of service and commitment to Microsoft Dynamics customers,” said Doug Kennedy, vice president of the Microsoft Dynamics Partners team. “As a result of its continuous dedication and contributions to the overall success of Microsoft Dynamics and companies worldwide, we’re proud to congratulate the company on being named to this year’s Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle.”

 

“This has been very good year for our partnership with Microsoft and our customers,” said Scott Millwood, President of Customer Effective.  “Making it to Inner Circle is the elite of the Microsoft Partner Awards and we are thrilled to be here again. Our whole team is appreciative of Microsoft’s recognition of our achievements over the last year. Now we are ramping up to do it again in 2010!”

 

Customer Effective Senior Consultant Scott Sewell Named Microsoft CRM MVP

Microsoft has named Customer Effective Senior Consultant Scott Sewell Most Valuable Professional (MVP) for his outstanding contributions to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM community.  Scott was recognized for his exceptional work in the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Forum, and other  contributions such as the CRM 4.0 Documentation Generator and work on the Extended Sales Forecasting Accelerator. 

The Microsoft MVP Award Program recognizes outstanding members of technical communities for their community participation and willingness to help others. Given annually to a select group of exceptional technical community leaders, the MVP Award celebrates the most active Microsoft community members from around the world who provide invaluable online and offline expertise that makes a difference in technical communities that feature Microsoft products.

There are a total of 33 Microsoft CRM MVPs worldwide.  Scott joins the Customer Effective MVP ranks, with Joel Lindstrom, CRM MVP, and Bill Ryan, Mobile Products MVP.

Congratulations, Scott, for your achievement

Technorati Tags: Scott Sewell,Microsoft CRM,MVP,Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Customer Effective - 2009 Microsoft Dynamics Financial Services Partner of the Year

Customer Effective was named 2009 Microsoft Dynamics Financial Services Partner of the Year, chosen from a field of nearly 2,000 entrants worldwide. The award recognizes partners who have exhibited excellence in providing innovative and unique solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics to customers in the financial services industry. Customer Effective has demonstrated industry knowledge and expertise, as well as consistent, high-quality, predictable service to Microsoft Dynamics customers.

 

“We are very pleased with Microsoft’s recognition of our success in delivering CRM solutions to the unique and demanding requirements of financial services companies,” said Scott Millwood, President of Customer Effective. “I’m really proud of everyone in our company for the hard work they have put into building our customer base and for building superb solutions in complex financial services vertical markets over the past six years. Its great for the team to see their hard work result in this prestigious award. I’m equally pleased with Microsoft’s continued guidance and support in helping us grow to become the recognized leader in financial services.” 

 

Customer Effective has completed over 300 projects with 170 customers and partners since the company was founded in 2003 to focus exclusively on Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The company’s customers include Bank of America, FBR Capital Markets, First Reserve, Markel Corporation, MAG Mutual Insurance Company, Taylor, Bean and Whitaker Mortgage Corporation, Valmark Securities and CapTrust Financial Advisors. Customer Effective’s success in financial services is based upon deep business process knowledge and delivery of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with “XRM” Accelerators specifically configured to address the sophisticated relational models and processes of  financial services micro-verticals.

 

“Microsoft is proud to recognize Customer Effective as the Microsoft Dynamics Financial Services Partner of the Year,” said David Smith, General Manager, U.S. Microsoft Dynamics Partners, Microsoft Corp. “Customer Effective’s innovative solutions based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM have helped their financial services customers achieve their business goals and succeed. Their Capital Effective CRM solution delivers business-class solutions to financial professionals across insurance, banking, and capital markets.”

The CRM Roadshow Rolls On

The Customer Effective CRM Education Day event series kicked off on May 19th in Cincinnati, OH.  Customer Effective founders Scott Millwood and Michael Elliott and CRM MVP Joel Lindstrom lead a full day of sessions covering CRM, configuration, building a solution, Workflow, data migration, dashboards, portals and more. 

The roadshow continues on Tuesday, June 2nd at the Microsoft Atlanta office, 1125 Sanctuary Park, Suite 300, Alpharetta, GA 30004.  Events are also scheduled for 6/23 in Reston, VA and 7/21 in Malvern, PA.

The CRM Education Day is a great opportunity for someone who does not use Microsoft Dynamics CRM to learn more about it, or for somebody who has Microsoft CRM but wants to find out how to do more with it.

Agenda

8:00 am to 9:00 am	Welcome
9:00 am to 9:20 am	What is Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
9:20 am to 10:00 am	Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Product Overview
10:00 am to 10:20 am	Microsoft CRM Reporting and Business Intelligence
10:20 am to 10:30 am	Break
10:30 am to 11:30 am	Configuring and Extending Microsoft CRM
11:30 am to 12:00 pm	Building a Solution
12:00 pm to 1:00 pm	Lunch
1:00 pm to 1:20 pm	Microsoft CRM Workflow 101
1:20 pm to 1:50 pm	Data Migration and Integration
1:50 pm to 2:00 pm	Break
2:00 pm to 2:30 pm	Dashboards
2:30 pm to 3:00 pm	Portals
3:00 pm to 3:30 pm	Implementing a Solution
3:30 pm to 3:45 pm	Customer Effective Solution Lab Overview
3:45 pm to 4:00 pm	Q&A

To find more information on the CRM Education Day, or to register for one of the upcoming sessions, visit our events page at customereffective.com.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Dynamics CRM,Customer Effective,education day

Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Select Customer Effective for Microsoft CRM Project

Growing Needs of Mortgage Lender for Single Information Views Lead to CRM

 

Greenville, SC - - May 5, 2009 - - Customer Effective Inc., a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and value-added reseller of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, announces that Taylor, Bean & Whitaker Mortgage Corp. (TBW), a top 10 national wholesale mortgage lender, recently selected the company as its CRM software provider. The CRM system deployment involved data integration, business process streamlining and automation to sustain annual production volume of $35 Billion and support the lender’s $3 billion asset total. At the behest of Microsoft, Customer Effective embarked on the collaborative CRM project with TBW, building the CRM solution to meet the growing needs of the mortgage lender. Customer Effective worked as an extension of TBW’s IT department, providing consultant services during and after the implementation process. Encouraging user adoption of the CRM system throughout the organization was integral to the success of TBW’s process improvement strategy.

 

According to Cindy Janssen, project manager of TBW, “It was a collaborative process from the start, and we could not have completed such a successful CRM implementation without the expertise of Customer Effective. We have always approached technology deployments differently. Customer Effective rose to the occasion and promptly adapted to our atypical culture, displaying a high level of talent at every stage of the business relationship.”

 

With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, TBW uses key functionality to pull information from a number of data sources and systems and aggregates that data to present a single view of the information to users. CRM reduces the number of required applications needed and serves as the company’s only record system for all customer data in client administration, client services and one group of insurance agents. To get a full view of the timeline during the approval process, representatives can also track all interactions by account. The CRM system’s Advanced Find feature allows users to obtain report information without the assistance of the IT department. For mortgage lenders, CRM enhances various aspects of the lending process with holistic views of a customer file created by collecting all enterprise data in one central location. This is beneficial to lenders as they are able to implement intelligent up-selling and cross-selling tactics based on a clear understanding of customer data, increasing greater wallet share. Mortgage lending personnel also leverage CRM to manage and track sales goals and trends, enhancing the sales process with an efficient understanding of proven successful loan decisioning.

 

“Microsoft Dynamics CRM enabled TBW to upgrade their access to complete and accurate customer information, allowing the lender to offer uniquely targeted products and services,” said Scott Millwood, CEO of Customer Effective. “TBW clearly outlined their business process which made our approach to the CRM project much easier. We were able to integrate and convert their business data into a single, comprehensive source of information for all employees, giving them the tools necessary to remain a preeminent organization in the mortgage lending industry.”

CRM Summer School 2009 by Customer Effective

After a very successful 2 day Customer Effective CRM User Group in 2008 with over 43 companies participating Customer Effective has decided to pack up the gear and hit the road in the Summer of 2009.  We are beginning our CRM Education Campaign by conducting one day education sessions in various Microsoft offices.  The first couple of events are scheduled and the remaining dates and locations will be finalized over the coming weeks.  The agenda covers it all including a focus on the new buzz, "XRM" applications powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM.   These sessions will include presentations by our CRM MVP's including Joel Lindstrom.

We welcome our customers, prospects, and partners to attend.

Link to Events - http://www.customereffective.com/News_&_Events/Events

New Customer Effective Case Study featuring our client, Dixon Hughes

We always enjoy working with the Microsoft Marketing Team and they have done another outstanding job with this recent write-up.   The case study discusses our growth and overall success as well as highlights one of our favorite clients, Dixon Hughes, and their road to success with Micrsosoft Dynamics CRM. Enjoy the read !!

http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/casestudy.aspx?casestudyid=4000003914

CRM and Social Networking - Customer Effective style

The team at Customer Effective is probably like a lot of you out there - we blog, we tweet, we Facebook, we LinkedIn, we attempt to embrace it all.   We have learned quite a bit and have had a lot of fun over the last few years embarking upon our professional and personal social networking journeys.  From the initial footprint to the ongoing experience, it's simply amazing to see these tools and platforms grow in popularity thru mass adoption.  We are excited to continue our education and learn from others to find the best methods for building our brand, cultivating a following, and creating a collaborative learning environment.

With that said, we welcome the opportunity to have you join us on our journey and in return allow us to learn from your journey.

Become a CE Fan - CEI Facebook Group

Hear us tweet - CE CRM Twitter Account

Get LinkedIn with - Customer Effective

Customer Effective Hosts First Annual User Conference

Customer Effective Inc. recently hosted its first annual user conference in Greenville, S.C., attracting more than 100 attendees representing more than 45 companies. Attendees included representatives from companies in financial services, professional services, public sector, manufacturing, technology, as well as key executives from Microsoft, ExactTarget and Scribe.

According to Sean Poccia, Director of Information Services at Comag Marketing Group, “The two-day user group meeting was engaging, informative and most notably, collaborative.  The variety of users present was a testament to the versatility of Microsoft Dynamics and showed how companies are leveraging the platform to solve complex business problems.”

Attendees heard presentations by Customer Effective executives and consulting directors, industry thought leaders, and peers on current trends and issues including business intelligence, data management, workflow automation and SharePoint integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The conference offered a wide variety of breakout sessions on Sales Force Automation best practices, marketing automation and development /customization strategies to ensure the success of CRM.

"Attending Customer Effective’s user group was an excellent decision,” said Aaron Roth, MarCom Specialist for Cherry, Bekaert & Holland, L.L.P.  “The sessions on business intelligence and overall CRM strategy as it relates to "performance management" were exceptionally valuable for my firm. There were many other attendees like me with marketing and IT backgrounds, and I received great feedback on what works and what doesn't work when implementing a new software solution. Everyone was there to learn more on how to use the software, but what I think was equally valuable was to see how other companies were using Customer Effective to improve problem areas in their organization and to reach specific goals. I look forward to next year’s conference."

Keynote speaker Lisa Parker from Microsoft addressed Microsoft’s roadmap for Dynamics CRM.  Chuck Niswonger, Director of Information Technology for Jamestown Properties, a CRM user and client of Customer Effective’s, offered advice on how to successfully implement and manage a CRM system, showcasing his organization’s CRM best practices. 

“Customer Effective’s inaugural User Conference provided a platform for like-minded individuals to share ideas on how to leverage Microsoft Dynamics CRM to drive success,” said Scott Millwood, CEO of Customer Effective.  “As leading CRM consultants, we have a great deal of expertise and knowledge of CRM that enables our clients and prospects to engage in successful CRM implementations, and through the User Conference, we can better share that expertise. Our clients and business partners play an integral role in making CRM successful culturally, and at this conference we shared experiences and lessons learned that benefited us all.”

Customer Effective User Group 2008

Customer Effective is proud to announce our 2008 User Group, November 6-7, 2008.   The User group will focus on Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0, and will be held at our corporate headquarters and the historic Westin Pointsett in Greenville, SC.

This event will include many informative sessions including:

• Keynote address by David Smith, General Manager, US Dynamics Partners, Microsoft
• CRM Business Intelligence
• CRM/SharePoint integration
• Microsoft CRM Customization
• Getting the most out of your sales module
• Workflow automation
• much more

Visit our website to learn more and register.  There is no cost to register or attend, other than your transportation and hotel.