Enhance Existing Teller Applications with Up-Sell and Referral Integration from Microsoft Dynamics CRM

    Below is a 2-minute demonstration of how Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be integrated with a teller system.  The scenario shows how a teller can receive next-best-product and eligible promotions directly in their teller system during a client transaction.  The data is being driven into the teller system from Microsoft Dynamics CRM built with Customer Effective: Banking.  For the teller, it's a seamless and familiar experience using the same teller system they have always used.  Once a teller gets the marketing messages delivered, they can create a referral in their teller system that gets passed to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  

Customer Effective Client Recognized by Microsoft with the 2013 Dynamic Business Award: Enterprise

With Microsoft Convergence 2013 taking place next week in New Orleans, Customer Effecitve is proud to announce that our customer, CSX Transportation has been recognized by Microsoft for their business achievements with the 2013 Dynamic Business Award: Enterprise. This award will be presented to CSX at an Awards Luncheon during Convergence.

The Dynamic Business Award: Enterprise recognizes the organization with 1,000 or more employees that best exemplifies a true dynamic business with their use of business solutions across Microsoft, including Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and other Microsoft technologies. The recipient was chosen by a team of Microsoft executives from nominations submitted in each of the award categories.

"We are honored to be recognized by Microsoft for our usage of CRM. Microsoft CRM has given us the ability to leverage existing processes as well as extend out and connect new functionalities across our company," says Vicki Burton, Director of CRM for CSX Transportation. "We are able to view the customer more holistically and as a result, better understand our customers' needs, build stronger relationships, and grow our business."

 

Visit the Customer Effective Website to read the full Press Release on CSX's Award.

 

Microsoft’s Recent Investments Highlighted In CRM Statement of Direction and December 2012 Service Update

YAMMER, SKYPE AND MARKETINGPILOT ALL SOLIDLY ON THE ROADMAP

Last week, the Microsoft CRM team released their vision of CRM in two important documents; the December 2012 Service Update Preview Guide and the November 2012 Statement of Direction.   These documents highlight Microsoft CRM’s planned transformation from a data and lists-centered approach to an experience that focuses on user adoption and valuable, insightful user experiences.  This is a refreshing move from products and features.  It’s also consistent with what the CRM product team has been preaching the last few months.  One change was a focus on business process, which I highlighted in this blog.  Then there was the addition of the recent investments, which if managed correctly, should converge to make Microsoft CRM the true best-in-class enterprise platform.  The charter notes that “Microsoft is the strongest unifier of Microsoft technologies in the business applications space and specifically CRM.”  Microsoft CRM General Manager Dennis Michalis recently acknowledged this sea change to a group assembled at CRMUG in Seattle:

Sometimes you have to take calculated risks - to think about where you are going to go to do something no one else has done. For Dynamics CRM we aspire to do something differently and the message that I have for you today is different from what I could have shared with you a year ago. It's built in part on what Microsoft as a company is doing, it's built in part from a technology perspective and what we want to achieve ... next

Join Customer Effective at CRMUG Summit 2012

Please join us at the upcoming CRMUG Summit in Seattle, October 15-18, 2012.  Customer Effective will be there in our booth, and we will also be leading five different breakout and deep dive sessions.

Tuesday, October 16

10:00 a.m. – Tools of the Technical Trade for Dynamics CRM. With Paul Way. Are you using the right tools for the job? From Fiddler, HTTP Watch, Visual Studio 2011 ALM, etc…let's join in a roundtable discussion to share in the best practices of using the right tools for the right job.

2:45 - Tips & Tools for deploying a user-friendly and high-performance CRM. With Scott Sewell. Putting the final “fit and finish” on a CRM configuration greatly improves the usability but is tedious and time consuming, unless you know the “secrets”. In this results-oriented presentation, we’ll identify common configuration weaknesses and their best-practice solutions. – We’ll also demonstrate a “veritable smorgasbord” of free or low-cost utilities that every CRM administrator should have in their toolkit.

Wednesday, October 17

9:30 a.m. – 50 Tips in 50 Minutes. With Brad Koontz and Leah Quartano.  This fast-paced presentation delivers 50 tips for Microsoft CRM that you can take back and implement. With topics like social CRM, mobility, extending CRM, user adoption, Office integration and collaboration you will walk away with a bag full of tricks that are guaranteed to make you more productive and your CRM sing. The Tips and Tricks are straight from our team of experienced CRM professionals and the award-winning Customer Effective Blog.

11:00 a.m. – Taming the Beast of CRM Security. With Scott Sewell. Implementing Data Security within CRM is undoubtedly one of the most complex and under-planned aspects of any implementation. We’ll break down the components of how CRM data can be segmented and protected – without crushing performance. We’ll look at the roles of Security Roles, User Teams, Business Units and Shares – as well as Field-Level Security, configuration gotchas, automating user-security management, and the all-powerful PrincipalObjectAccess table.

5:00 p.m. – Keys to Unlocking CRM Data Integration Success.  With Scott Sewell.  Providing a 360° view of a customer is the heartbeat of a successful CRM Implementation. This session will explore best practices for getting that all-important data into - and out of CRM. We’ll survey the popular built-in and 3rd-party tools for integration. Finally, we will reveal the simple, practical, “secrets” of high-performance integration that you need to know.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Roadmap Update from eXtreme CRM 2012

The 2012 version of the Microsoft CRM partner event eXtreme CRM just wrapped up and the buzz-worthy highlight was the announcement of the CRM future roadmap in advance of the formal Statement of Direction. 

The Roadmap

The roadmap session was led by Craig Dewar, Director of Microsoft CRM Product Management.  The discussed releases were codenamed Polaris (2012 Q4) and Orion (2013 Q2). Here are some of the nuggets:

• Polaris (2012 Q4)
  • Cross-browser compatibility.  This was delayed from a previous announcement in July 2012 due to quality issues.  This will be available on-premises  and online.  The other features of the Polaris release will be online only. 
  • Flat, process-driven UI.  This will go further to clean-up the current UI that is sometimes considered busy.  Pop-up windows will become less prevalent and touch optimization will be improved.  Also, defined business process will be visible on the header.
  • Deeper integration with Microsoft technologies.  Bing map integration will ship out of the box with CRM. 
  • Click-to-Call.  Deeper integration with Lync and Skype.
• Orion (2013 Q2)
  • Windows 8 UI.  Not just ‘flat UI’ but as Dewar explained, “…a very tailored look,” that will cross devices. 
  • Social upgrade.  Deeper Yammer integration planned.  Yammer released an integration with Activity Feeds in CRM before the Microsoft’s purchase announcement.  The Orion Yammer integration presumes to go deeper, but no details were revealed.
  • Enhanced Office compatibility.  Not just integration as we know it today, but a deeper app + application model based on Microsoft’s coming Office 2015 release and Agave web extensions.  Eric Boocock, Senior Technical Product Manager, explained that developers will be able to add apps inside of Office clients, including Microsoft Outlook.  This could also mean being able to ‘Track in CRM’ without having to use the Outlook client.

The updated statement of direction will be available next week (October 11).  More quality eXtreme CRM 2012 coverage can be found from MSDynamcisWorld, CRMHobbit, and Jukka Niiranen. The twitter feed from the event is here.

Join Customer Effective at eXtremeCRM 2012

Customer Effective will be attending and presenting at the upcoming eXtremeCRM 2012 show in Las Vegas September 30 – October 3.  eXtremeCRM is the premier event focused exclusively on Microsoft Dynamics CRM and dedicated to advancing best practices and strategies for Microsoft Dynamics CRM organizations.  The purpose of the eXtremeCRM conference is to help the Microsoft Dynamics^® CRM community grow their business by selling, deploying and extending the Microsoft Dynamics CRM solution more effectively. eXtremeCRM is dedicated to creating an environment that provides insight to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM future vision and strategy, encourages sharing of knowledge among the Microsoft Dynamics CRM community and supports critical connections with Microsoft, ISVs and partners – all with a goal of helping the community learn, grow and work more productively together.  You can check out more show information and the agenda here.

 

Enhancing the User Experience with JavaScript/CSS3/HTML5 (level 300)

Tuesday 3:30 – 5:00. Presented by Brad Koontz and Paul Way (Customer Effective)

Dynamics CRM 2011 provides a robust default user experience for both the built-in and custom components configured for a solution. This default user experience can then be further tailored to specific solution requirements using the extensibility hooks provided by Dynamics CRM 2011.The focus of this session is about enhancing the User Experience (UX). We will walk through:

• The importance of UX in driving user adoption,
• What Microsoft has in place that we can leverage,
• How we can enhance the interface when the situation calls for it
• This class is a 300 level, but geared to all developers.

 

Industry Showcase, Financial Services (level 200)

Insurance:  Monday 1:40 – 3:10. 

Capital Markets: Tuesday 11:00 – 12:30

Presented by Tom Feher (Microsoft); with Brad Koontz (Customer Effective)

In these sessions, learn how Microsoft Dynamics CRM Insurance industry solutions can provide insurers with the capabilities necessary to gain deep business insight, deliver a consistent customer experience and enhance sales performance, innovate and integrate by streamlining information and business processes, and ultimately reduce operational cost and maximize revenues.

• Current Market Overview and Opportunity within Financial Services
• Typical Day in the life scenarios
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM Vertical Solutions & Whitespace within Financial Services Industries
• Microsoft Industry Resources Available to assist you in building an Industry Practice
• Conditions of Success in building a Financial Services Industry Vertical Practice
• Panel Discussion & Q/A with a Dynamics CRM Financial Services Industry Partner

 

Executive Summit

Ongoing, Oct 1&2

Featuring a panel of CRM industry experts including Mike Rogers (Customer Effective)

The eXtreme executive Summit is designed to provide unique perspectives around key business issues that leaders face today and VIP backstage access to experts, influencers and Microsoft leaders you won’t find anywhere.  This executive-only program is designed to deep dive on critical business, technology and leadership strategies facing Microsoft Dynamics CRM leaders today. More information on about the Executive Summit can be found here.

 

 

Top of the Wave; Microsoft Dynamics CRM Ranked as a Leader in Three Different 2012 Forrester CRM Reports

Forrester recently published its three 2012 CRM Waves:  The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites For Large Organizations, Q3 2012, The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites For Midsize Organizations, Q3 2012 and The Forrester Wave: CRM Suites for Customer Service Solutions, Q3 2012 and Microsoft is ranked a Leader in all three.  The reports notes that “Microsoft Dynamics CRM shines with strong usability and compelling value.”  The highlights from the different reports are below.

CRM Suites for Large Organizations

This vendor ranking was focused on organizations with 1,000 employees or more.  The highlights:

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM has been growing quickly as a result of the “power or choice”, which means customers can choose deployment options (on-premises, online, or hosted), and user interface options (Outlook, browser, mobile).
• The report notes that Microsoft Dynamics CRM appeals to organizations that have a commitment to other Microsoft products.  These customers generally feel this creates a lower total cost of ownership. “Buyers also like Microsoft Dynamics CRM’s lower price and its quick time-to-value compared with traditional CRM applications.”  Conversely, Salesforce.com buyers are beginning to question economics of their subscription model, especially for large numbers of users.

 

CRM Suites for Midmarket Organizations

Focused on CRM suites marketed to organizations with between 250 and 999 employees.  These CRM packages often have more-limited capabilities in specific areas and are focused on simplicity. 

• Microsoft offers strong support for mobile CRM compared to other CRM vendors.
• “Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers strong marketing, business intelligence, and customer data management capabilities as well as a strong architecture and platform”.
• The report notes that this solution does not generally offer industry-specific solutions.  These solutions are generally developed and managed by partners like Customer Effective.  Microsoft’s ecosystem allow partners like us to focus directly in vertical areas such as financial services.

 

CRM Suites for Customer Service

This report focuses on CRM vendors that offer multifunctional application suites, have strong presence in the customer service market and provide functionality that spans multiple functional areas for customer service.  Highlights from the report:

• Key trends in customer service are empowered agents, engaged customers across channels, and rapidly changing customer technology landscape.
• The report gives Microsoft Dynamics CRM high marks for flexibility and value.  “The primary buyers of
  Microsoft Dynamics CRM are upper midmarket and enterprise customers that require easy-to-
  use, flexible customer service solutions that yield productivity gains for their customer service organizations”.
• Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers strong support for native business process management (through MSCRM processes, workflows and dialogs), and provides strong support for agents and collaboration.  Knowledge base, customer service analytics and data management also received high marks. 

Customer Effective Honored as Microsoft’s East Region CRM Partner of the Year for a Third Consecutive Year

Customer Effective announces their selection as the 2012 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner of the Year for the East Region. This marks the third consecutive year Customer Effective has received this distinction. 

The award 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. 

“We’re really excited to receive this recognition from Microsoft’s East Region for a third year in a row.” says Scott Millwood, President. “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 Awards were presented during Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference on Thursday, July 12, 2012 in Toronto, Canada. 

Harte-Hanks Trillium Software and Customer Effective Announce Partnership at Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference

Trillium Software^®, a business of Harte-Hanks^®, Inc. (NYSE:HHS) and a leading provider of Total Data Quality^™ solutions, and Customer Effective, a leading national Microsoft CRM consulting firm, announced today at the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference, an alliance to help Microsoft Dynamics CRM customers improve the value and quality of their global customer data, whether using on-premises or cloud deployment models. Trillium Software and Customer Effective will work together to implement CRM initiatives that feature tight integration of the Trillium Software System^® with Microsoft Dynamics CRM for better, fit-for-business-purpose data quality.

"The collaboration between Customer Effective and Trillium Software is a perfect example of how Microsoft partners provide deep value to our Microsoft Dynamics CRM clients; our clients will benefit greatly from improved data quality in their CRM implementations as a result of this partnership," said Jamie Tozzi, general Manager of US Microsoft Dynamics CRM,  Microsoft. "We depend on our exceptional partner community to ensure that companies obtain the most benefit from their Microsoft Dynamics CRM initiatives; this alliance between Customer Effective and Trillium Software is particularly beneficial to today's data-driven business processes where accuracy, completeness and integrity of your data is a must.”

Read the full Press Release at http://www.customereffective.com/news-and-events/news

Customer Effective releases new video: "Automating Business Processes with Microsoft CRM"

During the 2012 AHIP Institute, Customer Effective: Health Plans team members sat down for a discussion about Business Process Automation. Tap Haley of Customer Effective spoke about how Microsoft Dynamics CRM has helped Customer Effective's Health Insurance clients improve their business. He was joined by Francis Dion of Xpertdoc who offered information about document automation and compliance with SBC mandate.

 

Fore more information or to get in touch with our Health Insurance specialists, contact Customer Effective today by visiting our website or give us a call : 877-252-2170

 

Customer Effective Delivers Microsoft Dynamics CRM Success for U.S. Xpress Enterprises

Customer Effective is proud to announce the release of our latest Customer Success Story U.S. Xpress Enterprises. 

U.S. Xpress Enterprises is a leading trucking company in the United States and has been able to recover as much as $350,000 in lost-opportinuty costs and reduce IT costs thanks to Microsoft Dynamics CRM all while improving sales productivity, enhancing business insight and augmenting customer service. 

"Now, with one source for comapny information, our management and support teams can operate as one, improving our execution and responsiveness to our customer needs and improving those relationships overall." - Todd Davis, Senior Director of Pricing and Marketing Services, U.S. Xpress, Inc. 

You can read the entire success story by clicking on the link below:

U.S. Xpress Enterprises Success Story

 

 

SAIA Announces Selection of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Implementation Partner, Customer Effective

Saia, Inc. announced today that they have chosen Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 to enhance the company's sales and marketing efforts. Saia, is a less-than-truckload provider of regional, interregional and guaranteed services covering 34 states and is one of the first LTL carriers to utilize this software. 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM was chosen as a result of its robust capabilities and ease of integration and interface with other Microsoft products. 

“Through the CRM software, we will be able to maintain a 360 degree view of every customer interaction we have,” stated Saia Vice President of Marketing and Customer Service Sally Buchholz. “We can easily and effectively manage all facets of every shipper account.”

You can read the entire Press Release here: http://www.customereffective.com/news-and-events/news/saia-chooses-microsoft-dynamics-crm-software

Berkshire Partners Talks about their CRM Journey with Customer Effective

Eric Souza, Director of IT for Berkshire Partners participated in a live webinar with Brad Koontz of Customer Effective. The topic was CRM for Private Equity and Souza described their CRM journey and what made them successful.

Berkshire was founded in 1984, and has invested in over 100 companies with more than $20 billion of acquisition value. Their investors include many of the world’s largest endowments, foundations, pension funds and insurance companies. Berkshire Fund VIII is a $4.5 billion fund that was raised in 2011.

Customer Effective: Banking Introduced at Core User Group Conference

On May 7th, Customer Effective presented the Customer Effective: Banking CRM solution to the attendees of this year’s Miser User Group Conference in Daytona Beach, FL. The Miser core processing system for banks has been around for over 30 years, and the users gather each year to discuss new technologies and best practices. Customer Effective, along with our partner ACI (formerly S1) presented a session that focused on emerging trends in branch banking, and how Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help bankers achieve efficiencies and a true 360 degree view of their customer. Sandy Coons, VP of Business Development for ACI Worldwide, emphasized the changing nature of selling inside of a branch and challenges that self-service present. Coons quoted a Tower Group study that found that “banks welcomed self-service for its cost-savings potential but are now realizing that moving people out of the branch reduces face-to-face contact and cross-sales opportunities.” Part of the solution, concluded Coons, is the addition (and integration) of CRM.

Customer Effective Can Build You a Highly Tailored Trial of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

Since the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, Microsoft has encouraged users to a 30-day free trial of CRM.  And this has been successful in demonstrating key features like Outlook integration, sales productivity, analytics, service productivity, and basic marketing automation.  But extended features, like data mart and communication platform integration, have not been readily available in trial demos.  Thanks to Microsoft’s recent release of Demo Builder, these features and other, are available by running a ClickOnce application. 

How Microsoft Dynamics CRM Played a Key Role in Helping a High School Charitable Fundraising Project

Customer relationship management tools can go beyond business in bringing people together.

My daughter and I recently had a great opportunity to work together on a school project where Microsoft Dynamics CRM played an integral role. My daughter is currently in 10^th grade at an Episcopal School in South Carolina. A sophomore project has been part of the school curriculum for many years. As a 9th grader my daughter, and about 40 other students, participated as a model in a fashion show fundraiser project produced by two girls in that year’s 10^th grade class. Approximately 200 people attended the show and the project team raised just over $1,100 for their chosen charity.

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.

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.

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