At the end of August this year, Concentrix began offering free trials of Microsoft Dynamics CRM to UK companies. We’ve just had our first serious enquiries and will shortly be installing the software for two companies so they can start their free trials.
The free trial offer got off to a fairly slow start. We had a couple of enquiries requesting that we send Microsoft Dynamics CRM on a CD or offer a download. Unfortunately, we don’t have a demo version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and it is not an “out of the box” solution. We’re not offering the hosted or on-demand version either, but a full, unrestricted on-premise, trial. So, we need to look at business processes and configure the system to suit the company it’s going in to. Then we need to check everything works properly and provide some user training. It takes a couple of days: one day for one of our consultants to go in to the company and understand how things are done (ie business processes), and another day for a technical expert(s) to install the software, configure the system and train up key users.
From the Concentrix point of view, the free trials offer has risks attached. Two days worth of skilled staff time for a start. However, we like Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Earlier versions may have been lacking in some respects but now Microsoft have got it right. So we hope the time, resources and costs we risk by offering a free trial of Dynamics CRM will be outweighed by the fact that most companies who try it will like it, and buy from us. Hopefully with our other CRM services as well.
For those who are interested, the details are here: Free trial of Microsoft Dynamics CRM
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