CRM UK - the official blog of the CRM specialists at TSG

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Continues to Receive Strong Ratings from Independent Analysts

So far this year, Microsoft Dynamics CRM has received a variety of accolades from independent research firms and analysts.

Back in April, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Dynamics CRM had been positioned in the Leaders quadrant of the 2010 Magic Quadrant for CRM Customer Service Contact Centres by the independent research firm Gartner Inc. In this research report, Gartner Inc. looked primarily at CRM business applications for customer service interactions.

Earlier this week, (on 22nd June) Microsoft said that Microsoft Dynamics CRM had achieved recognition from another leading independent research firm, Forrester Research Inc. Forrester rated Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a Leader in The Forrester Wave^(TM): CRM Suites for Midsized, Q2 2010 (June 2010) and The Forrester Wave^(TM)_: CRM Suites for Large Organizations, Q2 2010 (June 2010) reports. According to Forrester, software vendors in these Leaders categoroies have both a strong product and a strong strategy.

The independent research reports support opinions and feedback from a number of Concentrix customers, as well as from our own technical, development and business consultancy staff that Microsoft Dynamics CRM is one of the strongest CRM software products on the market. It’s also not restricted to any particular vertical or size of organisation. On the Microsoft news centre, a statement from Microsoft about the research goes on to explain how, that for the mid-market, the Forrester Wave reports looked at the strengths and weaknesses of nineteen CRM software solutions. Forrester compared each one to over five hundred criteria, which they had chosen to reflect the needs of mid-market organizations. Similarly they also looked at eighteen CRM solutions for larger organizations, and again evaluated these against over five hundred criteria selected to reflect the requirements of businesses such as these.

Obviously this number of criteria means a pretty thorough evaluation of each CRM software product. They included, among other points, offering a multifunctional CRM application suite, a solution targeted to multiple industries, and a product now in general release and in wide use by customers.

Forrester found that large, as well as midsized organisations have many technology options they can consider. In Forrester's evaluation of multiple CRM solutions, Microsoft Dynamics CRM was one of the solutions to which the company gave high marks to for ease of use and relatively quick deployment times.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is available as a hosted or on-premise option, and Concentrix has deployed the product in a wide variety of small, medium and large organisations throughout the UK. A common theme we’re identifying, in small businesses in particular, and to a lesser extent medium sized organisations, is that they start off with hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM. They effectively use this as a trial and then, having established a CRM culture and proven the benefits of the product within their business, then choose to move to on-premise deployment.

However it’s deployed, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is one of the key products among the CRM solutions we offer. As independent CRM specialists, we’ll help you choose the right CRM software for your business – right for your business requirements, processes, your people and your budget.

For more information about Microsoft Dynamics CRM or any of the other CRM solutions provided by Concentrix, please contact us.

Sage 200 2010 Launch a great success!

Thank you to everyone who attended our Sage 200 2010 launch at the Hilton Hotel yesterday! The event was a great success with a record number of attendees, proving there is a great deal of interest in the latest release of Sage 200 2010.

Topics covered included:

Sage 200 2010 new features:

New Features/Wish List

» Analysis Codes

» Wish list items

» New Bill of Material Module

Accessibility

» Purchase Order Authorisation & Remote Alerts

» Sage 200 Mobile

Information Management

» BI Commercials

» New Report Designer

» Workspaces

Sage CRM V7

» Introduction to CRM

» How CRM can improve the efficiency and effectiveness of your business

» The integration between Sage 200 and CRM and the benefits this delivers

» A demonstration of Sage CRM

Concentrix Customer Service Update

» New online survey to measure customer feedback

» Information about how the scores are calculated

» An update on how we are doing so far

 
 
The winner of the bottle of champagne was Louise Mason from East Midlands Business, Congratulations!!

If you require any additional information about any of the topics discussed, please contact us on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]

Latest Developments in Concentrix's IT Infrastructure Business

Since the company was founded in 1999, Concentrix has provided hundreds of organisations throughout the UK with highly successful CRM software solutions, as well as accounts and ERP systems. And for many of these clients, we’ve also provided supporting IT hardware to make sure they get the very best from their systems.

As well as hardware, Concentrix has also provided businesses with network security, data recovery, business continuity, virtualisation, software-as-a-service (SaaS), data recovery, back-up and storage, maintenance, and a wide range of other IT infrastructure and networking solutions. Over the past couple of years however, the IT Infrastructure side of our business has really started to take off in its own right.

Many UK companies still perceive IT as necessary evil rather than an enabler. But just like our CRM, accounts and ERP systems, Concentrix is ‘product agnostic’ and delivers IT infrastructure solutions that best fit our clients’ requirements and budget. Using the latest technology, high levels of technical knowledge and extensive experience, Concentrix will help you realise the true benefits of using IT to drive productivity and business growth.

As part of our strategy to increase our IT infrastructure provision, we've appointed a new senior member of staff: John Hurst. John brings with him 11 years of Enterprise IT Solutions experience, and has worked for some of the world’s largest IT solutions providers. Moving forward, John will be the driving force in ensuring that Concentrix not only continues to deliver quality IT infrastructure solutions to our clients, but builds on this success to make us the provider of choice in businesses throughout the UK.

John has vast knowledge of the IT sector and has dealt with many of the FT top 100 UK organisations. He’s already begun working with Concentrix clients to advise them on the best roadmap for their infrastructure solutions.

It’s a key objective within Concentrix to be a Trusted Advisor for IT infrastructure to all our clients, large and small. So, if you need help or advice on getting the very best from your current and future IT Infrastructure, or would like to book a free IT health check, please contact Concentrix.

Sage 200 2010 Launch – Bristol

Due to be released at the end of June, Sage 200 2010 is specifically designed for mid-market businesses and it packed with a wide range of new features which will make a real difference to the way your business operates.

As a result of the overwhelming interest we’ve received in our Sage 200 2010 Launch being held in Leicester next week, we have decided to host a similar event at our Bristol office. This is the first time we have been oversubscribed for any event in the last few years and a show there’s a great deal of interest in the new version of Sage 200.

Open to both existing customers and selected other companies, our Sage 200 2010 Launch event will give you the opportunity to:

- See the latest tools, features and developments in Sage 200 - 2010

- Talk directly to software experts from Sage and Concentrix

- Ask questions about any aspect of Sage 200

- Meet and network with other Sage users and Concentrix customers

Date: 13^th July 2010

Time : 10.00am – 12.00pm

Location: 130 Aztec West Bristol BS32 4UB

To register* or for more information, please contact us on 01509 410500 or email [email protected].

*Please note for free entry, parking and refreshments you need to register before 1^st July

Simplify Backup and Disaster Recovery

Concentrix is now supplying Acronis Backup and Recovery 10, a simple cost effective solution for managing backup and restore activities.

The software can be used with windows workstations, windows servers and advanced server SBS edition and has a number of key features including :

- Fast and easy recovery

- Entire system, single file or folder recovery

- Live disk snapshots with support for databases and server applications

- Graphical user interface

- Data de-duplication

- Policy-based management

- Monitoring

- High level security

Essentially Acronis Backup and Recovery 10 minimises downtime, increases user productivity and therefore the profitability of the organisation.

For more information about Acronis Backup and Disaster Recovery 10, please contact Concentrix on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]