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

Introducing Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011

As more and more businesses realise that Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solutions are essential to ensure business success, Microsoft Dynamics CRM has become increasingly popular. This is for a number of reasons including its reliability, flexibility and familiarity.

No matter which industry sector you operate in Microsoft Dynamics CRM will deliver benefits as it will enable you to:

- Have one central location to store all information relating to customers. This will improve employee knowledge and ultimately the level of customer service delivered.

- Improve efficiency and effectiveness by reducing duplication of effort

- Promote the sharing of information across the organisation

The latest release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is due to be released in September. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 promises to build on the success of previous versions of the software by enhancing the functionality of the solution and has many new features including:

Dashboards - Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 includes extremely impressive dashboards which will provide a visual representation of the information stored in the CRM system

Enhanced Familiarity – The familiarity of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is one of its key benefits as this is what promotes the high user uptake. Microsoft Dynamics CRM looks and feels like any other Microsoft application and in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 the familiarity has been taken a step further.

Role Tailored Client – This is something which has come from Microsoft Dynamics NAV and significantly improves employee efficiency as it removes 90% of the applications on a users workstation which they don’t use and highlights those which they do.

SharePoint Integration - Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 has out of the box integration with SharePoint, making it even easier to share information with employees and customers alike.

Microsoft dynamics CRM is available as either a hosted solution (Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online) or as an On-Premise solution. The Online version is ideal for companies who want to get up and running with CRM quickly, with minimal set up costs. With the online solution you will pay a monthly fee for the solution and typically won’t have any significant expenditure on hardware.

The On Premise version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM will provide greater control of the system and although typically it is associated with a large initial cost you will have an unlimited customisation potential. What’s more, there will be no monthly fees and you will own the solution. But it isn’t a case of On-Premise CRM being better than CRM Online, or vice versa, its more down to implementing the solution which matches the requirements of the business.  

It’s worth knowing that if initially you select the Online version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, and then decide you want to go On Premise, it can easily be switched to an On Premise version.

For more information about the new features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, Microsoft Dynamics Online or, to arrange a free demonstration, contact Concentrix on 01509 410500 or email [email protected].

Sage 200 2010 new features

The latest version of Sage 200, Sage 200 2010 has recently been released.

The new features of Sage 200 2010 cover three main themes:

- Accessibility – Sage 200 2010 delivers new features such as Sage 200 Mobile and e-mail authorisation  for purchase orders which provide a more flexible and accessible Sage 200 Suite

- Information Management – The 2010 release ensures that users have access to the right information at the right time. It also introduces the new Sage report designer, further additional workspaces in the  desktop and the Sage 200 mobile solution

- Customer Satisfaction – Usability and customer satisfaction have been improved with enhanced project accounting performance, project filtering, improved installation routines and CRM integration enhancement

For more information about upgrading to Sage 200 2010 or to arrange a free demonstration, please contact Concentrix on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]

Concentrix is an authorised Citrix Solutions Advisor!

Concentrix has recently been approved by Citrix as an Authorised Citrix Solutions Advisor.

This means that Concentrix meets the certification requirements set by Citrix and is capable of delivering the right value and expertise to customers.

The status also gives Concentrix access to Citrix for fast customer support, competitive pricing and an insight into future product trends.

When you work with an Authorised Citrix Solutions Advisor such as Concentrix you will benefit from:

- High – quality planning

- Efficient deployment

- Excellent Maintenance and Support

For more information about the Citrix solutions provided by Concentrix, please contact us on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]

Sage CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM – A comparison

The popularity of CRM software has increased significantly over the past few years. It has moved from being a nice to have solution to an essential piece of software for businesses of all sizes to ensure success.CRM solutions enable businesses to improve efficiency and effectiveness by providing one central location to store all information relating to customers, prospects and competitors alike. CRM solutions also streamline internal processes and will make having silos of information and duplicate effort a thing of the past.

Selecting a CRM solution

Concentrix provides best in breed CRM solutions, Sage CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and FrontRange’s GoldMine. Concentrix has excellent working relationships with all of its suppliers and is a Sage Accredited Business Partner, Microsoft Gold Certified Business Partner and a FrontRange Premier Partner. Both Sage CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM are extremely popular solutions, so how do they compare?

Sage CRM

Sage CRM is a browser based solution designed to deliver the real benefits of CRM to businesses. And with over3.1 million users worldwide, Sage CRM is an extremely popular solution.

The Sage CRM brings together all the information from across your business, providing you with a complete 360 degree view of your customers. This functionality will enable you to deliver an enhanced level of customer service in comparison to customers – providing a real competitive advantage. What’s more, you can quickly analyse, manage and synchronise Sales, Marketing and Customer Care Activities across all points of contact.

What’s more since the early versions of the product, Sage experts have been designing Sage CRM to be highly intuitive and easy to use, even during the most demanding business situations. Sage CRM v7 takes this a step further. The new design makes the software even easier to navigate, and offers a choice of interface designs and enables users to produce their own layouts. It even has a selection of gadgets so users can customise their dashboards with these mini-applications using 'drag and drop'. Sage CRM is also available on demand for businesses who require CRM, but want a solution at a lower cost.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM was first released in 2007 and has been hugely popular with both new and existing CRM users alike, with over 1.4 million users in over 80 different countries. This is for four main reasons:

- Flexibility

- Familiarity

- Functionality

- Reliability

Much like Sage CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM will significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of an organisation by storing all information in one centralised location. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is an intuitive solution. It looks a lot like Microsoft Outlook and this is not a coincidence. The familiarity of Microsoft Dynamics CRM means that user uptake is often higher than other solutions. What’s more Hosted Microsoft CRM is also available for those businesses which want to buy Microsoft Dynamics CRM, but don’t want to invest in new hardware. 

The latest version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 is due for release in September 2010 and promises to be packed a range of exciting new features including:

- Dashboards - Which will increase visibility across the business and can be role tailored, individually tailored or fully contextual

- Code in the Cloud - Which means hosted solutions can be customised and integrated

- Enhanced Familiarity - Microsoft Dynamics 2011 looks and feels more like outlook than ever before

- Role Tailored Client - This removes all the clutter from a users workstation and therefore improves their productivity. Role Tailored functionality is already a feature in Microsoft Dynamics NAV and has been a great success.

So, Which solution is the best?

Having actually compared Sage CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM, it really isn’t a case of their being a best solution as both Sage CRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM are high quality solutions and have their advantages. However essentially both will:

- Reduce duplication of effortEnhance efficiency and effectiveness of the organisation

- Improve internal processes

- Improve customer service

If you are unsure which the best solution for your organisation is, Concentrix has on online software selector and comparison table which will help you. There are also number of case studies available for download which provide real life examples of successful CRM implementations.

More Information

For help, advice or more information, about Sage CRM or Microsoft Dynamics CRM, please contact Concentrix on 01509 410500 or email [email protected].

What is an ERP solution?

For many years Accounting Software Solutions have been an essential component to business success. However, in recent years there has been an increased interest in streamlining all business processes in an attempt to increase efficiency and effectiveness and this is where ERP solutions come in. ERP solutions integrate a company’s back office processes including planning, manufacturing, distribution, shipping and accounting into a single system and are designed to serve the needs of each different department within the organisation.  What’s more, through keeping all information in one place businesses can reduce duplication of effort, avoid silos of information and increase the flow of information between different departments in the organisation.

Essentially, ERP solutions bring together all the key processes in each area of your business, from accounting, right through to customer service. This increases knowledge and awareness across the organisations and therefore leads to enhanced productivity and profitability within your business.

How to select a solution and Business Partner

Having identified the need for an ERP solution, the next task is to find the software which meets the precise needs of your organisation and the business partner to implement it, and this can be extremely difficult. However, this is where Concentrix can help. Concentrix is an independent business solutions specialist and provides best in breed ERP solutions including Sage 200 Suite and Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Concentrix has excellent working relationships with all of its suppliers and is an Accredited Sage Business Partner and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner.

Concentrix will take the time to understand your business and what your requirements are for the system. We will then write a formal proposal which will document what we understand your business requirements to be, and will recommend a solution based on this. Our approach ensures that we understand the requirements of your business and that as a result you get a solution which matches your needs. Concentrix values long term relationships and will not try to make a solution fit.

For more help, advice or more information about any of the solutions provided by Concentrix, or to arrange a demonstration, please contact us on 01509 410500 or email [email protected].

Why choose Concentrix

Buying software is by no means an easy thing to do. There are so many different products on the market, all of which have their own advantages and disadvantages. However weighing up the pros and the cons can be difficult especially from an internal perspective.  And, once you’ve decided on the type of software you need, the next task is to select the provider or business partner. But, this is not just a case of thinking; well they supply the solution I want so I will go with them. It’s important you meet with the project manager from the organisation to ensure that you can work with them. After all, if they are going to supply your software, you are going to be working with them for a long time. What’s also crucially important is that they take the time to understand your requirements. If the organisation doesn’t have an understanding of what your business does and what the software needs to do, you will not get a solution which fully meets your requirements.

So why is Concentrix different?

Concentrix is an independent business solutions specialist, founded in 1999 and based in the heart of the midlands in Loughborough. Concentrix provides best in breed solutions from Microsoft, Sage and FrontRange and takes a product agnostic approach to implementing them. This ensures that you get a solution which meets the precise requirements of your organisation; we will not try to make a solution fit. At Concentrix we value long term relationships.

Concentrix has completed projects successfully for organisations in a variety of industry sectors including:

- Education

- Retail

- Charity

- Manufacturing

- Construction

And many more.

What’s more, in our initial meeting with you we will take the time to capture you requirements and understand your business. Once we have done this and we are happy that we have understood your businesses processes we will be in a position to recommend the solution which we think best suits your organisations requirements.  We will then go away and create a proposal document. This will tell you exactly what we are going to do and how we are going to do it and will provide you with all the information you need to make an informed decision.

Concentrix has a dedicated support desk which is based in our head office in the midlands, in Loughborough and consists of a highly skilled team. Our support desk is open from 8am until 6pm Monday to Friday and will ensure your support problems are resolved as quickly as possible.

So for a Sage Accredited Business Partner or Microsoft Gold Partner in the Midlands, contact Concentrix.

"We're all in" Cloud computing. Or are we?

Here's the latest guest post from Senior CRM Consultant, John Odell:

As other entries on this blog will attest, I was recently at Microsoft's annual World Partner Conference (WPC) at which the overriding, overbearing message was about "Cloud" (note the capital C) - aka "Online"; "Software as a Service"; "Hosted CRM"; "Subscription software.

Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's Chief Executive Officer started proceedings with an exposition of Microsoft's Cloud strategy - "We're all in" being the call to arms.

If you really want to you can watch it:

http://digitalwpc.com/Videos/VisionKeynoteVideos10/1/SteveBallmer

I'm surprised to see on the video timer that it only lasted 22 minutes as it seemed a lot longer when I was sat there (if you look really really closely you can almost see me...)

Now, I'm a big fan of Steve and I'm a big fan of Cloud, especially what is coming very soon for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics NAV (two of our core products) at the end of 2010 / start of 2011. I'm even quite excited about Azure, although I can't quite put my finger on why.

What I'm not a big fan of is business jargon and buzz-terms (except for "leverage", I do like "leverage”) - but in this case "game changing" seems apt if Microsoft deliver on their Cloud promises - and it really does look like they will.

However I'm not quite ALL IN, although I'm pretty significantly IN. Not entirely IN, but definitely IN quite a bit.

And the reason why I'm not all IN and why I think on-premise deployments of business process system won't suddenly die off is probably 5 fold:

1. I'm naturally sceptical and a bit chippy, so if I'm told to be "all in" I'm definitely not going to  be. Being serious briefly: Scepticism is important - it helps anchor our "CRM and ERP product agnostic" (OK, that's three buzz-terms I like) approach and remain independent when advising our customers.

2. Some people just don't like it. Although I think a lot of those people will come round to realising that the obvious anti-Cloud arguments (security of data, availability of service etc.) are less compelling now that the offerings have matured, some organisations will still opt for on-premise for reasons of policy.

3. Connectivity: No internet connection = no Cloud = no business. There are still a lot of businesses where connectivity is an issue - and who is to say there won't always be?

4. Technical / functional: Sometimes on-premise will simply work better. One of the things Concentrix specialise in is integrating CRM and ERP with other business systems - in some cases legacy systems and things that really don't want to be integrated with. Sometimes this will mean that, for technical and functional reasons, on-premise is going to be the preferred option until those legacy systems get replaced.

5. Financial: I think this is the big one. Right now, economic armageddon not withstanding, a lot of businesses / organisations still like to treat projects as capital expenditure. The Cloud is an overhead, which is going to be great for many many people - but not everyone. I think that the advances we are seeing now in Cloud computing will remove so many of the previous technical / functional barriers and break down the "don't like" objections that the decision to go Cloud - a fundamental IT and line of business decision - will come down to the Finance Director. And that's no bad thing, I like Finance Directors.

So, where to now? Well I'm off to Microsoft tomorrow for more Cloud strategy. We'll be playing with the Cloud and on-premise Beta releases of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 very soon and we'll be seeing (and recommending that) a lot more customer go Cloud.

We're INterested, we're INvolved, we're INdependent and we've got the INside track. If you want to find out if you could / should be IN then drop us a line.

And that’s INough of that.

Sage 200 User Group

Our last Users Group was back in June and launched Sage 200 2010. The event was held off-site at the Hilton Hotel – Leicester and was a great success with over 50 attendees. The launch event included presentations from Scott Gibson and Michael Crampsey from Sage and Paul Ince from Concentrix.

The topics covered included:

- New features of Sage 200 2010

- Sage 200 Bill of Material

- Sage CRM v7 new features

Representatives from Datalinx and Draycir also attended the launch, as their products are add-ons for Sage 200 and they both gave us excellent feedback. Datalinx demonstrated their Bar Coding Software for Sage 200, while Draycir showed various products including Spindle, Credit Hound and Credit Guardian.

 
The next User Group will be held at our head office in Mountsorrel, Loughborough on Tuesday 28^th September and will include a presentation from special guest Dave Parker from Sage (UK) Ltd, as well as staff from Concentrix.

The User Group will give you the perfect opportunity to:

- Ask questions about any aspect of Sage 200

- Meet and network with other Sage users and Concentrix Customers

- Take an in-depth look at Sage 200 BI

- Find out about the new features of Sage 200 2010

- Take part in a customer forum where you will have the opportunity to input into future developments in Sage 200.

We will also include a free buffet lunch.

To register* or for further information, please email [email protected] or call 01509 410500.

Date: Tuesday 28^th September

Time: 10.00 a.m. to 12.00 p.m. (Registration 9.30 a.m.)

Venue: 20 Granite Way Mountsorrel, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE12 7TZ

And of course if you need any further information, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Concentrix to exhibit at Call Centre Expo in conjunction with Sage!

Concentrix is exhibiting at Call Centre Expo for the first time this year and will be there with Sage UK!

Concentrix has an excellent working relationship with Sage and is a Sage Accredited Business Partner, a Sage Development Partner, is in the Sage Circle of Excellence and is the Sage CRM Partner of the Year.

Call Centre Expo offers a range of integrated customer products and services, the latest education programmes and unrivalled networking opportunities. So, whatever your business is aiming to achieve, Call Centre Expo will provide plenty of food for thought!

There will also be the opportunity to attend the Call Centre Focus Conference which includes many exciting seminars, focusing on equipping you with all the information and knowledge you need to motivate your staff and meet ever increasing customer expectations! The seminars will provide a real insight into what the most successful companies do to measure their  level of customer satisfaction including British Gas, O2 and Orange. To find out more about the call centre focus conference, please visit: www.ccfconference.com where you can book a single session from £69!

Call centre Expo is held over two days giving you plenty of time to pop in, have a look around and network. What’s more, the exhibition is being held at the NEC in Birmingham making  it easily accessible either by car or train.

The event details are as follows:

Date: 21^st-22^nd September 2010

Venue:  NEC Birmingham

Admission: To register for tickets please click here http://www.callcentre.co.uk/callcentreexpo/register

If you’re not able to attend the event this year, but would like more information on any of the products or services provided by Concentrix, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]

We look forward to seeing you there!

Concentrix – an organisation with professionalism at its heart!

A recent survey asked respondents how they would describe Concentrix. The results were pleasing with an extremely high percentage referring to our “highly professional approach”. This is a great result, and something that we will ensure continues moving forward.

What is likely to play a large part in this, is our proven project methodology. This significantly increases project success rates, and ensures that the system delivered meets the exact requirements of the organisation.

Our project management methodology includes:

A series of processes – a suite of management processes which monitor and control the project. These include time management, cost management, quality management, change management, risk management and issue management

A set of skills – Specialised knowledge, skills and experience help reduce a project’s level of risk and thereby increase its likelihood of success

A suite of tools – Project managers use various types of tools to improve a project’s success rate.

Other responses to this question included:

- Technical

- Focused

- High End

- Quality

- Customer Focused

Concentrix is an independent Business Solutions provider proving CRM and ERP software, Hardware, Infrastructure and Support.

For more information about any of the solutions provided by Concentrix, please contact us on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]