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

Role Tailored Functionality within Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Often in our lives we are so busy doing the things we do, that it takes us considerably longer to complete tasks than it should. However, if we removed all the clutter from our minds, often we would be able to get things done much more quickly, as we would concentrate on the task in hand and not get distracted!

Microsoft have taken this concept and applied it to Microsoft Dynamics NAV, in the form of role tailored functionality.

So what is Role Tailored Functionality?

Essentially with the Role Tailored functionality Microsoft has removed all the distractions from a users workstation. Microsoft Dynamics NAV hides 90% of the features which users don’t need to see and this highlights the actions and information that they do need.

So how did the Role Tailored Functionality Emerge?

Microsoft invested a large amount of time and resources into finding out what people did in their jobs, how they performed the tasks they needed to do and ultimately why they did the things that they did. The culmination of the research was that Microsoft defined 61 distinct job roles covering essential job functions in areas such as Finance, Sales, Marketing, IT, Production, Logistics and Customer Service.

How does Microsoft Dynamics NAV work?

Microsoft Dynamics NAV users login to their role centre which shows them their own user profile and personal place within the business management system. It then displays the tasks and activities which they need to perform, providing them with an overview of what they’ve done and what they still need to do. Essentially, Microsoft Dynamics NAV enables users to focus on the tasks they need to undertake and hides everything which they do not need to see, enabling them to work more efficiently, effectively and more productivity.

Benefits of Role Tailored User Experience

The role tailored functionality supports the role of users as it helps users:

- Perform tasks efficiently and effectively, by removing any surplus clutter.

- Easily find the information they need to perform tasks

- Provides them with a complete view of their workflow

To find out more about Role Tailored functionality within Microsoft Dynamics NAV please contact Concentrix on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]

The Evolution of CRM – Part 2 of 3

The demand for CRM has significantly increased over recent years. What’s more, the type of company implementing CRM software has changed. Traditionally only large companies with significant budgets implemented CRM. This wasn’t because smaller companies didn’t want to implement a system but because they couldn’t afford to. However this is no longer the case, CRM has evolved and there are now different implementation options available which make CRM solutions affordable for all.

Implementation Options

For the majority of companies, there are two main implementation methods:

- On Premise CRM

- Hosted CRM

So what are the differences?

On Premise CRM is the traditional method of implementation, but it also requires internal hardware & resources. However, CRM has evolved; there is now a hosted option available. Hosted CRM has made implementing a system much more available to all organisations.

While both forms of implementation provide a way to mange key customer facing aspects of an organisation from within a CRM solution, some companies are more suited to the on premise solution and other are more suited to the hosted alternative.

For smaller businesses the hosted option provides a cheap method of implementing a CRM solution at the same time as benefiting from the real business gains. For larger organisations the on premise solution is often the more appropriate option; however the hosted solution can be used as a starting point.

Benefits of Hosted CRM

- Quick to set-up

- Low initial set-up costs

- Unlikely to need extra hardware or infrastructure

- As soon as you have bought the licence you can use the software

- No lump sum payment

Benefits of On Premise CRM

- Greater control of the system

- Easier Integration

- More Secure

- No Monthly Fees

- Total ownership of the solution

- Unlimited customisation potential

It is clear that the decision about which implementation method to choose is not an easy one and will often depend on the specific requirements of an organisation.

For help, advice or more information regarding the implementation method which is right for your organisation, contact Concentrix on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]

Concentrix Membership Management System

Concentrix has developed a Membership Management System for clubs and sporting bodies. Based on Sage CRM, the system makes it easier for organisations to manage its members. Sage CRM is a globally recognised powerful and flexible CRM system used by thousands of businesses and organisations throughout the UK. Concentrix has adapted Sage CRM to meet the needs of clubs and sporting bodies, so they can:

- Manage clubs and individual members along with a full view of events, training and payments

- Follow the participation of individuals throughout their involvement in the club

- Provide a self-service website to allow members to login from home and access the service at their convenience

- Produce reports on all members and affiliates to provide information on overall membership status

- Manage, analyse and report on Key Performance indicators (KPIs)

- Find and access information quickly

The system can be significantly customised so that it will meet the precise requirements of every organisation. However, the basic framework of the system should provide enough scope for the majority of clubs and sporting organisations.   The Standard functionality includes the following:

Membership

Once an individual has joined a club, the Membership Management System will automatically assign them a membership number.

Calendar

The system has a calendar embedded within it. This provides the ability to insert any events or activities relating to your organisation.

Payment History

Within the system there are different types of payment option available, in order to accommodate different types of membership.

Documents Area

This area is extremely useful as a store of information.

Venues Area

This section shows all of the venues a club has an affiliation with.

Self-Service

Members also have access to a self-service area which gives them the ability to change certain aspects of their details. However the aspects which they can change are defined by the organisation.

The Benefits to You, Your Members, Your Club and Your Sport:

The Concentrix Membership Management System will improve the efficiency and effectiveness of each organisation through increasing the consistency of member information as well as access to it. What’s more, it will enable you to quickly analyse, manage and synchronise your activities across all points of contact. The system is easy to use and has a wide variety of features and functions which will help you build stronger relationships with existing members, target new members more effectively and drive your organisation forward. The system has a number of different benefits including:

- It enables you to build and strengthen your relationships with members, keeping them interested active and involved

- Increase your club-wide awareness of members needs

- Provides access to the system anywhere in the world, providing you have an internet connection

- Manage and track all current and historical membership details

- Deliver superior service to members

- Monitor data proactively

For more information about the Concentrix Management System, please contact Concentrix on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]

CRM in Education – New Case Study from Concentrix

Concentrix has released a new case study on CRM in higher education. One of a series of CRM case studies, the new article focuses on Darlington College, one of the largest Further Education Colleges in the North of England. It explains how Darlington College deployed Microsoft Dynamics CRM to help them engage more effectively with the local business community, streamline internal processes and increase competitiveness against other training providers.

Like many other colleges, Darlington College needed to maintain focus on their core student base. However, with increased competition from private training providers, the college also put great importance on engaging with the local business community to provide training for employees. The addition of a CRM system was an essential factor in Darlington College's drive to extend and improve business performance, primarily within Employer Engagement.

Commenting on the case study, John Odell, senior CRM consultant said “Concentrix has successfully deployed CRM systems in a variety of educational establishments. Darlington College is a great example – the CRM system helped them achieve excellent results in terms of employer engagement, and helping towards an outstanding Ofsted report”.

 

The Evolution of CRM - Part 1 of 3

In the past Customer Relationship Management was seen as a nice to have rather than a must have for the day to day running of a business. However this has changed significantly over the past few years as more and more businesses look for a ways to streamline their internal processes in an attempt to improve efficiency, effectiveness and ultimately profitability. What’s more, companies are seeing the business benefits of building relationships with existing customers and prospects. After all, it costs more to attract new customers than it does to retain existing clients and in the current economic climate the benefits of retaining existing customers are even more pronounced

So what is Customer Relationship Management?

Many organisations hold their customer and supplier information in a number of places including on spreadsheets, in people’s heads and on various pieces of paper. However, this often results in different departments working independently of each other.  Customer Relationship Management provides a new way to manage relationships within an organisation, as all customer and supplier data is held centrally within one database, therefore anyone within the organisation can access the customer data, providing they have an internet connection. Essentially CRM is all about building and retaining relationships with existing customers in order to keep them coming back. It also helps to build relationships with new clients.

However, the ‘Customer’ part of the term Customer Relationship Management is misleading as the strategy, software and processes apply equally to all relationships, not just those with customers. This can provide real advantages to many organisations as often they want to manage every relationship that they have, not just those with customers. This is a concept which Microsoft refer to as xRM where the ‘x’ can be replaced with anything.  The concept of xRM will deliver real business benefits including:

- Improved communication

- Automation – making it easier to perform administrative tasks

- Enhanced staff efficiency & effectiveness

The Future of CRM

The world of CRM is changing rapidly. It is moving from being a static source of information to a fully interactive business management tool.  This movement has occurred as a result of the explosion in the world of social networking. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked In have made the transition to the fully interactive world of CRM a must.

Social CRM provides marketers as well as sales people with a new medium through which they can communicate with customers. It also enables them to monitor conversations which occur across social networking sites and offer information and advice to organisations.

The popularity and success of social CRM is yet to be proven, but it certainly looks like it has the potential to be a popular medium through which organisations can communicate.

Concentrix is an independent CRM provider and supplies best in breed solutions including Sage CRM, Microsoft Dynamics CRM and FrontRange’s GoldMine.

For more information about xRM or social CRM, please contact Concentrix on 01509 410500 or email [email protected]

 

Sage CRM Business Partner of the Year 2009

Staff at Concentrix are feeling pretty pleased this morning. Last night (25th November), Sage held a gala dinner in Newcastle for its Business Partners. Concentrix was awarded 'Sage CRM Business Partner of the Year', as well as a place in the coveted Circle of Excellence (there are only 15 Sage Business Partners in the Circle of Excellence out of literally hundreds in the UK, so it's quite an achievement!).

Ian Dawkins, Concentrix Managing Director commented “Sage CRM is a key product for Concentrix with some outstanding features and powerful CRM functionality.  I’m really pleased that the wide range of skills, deep understanding of the software and dedication of Concentrix staff has been formally recognised”.

If you would like more details about the award, there’s a press release on the News section of the Concentrix website here.

Microsoft CRM Solutions – New Article in the Concentrix Knowledge Base

We’ve added some background information and overview of the Microsoft CRM solutions offered by Concentrix to the CRM knowledge base on the Concentrix website.  As well as providing general information about the products, the article, Microsoft CRM: Much More Than One Piece of Software – helps clarify the options available and avoid the confusion that occasionally arises about Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Hosted Microsoft CRM and the CRM functionality of Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

So to summarize, we basically offer three forms of Microsoft CRM solution:

- As Microsoft’s main CRM product, Microsoft Dynamics CRM

- As Hosted Microsoft CRM. This is the same product (Microsoft Dynamics CRM) but as a  Software as a Service (SaaS) or cloud computing solution. In other words, it is Microsoft Dynamics CRM held on secure, remote servers which Concentrix look after.

- As a CRM specific module within the business management suite Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

For clarification, the module within Microsoft Dynamics NAV is not the same product as Microsoft Dynamics CRM (it's also different again from the CRM module in Microsoft Dynamics AX). As part of Microsoft’s integrated business management solution, the CRM module in Microsoft Dynamics NAV provides good quality mid-market CRM functionality which delivers contact management and straightforward CRM functionality at a level suitable for a large number of businesses.

Occasionally organisations using Microsoft Dynamics NAV will want to use Microsoft Dynamics CRM (rather than the CRM module) and integrate the two. Concentrix can do this using specific data integration software applications. There is more than one applications we use – which one we choose depends on your business requirements and what you need from your overall system.

The article also looks at the history of Microsoft Dynamics CRM and choosing between hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM and on-premise.

If you get a chance to visit the knowledge base and have any feedback about the article, if there’s anything we’ve missed or you need more information about any of the products or services we provide, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!

Getting CRM Right Seminar

Thank you to those who attended our “Getting CRM Right Seminar” yesterday. The feedback we received was excellent. We hope you found the event informative.

To download the CRM presentation from yesterday, please click on the following link and enter the password you have been sent via email.

Download Getting CRM Right Seminar Slides Nov 09

Concentrix has helped hundreds of companies throughout the UK improve their business practices, efficiency and profits. We achieve this through close consultation during all stages of the system implementation process – from choosing the right software to configuration, training and support. We also supply hardware and IT infrastructure.

Concentrix supplies complete business solutions including Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Sage CRM, the Sage 200 suite and FrontRange's GoldMine.

If you have any questions about CRM, need help or information selecting the right solution for your organisation, or require a demonstration of any of the products we provide, please don’t hesitate to contact us on 01509 410500 or email [email protected].

The rise of Business Management Suites

The traditional method of using a variety of systems to manage a business causes inaccuracies, islands of information and poor knowledge across a business, and this often impacts on profitability. However, the days of running several unconnected systems to manage a business are quickly becoming a thing of the past, due to the rise of ERP and this is not a bad thing.

ERP (now more often called Business Management Suites) have significantly increased in popularity over the past few years as more and more businesses realise that implementing a solution can streamline internal processes, enabling them to reduce their overall operating costs and subsequently enhance their profitability.

So what Business Management Solutions are available?

Concentrix is a Microsoft Gold Partner and Sage Accredited Business Partner and supplies ‘best in breed’ solutions including Sage 200 Suite and Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Both Sage 200 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV are extremely popular solutions, and we have a comparison of Sage 200 and Microsoft Dynamics NAV on our website.

Sage 200 Suite

Sage 200 is a genuine business wide application, so rather than having to run separate, an unconnected piece of software to manage your business, Sage 200 enables you to do it from within one piece of software. What’s more, because Sage 200 is an integrated solution which connects with all the main functions of your business, it delivers massive gains in efficiency and effectiveness.

Sage 200 is a modular solution. However the two foundation modules are:

- Sage 200 Financials

- Sage 200 CRM

There are also a variety of industry and process specific modules available including:

- Sage 200 Commercials

- Sage 200 Project Accounting

- Sage 200 Construction

- Sage 200 Manufacturing

- Sage 200 Point of Sale

- Sage 200 Wholesale and Retail

- Sage 200 Business Analysis and Forecasting

Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a cost effective, robust and highly flexible mid-market business management solution. It is a fully integrated solution which will bring your whole organisation together as it integrates all departments including, Manufacturing, Sales, Marketing and Human Resources.

In addition Microsoft Dynamics NAV has extensive business intelligence and reporting facilities which will help you to uncover valuable nuggets of information, enabling you to make more informed business decisions.

By comparison to Sage 200, the design of Microsoft Dynamics NAV is based around people’s roles and the tasks they perform. Essentially Microsoft Dynamics works with people, the way they do their jobs, and the way they work in their departments.

The standard functionality of Microsoft Dynamics NAV includes financial management, supply chain management, manufacturing, sales, marketing, human resource management, project management and service management. It also has a standalone accounting solution.

For more information about Sage 200 or Microsoft Dynamics NAV, or for more information about Business Management Solutions please contact Concentrix on 0509 410500 or email [email protected]

 

Concentrix Customer Surgery

The next Concentrix Customer Surgery is on Tuesday 8^th December.

The Customer Surgery gives existing customers the opportunity to spend an hour with one of our CRM, Accounts or Business Solutions Specialists completely free of charge, while enjoying some Christmas themed refreshments. You can ask our team about anything ranging from your existing system, to software upgrades, tips, advice and future developments.

Date: 8^th December 2009

Location: Concentrix Ltd, 20 Granite Way, Mountsorrel, Leicestershire LE12 7TZ

To book your place*, either email [email protected]or call 01509 410500 by Monday 30^th November.

*Please note to attend the surgery you have to book a place first