Microsoft CRM USA Nationwide Remote Support

Remember old good days when your company probably had Great Plains Dynamics? If you are in San Francisco Bay Area you had local Great Plains Software partner consulting company, who served you basically coming onsite and charging you four hours minimum, even if the problem deserved 5-min fix? This was at the end of 20th century and remote support technologies were not very advanced Citrix was making good progress and taking market over from Symantec PCAnywhere. Today, when Microsoft Terminal Server and Citrix are remote support standards and IT department uses them to host application server for nation-wide and world-wide users, you should probably be thinking of getting remote support for your ERP and CRM systems. In this small article well take a look at Microsoft CRM remote support, customization, reporting, implementation and integration.

• Why Microsoft CRM Remote Support? Microsoft CRM market niche is still narrow and MS CRM consulting companies do not have enough clientele in their respected locals markets: Houston, Los Angeles, Chicago, New York even in these hypermarkets. In order to survive Microsoft CRM VAR went to nationwide and even international markets to get clients base.

• Technology-driven consulting companies. Microsoft CRM has web and MS Outlook clients and so by its nature it is web application. When you are considering hosting your web site you typically do not care where hosting company is located you consider price and quality. Microsoft CRM could be hosted with .Net hosting companies and implementation could be done remotely with web-session-based training.

• Customization. Today, even if Microsoft Business Solutions has open technology Microsoft CRM SDK the complexity of the specific tasks (messaging through Lotus Notes Domino, generic MAPI, advanced MS CRM Exchange connector) requires precision programming, which should be outsourced to nationwide development centers. As our experience indicates clients are demanding the expertise, not just cheap generic developers. Whoever comes for the cheap price they usually get poor results.

• Large Business ERP. Microsoft CRM proved its market strength and ability to automate large publicly traded corporation. It sits in Microsoft SQL Server and uses all the spectrum of Microsoft technologies: .Net, Active Directories, MS Exchange, Full-Text Search, Crystal Reports Enterprise. We are confident in Microsoft CRM ability to automate Aerospace & Defense, Pharmaceutical, Supply Chain Management, Medical & Hospitals, Distribution & Logistics, Oil & Gas, Wholesale & Retail, Education, Non-for-profit

• Integration. Microsoft CRM has standard integration tool with Microsoft Great Plains, Navision and Axapta integrations are on the way. However you can integrate Microsoft CRM with heterogeneous databases, such as Oracle, DB2, Lotus Notes Domino, Sybase, Pervasive SQL or Ctree/Faircomm.

• Web-Sessions and Skype training. Web Seminars are normal these days and you should be OK with the idea of remote web training. This will allow you to get the best expertise with moderate price.

You can always have us help you, give us a call: 1-630-961-5918 or 1-866-528-0577, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is consultant and CTO in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) Microsoft Business Solutions partner, serving clients in Illinois, New York, California, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Arizona, Virginia, Minnesota, Canada, UK, Europe, Australia, Asia, Russia. He is Microsoft Great Plains certified master, Great Plains Dexterity, Microsoft CRM SDK C#.Net, Crystal Repots developer.

help@albaspectrum.com

Sales People are NOT Immune to Bionic Automation

If you look up the definition of the word - bionic, here is what you will find:

A machine that is patterned after principles found in humans or nature; for example, robots. It also refers to artificial devices implanted into humans replacing or extending normal human functions.

In the printing industry, automation of many processes has dramatically changed the production of printing. The new digital printing systems take the traditional lithography functions of putting ink on paper and replace it with automated digital technology. In many cases, the untrained eye and even some very well trained eyes can't distinguish the difference. The quality and clarity of the images produced are excellent. This is one reason quick printers have adopted digital print technology.

However, quality is just one of the reasons. The primary reason for new technology adoption is the automated benefits of machines replacing the talented craft of a journeyman printer. Today, journeyman printers are difficult to find and traditional printing is becoming a lost craft like the blacksmith was in the horse and buggy era. The marvel of the automobile revolutionized the transportation industry just as technology and automated communications are revolutionizing the printing industry today.

If Sales Is a Process, It Can Be Automated When you ask a sales professional about what they do, they will tell you that selling is a craft and a process. When you take away the firm handshake, the voice of reason and convincing assurance you are making the right decision, the selling process can be automated. With today's technology and communication tools, 80% of what leads up to the closing sale can be diagramed and processed. This is bionic selling because these functions can be patterned after principles of humans.

If the bionic patterns of the selling process are designed to follow the best practices of selling and automated with the push of a button by a human, you have a great system.

Sales are NOT immune from automation and businesses can either take advantage of automating the selling process or fight the technology. Where does this leave a business that doesn't adopt the automation of a selling process? In a few years, you will find them listed in the white pages next to the blacksmith or you won't find them around at all.

How to Get Started If you are in a manufacturing business like printing, the production system is mapped out for efficiency and speed. Just look at some of today's digital printing systems and you will know what we mean. If you get a chance to ask a printing business owner to layout their production process, they can list this quickly and clearly. Processes in the manufacturing and printing business are foundational and printers are always looking for ways to make the production process more efficient. A perfect example of this is the Six Sigma trend towards quality and precision because it places a focus on the process of manufacturing.

If you ask most business owners to map out their selling process, you will get a blank stare and a questioned look that leads to fear. Most salespeople can't recite the selling process and some, so called experts, don't understand the process well enough to teach it. Here are a few things you can expect from a sales automation system. These are the functions I build into my sales automation solutions.

• Automation of 80% or more of routine sales activities
• On-line features that make selling and selling management a virtual process.
• Automated sales management notification of good and bad performance activities.
• Adoption and execution of the four primary methods of communications.
• A system that salespeople and sales management will enjoy implementing.
• A system that can be adopted quickly and is affordable with guaranteed results.

One of the important factors is the ability to embrace technology and NOT be afraid of change. Every industry uses a slightly different pattern of success and requires a customized sales process. This is where an expert in mapping out your selling process is required. Look for someone who understands your business. Once you have this mapped out, execute the automation with a passion and you will quickly reap the rewards of bionic selling.

by Steve Martinez, President of Selling Magic and a Mastermind Sales Process Automation Guru http://www.impactivator.com.