Taking Microsoft CRM for a Ride
CRM software, which stands for customer relationship management software has been on the rise for the last few years, as it continues to be a more and more important aspect of doing business when dealing with customers.
There are many different aspects to CRM, many of which can be found in software that packages all of your CRM needs into one.
Microsoft CRM is a perfect example of a comprehensive software program that will offer some of the best solutions for CRM. Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is software intended to help you run your company smoothly and with as little problems as possible.
Business moves so fast, it’s hard to keep and eye on sometimes. This usually requires companies to re examine the way their business is run in regard to strategies, partners, direction, sales, pretty much any variable found in a business.
With so much competition nowadays, it is very possible to see customers just pick up and leave without ever knowing why.
If there was a problem you may not have known about, how would you be able to predict, react, or fix the problem to keep your customers from moving on to another company?
The Microsoft Dynamic CRM 3.0 suite offers you the opportunity to gain new found levels of customer intelligence. This software gives any customer service agent what they need to impress customers and keep them that way. Using the software, it is possible to create a database of customer information, available to you at anytime.
Easy Office Integration
This all will be found right along Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Office, making it easy to have every tool needed for a workday right at your fingertips.From outlook, employees can easily launch the CRM sales, marketing, and customer service tools with a click of a button. This helps employees to solve customer problems, make sales and marketing decisions easily, and receive strategic information for the company.
Microsoft prides themselves on the way the CRM software works, because it incorporates tools most commonly used by employees within a company, and it works well.
Experience
Looking deeper into the software, Microsoft CRM contains state of the art sales tools to make business stronger with planning, implementing, and monitoring sales attempts. Personally, I found this a good way to build more business for the company I worked for and used this software in.I was able to quickly build a lead list, create a direct mailing advertisement using the CRM software, and launch the small campaign within about an hour. Better yet, Microsoft CRM tracked the results for me, letting me know how well the campaign worked and giving me tips to making it better the next time around.
The integrated scheduling system is a great complement to the customer database. If call backs need to be scheduled or a follow up call placed, Microsoft CRM will help you keep your word to customers.
Fully Customizable
The Microsoft CRM software is completely customizable for any company even novice users can easily do this.It can be done with only a few clicks of the mouse, no code writing needed! I found this to be extremely helpful for someone like myself who does not have a lot of knowledge on creating code or software applications on a computer.
The most impressive part of this Microsoft CRM software is the fact that everything you need is literally always right there. It doesn’t take a lot of time to learn how to use any aspect of the software; therefore it is a perfect match for many companies that have employees who will use the software.
System Requirements
The system requirements for this software are pretty easy to achieve, with a 700 MHz or higher computer and 512 MB internal memory.Depending on the type of Microsoft CRM software you decide to purchase for your company, pricing will be a little different. The following is a breakdown of the different software available, along with pricing:
Microsoft CRM software that requires only the customer service server:
- Microsoft CRM Customer Service Server- $995
- Microsoft CRM Customer Service Standard- $395 per named user
- Microsoft CRM Customer Service Professional- $795 per named user
- Microsoft CRM Sales Server- $995
- Microsoft CRM Sales Standard- $395 per named user
- Microsoft CRM Sales Professional- $795 per named user
- Microsoft CRM Customer Service and Sales Server- $995 each
- Microsoft CRM Suite Standard- $695 per named user
- Microsoft CRM Suite Professional- $1295 per named user
The standard customer service software comes with account and contact management, calendar, notes and attachments, direct email through the Microsoft CRM exchange connector, activity and task management, a search function, report capabilities, case and account management, and even a few other small things.
The Microsoft CRM sales software offers the same type of applications, but geared more toward a sales company. The professional suite software has everything the standard software offers, but includes things like lead routing, sales literature, product catalog features, work flow management, auto responses, and a few others.
When all is said and done, Microsoft CRM software is definitely a big player in the CRM world, especially in the small and medium sized business realm.
