Dynamics CRM News You Can Use, October 2009

Dear colleague,

I’ve been busy lately, working on a project with Microsoft authoring updated self-paced E-Learning courses for Dynamics CRM Online. The courses are going to be great (if I do say so myself!), and I’ll post links to sample content as soon as I can.

With that project, plus my company’s somewhat rocky migration of our web site to a new platform (www.IMGinc.net), well…September got away from me, so without further ado, here’s the October edition of Dynamics CRM News You Can Use:

Upcoming Dynamics CRM User Group meeting

C360 is the leading provider of add-on products for Dynamics CRM, and we’re excited to have them lined up for a presentation at the October meeting of the Dynamics CRM User Group. Representatives from C360 will kick off the session with a demonstration of their best-selling “Dynamics CRM Productivity Pack”, and Richard will follow up with a presentation on their “BI Analytics” product. The meeting will be held October 29 at 3:00 PM Central time, and you can attend online or in person at the Microsoft office in Downers Grove. For more information and to register, please visit this page.

Dynamics CRM and the XRM Platform

The emergence of Dynamics CRM as the platform for “XRM” application development has been an important theme lately, and at the September DCRMUG meeting, Microsoft’s Bob Piskule gave an excellent presentation on the topic. We were impressed by how well-developed the Microsoft messaging is; here’s an article on the session with a link to the recording. Here are a couple of related articles you might find interesting:

• The Emergence of Dynamics CRM as the XRM Platform
• More Thoughts on XRM; Taking the “C” out of CRM  

Cloud Computing with Dynamics CRM Online

Over the last 12 months, we’ve (almost!) completely migrated our IT services from on-premise to cloud-based. The transition was wrenching at times, but the result will be worth it! Dynamics CRM Online was (and is) by far the best part of our migration. Here’s an article I wrote about our migration, and here’s a more specific one on the Top 5 Reasons to Like Dynamics CRM Online.

Building Workflows in Dynamics CRM

The workflow engine is one of the very best things about Dynamics CRM, and it’s the same thing whether you’re using the on-premise or Online version. My book — Building Workflows in Dynamics CRM 4.0 — continues to do well; if you’ve purchased it I thank you, and if you haven’t, I recommend it!  If you’re wondering about how workflow will change in the upcoming 5.0 release, anybody who purchases the current edition of my book gets the updated 5.0 edition free when I publish it shortly after the new product ships.





Thanks again for your continued support, and let me know what you think of our new web site (remember: www.IMGinc.net). I know it isn’t fancy yet…but at least it’s always up!

Regards,

Richard Knudson, CEO, IMG
Microsoft Gold Certified Partner
www.IMGinc.net
www.DynamicsCRMTrickBag.com
www.DynamicsCRMuserGroup.com