Since the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011, Microsoft has continued to grow the product with a number of updates to allow for greater client and team interaction possibilities. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 now available we explore this new release.
The world around us is constantly changing at a lightning pace; the evolutions of IT products are keeping pace with the environment. During my period as a developer for the “world’s local bank” we ran experiments with Palm handheld devices. At that time the data transfer to the Palm’s could only be done via a data cable attached to a PC so as soon as you removed the device the data was slowly going out of date. It was not long until Blackberry started to solve the problem with mobile solutions that required limited docking and interaction on the go.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 has been built with the Mobile user in mind. My last Dynamics CRM 2013 blog looked at the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 13 apps developed for iPad and Windows 8 devices, now let’s look at the mobile experience.
Microsoft has developed dedicated apps for Windows 8 and iPhone with Android coming in early next year. They have also developed the online experience via the mobile browser which replicates the app. We have tested the mobile view using Android 4.2.1 “Jelly Bean” and the mobile experience is exactly the same as on the iPhone and Windows 8 phone CRM Dynamics 13 apps.
Logging onto our Microsoft Dynamics CRM 13 mobile instance we get a nice clean graphical and text interface which shows all our standard entities. If I select organisations I get an entire list of my active organisation in alphabetical order all in big clear readable fonts. At the foot of the screen are a search button and a new record button for new data entry. Clicking on data entry allows me just to enter top level information about a new organisation, their name, address and primary contact. This way I will have a new record created on my CRM which I can work on when back at base of for one of my colleagues to develop.
At Arkom we develop bespoke CRM Dynamics solutions as eXtended Relationship Management (xRM) extensions. We were pleasantly surprised to see that these extensions were available to view in the Mobile experience. This allows any mobile worker to manage any xRm data on the go as well as their standard CRM information.
The data can be made available as read only or can be open to full edit rights allowing the mobile worker to interact directly with the data. New organisations, contacts or just about any entity data can be entered into the view which instantly updates the core data.
If you want to see more of what Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 can offer, we are running a discovery session. This is aimed at either organisations who have Dynamics CRM 2011 or CRM v4.0 and want to see what’s new or for those wanting to take the first steps into Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The session will be held in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. You can book onto the session by following this link http://discover-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2013-rss.eventbrite.co.uk/