Microsoft CRM

Have you heard of Microsoft CRM? Unless you are in the CRM business, I doubt you have. As the name suggests it is a customer relationship management package, actually known as Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0. So whats special about it? Don't we have SIEBEL? Or even better - don't we have SAP - the baap of CRM?

I had all these questions and more on my mind when I was told that my next project is on MS CRM. And I was packed off to Hyderabad from good ol' Mangalore. And straight away started training in CRM 3.0. And believe me folks - its a wonderful package. It has almost everything you look for in a CRM package, and it is very very light weight. That settles the question of why not SIEBEL or SAP - these are heavy duty packages!! So it is ideal for SMEs but can also be used for departments within larger organizations.

Most of the entities an organization will look for are taken care of - you have Accounts, Customers, Leads, Opportunities, Activities, Campaigns, Cases - pretty much everything you need. Basically it caters to needs of Sales, Marketing & Service. It supports creation and assigning of various roles to various users in the organization and you can set access privileges accordingly.

But its main strength is in the flexibility and extensibility. It supports variety of customizations which makes it very flexible and helps you tailor it to your organization's requirements. At the same time it supports creation and usage of custom entities which you can create and use as part of the system. [This is where my role comes in - the entensibility is through .NET - the whole MS CRM framework is based on .NET - and that's what I have worked on for 2 years!].

As if all that was not enough, being a Microsoft product, it integrates well with Outlook client. So you can forget about the web interface and have everything right inside your mailbox! It appears as a separate folder (looks like a PST). For example - A user who is assigned a case by his manager, will see it right in his inbox under the activities section, with deadlines and workflow! Isn't that nice?

Now, its not as easy to install the whole thing. The CRM Server needs to integrate with the Exchange Server and that needs to depend on an Active Directory server (Domain Controller). Plus the CRM Server will need a SQL database to store all its information (SQL Server 2005 is proffered, though it will work with SQL Server 2000 as well). So there you are - 4 servers - and assuming you will need backups for each - 8 servers. This is the ideal configuration though if necessary, you can have everything other than the Exchange Server on the same machine :).

Luckily I have got a chance to try installing the whole setup, not once but twice! Once on fresh PCs, where you start right from the OS. That is relatively simpler. But the second time was on existing systems - where dependencies will create unforeseen issues at every step. But it was a learning experience which I thoroughly enjoyed. This is only the beginning and I am looking forward to continue learning this. I know this is not my core competency, but then extra knowledge is always welcome!!

Interestingly, I have been asked to write Microsoft certification in CRM. I don't know how difficult it is going to be, but looks like an interesting thing to do. I'll be happy to supplement my MCTS [for the uninitiated: Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist :) :)] with a CRM certification!!

Cheers to a new beginning ...

For more info, see the MS CRM website.