Microsoft Dynamics CRM Accelerators: Part 2

In our previous post, we highlighted the Social Networking, Portal Integration, and Partnership Relationship Management (PRM) Microsoft Dynamics CRM Accelerators.  In Part 2, we’ll be featuring 3 more Accelerators for CRM notifications, event management and sales forecasting.  There are currently 13 CRM Accelerators available. at no additional cost to current Microsoft Dynamics CRM users and partners.

CRM Notifications Accelerator

Through the CRM notifications accelerator, users are able to subscribe to the CRM “business events” that are significant to them, e.g. a salesperson is interested in new leads and opportunities assigned to them whereas a customer service representative is interested in new service cases assigned to them. Once the user has subscribed (each user manages their subscription profile) to the types of events that are important to them they can elect how they want these event notifications to be delivered. Notifications are delivered via a Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feed and can be consumed with many desktop tools including Microsoft Outlook 2007 or the standard newsfeed Windows Vista gadget.

Event Management Accelerator

Manage the planning, execution, tracking and reporting requirements for events with the Event Management Accelerator, which focuses on three areas of event management, namely:

1. Event Planning – logistics around an event such as:
   • Booking the venue
   • Presenters
   • Catering
   • Presentation content preparation
2. Event Attendance – all aspects around managing the attendees such as:
   • Inviting the target audience via phone, fax, letter and email
   • Managing registrations via phone, letter, fax, email and web
   • Tracking all people who actually attended the event
3. Event Review – Microsoft Dynamics CRM reports that measure the effectiveness of the event:
   • How many people attended the event?
   • What was the revenue impact of the event?

A core component of the event management accelerator is the web registration portal that customers and partners can deploy to allow web registration for their events and track these registrations in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  The solution also consists of a plugin to manage registration counts and waitlists.

Sales Forecasting Accelerator

The sales forecasting accelerator extends and enriches the out-of-the-box sales forecasting capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0. Principally, sales users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM can review their individual sales pipeline and quickly classify opportunities as committed, excluded or upside. Sales managers can monitor and track sales targets, budgets and performance against these forecasts for specific time periods (e.g. months and quarters).

New Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 reports that summarize sales performance for the organization as a whole or for individual salespeople serve as a foundation for the sales forecasting accelerator.

Request Socius’ assistance in implementing any of the CRM Accelerators.