CRM Archives | DMC, Inc. https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/category/digital-workplace-solutions/crm/ Tue, 23 Dec 2025 15:48:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.8.3 https://cdn.dmcinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/17193803/site-icon-150x150.png CRM Archives | DMC, Inc. https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/category/digital-workplace-solutions/crm/ 32 32 Dynamics 365 Sales Pro: Get Your Business on Track with Four Months Free https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/19608/dynamics-365-sales-pro-get-your-business-on-track-with-four-months-free/ Mon, 30 Nov 2020 09:44:23 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/19608/dynamics-365-sales-pro-get-your-business-on-track-with-four-months-free/ Even in today’s unprecedented and uncertain economy, sales are still the number one priority for businesses. To adjust to this new economic landscape, a sudden increase in remote work, and less personal oversight, companies need to create a well-defined sales process. Dynamics 365 Sales Pro helps these businesses establish their sales process, win deals, and […]

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Even in today’s unprecedented and uncertain economy, sales are still the number one priority for businesses. To adjust to this new economic landscape, a sudden increase in remote work, and less personal oversight, companies need to create a well-defined sales process. Dynamics 365 Sales Pro helps these businesses establish their sales process, win deals, and track future sales projections.

Features

Dynamics 365 Sales Pro gives SMB users an enterprise quality Customer Relation Management (CRM) tool to help manage their sales processes. Companies can organize leads, opportunities, accounts, and contacts all in a single application that integrates seamlessly with the rest of Microsoft's cloud-based applications.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales Pro dashboard

Image Source

Licensing Offer

While Dynamics 365 Sales Pro offers functionality and capabilities that are vitally important for a business’s success, it is not a cheap license. Especially in our current economic environment, many companies simply cannot afford it. Microsoft recognized this and has come out with a great new offer for their customers. Any new Dynamics 365 users who purchase an annual subscription of Dynamics 365 through Microsoft's Cloud Solution Provider program between now and June 30, 2021 is eligible for four months of free licenses.

If you are interested in taking advantage of this offer or would just like to hear more about Dynamics 365 Sales Pro, please reach out to the DMC CRM team.

Learn more about DMC’s CRM services.

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Integrating Salesforce with your Office 365 Environment https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/21293/integrating-salesforce-with-your-office-365-environment/ Tue, 09 Jul 2019 09:53:03 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/21293/integrating-salesforce-with-your-office-365-environment/ In this blog post, we are going to explore Microsoft Flow’s ability to integrate Salesforce with Office 365 and other environments. However, before we begin, it is important to discuss what the uses cases for this are. Why use Microsoft Flow when Salesforce already has a suite of process automation tools (Process Builder, Salesforce Flow, Approvals) […]

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In this blog post, we are going to explore Microsoft Flow’s ability to integrate Salesforce with Office 365 and other environments.

However, before we begin, it is important to discuss what the uses cases for this are. Why use Microsoft Flow when Salesforce already has a suite of process automation tools (Process Builder, Salesforce Flow, Approvals) in its arsenal?

If you want the entire process to live within Salesforce, then the Salesforce native capabilities will work great. However, if you want your process to update any external systems, Microsoft Flow is a great option because it allows integration with multiple platforms without the need for a developer.

To begin, we will create a new blank Flow. For our trigger, we will search for “Salesforce” and choose the “When a record is modified” trigger action.

integrating salesforce with flow

Next, we will select our Salesforce environment (production or sandbox) and the API version. After selecting the “Sign in” button, sign in using your Salesforce credentials.

login to salesforce

After this, you’ll select the Salesforce object that you want to trigger the Flow. In this example, we’ll select opportunities.

choosing opportunities

If we select “Advanced Options,” we will be given additional filtering options. In this example, we only want the Flow to run when a large opportunity (greater than $250,000) reaches the “Proposal/Price Quote” stage of the sales process. To do this, we use Open Data Protocol (OData).

In this example, I entered “Stage eq ‘Proposal/Price Quote’ and Amount gt 250000.”

modifying a record

To view a full list of OData filter capabilities, see this link here

It is also essential to make sure you are using the correct field names within the filter query. In Salesforce, fields have both a Field Label, the name you see on a record, and a Field Name, the name you use when calling the field via an API. For OData filters, make sure you use the Field Name.

To see a full list of all field labels and names in Salesforce go to Setup > Object Manager > Opportunity > Fields & Relationships.

setting up opportunities in salesforce

Now that we have correctly configured the trigger action, we have access to all of the opportunity’s dynamic data such as the Account ID, Amount, Opportunity Name, etc…

flow dynamic content

Next, we could:

  • Post a message in a Slack channel or Microsoft Teams letting the team know about the opportunity.
  • Start a multi-step approval process to review the price and scope of the opportunity.
  • Create a new project site in SharePoint.
  • Create a pre-populated proposal in a SharePoint document library using the Microsoft Word connector outlined in my previous blog post.
  • The Salesforce connector also gives the ability to modify salesforce records which allows us to move an opportunity to the next stage, create new leads, create a new task, etc…

For this example, we will keep it simple by posting a message in a Slack channel.

In the choose an action search box type in “Slack” and select “Post message.”

posting a slack message

Then create your message using the dynamic Salesforce data.

creating the slack message

Now if we trigger the flow by moving an opportunity worth over $250,000 to the “Proposal/Price Quote” stage in Salesforce, we can see that it correctly posts in our Slack channel.

final slack message

Contact us today for Salesforce development or Microsoft Flow solutions. Learn more about our Digital Workplace Solutions team and service offerings.

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Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/22934/dynamics-365-for-sales-professional/ Mon, 02 Jul 2018 13:28:28 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/22934/dynamics-365-for-sales-professional/ In my last post I discussed Microsoft's Dynamics 365 for Sales offering. That app was geared towards enterprise-level CRM customers, and while it is significantly cheaper than its main competitor, Salesforce, it is still too expensive for many sales teams in the SMB (Small and Midsized Business) market. Almost two years after the original Sales […]

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In my last post I discussed Microsoft's Dynamics 365 for Sales offering. That app was geared towards enterprise-level CRM customers, and while it is significantly cheaper than its main competitor, Salesforce, it is still too expensive for many sales teams in the SMB (Small and Midsized Business) market.

Almost two years after the original Sales app was released, Microsoft rolled out the SMB version of their sales app, Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional. The Sales Professional app is roughly 30% cheaper than the enterprise-level app ($65 vs $95), and it focuses on offering the best value for smaller sales teams while also retaining many features of Microsoft’s top-rated CRM platform. As a  Microsoft built product, Dynamics 365 apps to have unbeatable integration with Office 365 and its variety of applications like Outlook, Power BI, and Excel.

Foundational Features

The Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional app allows for unlimited access and customization to the following entities. These are the most foundational features for small sales teams who are looking to begin a successful CRM implementation.

  • Dashboards
  • Accounts
  • Contacts
  • Activities
  • Leads
  • Opportunities
  • Quotes
  • Orders
  • Products
  • Price Lists
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing Lists

 

Advanced Features

The Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional app also offers limited access to some of the more advanced features in the Dynamics 365 CRM suite. These features will most likely be used sparingly by smaller sales teams, and are not as critical to the day-to-day operation of the CRM platform. The below features are available to Sales Professional users, but on a limited basis.

  • Forms – Max 2 per entity
  • Custom Entities – Max 15
  • Guided Business Process Flows – Max 5
  • Custom Workflows – Max 15
  • Reporting Customizations – Max 5
     

Enterprise-Level Features

The Sales Professional app completely withholds the following capabilities that are available in the enterprise-level Dynamics 365 for Sales app. These features are exclusively built for larger scale sales teams. There is good news for growing sales teams who may find themselves in need of these entities and features in the future. Both applications are built on the exact same platform, and as a result upgrading from the SMB app to the enterprise app is a very simple process.

  • Competitors, sales goals, and territory management
  • Product taxonomy, relationships, and hierarchies
  • Social engagement
  • Gamification
  • Mobile offline sync
  • InsideView
  • Dynamics 365 for Sales embedded intelligence.

If you are interested in learning more about Microsoft Dynamics 365, contact the DMC CRM team. We would welcome an opportunity to help you figure out if Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales Professional  is a good fit for your organization.

Learn more about DMC's Microsoft partnership.

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DMC Joins Salesforce Partner Program https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/23272/dmc-joins-salesforce-partner-program/ Tue, 03 Apr 2018 08:38:54 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/23272/dmc-joins-salesforce-partner-program-2/ DMC is proud to announce that we have joined the Salesforce Partner Program! Rick Rietz, DMC’s Director of Consulting Services, is thrilled about the new partnership: “Our team is very excited about joining the Salesforce partner program, and our clients are too. We’ve been helping clients with Salesforce development for quite some time, but we never […]

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DMC is proud to announce that we have joined the Salesforce Partner Program!

Rick Rietz, DMC’s Director of Consulting Services, is thrilled about the new partnership: “Our team is very excited about joining the Salesforce partner program, and our clients are too. We’ve been helping clients with Salesforce development for quite some time, but we never marketed our ability to provide these services. With newly acquired access to training that is exclusive to Salesforce partners, our consultants and developers are taking the extra step to earn Salesforce certifications.”

Why Are We Doing This?

  1. We see a need to offer a variety of CRM solutions. Many of our clients already use Salesforce or are considering adopting it as their CRM platform. We also have many new clients who either want to begin using Salesforce or are looking for consultants who can help them evaluate their CRM options.
     
  2. DMC has the skills to do it well. DMC's team of business analysts and developers have many years of experience working on CRM projects, including Salesforce. This experience, coupled with partner training and certifications, give us an even greater ability to tailor the Salesforce Sales Cloud® to fit the sales process of our clients.
     
  3. Salesforce is a good solution. Salesforce is an industry leader and one of the top CRM solutions on the market. Salesforce will complement our many other service offerings.

What Does This Mean For DMC's Current Service Offerings?

We realize that given DMC's 10+ years as a Microsoft Gold Partner, joining the Salesforce Partner Program may come as a surprise to some. DMC will continue to provide all current Microsoft service offerings alongside Salesforce, including Microsoft's Dynamics 365 for Sales.

Additionally, DMC is now better equipped to guide our existing and future clients toward the best CRM solution based on business needs. According to Rick Rietz, “This will advance our skills and enable us to tackle more complex sales automation solutions for DMC’s current and future clients. We will also be in a much better position to help clients understand the differences and tradeoffs between Salesforce Sales Cloud® and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales when selecting a CRM platform.”

What Types of Salesforce Services Will DMC Offer?

DMC is now offering the following services as a part of its Salesforce service offering:

  • Salesforce Sales Cloud® Consulting
  • Data Migration Services
  • Integration Services
  • Custom Application Development
  • Training and Support

Learn more about DMC’s new Salesforce service offering. Contact us if you want help getting your CRM initiative started.

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CRM Showdown: Microsoft Dynamics 365 vs. Salesforce https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/23715/crm-showdown-microsoft-dynamics-365-vs-salesforce/ Thu, 16 Nov 2017 16:04:51 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/23715/crm-showdown-microsoft-dynamics-365-vs-salesforce/ Do you need a CRM? Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) have a place in almost every organization that works with customers and partners. A fully featured CRM system provides benefit to just about everyone in an organization, especially those in Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing roles. Successful organizations will reach a point where they outgrow […]

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Do you need a CRM?

Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) have a place in almost every organization that works with customers and partners. A fully featured CRM system provides benefit to just about everyone in an organization, especially those in Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing roles. Successful organizations will reach a point where they outgrow spreadsheets and simple contact management systems. They then require a fully-featured CRM that provides critical capabilities:

  • Visibility into the sales pipeline
  • A comprehensive view of interactions with customers and partners
  • Ability to plan and execute marketing campaigns for lead generation and nurturing

State of the CRM Market

The CRM market is growing fast and still very fragmented. According to a May 2016 Gartner Study, There are four clear market leaders in the CRM space, and they still make up less than 50% of the CRM market combined. Of the four leading vendors, only Salesforce and Microsoft have consistently gained market share over the last five years. 

Behind these CRM market leaders are dozens of other small vendors. Many are ERP vendors with bolt-on CRM components to help sales teams with the quoting process. Still more are free and very low-cost, no frills CRM offerings geared towards the SMB market. These other CRM vendors can meet the needs of some smaller organizations, but they often lack key features and are unable to scale as an organization grows. For a full-featured CRM solution, the choice frequently comes down to choosing between Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365.

 Microsoft is recognized as a leader in CRM systems
Source: Forrester Research Sales Force Automation Solutions Q2 2017

What if I Choose Salesforce?

Salesforce has been the CRM market leader for the better part of the last decade. Being the first mainstream & fully-featured cloud-based CRM solution has given Salesforce a market advantage, and they have used their success to bring a huge number of additional add-on features to market. The biggest knock against Salesforce is its cost. Their most popular Sales product retails at $150 per user/month, and their most popular Customer Service product retails at $150 per user/month. The cost to add on their Marketing product is not published. You should be able to save some money if you buy multiple product offerings. In addition to their higher base costs, Salesforce charges additional fees for mobile device access, off-line access, and workflow integration. Storage is also a big pain point for many Salesforce customers, with additional storage costs that can go all the way up to $250 per GB!

Salesforce is certainly a safe choice. It’s not going away, and their constant increase in add-on capabilities will ensure that Salesforce continues to be a market leader for the foreseeable future.

What if I Choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales?

Over the last three years, Microsoft has invested heavily in their CRM offering, Microsoft Dynamics 365 (formerly known as Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online), bringing its feature set to a level that closely matches Salesforce, but at a much lower price. Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Enterprise Edition bundles together Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, and PowerApps for mobile devices, for a retail price of $115 per user/month. This is a dramatic difference in price when compared to Salesforce. In addition to the bundled price, Sales, Field Services, Customer Service, and Marketing can be broken out into individual apps for $95 per user/month.  These Apps include mobile device access and workflow integration for no additional charge, and additional storage costs are much more reasonable at $9.99 per Gigabyte/month. Some other things Dynamics 365 has going for it:

  • Office 365 integration makes it compelling for businesses already using Office 365
  • The LinkedIn acquisition will certainly lead to integration with Dynamics 365 and boost its appeal

Microsoft continues to invest heavily in Dynamics 365 and will continue working hard to gain market share. Like Salesforce, it’s not going away anytime soon. It’s likely that Dynamics 365 will continue to add features at a rapid pace. For some organizations, this will be a concern, but for most, it will be welcomed. 

If you are interested in learning more about Microsoft Dynamics 365, contact the DMC CRM team. We would welcome an opportunity to help you figure out if Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales is a good fit for your organization. 

Learn more about DMC's Microsoft CRM services. 

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DMC to Present at the Allinial Global 2017 Technology Fly-In & Roundtable https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/24015/dmc-to-present-at-the-allinial-global-2017-technology-fly-in-roundtable/ Wed, 02 Aug 2017 13:41:16 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/24015/dmc-to-present-at-the-allinial-global-2017-technology-fly-in-roundtable/ DMC's Director of Consulting Services, Rick Rietz, will lead a presentation at the Allinial Global 2017 Technology Fly-In & Roundtable. The session will be held on September 19 from 8:30-10:00 a.m. at The Westin Denver International Airport in Denver, CO. Rick's presentation will provide guidance on planning and implementing Microsoft’s cloud solutions, including Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure. Attendees will learn how […]

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DMC's Director of Consulting Services, Rick Rietz, will lead a presentation at the Allinial Global 2017 Technology Fly-In & Roundtable. The session will be held on September 19 from 8:30-10:00 a.m. at The Westin Denver International Airport in Denver, CO.

Rick's presentation will provide guidance on planning and implementing Microsoft’s cloud solutions, including Office 365, Dynamics 365, and Azure. Attendees will learn how to evaluate these cloud solutions and to determine which ones are right for their business. 

Event Agenda

  • Office 365 Applications
  • Dynamics 365 Applications
  • Azure Platform Offerings
  • Licensing for the Microsoft Cloud
  • Tips for Implementing Microsoft Cloud Solutions
  • Question & Answer Session

About Allinial Global
Allinial Global is an association of independently-owned accounting and consulting firms with members in North America and throughout the world through its international affiliations. We provide our members with specialized technical resources, leadership and professional development opportunities, and firm management resources; empowering them to better serve growth-minded businesses in all sectors.

Presenter Information
Rick’s consulting roots began at Accenture, where he led high-profile consulting engagements for many Fortune 500 clients. Since 2006, Rick has focused exclusively on delivering Microsoft solutions for a wide-variety of small and mid-sized businesses.  

Under Rick's leadership, DMC's Consulting Services team has achieved Microsoft Gold Partner certification status, which represents the highest level of competence and expertise with Microsoft technologies. DMC has earned special recognition from Microsoft for its success in delivering Collaboration and Content, Custom Applications, Business Intelligence, Azure, and Office 365 solutions.

Rick has led several industry-focused Microsoft events, including speaking engagements and workshops for members of the International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners (IAMCP), Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), Tooling and Manufacturing Association (TMA), Manufacturers’ Agents National Association (MANA), and the Control Systems Integrators Association (CSIA).

Rick holds a B.S. in Business with a concentration in Computer Information Systems from Indiana University Bloomington, and earned a Project Management Professional (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute (PMI) in 2007. Rick joined the IAMCP Chicago chapter in 2013 and was added to its board in 2017.  
 

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What’s Included in Microsoft Dynamics 365: Apps and Pricing https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/24907/whats-included-in-microsoft-dynamics-365-apps-and-pricing/ Wed, 16 Nov 2016 15:38:31 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/24907/whats-included-in-microsoft-dynamics-365-apps-and-pricing/ On November 1, 2016, Microsoft released its new cloud-based business application platform, Dynamics 365. This new platform combines the capabilities of CRM and ERP systems in a new app-driven format. This updated format allows companies to choose software components based on their specific business needs. Organizations may choose from apps such as Finance, Sales, Customer Service, Field Services, […]

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On November 1, 2016, Microsoft released its new cloud-based business application platform, Dynamics 365. This new platform combines the capabilities of CRM and ERP systems in a new app-driven format. This updated format allows companies to choose software components based on their specific business needs. Organizations may choose from apps such as Finance, Sales, Customer Service, Field Services, and Operations, and license them a la carte or as a bundle.

Enterprise vs Business Edition and A-la-carte vs Bundle

There are two editions of Dynamics 365 to choose from:  Enterprise Edition (typically for organizations with more than 250 employees or complex business processes) and Business Edition (typically for organizations with fewer than 250 employees).

Microsoft has rebranded its Dynamics CRM Online offering as the Enterprise Edition’s Dynamics 365 for Sales and Dynamics 365 for Customer Service (they are separate apps now). The Enterprise Sales and Customer Service apps compete directly with Salesforce and are significantly less expensive than Salesforce. Dynamics 365 for Operations is a new cloud-based offering based on the on-premise Dynamics AX platform. This Operations app is priced and bundled differently than the other Enterprise Edition apps (see chart below).

The Business Edition’s Dynamics 365 for Financials app is a new Microsoft offering targeted at businesses that are outgrowing Quickbooks. New Business Edition Dynamics 365 apps for Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing are planned for release in 2017.

Dynamics 365 apps may be purchased a la carte ($40/user per month in the Business Edition; $95/user per month in the Enterprise Edition) or as part of a bundled plan that includes all the apps ($50/user per month in the Business Edition and $115/user per month in the Enterprise Edition). As noted above, the Operations app is priced and bundled differently from the other Enterprise Edition apps (see chart below).  If you require more than one app, choosing a bundle will save you money. 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a bundled plan for the Business Edition
Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a bundled plan for the Enterprise Edition

User Models

Each app also offers the ability to choose a licensing plan for light users and one for full users. Light user licenses are for those users who will consume information and complete small tasks within the apps. Full users are those who require the full functionality of the apps, whether they are standalone apps or as part of a bundled plan. This dual-user model ensures that businesses are not paying a higher price for unnecessary licenses. 


If you want to learn more about the Dynamics 365 business platform and determine if it’s a good fit for your organization, please contact DMC for a free Dynamics 365 consultation and quote. 

Learn More about DMC’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 services. 

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Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Vs. Salesforce https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/25137/microsoft-dynamics-crm-online-vs-salesforce/ Tue, 04 Oct 2016 16:47:57 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/25137/microsoft-dynamics-crm-online-vs-salesforce/ Do you need a CRM? Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) have a place in almost every organization that works with customers and partners. A fully featured CRM system provides benefit to just about everyone in an organization, especially those in Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing roles. Successful organizations will reach a point where they outgrow spreadsheets […]

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Do you need a CRM?

Customer Relationship Management systems (CRMs) have a place in almost every organization that works with customers and partners. A fully featured CRM system provides benefit to just about everyone in an organization, especially those in Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing roles. Successful organizations will reach a point where they outgrow spreadsheets and simple contact management systems. They then require a fully-featured CRM that provides critical capabilities:

  • Visibility into the sales pipeline
  • A comprehensive view of interactions with customers and partners
  • Ability to plan and execute marketing campaigns for lead generation and nurturing

State of the CRM Market

The CRM market is growing and very fragmented. According to a May 2023 Gartner Study, the CRM market leaders are Salesforce, Oracle, and Microsoft. Yet, these leaders combined make up less than 50% of the CRM market. Of the four leading vendors, only Salesforce and Microsoft have consistently gained market share over the last five years (SAP and Oracle have been in general decline for many years).

Behind these four CRM leaders are dozens of other vendors. Many are ERP vendors with bolted on CRM components to help sales teams with the quoting process as well as free and very low-cost CRM offerings. These other CRM vendors can meet the needs of some smaller organizations, but they often lack key features and are unable to scale as an organization grows. 

For a full-featured CRM solution, the choice frequently comes down to choosing between Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online (CRMOL). 

What if I Choose Salesforce?

Salesforce has been the CRM market leader for the better part of the last decade. Being the first mainstream and fully-featured cloud-based CRM solution has given Salesforce a huge market advantage, and they have used their success to bring a huge number of additional add-on features to market. The biggest knock against Salesforce is its cost. Their most popular Sales product retails at $165 per user/month, and their most popular Customer Service product retails at $165 per user/month. The cost to add on their Marketing product is $1,500 per organization/month. You should be able to save some money if you buy multiple product offerings.  

Salesforce is certainly a safe choice. It’s not going away, and their constant increase in add-on capabilities will ensure that Salesforce continues to be a market leader for the foreseeable future.

What if I Choose Microsoft CRM Online?

Over the last three years, Microsoft has invested heavily in their CRM Online (CRMOL) offering, bringing its feature set to a level that closely matches Salesforce, but at a much lower price. Microsoft’s CRMOL Professional product bundles together Sales, Customer Service, and Marketing for a retail price of $65 per user/month. This is a dramatic difference in price when compared to Salesforce. In addition to price, some other things CRMOL has going for it:

  • Office 365 integration makes it compelling for businesses already using Office 365
  • The LinkedIn acquisition will certainly lead to integration with CRMOL and boost its appeal
  • Dynamics CRMOL and Dynamics ERP are bundled together into a new fully integrated offering called Microsoft Dynamics 365 (hopefully eliminating the need to maintain customer information in different systems)

Microsoft continues to invest heavily in CRMOL and will continue working hard to gain market share. Like Salesforce, it’s not going away anytime soon. It’s likely that CRM Online will continue to add features at a rapid pace. For some organizations, this will be a concern, but for most, it will be welcomed. 

If you are interested in learning more about Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, contact the DMC CRM team. We would welcome an opportunity to help you figure out if Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is a good fit for your organization. 

Learn more about DMC's Microsoft CRM services and contact us for your next project.

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How to Upgrade On-premises Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 to 2016 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/25558/how-to-upgrade-on-premises-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2015-to-2016/ Fri, 10 Jun 2016 12:37:37 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/25558/how-to-upgrade-on-premises-microsoft-dynamics-crm-2015-to-2016/ Looking for help with upgrading your Microsoft Dynamics CRM system? We recently upgraded our Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 system to MSCRM 2016. When preparing for the upgrade and during the process, we found a lot of disparate information available from Microsoft. I wrote this blog to help others find the most useful information and to share […]

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Looking for help with upgrading your Microsoft Dynamics CRM system? We recently upgraded our Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 system to MSCRM 2016. When preparing for the upgrade and during the process, we found a lot of disparate information available from Microsoft. I wrote this blog to help others find the most useful information and to share details about the challenges we faced during our upgrade.

Our high-level upgrade plan was as follows:

  1. Build new servers to house the database and web application
    • The initial environment consisted of two servers, both Windows Server 2012, with the database server running SQL Enterprise 2008 R2.
    • We kept the two-server model and upgraded both to Windows Server 2012 R2, and the new SQL install was SQL Enterprise 2014.
  2. Install CRM 2016 on the new servers and test performance
  3. Migrate (backup and restore) the organization’s database to the new SQL server
  4. Upgrade the organization database using the CRM Upgrade Wizard
  5. Enable Internet Facing Deployment (IFD) and Active Directory Federated Services (ADFS)

Every step except number 5 went extremely well, but we ran into issues when enabling ADFS and the IFD. Originally, we wanted to move from ADFS 2.0 to ADFS 3.0, but following a day of troubleshooting and not resolving the problem, we ended up sticking with ADFS 2.0. Additionally, we found that our custom fix for single sign-on with ADFS 2.0 was not possible in 3.0 due to the switch away from using IIS.

Despite the issues that we had with ADFS, the process was fairly simple, and we were able to get our new deployment up and running over a weekend. Had we not tried to upgrade to ADFS 3.0, we would have been ready in a matter of hours. There were a few small hiccups here and there along the way, but hopefully the information below will help you sail through your own upgrade.

 

Setting Up Servers

We followed Microsoft’s most recommended path to set up a new application and database server for our 2016 install. The following table shows Microsoft’s recommendations for hardware, along with our own setup; we have not seen any performance issues ourselves.

 

Component

(CRM Server)

Microsoft Minimum

Microsoft Recommended(source)

DMC Server

 

Processor

x64 architecture or compatible dual-core 1.5 GHz processor

Quad-core x64 architecture 2 GHz CPU or higher such as AMD Opteron or Intel Xeon systems

Intel Xeon CPU E5-2660 v3 @ 2.6GHz

 

Memory

4-GB RAM

8-GB RAM or more

8-GB RAM

 

Hard disk

10 GB of available hard disk space

40 GB or more of available hard disk space

60 GB of available hard disk space

Component

(SQL Server)

Microsoft Minimum

Microsoft Recommended(source)

DMC Server

 

Processor

x64 architecture or compatible dual-core 1.5 GHz processor

Quad-core x64 architecture 2 GHz CPU or higher such as AMD Opteron or Intel Xeon systems

Intel Xeon CPU E5-2660 v3 @ 2.6GHz

 

Memory

4-GB RAM

16-GB RAM or more

32-GB RAM

 

Hard disk

SAS RAID 5 or RAID 10 hard disk array

SAS RAID 5 or RAID 10 hard disk array

SAS RAID 5

Setting up these servers was fairly straightforward, and we followed the Microsoft TechNet article on CRM 2016 Software Requirements to drive our decisions on which additional programs to install. Basically, all we had to do outside of the pure defaults was to turn on IIS on the application server.

 

Installing CRM 2016

Once the servers were ready to go, we moved the CRM 2016 installation executable to the application server and ran the installer. The first hiccup we ran into was some errors with permissions: “The account specified to run the Microsoft Dynamics CRM application does not have Performance Counter permissions.”

The account specified to run the Microsoft Dynamics CRM...

This occurred because the CRM setup does not give all of the appropriate permissions to the accounts that you specify during the initial steps. Finding the required levels was a little tedious (as you can see for yourself at this TechNet article), so I made the table below to help determine what kind of authorization each account needed for which parts of the system. The yellow columns are permissions that could not be added before setup completed, and were added by the setup itself (despite the fact that Microsoft specified them as required). 

 

Domain Users membership

Logon as service

Trace Folder

CRMWeb Folder

CustomizationImport Folder 

%AppData% Folder

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SOFTWARE\Microsoft
\MSCRM

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet
\services\MSCRMSandboxService

SETSPN

PrivUserGroup

SQLAccessGroup

Performance
Log User

CRM_WPG

SQLAccessGroup

Sysadmin on SQL Server

Local admin on FE

Local admin on Deployment Web Service

Local admin on SQL

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Sandbox Processing Service

Yes

Yes

R/W

 

 

R/W

Read

 

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Asynchronous Processing Service and Microsoft Dynamics CRM Asynchronous Processing Service (maintenance) services

Yes

Yes

R/W

 

R/W

R/W

All access permissions except Full Control and Write DAC

All access permissions except Full Control and Write DAC

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Monitoring Service

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

 

Read

 

Yes

 

Added by setup

 

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

 

Microsoft Dynamics CRM VSS Writer service

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

 

Read

 

 

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Deployment Web Service (CRMDeploymentServiceAppPool Application Pool identity)

Yes

Yes

R/W

R/W

 

R/W

All access permissions except Full Control and Write DAC

All access permissions except Full Control and Write DAC

Yes

Yes

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

 

Yes

Yes

Application Service (CRMAppPool IIS Application Pool identity)

Yes

 

R/W

R/W

 

R/W

All access permissions except Full Control and Write DAC

All access permissions except Full Control and Write DAC

Yes

Added by setup

Added by setup

Yes

Yes

 

 

 

 

 

 
Once the appropriate permissions were set and setup was rerun, we ran into this next issue, “Action Microsoft.Crm.Setup.Server.GrantConfigDBDatabaseAccessAction failed. Windows NT user or Group [SQLAccessGroup] not found. Check the name again”:
 
Microsoft.Crm.Setup.Server.GrantConfigDBDatabaseAccessAction failed.
 
Luckily, we found a blog almost immediately that explained why this error occurred. Essentially, the setup creates groups (like the SQLAccessGroup) but does not wait a sufficient amount of time for them to replicate across the domain controllers. The easy fix is to wait a few minutes and retry, at which point everything should exist in the proper places. All we did to resolve this error was to wait five minutes and hit the retry button.
 
The last setup error that we ran into was, “Action Microsoft.Crm.Setup.StartWebsiteAction failed. An exception was thrown by the target of an invocation. Cannot create a file when that file already exists. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x800700B7)”
 
Microsoft.Crm.Setup.Server.StartWebsiteAction failed.
 
This occurred because we set the default IIS website to port 80, and the CRM setup wanted to use that port for the CRM website. The easy solution was to delete the default site from within IIS and hit the retry button.
 
After that last IIS error, the rest of the setup completed without a problem. The next steps in our upgrade path involved backing up and restoring the organization database to the new server and running an upgrade command to bring it into CRM 2016.
 
 
Migrating and Upgrading the Database
 
Backing up the organization database was as simple as selecting the backup command from the set of tasks within SQL Server Management Studio. We only had to back up the organization database because a new configuration database (MSCRM_CONFIG) gets installed automatically during the installation of CRM 2016. Our organization database had around 40GB of data in it, and it took about 30 minutes to back it up to a file.
 
Before restoring the organization database, we installed the CRM Reporting Extensions on the new SQL server as per this TechNet article‘s instructions. The restore was very straightforward and simply involved importing the database backup file into the new SQL server. The restore took even less time than the backup took, and was up and running within 15 minutes.
 
Once the database was restored to the new SQL server, all we had to do was run the Import Organization wizard from the CRM Deployment Manager:
 
CRM 2016 Import Organization
 
Since we were going right from CRM 2015 to CRM 2016, we ran into zero errors, and the import process took less than 10 minutes to get through. The only warnings that came up were some about mapping users that did not exist on our domain any longer, but the rest of the users mapped to the appropriate places without us having to change anything.
 
Hopefully, this helps if you are tackling a similar upgrade of your Microsoft CRM. If you would like assistance with any aspect of your CRM implementation (e.g. installation, configuration, workflows, and other customizations) – just contact us, we would welcome the chance to help!

The post How to Upgrade On-premises Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 to 2016 appeared first on DMC, Inc..

]]> CRM 2015 Email Router Fix for KB3072333 Update https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/26083/crm-2015-email-router-fix-for-kb3072333-update/ Fri, 18 Dec 2015 12:13:55 +0000 https://www.dmcinfo.com/blog/26083/crm-2015-email-router-fix-for-kb3072333-update/ I recently installed KB3072333, which is labeled as “Update 1.1 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015”. Afterwards, a specific change to the Outgoing Email Router profile issued a 401 Unauthorized error in the event viewer. I found a fix and am posting it in the hope that it will help someone else! Specifically, the error prevents emails from […]

The post CRM 2015 Email Router Fix for KB3072333 Update appeared first on DMC, Inc..

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I recently installed KB3072333, which is labeled as “Update 1.1 for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015”. Afterwards, a specific change to the Outgoing Email Router profile issued a 401 Unauthorized error in the event viewer. I found a fix and am posting it in the hope that it will help someone else!

Specifically, the error prevents emails from actually being sent until this change has been fixed. The error looks like this: “System.Net.WebException: The request failed with HTTP status 401: Unauthorized.”

The simple fix is to go into your Outgoing Email Router Configuration Profile. You can access your Outgoing Email Profile by accessing the “Email Router Configuration Manager” that is found in Start-All Programs on the server where your email router is installed. At the very bottom of the window, check the box that reads “By selecting this check box, you agree to share data from the configured email system with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is subject to a separate privacy agreement.” The field you need to change is highlighted in the image below. Once you've checked the box, save your changes by hitting OK at the bottom of the window.

crm-2015-email-router-fix

If you open your Outgoing Email Router Configuration Profile back up, you’ll notice that the checkbox will stay checked as it was not before. To complete the fix, simply restart the CRM Email Router Service, and all queued emails should be sent instantly.

Learn more about DMC's Microsoft Dynamics CRM services.

The post CRM 2015 Email Router Fix for KB3072333 Update appeared first on DMC, Inc..

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