I am joining Green Beacon Solutions as Director of Customer Experience

Hello All,

I have joined Green Beacon Solutions, a Microsoft Gold Certified Dynamics CRM partner, as Director of Customer Experience.

In my new role I will focus on the intertwined worlds of Green Beacon LogoCustomer Relationship Management (CRM) and Customer Experience Management (CEM). And yes, there will be a heavy dose of business intelligence and mobility as they are an important part of an overall customer focused program.

I will continue to post content here on my personal blog and will provide additional content on our Green Beacon Blog.

See my first post on the Green Beacon Blog here: https://www.greenbeacon.com/insights/what-is-the-role-of-a-director-of-customer-experience-and-what-does-it-mean-for-our-customers/

An interesting factoid on “what is a green beacon”. Beacons, in the maritime world, are directional markers. You can think of them as “traffic signals” that guide operators safely along the waterways. They also identify dangerous areas and give directions and information.

I find that so appropriate to what we do; provide direction and help companies and people safely navigate through their CRM journeys. Pretty cool.

About Green Beacon

Since 2001, Green Beacon has been implementing and supporting business solutions built on leading customer relationship management platforms, including Microsoft Dynamics CRM. A Microsoft Gold-Certified Partner, Green Beacon specializes in large-scale CRM implementations that put clients’ strategies into operation.

By combining deep technical expertise with years of experience in a range of industries Green Beacon works closely with organizations to transform the way they do business. This highly collaborative approach has earned us an unmatched reputation for delivering ongoing return on investment.

The company is headquartered in Newton, MA, and has with offices throughout the United States. For additional information, visit: www.greenbeacon.com.

Resco.Next Mobile CRM Conference

Mobile is a hot topic these days. According to a recent Aberdeen study, Best in Class organizations that provide their sales teams with Mobile CRM, a whopping 65% meet or exceed?their sales quotas. In a similar study, Forrester found as high as 60% improvement in customer service. No wonder it?s a hot topic. To learn how you can increase user adoption, improve customer service and become a Best in Class organization, join me at the Resco.Next Mobile CRM Conference.

Take Your Dynamics CRM to the Next Level with the Resco.Next Mobile CRM Conference.

September 14-15, 2015 in Boston, Massachusetts

Insightful Sessions from CRM Experts. Hands-On Trainings. Knowledge Sharing

Plan on attending Resco.Next ? the educational conference designed for all mobile CRM enthusiasts. Over the 2 days with 3 parallel tracks consisting of technical & business sessions to choose from, you will gain in-depth product knowledge, new insights about the CRM market and learn how to mobilize your CRM solution to move your business forward.

I will be presenting a session titled ?How to Win Deals, Create Raving Fans and Explode CRM Adoption?

In this session we will review a couple of case studies on how Resco was used to successfully differentiate from the competition and provide significant wins.?We?ll look at case studies of how organizations get the greatest value out of CRM by creating compelling solutions with Resco Mobile CRM.

What You Will Learn:

  • The steps we took to create a compelling vision
  • How Resco was configured to excite users
  • Open forum to ask questions and share ideas

Interested in attending? It?s not too late. Sign up here for a $230 discount. Special price of USD350 via this link.

The Importance of Mobile in Medical Device Sales and Service

A new generation of mobile savvy reps and customers are changing the landscape of how information is consumed and action initiated. A mobile technology enabled sales and service model are critical for medical device company success.

Medical Device Sales and Service Reps are always in the field. One key way to improve direct customer interactions is to use mobility?mobile tools and applications that provide real-time information and productivity-enhancing features at a lower operating cost.

Critical information that helps reps help their customers; whether they are surgeons, nurses, patients, lab techs or buying committees, include:

  • Product information
  • Patient indications
  • Outcomes data
  • Competitive information
  • Purchase history
  • Pricing
  • Inventory
  • And more!

Laptops were the first big leap in productivity. These tools are great but they have their limitations?including weight, portability, and expensive hardware and software support. On cost alone, laptops and can cost $2,000 or more, whereas mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) range from $400 to $800.

Enabling mobile devices for medical device reps helps them become more responsive to customers and boosts top line growth. Apps that utilize information from CRM and ERP systems and deliver actionable, relevant data can improve the efficiency and productivity of reps significantly. Here are a few benefits for enabling mobility for medical device reps:

Product/Pricing Information: Instant product availability and pricing information are important to reps and customers. This provides them both with critical information in the field as they make their sales and service calls. They can save time on inquiries that clients may have about a product; whether purchasing a new item or repairing an existing one. Customer service and responsiveness is key in a very competitive environment. Mobile apps can provide instant information and ideally the instant ability to respond to requests.

Collaboration: Mobile devices and apps provide great opportunities for access to subject matter experts that can be critical to servicing a customer. Physicians and technicians are often hired by medical device manufacturers as medical science liaisons (MSL) or key opinion leaders (KOL) and are employed to answer questions that doctors may have about specific devices or procedures. Because both the physician and the liaison tend to have busy and unpredictable schedules, this often means a game of phone tag that can take days. With mobile, they can have a quick chat over video or even instant message, getting the physician quick answers to important questions.

E-detailing: E-detailing or detailing, uses highly visual images and content to make complex information easier to understand. Think of it as PowerPoint on steroids. It?s used quite heavily in pharma sales, and we see it starting to be used by medical device companies. Consider a company that manufactures a knee or hip joint and needs to teach physicians how it?s used. Or, a complicated diagnostic instrument requires service. A mobile e-detailing app can present information in 3-D renderings, product details, schematics and graphically demonstrate how to use the device can be used to aid in understanding or resolving issues more quickly.

Collateral: Rather than carry around loads of paper materials, brochures, service books, diagrams, and maintenance checklists; providing this information on mobile devices and apps save serious money on printing costs and distribution. And, unlike paper collateral, this information can also be instantly updated and distributed to reps and customers. More sophisticated systems can even track when materials are opened, when they are read, or provide customers and prospects the ability to comment on their contents.

Eliminating Paperwork: While forms and signatures are a fact of life in this business, making them digital both increases productivity and enhances regulatory compliance. A two-for-one. Antiquated paper forms that can easily get lost or damaged can quickly and easily be turned into digital forms. A few taps of your finger and data can be quickly logged. Use that finger to make a digital signature and the rep is on their on their way to the next call.

Cameras/Video: Cameras and videos in mobile devices can be important tools for servicing customers. If a product is shipped to an organization and a part is missing or broken, reps can communicate with field technicians to send a picture of needed parts or scan a barcode to make sure the right one is shipped to their customers. Customers can also use an app to collaborate with sales and customer service teams, sending photos or videos to help describe problems they have with the device. This can help eliminate potentially confusing and frustrating email or phone conversations and improve customer satisfaction. Isn?t that easier than trying to describe ?the blue thingamajig underneath the round tray?? Those types of conversations are frustrating for both sides, and a problem that?s essentially eliminated by mobile technology.

Mapping/Routing: Think about a rep who has a new territory (because territory realignments never happen in this industry) ? no more fumbling with paper maps or gps devices. The latest advances in mobile apps take full advantage the mapping and routing capabilities built into these devices. A rep can all of his appointments, hospitals, physicians and related data visually on a digital map and with a tap or two get instant driving directions. How?s that for increased productivity!

Voice recognition: Some have considered this the Holy Grail and tech companies have been pursuing useful voice recognition for years. With updated technology like Cortana and Siri we are literally on the verge of having good voice recognition that actually works! ?CRM make an appointment with Dr. Jones at 2 p.m. next Tuesday?. Yeah, that?s possible!

Are you ready to jump on the opportunity to increase productivity and top line growth with mobile devices and apps? With the above capabilities, medical device sales and service teams can fully utilize all the benefits mobility can provide.

For more information about Infinity?s mobile CRM solutions for Medical Device professionals, contact Infinity Info Systems at ?

Dynamics CRM Mobile Apps Updated

Dynamics CRM Mobile Apps Updated

Good news for those of you that are using the Dynamics CRM 2013 Mobile Apps. Microsoft just posted an update that includes the ability to reconfigure the apps to different URL’s and organizations.

Those of you using these apps may already know, it’s been “challenging” to switch the apps to a different URL, e.g. a test instance and production instance. The only option was to delete the app from the device, then re-install it. Yeah, not pretty or friendly. If you haven’t been using the Mobile Apps, stop what you are doing right now and go download the apps. This is a free option and a great addition to easily access your Dynamics CRM data and applicaiton while on the go.

Mobile Features Include:

  • Access to your activities, accounts, contacts, leads, and opportunities
  • Easy-to-use interactive dashboards
  • Simply tap to quickly enter customer data
  • Access your personal views to see your most important data
  • Pin records as tiles to your Start screen to instantly access your most important information

Reconfiguring the Mobile App

To reconfigure your app, start the app on your device. From any screen, swipe up or tap the ellipses … to find the reconfigure option.

CRM Mobile Configurable App Reconfigure

This will take you to the initial screen where you can enter a new URL.

CRM Mobile Configurable App Login

Thank you Microsoft. This makes things so much easier!

The apps are available now in the respective app stores.

Dynamics CRM 2013 Spring Release Preview Guide

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Spring Release Preview Guide is now available.

You can download it from here: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkID=395005

The CRM 2013 Spring Release Preview Guide highlights the new features and capabilities that will be released soon. The Spring Wave is one of the biggest updates?to Microsoft Dynamics CRM.?This is going to be HUGE! There are lots?of something for everyone in this release, including marketing, sales and service.

Marketing

Microsoft Social Listening enables you to identify who’s having social conversations about your company, products, competitors or another topics. Track buzz, trends and sentiment related to things like your customers, campaigns and competitors.

Dynamics Social Listening

Microsoft Dynamics Marketing, provides?email marketing, landing pages, social campaigns and more on par to most of the third party marketing automation systems available today. Quickly and easily deliver qualified leads to your?sales teams and measure the return on marketing investment. It also includes lead nurturing and scoring, improved dashboards and analytics, and an awesome campaign visual designer.

Dynamics Marketing Campaign Designer

 

Email Marketing

Send highly personalized E-mail messages to drive improved open rates. Personalize the content per sender, recipient, subject & content allowing you to send fewer emails with greater business results.

  • Deliver mass and transactional emails scalable to millions of emails to customers per day
  • Cross campaign rules to build sophisticated nurture and drip email campaigns.
  • Manage and control how many emails a contact can receive in a given time period to improve email performance.

Dynamics-Marketing-Email

Sales

For sales teams, there are enhancements to the CRM Tablet apps. We’ll see Social Insights right inside the mobile experience. Social Insights provides real-time company and contact information like financials, breaking news, social buzz and social connections. It’s very powerful for marketing, sales and account management professionals to help you engage more effectively to win more deals and spend less time spent researching and more time selling.

If you are an Android fan, the mobility updates will include a version for Android devices.?As before, the iPad is also supported.

Dynamics CRM Tablet Updates

The mobile experience will also be extended to include Customer Service capabilities optimized for people who want to?keep an eye on high priority Cases, monitor Queues?or route items across the queues to deliver amazing experiences no matter where you?are.

Customer Service

There’s lots of new “stuff” for customer service professionals?from the powerful self-service capabilities in the?recently acquired Parature, to the multi-channel capabilities coming in CRM including the Unified Service Desk to empower contact center agents to resolve customer issues with ease.

MIcrosoft Unified Service Desk

 

Parature includes lots of awesomeness including:

  • Parature Portal: a 24/7 customer support center that is seamlessly integrated into your?current website. It includes a searchable knowledge, submit help tickets, track its progress and receive automatic email notifications.
  • Parature Mobile Self-Service: Provides mobile friendly, responsive designs of the portal?that work?across desktop and mobile devices.?
  • Parature Facebook Portal: Seamlessly provides?FAQs and KB searches, or create help desk tickets from inside of Facebook.?
  • Parature Real-time Chat: provides instant live online support to provide?assisted support online. ?
  • Parature Knowledgebase: provides quick answers to common questions and support issues, plus essential downloads including forms, how-to videos, product manuals, knowledge base information updates and more.?

Parature

Server-side Synchronization Updates

Server-side synchronization allows administrators to easily manage the synchronization of email, tasks, appointments
and contacts between CRM and Exchange. No additional cost….unlike some other solutions out there!

The original release synchronized ?data?between Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Exchange on-premises deployments only. We will now see support for both?Dynamics CRM Online and Microsoft Exchange Online as well as the continued on-premise option. POP3/SMTP3 providers are also supported for sending and synchronization of Email.

SharePoint Integration Enhancements

Simplified integration between CRM Online and SharePoint Online will be managed inside of?Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online. If you have?Dynamics CRM Online and SharePoint Online you will no longer need to install and configure the CRM List Component to enable the Document Management integration. Woo-hoo!

Sandbox Environments

A big request from larger customers and those that prefer dev/test and production environments. It will be point and click simple to configure isolated, non-production online environments. Administrators can make a copy of a CRM Online instance into a Sandbox Instance.

  • Minimal Copy only includes customizations & schema from source
  • Full Copy includes all application data, users, and customizations from source
  • Administrators can reset a Sandbox Instance back to factory settings (e.g. delete and re-provision)
  • Administrators can take/restore a snapshot of a Sandbox Instance??(only one snapshot per instance at any time)

Dynamics-CRM-Sandbox

And lots more good stuff!

Microsoft plans to deliver the Spring Wave features to CRM online customers as an automatic service update with the option to opt in for additional Customer Service capabilities, and to the on-premises customers as an installable service pack (SP1).

Market smarter. Sell effectively. Care everywhere.

Mobility Leads List of Top Digital Priorities

Mobility Leads List of C-Level Top Priorities

mobilityCIO Insights just posted one of their slideshows. ?You can view the slideshow of the survey results here: CIO Insight Mobile Priority Survey

The slideshow?is from an Accenture survey that shows mobility leads the list of top digital priorities. The survey, of nearly 1,500 global C-level executives, found adoption of mobile technologies and applications as top of their list of priorities.

While mobility is top of mind of most leading organizations, there are still challenges for some organizations, including;

  • strategic, organizational and operational shortcomings
  • struggles in the rollout of mobile capabilities
  • lack of formal metrics to measure effectiveness
  • insufficient funding

The good news despite these challenges, companies are moving aggressively to adopt mobile technologies and applications. The focus is geared toward helping them achieve their?business objectives.

While mobility is tops in the survey, rounding out the Top 5 include:

Mobility Leads List of Top Digital Priorities

I?am seeing the majority of customers and prospects I talk to ALL have the above top of mind. It’s all related to helping how?we can understand and service our customers better. It’s about customer experience and business impact.

It’s not hard to understand why. I read an article?recently that showed 6 BILLION people now have cell phones. That’s nearly everyone on the planet.?We are clearly a mobile and connected world. So, it’s only natural that?customers and users need to be able to access their business-critical data on the device of their choice from wherever they are.

Another interesting fact from the survey, only 2% of respondents have NO mobile strategy. Let’s hope your organization is NOT one of the 2%. If you are, think about the fact that your competitors are thinking mobile.

Another factoid?is 83% of “leader” organizations compared to 77% of “other” organizations?rank mobility in their Top 5 priorities. Again, are YOU one of the leaders, or other?

If you prefer infographics, Accenture has posted one here for the survey results:?http://www.accenture.com/us-en/Pages/insight-mobility-trends-research-2014.aspx

You can also download a pdf of the survey here:?http://www.accenture.com/SiteCollectionDocuments/PDF/Accenture-Mobility-Research-Report-2014.pdf

How to Mirror Your iPhone or iPad on a Laptop

Have you ever wished you could display your iPhone or iPad on a laptop or PC? Well, it’s always been a big PITA thanks to Apple and their restrictive lock down policies on these devices. In the past one had to Jailbreak their device to make this happen….and who really likes messing with that? Obviously, jailbreaking is still possible but I really hate to spend the time and effort messing with that, particularly with the cat and mouse updates required when Apple patches the “holes” that allow this to happen.

Yes, there is also the ability to plug in an expensive VGA connector and display your device on a monitor, but, that’s not ideal, especially for people like me who need do a lot of demo’s. This approach makes things like a projector, Lync, GotoMeeting and Webex impossible.

AirServer

Well, finally Apple added a feature called Airplay that makes this possible. It’s still not as easy as it should be; and, it’s still not really built in. In order to make this happen on your device of choice, you need to purchase an additional software app (for your laptop or PC, not your device). I recently checked out AirServer which to setup, configure and use. You can choose to run it on your Mac or PC and the iOS device requires iOS 4.2.1 or later, and they have to be on the same Wi-Fi network.

iPad on AirServer

AirServer makes sharing your iPhone or iPad screen to your computer with AirPlay mirroring. After you install AirServer, your computer name will appear in the list of devices available for AirPlay Mirroring on your iPhone or iPad and when you select your computer, your iPhone or iPad screen will pop up on your computer screen, just like it would on your television with an Apple TV or VGA connector. Now it’s super simple to just share your desktop in a Lync or GotoMeeting; or show it on a projector and demo whatever you need from your iDevice.

If you want to check our a trial version you can get it from here:?http://www.airserver.com/trial

Dynamics CRM 2013 Mobile Client Details (MoCA)

Notes from CRMUG Summit 2013 – Dynamics CRM 2013 Mobile Client Details (MoCA)

One of the major new features of Dynamics CRM 2013 is a new mobile client and framework, dubbed internally as CRM 2013 Mobile MoCA (Mobile Client App)

Beth Steinke, Microsoft CRM Mobile Program Manager gave use some insight and details into this amazing new feature…best of all, it’s included FREE in Dynamics CRM 2013 (available now on iPad and Windows 8 app stores!)

Dynamics CRM 2013 Mobile Client

Highlights

  • CRM on the go, wanted a consistent experience, configure once and deploy across applications and devices for seamless experience
  • User experience.
  • Dashboards, currently a single dashboard, up to 6 components
  • Currently does not support web resources or iFrames
  • Drill down and filtering is supported
  • Multiple entity search, up to 10

Personalization

  • Tiles, can pin to start screen of the dashboard (iPad and Win), or the Windows Start screen for Windows 8+
  • Can change views on lists grids and charts, this is a way to get around the 6 item limit
  • Sticky columns on views (remembers your changes)

Productivity focus

  • Reflows the forms (responsive design) in a horizontal experience, more tablet like than just giving a web client experience on the device
  • All controls are touch friendly
  • Business process flows work across the clients (woohoo!!!)
  • Will use quick create forms if available, otherwise it comes from full form
  • Communication: email and phone aware, on Windows uses Skype, when either phone or email is tapped, an activity form will open for entering notes
  • Communication form or card, represents a user or contact
  • Renders on entity forms and dashboard, currently hard coded (will be configurable in feature)
  • Immediate drill down when touching charts in dashboards or list views

Search

  • Can search across 10 entities
  • Using the quick find definition for scratches
  • Can pin views to dashboard
  • Resizable columns
  • Win 8 can do the split thing screen
  • Quick create available from anywhere
  • If multiple forms are used in Customization area, it takes the top order one; and does not support multiple forms yet

Configuration

  • User privilege.entity setting
  • Tablet dashboard, by default it is called the sales dashboard but can be renamed
  • Setting up search
  • Form structure, will get slide that shows this
  • Availability
  • Online and onpremise but does require IFD
  • Currently only iPad and Win 8, smarphones are next, Android “at some point”
  • Offline is cached and read only at this time
  • Mobile Express has had some improvements and a UI refresh (actually looks pretty good now, check it out!!

Here is short demo of the new mobile capabilities for Dynamics CRM 2013 – the demo itself starts at 1:50 into the video.

New Era in Dynamics CRM 2013

Notes from CRMUG Summit 2013, Tampa, FL

I have a few posts from sessions and content from the Dynamics CRM User Group Summit held in Tampa FL the week of October 21.

First up was the New Era in Dynamics CRM 2013 presentation by Param Kahlon, CRM Program Manager, for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

Dynamics CRM 2013

Growth in Dynamics CRM continues and in fact is increasing
* 3.5m users
* 40,000 customers
* 66% choose cloud
* 36 double digit growth quarters and accelerating

Key themes for CRM 2013 and beyond
* Performance and scalability
* Agility and process excellence
* Social in context
* Reimagined user experience
* Role tailored mobile experiences
* Richness of custom extensions

One of the key UI/UX Designers for CRM 2013, Wayne Higgins, gave us a little perspective
* Reimagined UI and UX
* All about Efficiency
* New way to get things done
* Relevant tools available (max of 5 commands, drop down nav, etc.)
* Mobile optimized
* Start up experience, easy, user friendly, informative
* Information architecture

Business process management – respond quickly to individual customer need
* Power to business users
* Agility
* Configuration not coding
* Multiple processes
* Client side logic
* Web and mobile
* Rules drive
* Plan to add business process for vertical industries

XRM a much richer platform (back to Param)
* Custom entities flow to mobile devices
* Configurable tool tips
* Quick create for custom entities
* Image data type
* Fluid form entities
* Team selling focus
* Portable business logic (formerly called PBL, now Business Rules)
* Visual process flows for custom entities
* Bing maps for custom entities
* Multiple entity quick find, enhanced search on mobile
* Custom actions and real time workflows

Future
* Online first
* Productivity and communication
* Proactive
* Business process excellence
* User experience edge
* Universal social
* Ubiquitous access
* Mobility

Next few releases
* CRM 2013 now
* Subra, Q1 2014 online only
* Mira, Q1 MarketingPilot updates
* Leo, Q2 tighter Netbreeze and MarketingPilot integration

Subra

* Netbreeze, social list ending and analytical, will be amended directly in CRM
* Scalable online service
* Office 365 integration
* General availability integrated as office 365 service

Mira

* Extended global reach
* Online service only
* Tighter CRM integration
* Multiple channelled campaign management
* Lync and Skype enhancements

Leo

* Revamped customer service
* Mobile and social improvements
* New look for customer service
* State of the art experience
* SLA and entitlement compliance

Will ensure industry templates that have been available in Marketplace will continue to work on 2013 and will add business processes to these as well. Essentially free, unsupported, accelerators.

Remote Technology Can Make Medical Device Sales Reps More Efficient

Remote Technology Make Medical Device Sales Reps More Efficient

improving-sales-rep-efficiency | Photo Courtesy of Depositphotos http://depositphotos.com/13564186/stock-photo-Video-chat-communication.html?sqc=14&sqm=1522&sq=1ni7wj

What if medical device sales reps could remotely participate in several operations at the same time using technology? That?s a possibility raised by a system highlighted in an article on the MedCity News website. Reps could use technology such as iPads and even Google Glass to communicate with surgeons during procedures, the article says.

This is a very interesting concept that could allow medical device sales reps to have greater access to more physicians in a shorter amount of time. There are many hours not well-spent by reps because they?re in a procedure in which the surgeon will only be using their medical device for a portion of the surgery.

Most reps are encouraged to not enter or leave the operating room during a procedure because it could increase the risk of infection. Using remote technology, medical device sales reps might be able to focus their time on other opportunities while still responding to physicians? questions or needs during a procedure.

Read more here >>>

Article originally posted on our CRM for Medical Device Organizations website.