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Dynamics CRM on Windows RT/Surface First Look

There are a lot of blogs, articles and reviews already out there for Windows Surface, Windows 8 and Windows RT. This post will focus on the use of Windows Surface and Dynamics CRM 2011. If you are not aware, Microsoft just announced UR11 which provides Dynamics CRM 2011 support for Windows 8, Internet Explorer 10 and Office 2013.

First, a little about the device. Windows Surface

One of the first things to get used to in Windows 8 and the Windows Surface device are the differences between Apps (Windows UI mode) and desktop mode. The desktop mode applications are the traditional Windows based applications Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet Explorer, etc.). The Apps (now called Windows UI) are touch enabled or touch specific ?mini? versions of desktop applications. There are additional differences when it comes to the Windows RT versions, however, we won?t go fully into those differences in this review.

On the Windows Surface device, there is a ?full? desktop browser which is Internet Explorer 10. There is also a Windows UI app (I?ll call it IE App) that is essentially a mini version of IE 10 and is both touch and HTML5 optimized. The IE App is a slimmed down version of IE10 and does not allow any plugins of any kind (Flash, Silverlight, Java, etc.).

It?s also important to note that even the full IE10 client on Windows RT (Surface) does NOT support Silverlight plugins. In fact no plugins are currently supported on this platform. The only ones that will be supported are those that can be downloaded and installed through the Windows App Store?so that means no Flash, Java, 3rd party plugins/apps like Toolbar helpers (Evernote, Google, Snagit, Adobe PDF, etc.).

It will be possible for these plugins and helpers to be available, at some point in the future, however, those companies must create specific versions for the ARM architecture and go through Windows App store validation (everyone can thank Apple for starting this trend).

There is currently a ?limited? Flash client that has been pre-installed on Surface. From what I have found, limited means those sites that Microsoft has deemed to be ok to display/run flash in the IE10 browser?a whitelist of sorts is managed and maintained by Microsoft. Frankly, I was never a fan of Adobe Flash and think Jobs was absolutely correct in his assessment of Flash. Technically there appears to be a way to ?hack? this list but do so at your own risk. I personally don?t recommend you do this, but, if you?re feeling adventurous, here is the link. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=33443315

Overall I really like the touch interface using the Internet Explorer App. It does sometimes require a double tap on a target for it to register. I attribute this to the CRM client not being fully touch aware?yet.

Hyperlinks in CRM columns often require a double-tap. Sometimes the double-tap registers as a Zoom and the screen just zooms in closer instead of opening the record. It might be a better practice to highlight the record, then press the edit button (or use the Touch Cover/mouse). BTW, I really like the Touch Cover much more than I expected I would. It works great and I recommend it. I have not tried the Type Cover yet, if any of you have please let me know what you think.

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The IE App does not use the ?traditional? CRM popup, e.g. when opening an Account or Contact record, rather it pops the form to a new full browser screen. Nothing wrong with this, just something you should be aware of.

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The IE App/IE10 does show the lookups as traditional popups. And yes, Find and Advanced Find work perfectly fine.

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In my testing I discovered the settings between IE10 and IE App appear to be shared settings. E.g. I saw errors on several lookups, Dialogs, Export to Excel and the service calendar in both the IE App and IE10, however, after enabling Compatibility View in IE10, the settings ?carried over? to the IE App. After enabling Compatibility View, I was able to successfully use Lookups, Run Dialogs and Service calendar in both IE10 and IE App and made the application fully functional.

To enable Compatibility View, press the Alt key then select Tools, Compatibility View Settings

Add this website ? dynamics.com

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Note, compatibility view will allow export to excel, however, maintaining a connection between the Excel spreadsheet and CRM is not currently possible. The CRM Outlook client installs functionality for maintaining a connection between the exported data and the spreadsheet. Outlook and Dynamics CRM for Outlook client cannot be installed on Windows RT, therefore, the ability to refresh the CRM data in the spreadsheet from Excel is not available.

Outlook is not supported on Windows RT and Microsoft has no immediate plans to support Outlook on Surface (they are positioning it as a consumer device and the built in mail/calendar apps are designed for those purposes).

The above also means, currently, no CRM Offline support on Surface/RT.

Since the above is the case, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you use Email Router and NOT Outlook for processing email. If you don?t setup Email Router your emails will not be sent/received in CRM.

Dialogs do not work. The form for selecting a dialog will display, but you cannot then select a dialog and

Word Mail Merge does not work. There is a special RT version of Word installed on the Surface (Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013). This provides most of the capabilities of standard Word (and Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote) however, it is a special version compiled specifically to run on the ARM architecture. One of the main limitations of this office is no Activex or Visual Basic for Applications are allowed to run. I believe this is the reason that Mail Merge does not work with Dynamics CRM.

CRM does not detect that Lync App is running so the presence/notification jewels are not available. I certainly hope this is addressed soon.

If the CRM client has any Silverlight screens, they will not work. The install plugin message is seen but it still won?t work on the IE App (no plugins of any kind). Note they do work in IE10 on the device. In my view, this is a leading indicator on why you should think about rebuilding any specific functionality you have built in Silverlight to either HTML5 or HTML/JavaScript.

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Attachments work with Skydrive stored documents, very easily. I like what they did here.

We happen to use ClickDimensions as our marketing tool and it does work with either client in compatibility view. I tested all functions and found no issues, from HTML emails, landing pages, websites etc.

Admin issues.

Settings, Customization ? click and drag, even in compatibility mode is a little flaky. It sometimes works but overall not recommended that you make a lot of customization changes on Surface at this time. Oddly, the IE App works a bit better in this area. I found the drag and drop worked much more reliably and smoother. Still a tiny bit flaky but overall workable for making fast changes on the go.

Creating processes all seem to work fine.

Where this device excels (no pun intended) over the iPad are:

The Touch Pad is cool and typing on it is much easier and better than I expected it would be. The only downside, no Fn (function) keys. Bummer, there is plenty of space for them?e.g. no F1, F5, etc.. Still Touch Pad is Recommended!

Excel, Word and PowerPoint are available and does 99% of what most people use them for.

USB support! Yeah, great way to expand storage if needed and more importantly to share data while on the road. This also means USB devices are supported. Slight caveat that some drivers may not be ready for Windows RT.

Micro SD card support! Again Yeah!

External monitor support, and can duplicate or extend the desktop. Standard micro-HDMI out port will display any app to the screen or extend the monitor to the other screens. Perfect for giving presentations on external projectors and monitors. I have a 27? monitor at the office and the Surface works great with its 1366×768 (HD) display on the device AND it shows full resolution on the larger monitor (1920X1200 in this case). Only trouble is you want to start touching and swiping on the large monitor J

Printer support out of the box. I have a Canon wireless printer and it detected it automatically and set it up for me?I didn?t have to do a thing?.it just worked!

Snapping running apps, e.g. I can have 2 apps running side by side and can adjust the sizes of each. In the case below I have CRM and Email running side by side.

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Apple, hear any of that?!

On a final note for this post, keep in mind that Microsoft Surface does not currently have a 3G/4G cellular option. This is a WiFi only device so for those businesses that require always connected capabilities they must purchase a MiFi/Hotspot type device, or use local Wifi that may be available. Additional Windows RT devices are hitting that market that will have cellular 3G/4G built in but those are not Microsoft Surface devices (e.g. Samsung, Lenovo, Dell, HP, etc.).

Overall I am really excited about these new devices and think it opens up a whole new paradigm for traveling users in particular. To me, the biggest limitation of an iPad is that is has been a companion device. What I mean is, I couldn?t replace what I do with the iPad. I need the power of a full laptop and access to the Office applications. We are now on the verge of having devices that give us the best of both worlds (and might I add additional capabilities for regulated industries?you know who you are). I could be on the precipice of finally having a small, light and fast device that has great battery life and lets me do everything I need it to do.

Stay tuned for some additional first looks of some of the other applications in our solution framework.

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Pharmaceutical/Biotech Mergers & Acquisitions Expected to Continue

I ran across this interesting article about a significant trend in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry.

Bloomberg Article

In a nutshell, drug makers are shifting their focus from cutting costs to filling pipelines through mergers and acquisitions. Next year could top the 2,076 deals worth $166 billion announced in the past 12 months. “What tends to drive that is the need. There’s clearly a need for larger companies who are facing patent cliffs and whose own R&D machines have not panned out, to find growth.?

The extremely high cost of bringing new drugs to market is one of the primary factors for this increase in partnerships, mergers and acquisitions in healthcare. The chart below shows the spending for top 10 firms and represents a whopping $66 Billion annual investment.

Research Spending Per New Drug

Company Ticker # of drugs approved R&D spending per drug ($M) Total R&D Spend 1997-2011 ($M)
AstraZeneca AZN 5 11,791 58,955
GlaxoSmithKline GSK 10 8,171 81,708
Sanofi SNY 8 7,909 63,274
Roche Holdings AG RHH 11 7,804 85,841
Pfizer, Inc. PFE 14 7,727 108,178
Johnson & Johnson JNJ 15 5,886 88,285
Eli Lilly & Co. LLY 11 4,577 50,347
Abbott Laboratories ABT 8 4,496 35,970
Merck & Co. Inc. MRK 16 4,210 67,360
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. BMY 11 4,152 45,675

Sources: InnoThink Center For Research In Biomedical Innovation; Thomson Reuters Fundamentals via FactSet Research Systems

Cost cutting can only go so far before it negatively affects the growth of any company. Since 2000, the pharmaceutical industry has cut 297,650 jobs, according to consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. These companies are finding that a shift from cutting costs to making agreements can more effectively help build product lines.

Nearly half of today?s top-selling drugs are the result of partnerships. Companies that excel in business development and alliance management position themselves to win new deals. Those organizations that show a penchant for successful collaborations will attract other companies looking for strong allies ? in the process filling critical portfolio holes and penetrating exciting new markets.

A major challenge with business development and alliance management are the majority of pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies today have legacy CRM tools or home grown systems that have not been able to keep up with this rapid pace of change in the market. These traditional and legacy solutions have become much too inflexible and too costly to maintain, leaving pharmaceutical companies in the unenviable position of overspending every day on solutions that no longer meet their business requirements.

Infinity has developed the Infinity iPartner platform that is designed for the pharmaceutical and biotechnology partnering life cycle. Infinity iPartner puts everything in one place for your teams to track and coordinate the finding, partnering, deal management, obligations, payments, milestones and other key activities required for managing an increasingly complex network of partners. All on a modern and highly flexible platform that is easier to use and maintain than existing systems and processes.

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To learn more about Infinity iPartner powered by Microsoft Dynamics CRM, contact us today.

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Sunshine Act Update – September 2012

 

Back in December of last year and May of this year I wrote a couple of blog posts about the Sunshine Act compliance deadlines and extensions communicated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

If you?ve been wondering what?s happening with the final decision on Sunshine Act deadlines, you are not alone.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) was quoted this week criticizing the still vague time frame of when CMS expects companies to start reporting (sometime in 2013 is still the official answer). See article in Modern Healthcare.

So no details yet, however, the law requires allowing 90 days for the companies to prepare and the collection of data through the next January before reporting it publicly in March.

Infinity attends a lot of healthcare, pharmaceutical, biotech and medical device events and we hear there are quite a few organizations that don?t have a system or process in place yet. There is a little time left but we advise organizations to be ready for this as soon possible. Let us know if you need help.

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Notes from WPC?Day 2

High energy at Air Canada Centre. Cloud topic #1.

Connected devices, continuous services. Cloud OS.

  • Windows Live
  • CRM Online
  • Xbox Live
  • Office 365
  • Bing
  • MSN

73% of businesses planning to use public/private clouds in next 3 years

37% say investing in modern apps a critical priority

In next 5 year number of smart devices to grow 3x

Azure and windows server 2012

  • Scalable & elastic
  • Always up, always on
  • Shared resources
  • Automated and self-service important

Azure Supports

  • 64 virtual processors per images
  • 1 TB of memory per vm
  • World leading performance
  • 1 million OPS per vm
  • New capabilities in azure and portal
  • Much easier user interface.  Finally!

Microsoft Business Services $ 1B run rate. 3k Dynamics partners attending WPC in Toronto.

Delivering vertical expertise is key to growth

Global ISV?s are joining MS Dynamics community.

Office 365 (O365) and CRM online together incredible platform.

  • Dynamic business vision.
  • Demo impressive.  (Ask us if you would like a personal demo of this.)

Tom Gruhler – Windows phone 8 GM

  • Flexible app distribution, enterprise app store
  • Enterprise device management.
  • Shared windows core , accelerates innovation
  • Easier to build and maintain Window?s solutions
  • Combined with 1.3 billion windows users and it’s unmatched.

I have to say the interface, usability and functionality of Windows Phone is quite impressive. I firmly believe it will be a contender. If you haven’t checked out a Windows Phone out lately, I highly recommend you do. http://www.windowsphone.com/

New Metro UI CRM Interface Coming!! In a word IMPRESSIVE!

UI/UX will be critical to creating successful apps and experiences using them. We have a UI/Design gap and should look for resource/partners to help in this area. A couple of screenshots below.

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Quick Note on R9 /  Q2-2012 Dynamics CRM Release

R9 was not where Microsoft wanted it to be. Preview and beta feedback not as high as it should have been. Quality is highest priority. New VP of Engineering has taken over and after seeing feedback and the desire to deliver compelling and quality releases, they decided to push delivery of cross-browser support and new mobility to Q4.

New Engineering head is still committed to the new release cadence and expects to improve it. Expected to have Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer releases.


The Day?s Big Announcements:

Windows Server / Azure: A new community technology preview (CTP) of new technologies that enable hosting service providers to use their Windows Server data centers to deliver the same great web site and virtual machine capabilities recently announced for Windows Azure.
Switch to Hyper-V Program: Microsoft announced a new program to help customers transition from VMware infrastructure to Microsoft. The ?Switch to Hyper-V? Program provides partners with guidance, training and software tools, including the Virtual Machine Migration Toolkit, to more seamlessly migrate virtual machines to Windows Server Hyper-V and System Center.
Microsoft Dynamics: Several new global independent software vendors are choosing Microsoft Dynamics or extending their solutions across the Microsoft Dynamics platform, including: Campus Management Corp., Cenium, Inc., Cincom Systems, Inc., PROS Pricing and Technosoft.
Windows Phone: Showed off new hardware capabilities coming to Windows Phone 8 and some of the powerful features Windows Phone 8 will deliver through integration with Windows 8. They also showed off some of the most interesting new apps coming to Windows Phone, including: Words with Friends, Draw Something, Audible, Chase and PayPal, and games including Asphalt 7: Heat, N.O.V.A. 3: Near Orbit Vanguard Alliance, and Batman: The Dark Knight Rises.
What?s Your Cause Challenge: Microsoft wants to know: What?s your cause? Between July 10 and August 31, 2012 Microsoft Partners are challenged to nominate 500 eligible nonprofits serving youth in their communities to receive a software donation from Microsoft. Read here for more information!

Mike

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Notes from Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC)?Day 1

I finally have a few moments to update you on the major themes from Microsoft?s Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) that was in Toronto, CA The week of July 9, 2012.

As this is a partner focused event, a lot of the information was focused specifically to that audience. There are some good nuggets thought end users as well.

Key highlights from Keynote:

  • 16,000 partners from 156 countries attending, additional 17,000 watching keynote online
  • 20 percent of partners have reached new gold CRM status (yes, Infinity is one of them!)
  • Verticals and industry focus are key to growth.
  • All new CRM online trials and customers to use O365 admin portals.
  • CRM online going extremely well, 31 quarters of double digit growth.
  • 60 percent of all new seats sold in last year are online.

Steve Ballmer talked about entering the New Era and how partners are at the core of this story. Kurt DelBene shared his thoughts and insight about being partners in productivity and announced Office 365 Open. Tami Reller highlighted Windows 8 and showcased how it adapts to the user experience and how far Microsoft has come since first talking about Windows 8 ? it meets expectations around mobility, battery life, and getting information everywhere. Some impressive stuff here.

Windows 8 RTM/GA: Windows 8 is on track for release to manufacturers (RTM) during the first week of August, and the product will reach general availability (GA) at the end of October. Enterprise customers can get Windows 8 by August, and the product will be available in 109 languages in 231 markets.

Office 2010 / Windows 7 momentum: There are now 1 billion people using Office worldwide, and licenses for Windows 7 have reached 630 million worldwide.

Microsoft acquires Perceptive Pixel: You probably know their technology?they make those cool, huge HD touchscreens TV?s that weather channel, the various news and political commentators have been using lately. ?The acquisition of PPI allows us to draw on our complementary strengths, and we?re excited to accelerate this market evolution,? said Kurt DelBene, president, Office Division for Microsoft. ?PPI?s large touch displays, when combined with hardware from our OEMs, will become powerful Windows 8-based PCs and open new possibilities for productivity and collaboration.?  Microsoft expects to push this technology to smaller and more devices. Demo was of an 82? HD TV?very cool?.I want one for my media room!

Mike

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Texas Medical Association Says Scrap ICD-10

 

Texas doctors, through the Texas Medical Association, submitted comments to HHS (Department of Health and Human Services) recommending HHS scraps the implementation of ICD-10 completely. (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Edition).

Original article: Healthcare business news and research ModernHealthcare Article – Texas Suggests Scrapping ICD-10

The Texas Medical Association makes some really good points.

  1. ICD-10 has been around since the mid-1990?s and the US is just now getting around to ?officially? adopting them. Given that that ICD-11 is due in 2015, and the costs/benefits of going to ICD-10 are minimal vs. going straight to ICD-11, it?s just makes sense to go straight to ICD-11.
  2. ICD-11 is being revised using Web 2.0 principles and designed specifically for incorporation into electronic medical health records.
  3. Given that it?s taken more than 20 years to move from ICD-9 to ICD-10, this makes even more sense. Why adopt ICD-10 just in time to be replaced with a better standard?

Another great point, ?HHS should recognize that the costs of going to ICD-11 directly are less than incurring the remaining costs of implementing ICD-10 in 2013 and then implementing ICD-11 sometime soon thereafter.”

TMA is not alone as the American Medical Association, a host of state medical groups and medical specialty societies, submitted their own comments calling for at least a one-year delay in ICD-10 implementation.

One can always hope for common sense to prevail, can?t they? In any case, the implementation deadlines are looming and the US will be moving to a new standard; are you ready?

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Update on Sunshine Act Compliance Deadlines

Back in December I wrote a blog post about the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rule change for reporting on the Physicians Payment Sunshine Act. Original post here: http://i3.infinityinfo.com/blogs/entry/sunshine-act-compliance-deadlines-extended

The CMS had decided to extend the data collection start date from January 1, 2012 to ?some later date?. A few days ago, on May 3, the CMS provided some updated information in their blog (The CMS Blog). During the extended comment period they received over 300 comments. that?s a good thing that people are voicing their concerns.

The CMS still hasn?t issued a final date but says in their blog ?CMS will not require data collection by applicable manufacturers and applicable group purchasing organizations before January 1, 2013? and ?CMS intends to release the final rule later this year?.

Some news is better than no news. The window is closing though for companies that will be required to report this information to the FDA. Time is ticking. We have helped a number of companies ensure their systems and processes are up date and compliant. If you are struggling with these rules, give us call, we are happy to help you too!

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HHS Announces New Compliance Dates for ICD-10

In February this year we heard that Health and Human Services (HHS) was going to delay implementing ICD-10 diagnostic codes (International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, 10th Revision, or ICD-10). At that time HHS did not announce a new date. You can read more from my related blog post here.

Yesterday, April 9, HHS posted that Healthcare Practitioners and Organizations would have until October 1, 2014 ? providing another year for compliance.Change to the Compliance Date for ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS Medical Data. The deadline was extended in response to physician complaints about the administrative burden of converting to ICD-10.

In 2009, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) ordered the change from the ICD-9 code set, which is now in use, to ICD-10, as part of implementing the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The American Medical Association (AMA) would prefer that HHS implements a more physician friendly replacement, however, HHS has spoken?and so it shall be.  Public comments about the proposed regulations will be accepted for 30 days from publication in the Federal Register. Submit your comments to be heard.

I?m not yet convinced a change from approximately 13,000 diagnostic codes used today, to more than 68,000 codes are going to ?improve the quality of care? and “lead to improved accuracy for reimbursement for medical services, fraud detection, and historical claims and diagnosis analysis.”  In my experience, simplification (remember KISS) is the better approach. We shall see.

At least there is some common sense in this decision and gives Healthcare Practitioners a little breathing room. A year goes by very quickly though, so no time to rest for the weary.

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iPharma Connect Conference?The New Commercial Model

The 11th Annual iPharma Connect Conference was held last week in Philadelphia. This year?s theme was ?Digital Innovation for Marketing Decision Makers in the Life Sciences Industry?. I will share some notes on the conference and key trends and ideas that might provide you some value as well.

At its core, digital marketing is about making connections.  For Pharma, Bio and Device manufacturers, this is defined by connections with patients, physicians and payers. 

Hot Sessions for 2012 Include:

  • Keynote address by POZEN?s Chief Commercial Officer on the changing pharma commercial model
  • Regulatory update on the implications of FDA?s guidance for mobile medical applications
  • A physician?s perspective on preferred digital channels
  • Case study for online support systems and today?s patients
  • Industry panel on war stories and lessons learned from non-effective digital marketing campaigns
  • Best practices for implementation of multi-channel closed loop marketing capabilities

Keynote Address: The Old Model Just Won?t Cut It ? The Revolution of the Traditional Pharma Commercial Model

The Opening Keynote was kicked off with Liz Cermak, EVP and Chief Commercial Officer of Pozen, Inc., formerly WorldWide VP of Johnson & Johnson. The bottom line is the old model won?t cut it. The days of sample drops and focus on call volume are over or should be). We are now in the midst of the revolution of the traditional pharma commercial model. This echo?s what we have been hearing from the majority of our clients. Highlights include:

  • Rep access declining rapidly even when allowed office access, gets harder every day
  • 25 percent of physicians are inaccessible, and growing
  • Sales rep headcount down 26 percent from 2005 peak, today around 75,000
  • Physicians are now embracing digital
  • 9 of 10 feel one access improves quality care
  • 82% of physicians have smartphones
  • 64% own tablets
  • Physicians & Patients are seeking more information online

The patient shift has gone from getting information direct from the physician to participatory medicine and coupling your own information from online and community sources with the physician. This shift will continue as patients become more responsible for their own care. I can affirm this as I had a recent healthcare event (I?m fine now) where my physician directed us to online communities for more detailed information about the condition and even said to just ?Google it? one time.

The other major shift is on social. The healthcare industry has been reluctant to embrace it, largely due to regulatory uncertainty. The challenge is, social is happening with or without the industry, so it?s time to jump in. Sidenote: I blogged about the recent FDA Guidance on Social Media, click here. A little more on the social revolution in Healthcare:

  • It?s a Social world whether we like it or not.
  • Social accounts for 1 out of every 6 minutes sent online, and growing rapidly.
  • 61 million people use mobile phones for health info in the US.
  • More than 25 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) are shared each month.
  • There are currently over 133 Million blogs.
  • Over 50 Million tweets per day.
  • YouTube receives more than 2 Billion (with a B) viewers per day.
  • Digital is the audience connector.

Success in this new model requires:

  • Customer centric behavior
  • Consistent messaging and sharing
  • Audience engagement
  • Efficient organization workflow

Addressing the new commercial model, Liz described six tenets of the new commercial model

1. Fish where the fish are. 

  • The new model requires pharma to have customer centric behaviors.

2. Shift personal selling to physician centric selling

  • Expand and use digital sales toolkit.
  • Provide sources and access to digital and mobile medical information
  • Use eDetails and live chat.
  • Shift rep focus to services, right now services are only at 5 percent, must include multi-channel capabilities.

3. Make it relevant to your audience

  • 79 percent of physicians watch video clips on lectures and drug info.
  • Physicians are interested in connecting beyond the office visit, e.g. digitally, 1:1 presentations.
  • Pharma must be perceived as trusted partner along the patient health journey, nearly half of all Americans look up health info online, general health and social are high and growing, be part of those interactions.
  • Gamification is a trend and new behaviors, provides greater chance of improved patient adherence and disease management, makes it more engaging and fun.

4. Facilitate patient and physician connectivity

  • Previously was more about physician to pharma connectivity
  • Current use in digital communication is email, secure messaging, online video conferences
  • Patients are driving the physician relationship shift

5. Social is possible and without fear

  • The train has left the station.
  • Social Health issued by 30 percent of population.
  • Challenge is how to engage and be relevant.
  • Regulation has paralyzed the industry.
  • Must balance risk and benefit.
  • Resulted in >2 Million people screened for COPD, >60 Million impressions.

6. Fully integrated multi channel marketing is now

  • Communicate consistently and beyond the pill.
  • Digital marketing is growing rapidly, 2012 digital spend is forecast at 18.9% of major media spend, which is over $39 Billion.
  • Market research, planning, partnerships, advertising, direct response, CRM, social, mobile, must all be included.
  • E.g. Drive4COPD campaign, used social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Email, Digg, etc.) and traditional marketing (magazine ads, banner ads, direct mail).

    I have to say, in my experience, Liz hit it out of the park with these tenets. The magic if the internet has empowered patients and physicians alike. The technology shift is happening rapidly. My grandmothers next phone will be a smartphone because she wants to ?surf the net?. Instant access to information is becoming the norm. Organizations and representatives both must adapt with these changing realities. The new commercial model must do all of the six tenets?and then some.

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    Microsoft Convergence 2012?Notes from Houston?Day 3

    All good things must come to an end and so it is for Microsoft Dynamics Convergence 2012. The excitement and enthusiasm continued on the final day. This has been the best Convergence for content, attendance and audience. Adding to all this great event was the closing keynote by General Colin Powel (Ret.).

    Closing Keynote

    Doug Kennedy, VP of Microsoft Dynamics Partners and Support Services, started the closing keynote. Doug started with a summary of the event and a recap of the volunteer and community service efforts that attendees performed while in Houston. Doug mentioned there were 10,225 attendees and 268 sponsors at this year?s event, the largest Dynamics event ever.

    General Colin Powell (Ret) on stage at #Microsoft #conv12, techy at heart, COBOL programmer! transformations is constant. Loves #Corvette

    Gen. Colin Powell (Ret), provided the overall closing keynote. I was looking forward to this and was not disappointed! Gen Powell has had an impressive career and delivered a great speech. He was actually a funny guy and shared some very interesting stories. Interesting note for the techies, he?s started out as a Cobol programmer! He has also been busy lately giving back with a focus on America?s Promise Alliance and GradNation.? The overall themes of his talk were:

    • Loves speaking with audiences
    • Currently a partner at Kleiner Perkins
    • He?s on Facebook!
    • Love?s Corvette’s but recently sold it for Fisker Karma (great taste in muscle cars!)
    • Where you came from doesn’t matter, only where you end up
    • Your past is not your future
    • Key to success is execution

    He also shared insights on how to maintain focus, take responsibility and constantly work towards improving processes, organizations and people. Thank you Microsoft for helping make this happen with such a great leader possible. Loved it!

    Developers Guide to Integrating Dynamics CRM with SharePoint

    This session was presented by Girish Raja who always provides great content and presentations. He shared some great insights and tips for integrating Dynamics CRM and SharePoint beyond the out of box capabilities. Girish covered:

    • Document and data collaboration
    • User Experience (UX) options
    • Web parts (with BCS rarely needed anymore with SP2010)
    • Works great with Office 365 as well.

    Future releases (end of year and 2013) will have better, more automatic integration. It will also go beyond the current Out of Box (OOB) and take advantage of document sets, workflow, versioning, and approvals.

    Solutions Management in Dynamics CRM

    This session was geared to those that are responsible for creating configuration and customization in Dynamics CRM and packaging them into Solutions. This could be as simple as creating some new functionality in your development or QA instance and porting them over to production. Also covered was more complex scenarios for Enterprise customers that might have multiple environments with multiple developers and heavy source code management needs. Some of the topics covered were:

    • Managed and Unmanaged Solutions and when to use each
    • Using the API for Solution packaging and deployment
    • Tips and tricks for team-based development
    • Considerations for on-premise and online deployments
    • Review of what?s happening behind the scenes

    Well that?s a wrap for me at this year?s Convergence. I really wish I had more time and could tele-transport and attend different sessions at the same time. There was that much great content.

    As mentioned in a previous blog, in the coming days and weeks we?ll be posting following up content and examples to help you with your learning needs as well. Stay tuned!

    Mike