Article

Microsoft shares roadmap for Dynamics CRM through first half of 2014 and other plans beyond the frontier

by Jason Gumpert
Editor, MSDynamicsWorld.com
July 09 2013

Microsoft Dynamics CRM still can still throw around some impressive and interesting statistics.  Wayne Morris, CVP for MBS marketing, updated the audience of over 400 at the Dynamics CRM Vision session at WPC 2013 with the latest numbers.  Dynamics CRM now has 3.5 million users, almost 40,000 customers, and Q3 of FY2013 was the product's 35th quarter of successive double digit growth.  And two-thirds of new Dynamics CRM customers are now deploying with CRM Online.

After the CRM 2013 release, planned for October, the CRM roadmap calls for two Online-only releases - Mira, scheduled for the first quarter of calendar year 2014 with a focus on the next version of MarketingPilot (and presumably its integration), and Leo in the second quarter of 2014, with a focus on updates on customer service scenarios.

Missing from the roadmap still is a firm plan on delivering Microsoft's own mobile clients for Dynamics CRM. While the tablet form factor is getting plenty of attention, Microsoft-built mobile phone interface only got a mention on the "Next Frontier" slide presented by Dynamics CRM program manager Reuben Krippner, along with several other areas:

  • enhanced sales planning & analytics
  • enhanced search marketing
  • lync & skype integration
  • integrated social
    • brand mgmt
    • social care - tweets, blogs, social posts to convert to leads, cases
  • mobile client app - extended device support
  • customer service enhancements - state of the art case mgmt awith SLA and Entitlement compliance

Krippner noted after the session that the major mobile app vendors in the Dynamics space continue to engage with the Dynamics CRM team as they develop and market their products, and that extensibility will be a guiding factor for mobile ...

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CRM 2013 Dynamics CRM Leo Mira WPC2013
About Jason Gumpert

As the editor of MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason oversees all editorial content on the site and at our events, as well as providing site management and strategy. He can be reached at jgumpert@msdynamicsworld.com.

Prior to co-founding MSDynamicsWorld.com, Jason was a Principal Software Consultant at Parametric Technology Corporation (PTC), where he implemented solutions, trained customers, managed software development, and spent some time in the pre-sales engineering organization. He has also held consulting positions at CSC Consulting and Monitor Group.

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Dave
Submitted by DubDave on Tue, 07/16/2013 - 06:33 Permalink
Does MS offer a connector for Dynamics CRM online to any of their ERP products? Or is this something that a partner might have developed (similar to what SFDC do)? Thanks, Dave
Jan
Submitted by janrenc on Tue, 07/16/2013 - 07:15 Permalink
Hi Dave, There is a Connector between MS CRM and NAV both for On Prem and Online versions. More information can be found here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg502460.aspx There are also other integration tools such as Scribe, or you can build a custom service, but it really depends on what you want to achieve. Hope this helps. Jan
Dave
Submitted by DubDave on Tue, 07/16/2013 - 11:23 Permalink
Thanks Jan, That was a helpful link. It does say that the connector works for both Dynamics CRM Online and On-premise. I'm not really sure if both integrations are the same though (or deliver the same experience). I would have though that a bi-directional sync process between Dynamics CRM Online and the On-Premise ERP would be challenging given a company firewall would be sitting somewhere in between. I am new to Dynamics CRM so maybe this is something that is already taken care of somewhere. Dave
ty
Submitted by tmorrisy on Tue, 07/16/2013 - 09:47 Permalink
Their connector works with AX, NAV and GP. It is very limited with SL. I have used Scibe many times, but there are some new comers to the field that you might want to look into.