Dynamics CRM 2013 for smartphones offers a good experience - with the right expectations

In October, the same month that Microsoft rolled out its tablet interface for Dynamics CRM 2013, Redmond also released its smartphone version of CRM. But unlike the tablet, the Android/Windows Phone/iPhone interface has received some mixed reviews online.

Like the US federal government's Affordable Care Act website launching before it was ship-shape, the negative reviewers of CRM-for-smartphone may well be responding to legitimate issues in the 1.0 version of the software. But a few CRM professionals also wonder if there may be another problem in play: outsized expectations.

In other words, Dynamics CRM users will want to carefully consider their CRM workflow and what they expect out of each CRM client they're running. Desktop or laptop CRM is different from tablet CRM, which is also different from smartphone CRM. And trying to do one device's set of tasks on another platform is going to lead to frustrations and slowdowns.

Outstanding in their field

Netherlands-based CRM Partners works with many clients in agriculture, and partner Rik Dubbink says he likes how the new CRM 2013 smartphone app works for those clients. But, he adds, he also has a limited set of expectations for smartphone CRM - valuing its portability over its flexibility. For a more serious interface with CRM, Dubbink says, use the tablet or laptop.

"I use it mainly to look up a customer, a contact person, find a telephone number, find an address," he says of his Windows Phone CRM app. "In that respect it works fine."

"I would never [work on] a process design on my phone," he adds. "It's more ...