8 Ways Microsoft Can Improve the Next Release of Dynamics CRM

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 has been a huge success and in my opinion has made Microsoft the front runner in the CRM marketplace. Microsoft listened to the users’ complaints about CRM 4’s weaknesses and has included many of these improvements in CRM 2011 - both in terms of features like Solutions Management, SharePoint 2010 integration, Auditing, Dashboards, and improved reporting, as well as by bolstering the customer experience with its CRM Online uptime guarantee, competitive pricing, and the growing CRM marketplace.

But CRM 2011 is far from perfect and now that everyone has had plenty of time to read up and investigate the new features, I think it’s fair to say the Dynamics CRM product still has lots of room for improvement. I would also like to point out this article is not intended to be negative because I am a massive fan of CRM 2011 but I am also interested in seeing Microsoft add enhancements that will make it even better.

[Editor's Note: Item 2 in this article has been updated to fix an error]

1. No Multi Browser support

Microsoft still insists that you use Internet Explorer which can be extremely frustrating when you have to explain to new users they can't use the internet browsers they are comfortable with but will have to use IE instead. The good news is Microsoft is aiming to resolve this problem in the next major release of CRM (CRM 6 or CRM 2012) because it will use Html 5 which will support multi browser funtionality.

2.  Online reduced functionality – no custom workflows

I appreciate the fact it is a great leap forward that we can have plugins in CRM 2011 online but the things we aren’t allowed to have seem very ...