Assessing the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Accelerators

Last summer, Microsoft announced eight "accelerators" for Dynamics CRM 4.0, of which six have since been released.

Attendees at the first-ever CRM User Group meeting  in New England earlier this month, about a dozen users received a briefing about the accelerators from Ivan Kurtev, a consultant with Green Beacon Solutions. One big benefit, aside from the additional functionality provided by the accelerators, is that they are free. All of the users at the meeting said they are not yet using any of the accelerators.

Of the six accelerators that have been introduced, here are the four that appeared the most useful based on the presentation:

1. eService accelerator. According to Kurtev, "This is a great way to provide self service to your customers." Customers can sign in to a portal and users then "can see what the customer has done in a portal," such as account signups and auditing transactions.
2. Event management. Users can event details, including sponsor participation and sessions. "You can plan venues, presenters, sessions, send invitations, monitor registrations," said Kurtev.
3. Analytics. "This is extended business intelligence for CRM 4.0," he said. It expands data available on the sales, service, and operations dashboards. It also provides a useful sales pipeline graphic, from SQL Server 2008.
4. Extended sales forecasting. It helps users break down sales results against targets. "Reports show how well you are doing versus goals, estimates, and actuals," says Kurtev.