Best of 2017: Among Microsoft Dynamics 365/CRM experts, some preach pragmatism while others push tech limits

No other product in the Microsoft Dynamics lineup promised changes in 2017 as vast as those of the Dynamics 365 customer experience lineup. The CRM landscape was as competitive as ever, and the Dynamics 365/CRM product management team seemed eager to keep pushing for a faster output on new capabilities, while also attempting to reset the roadmap around new packaging.

All that pushing has left Dynamics 365/CRM in a state of flux at the end of 2017. A new release, known as Version 9, is out, but partners desperately await firm guidance on the details of the long-awaited stripped-down Sales and Marketing apps that Microsoft has been working on.

Some of the top luminaries and experts in Dynamics 365/CRM lent their wisdom to us in 2017, and our stats tell us that readers were hungry for that intelligence. Following are our most-read pieces of the year.

The sales funnel never worked: Measure sales velocity with Microsoft Power BI

Perhaps no demo visual is as pervasive in the Dynamics CRM space as the sales funnel chart. It is a clean, easy to understand visual, and it works, right? Ulrik Carlsson, a.k.a. The CRM Chart Guy, takes issue with the conventional wisdom on sales funnels, pointing out four keys issues. Better yet, he provides some ways of measuring and visualizing a sales pipeline that are more meaningful -and better looking - than the old school funnel. Does Carlsson conclude that the standard funnel is doomed? Not quite, but CRM pros can do a lot better.

See also: A recorded webcast from Ulrik exploring the same topic.

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