How Do You Upgrade 4,400 Users to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0? Very Carefully

Sometime during the late summer, Raymond James Financial Inc., a regional broker in the southeastern United States, will upgrade approximately 2,600 staff members and 1,800 support personnel in nearly 2,000 offices from Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 to version 4.0.

As such, Raymond James represents one of Microsoft's largest Dynamics CRM user bases. To get ready for the change, expected late this summer, Shawn Tabor, the technology product manager for CRM at Raymond James, spends much of his time educating the 4,400 users about what to expect in the new version.

"My job is to vet out and understand the requirements across the spectrum," he says. "It boils down to helping users understand the upgrade process and use the tool--and map all that into CRM functionality."

That means communicating his excitement about new features offered in Dynamics CRM 4.0. The ones he is emphasizes are:

--The user interface changes in Outlook "that will reduce the number of clicks" necessary to perform regular functions--ideally to an average of two from the current three;

--The ability to perform bulk tracking;

--Improvements in how "customer entities relate to system entities."

Though Raymond James has "a partner of record," says Tabor, its large user base entitles it to deal directly with Microsoft's CRM group in implementing the upgrade. Plus, Tabor makes it a point to communicate with other users via his involvement as a board member of the Dynamic Communities CRM User Group.

All that outreach helped earn Raymond James an Excellence Award from Microsoft for Evangelism.

Tabor is expecting that the upgrade to Dynamics CRM 4.0 will move Raymond James "to the next level of integration" between the back ...