How to Ensure the xRM "Sauce" Doesn't Overwhelm the Flavor of Your Dynamics CRM Main Course

In my career, I have witnessed many developments and releases of Microsoft products. Everybody knows or should know that Microsoft's products are good, but the marketing campaigns are excellent, at least most of them.

The current release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM  has evolved into a more mature product since it first saw daylight. It is a reliable product with a lot of potential, andit can be implemented in small to enterprise companies. The product is easy to get up and running, is user friendly, and is scalable and can be high performing in your IT infrastructure.

Of course, there is a downside to the term CRM. Ask ten people what they understand CRM to be, and most will answer: "It is a nice product for relationship management" and "It can be used for the sales, service and/or marketing department". This is makes sense for people unfamiliar with the product itself, but once you become familiar with the product as a professional, you see it has much more potential.

The business logic in the product could also be applied to other business processes. In the case of Dynamics CRM 3.0 this was referred to as "extending." In essence, this was to enhance the product or add functionality, but with creativity by your Dynamics CRM implementation partner, you could have a pre xRM application up and running.

It didn't take a marketing genius to determine that "extending" had marketing potential, to position the product to a larger market and rebrand the extending to... xRM. In short, xRM stands for Anything Relationship Management, which makes it possible for you to match it on any relationship you would like to manage. Nevertheless it is still the same product, only the way users learn to think ...