Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011’s Productivity Gains Will Define the Release, Expert Believes

One of the reasons customers choose Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 is because of its tight integration with Microsoft Outlook. Dynamics CRM 2011 takes this integration to a whole new level, making the Dynamics CRM and Outlook experience truly seamless, according to by Craig Fleming, Director of Interactive Services at Adxstudio.

"One of the things Microsoft has done in 2011 is make available all the updates to the client and the server now distributed through a Windows update," said Fleming at Dynamics CRM 2011 demo at a CRMUG Summit 2010 encore presentation for group members. Fleming first gave his presentation at the group's Summit conference at the end of October.

"So this is one of the first clues about how serious Microsoft is" about productivity in CRM 2011, he said. "With CRM 4 you constantly have to go look for the latest hotfixes and service packs and updates and download and install."

And for companies using Outlook 2010, another key feature allows them to add multiple organizations to Outlook. So you can have one organization that you can set to synchronize with but you can view and access the CRM data of as many other organizations that you want in Outlook.

"So for large complex installations it's a huge benefit because the previous version of the Outlook client only allowed you to have a single organization," Fleming said.

Additionally, all of the graphical UI elements that people are familiar with in the Web client are now being brought forward into the Outlook client, according to Fleming.

"It's making the experience richer and again making it familiar for all of the people using the system across the entire organization," he said. "Regardless of whether ...