Top Ten Reasons to Use Outlook to Expand Microsoft Dynamics CRM Benefits

When it comes to your Dynamics CRM system, it's all about the users, and the Outlook connection.

Your CRM system can be great, but if no one's using it, it's not much good, according to Joel Lindstrom, Senior Consultant, Customer Effective Inc. a Microsoft partner.

However, if you integrate your Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 system with Microsoft Outlook, you can make the user experience of CRM for Outlook consistent with the rest of Outlook, he said. Recently, Lindstrom conducted a webinar for members of the xRM Virtual User Group about the top 10 reasons CRM for Outlook delivers a great user experience for Dynamics CRM 2011.

According to Lindstrom, the improvements via the Outlook connection help users become more productive. And the common user interface also reduces the time required for the Dynamics CRM users who are already familiar with Outlook, he said.

Although there are a number of improvements in CRM 2011, some of the most exciting enhancements for Lindstrom are in Outlook Client, because changes most directly affect the end users. Lindstrom said the new version of the Outlook Client offers a new MAPI interface for CRM that more tightly integrates CRM with Outlook, allowing users to use native Outlook functionality on CRM records. 

Lindstrom's top 10 capabilities unique to the Outlook client that improve the user experience in Dynamics CRM 2011 are:

1. Reading Pane

"The reading pane gives users an instant view of a record without having to open a new screen," he said.

Lindstrom said the reading pane is to CRM records what the preview is to e-mail in Outlook-a full screen, read-only preview of the record. ...