AspiraTech Blog: What's Online

Yammer vs Chatter

2012-05-02T10:00:00.001-07:00

When it comes to providing your staff with a centralized communication hub that is both private and easily accessible, two great choices are Yammer.com and Chatter.com. Both are well designed and work flawlessly to do exactly what they claim to do, allow for web-based collaboration among various work teams. Create groups, subscribe to people you work with, share files and important updates without having to address specific individuals to make sure the right people are kept in the loop, and help staff develop a fuller understanding of the people they work with, including their skills and activities.

Both services also offer free options, with the Chatter private social network remaining free at any usage level. If you want any sort of administrative control (such as being able to delete users or their comments/posts) you will need to utilize one of the paid plans at Yammer, while Chatter offers that control by default within the free service. In order to sign up, a new user need only enter an email address on your company's domain. With Chatter you can also invite customers to collaborate with their own email addresses, though their access is much more limited than for staff, as you would hope.

Other differences between the two networks are that:

* Yammer already offers instant messaging, which won't be coming to Chatter until the Summer 2012 Salesforce.com release;
* Neither allows the addition of new profile fields, but Yammer has almost twice as many by default;
* Salesforce.com CRM users will benefit from being able to push record updates and other CRM events to the Chatter feed stream, so that staff can easily stay on top of important deals and relationships;
* In Chatter you can reply to email updates of posts or messages and have the reply post directly to the feed without your needing to log in;
* Yammer allows the posting of videos that play within the page they are posted to without your needing to download the video to view it.

These are primary differences between the two services. There are also some minor differences between the two, but for the most part they are very similar. The decision for me was made by the lack of any security control whatsoever with Yammer. That is a deal-breaker in my assessment, but if you decide to go with one of the paid Yammer plans (which begin as low as $5/user/month) you do gain security control. In that case I lean toward Yammer because of the additional features, such as inline video viewing, polls, additional profile info capture, etc. But if you have a CRM you do well to link the social community to that, in which case though Yammer allows some integration, Chatter comes tightly integrated with its CRM.

In the final assessment, you will probably be quite happy with either of these services, which can make email inboxes with important messages buried beneath mountains of trivia a thing of the past for your workers. Whether from your laptop, desktop, tablet, or mobile device, you can stay connected to the information flow essential to your performance.

What's Yext?

2012-04-15T15:50:00.001-07:00

Yext aims to answer the question, "What's next for the Yellow Pages?" now that the concept of finding businesses and goods has moved online, making that old paper doorstop an anachronism. The Yext "PowerListings" product allows businesses to keep their information correct and seamlessly synced across the web.

Want to update your listing with a new phone number just once and have it show up on Yelp, Citysearch, Google and over 30 more sites? How about correcting an address error found on several sites without having to find and edit them one by one, knowing you haven't missed any simply because some sites get your company address right? With PowerListings, you can log into your company's PowerListings account to update listings whenever you want, and watch the updates occur at blazing speeds across the entire webosphere.

Ensure that your business comes up as a local listing whenever someone in your area searches for the products or services you offer. Verify your contact information across the web to make sure those who have already heard of you actually know how to find you. Be a part of the logical evolution of what regional Yellow Pages have meant to us all for so long, reliably accurate information that helps consumers connect with the businesses they want to do business with.

Yext already has over 40,000 businesses using its service. Is yours next?

Updated Cross-Object Workflow in Salesforce.com

2012-02-07T11:40:00.000-08:00

If you have been using the Enterprise edition or above for the Salesforce.com CRM system, you have probably encountered some frustration trying to create the workflow field updates you want most. That is because the platform is primarily set up for workflow to only occur within one object's records, or from parent to child. Even moving from parent to child (e.g. Account to Opportunity) the platform never sees that the parent record has been edited to run the workflow field update on the child until you edit the child record also, which is why we created Aspira XObject as a free app that automates the triggering of that workflow.

That app is quite popular, and has helped a lot of SFDC users, but there is still the problem of not being able to send field updates from child records to parent records (e.g. Opportunity to Account). After years of Idea Exchange requests, this feature will now be available with the Spring '12 release! And that's not all. See below for all the workflow changes coming soon, as supplied by the official release notes FAQ.

"With Spring ‘12, cross-object field updates in workflow rules and approval processes now support standard objects. Both custom-to-standard and limited standard-to-standard relationships are supported.

Custom Object to Standard Object

You can use cross-object field updates for custom objects that are children of certain standard objects in a master-detail relationship. The standard objects which support cross-object field updates are:

• Account

• Asset

• Campaign

• Case

• Contact

• Contract

• Contract Line Item

• Entitlement

• Opportunity

• Order

• Question

• Quote

• Service Contract

• Solution

Standard Object to Standard Object

You can now use cross-object field updates for standard objects that are children of standard objects in a master-detail relationship. However, only a few standard-to-standard relationships are supported. Case Comments updating Case and Email updating Case were supported previously. The new relationships that we've opened up are:

• Opportunity Product updating Opportunity

Note: Cross-object field updates to a parent opportunity's Amount and Quantity fields only work if the opportunity has no opportunity products associated with it.

• Opportunity updating Account—Supported for both business accounts and person accounts.

Field Updates for Encrypted Custom Fields

With Spring '12, we've expanded the reach of workflow field updates to include encrypted custom fields. Note, however, that if you try to use a formula to set an encrypted custom field's new value, the encrypted custom field isn't available in the formula editor as a resource.

Workflow Field Updates Can Retrigger Workflow Rules (aka Cascading workflow)

We added a new checkbox option to workflow field updates that allows you to select whether you want a field update to trigger a re-evaluation of all workflow rules on the object.

Here’s how it works:

• If the field update changes the field’s value, all workflow rules on the associated object are re-evaluated. Any workflow rules whose criteria are met as a result of the field update will be triggered.

• If any of the triggered workflow rules result in another field update that’s also enabled for workflow rule re-evaluation, a domino effect occurs, and more workflow rules can be re-evaluated as a result of the newly-triggered field update. This cascade of workflow rule re-evaluation and triggering can happen up to five times after the initial field update that started it.

• In a batch update, workflow is only retriggered on the entities where there is a change.

• Only workflow rules on the same object as the initial field update will be re-evaluated and triggered.

• Only workflow rules that didn’t fire before will be retriggered.

• Cross-object workflow rules and time-based workflow rules aren’t candidates for re-evaluation.

• Cross-object field updates that cause a field value to change don’t trigger workflow rule re-evaluation on the associated object."

Important Note: Note that cross-object workflow changes described above apply only to objects connected by master-detail relationships, not those connected by lookup fields. Also, standard-to-custom object workflow is still not supported, and neither is some frequently desired standard-to-standard workflow (such as Task to Contact/Opportunity/Case, Campaign Member to Lead/Contact, etc.) That said, it is still possible to either use our app to allow lookup relationship based workflow automation (parent to child) or have a custom coded solution built for you in a week's time (child to parent workflow).

Bottom line, if you have a business case for cross-object workflow, between the new Spring release functionality and AspiraTech's workflow expertise, we can get you to a perfect fit solution in short order.

Read the full Salesforce.com CRM Spring '12 Release Notes for details on workflow and other important changes.

Intacct vs. FinancialForce

2012-01-19T13:01:00.000-08:00

Ready to integrate your front and back offices to reduce keystrokes, centralize data needed by multiple parties, and increase data accuracy across your business? Then it is time for you to start thinking about connecting your CRM to your accounting system, and two great products to consider if your CRM platform is the “best of breed” Salesforce.com (SFDC) product, are Intacct and FinancialForce.com (FF).

Both are highly reviewed, averaging 4.5 out of 5 in user feedback, but if you are the accountant in the company, you will want to consider some of the finer points of comparison between the two. This paper will help you do that with less footwork on your part, as well as pointing you towards some customizations our clients frequently find useful to get either product to work exactly the way their business process demands.

For example, perhaps you would like to allow customers to view and download their invoices at will and/or track customer purchase/renewal requests submitted through a portal, generate serial numbers associated with each transaction, or capture online purchases and parse them to Account, License and/or other custom objects then port directly into the accounting system, so that all purchase data automatically creates Sales Orders, Sales Invoices and Credit Memos within the accounting system.

If you are in a hurry, the following basic comparison may suffice. Just review the following and make your decision on basic criteria like price, nativity, or reporting.

FinancialForce	Intacct
Native SFDC solution (largely owned by SFDC)	Non-native, but very well-regarded. Intacct uses a different database and connects to SFDC using the Max plug-in, which costs $6000/yr.
Both are dual entry	Both are dual entry
Uses standard SFDC pages and fields, so highly customizable. Uses SFDC reporting engine as well.	More flexible reporting engine, eliminating some exporting to Excel that is common with SFDC reports.
Both do the implementation for you, including data migration, for a charge that varies according to the requirements of the data migration. Range given for set up was $10-12k	Both do the implementation for you, including data migration, for a charge that varies according to the requirements of the data migration. Cost ranges, but estimate given for set up was $15k
Both charge monthly per user fees based on type of user license plus flat per org yearly fee. FF charges $9000 yearly per org plus $175/month for core users (access to all features), $10/month for sales users (view data only), and $125/m for executive users (report on data, but not edit it).	Intacct charges: - $4800 yearly per org - plus another $600/yr/entity - and $400/month for the first full user (access to all features) - and $200/m for all full users after the first, - plus $10/month for sales users (view data only) - There is also a charge of $6000 yearly for the connector to SFDC.

If your accounting needs are sophisticated, such as working with multiple currencies, foreign subcontractors, or multiple entities, the following detailed comparison is for you.

GENERAL LEDGER

Both Products Equally:

Reporting

a) Trial Balance

b) Balance Sheet

c) Income Statement

d) Cash Flow

e) Variance reports

f) Account reconciliation

g) Revaluation reports/ Adjusting Journal Entry Reports

h) Ability to create customized ad-hoc reports

Journal Entries - Import Journal entries from Excel

Budgets - Importing Budgets from Excel

Regions - Ability to allocate revenue per sales region

Differences:

Month end closing - with Intacct, must run adjustments per entity per module. The system generates an adjustment report but it does not auto create journal entries. Closing/adjusting entries have to be booked manually.

Financial statements consolidation entries - Intacct uniquely supports both the current and temporal/historical methods for translating foreign currency subcontactors’ financial statements.

Period Closing by accounting module (AR/AP, etc) – with FinancialForce (FF) period closing by module can be custom configured.

Rule based allocations - Ability to allocate entries to different accounts/departments based on defined rules - Not available in FF

Journal Entries

a) When entering non-functional currency, the system should show functional -currency and operational currency views during data entry along with currency exchange rate being visible – In FF only transaction currency view is available when entering journals; historical entries/rates adjustment not possible; transaction, functional, operational currency views available only when journal is posted. In Intacct operational amount view not available; only the base/ functional amount can be adjusted if FX is non-current. Currency translation adjustment is accomplished via consolidation.

b) Multi natural/document currencies during one journal entry – in FF, only one transaction currency per journal entry

c) Recurring journal entries – in FF this feature is not available, but can use Excel add-in to import recurring journals from Excel

d) reversing journal entries – in FF can cancel posted journal entries, but if JE is in non-home currency, reversal will be based on FX in effect when the reversing journal is posted

e) If GJ can be cancelled what kind of controls are linked to this? (i.e.: user restrictions, period, segregation of duties) – in Intacct within all modules, when a transaction is entered and the "Save" button is hit, the transaction gets auto-posted. Transactivions saved/posted can still be edited/deleted as long as the corresponding GL period is open. Segregation of duties can be done by enabling user restrictions (e.g., employee doing journal entries would only have list/view/add options and only the manager would have edit/delete options)

Budgets

a) Multiple sets of budget numbers per entity – in FF only one set can be entered per company; have to create multiple companies to accommodate multiple sets of budget numbers.

b) Consolidated budget in operational currency – in FF only one budget currency per company; operational currencies have to be entered in another entity. Intacct allows an exchange rate override per fiscal period. However, the exchange rate override affects both “Actual” and “Budget” amounts. There is no ability to override the exchange rate only for Budget values. Therefore, the only option is to have a separate Entity created expressly for the purpose of budgeting. In this case, Entity “A” (Actual) would use the fluctuating monthly exchange rates to revalue the regular GL Activity into CAD. There would be no budget associated with entity “A”. Additionally, Entity “B” (Budget) would be created. There would be no regular transactions in entity “B”. Instead, the entity “B” would only contain a budget. During the consolidation process, the user would override the exchange rate on entity “B” in order to provide a consistent exchange rate on the Budget. Variance reporting (actual vs. budget) would be done by consolidating entity A and entity B. Have to maintain 2 extra entities to accommodate budget; Intacct charges $600/entity

c) Budget exchange rate (FX) maintenance/rate entry - Not available in FF

Number of available dimensions/segments for Chart of GL accounts - FF has a GL account field and four dimension fields which can be used to accommodate other chart of accounts segments like dept, region, etc. Intacct offers 13 segments

Summarized posting for sub-ledger generated entries - Not available in Intacct (individual posting only)

SALES INTEGRATION

Both Products Equally:

a) Will not create multiple invoices from one opportunity

b) Auto matching of sales invoices

c) Cash batch entry

d) Sales reporting (actual vs. Metrics)

e) Ability to distinguish between direct/indirect sales

f) Supporting commodity taxes (US sales, HST, GST, VAT)

Differences:

Batch posting for invoices - in Intacct this feature is not available; an invoice gets posted once saved (save = post)

******

For additional comparisons between the two options, or to get help mapping your business process to their offerings or customizing to your company’s needs, contact us and allow one of our Accounting Business Analysts to walk you through it. Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Deferred Revenue Accounting/Recognition, Exchange Rates, Intercompany functionality, Banking and Cash Management, and GAAP considerations are just a few of the additional areas where differences exist between the two products that may be relevant to your business process. We can help you with gap analysis and help you select the right product.

Even once a product is selected, you may want additional customization. Working with the API (Intacct) or with apex code within the platform (FinancialForce), we can custom code a solution for you to enhance the operation of whichever accounting system you choose. This can also be used when neither product has all the features you want, but one has more than the other. We can help you identify the gaps between each product and your needs, recommend the best fit, then customize it to be exactly the solution you want. Find out more about our System Integration services.

MaestroConference's unique solution

2011-12-27T12:31:00.000-08:00

A service that seems to have been largely limited to the life coaching industry up to now that I see presenting unique advantages for businesses and non-profits alike is the MaestroConference service. If you are a regular reader of this blog, you know I have previously recommended remote meeting services such as GoToMeeting, Adobe Connect, BrightTALK, and others. These services each have their particular advantages, but Maestro is one that I'm really taking notice of these days when screen-sharing isn't the focus of the meeting.

You can choose Maestro for the same core remote conferencing abilities most conference call services offer, the ability for large numbers of people at dispersed locations to all participate in a single conversation. But the key distinguish-er for Maestro is that it allows for the on-the-fly creation of something they call break-out groups.

Let's say you are having a meeting about an upcoming conference your company or organization is going to be hosting. Within the meeting you clarify that certain core decisions need to be made before you can continue, but the group is too large for that level of decision making to take place effectively. So instead you segment the meeting into groups of 12 (the max recommended size for decision-making conversations) and ask each group to come up with their recommendations for the solution. Then with a single click of the mouse the conference presenter can bring the entire group back together after a certain amount of discussion time and presenters from each group can share the results from each group. The conversation can then continue with far more focus and clarity than the group of hundreds could possibly have managed within a single conversation.

This is just one usage example for my favorite Maestro feature. Other desirable features are an open API for integration with other systems that can allow the tracking of "during call" activity to a related database system, the ability to download a CSV of attendees that can easily be imported into any CRM system, the ability of attendees to create their own polls during the meeting (very helpful for breakout groups), and the ability to use the system in any browser without the need for attendees to download any software.

Maestro comes with a heftier price tag per attendee than some of its competition, but the additional features make it a recommended option for your company or organization to explore. Use this Maestro Demo call link to sign up for a free demo so that you can participate in a Maestro conference call yourself, while also getting all your questions answered about the service. And don't forget to visit their Features page for a full list of Maestro advantages.

BrightTALK Gets You Heard

2011-11-01T15:25:00.000-07:00

At AspiraTech we have long been users of the GoToMeeting family of products, which you can see reviewed in this previous blog entry here: How GoToMeeting Outshines the Competition. GoToWebinar is a great product offering, but a new entry in the sector worth your attention is the BrightTalk (BT) webinar/video platform.

One refreshing difference between BT and other online conferencing services is that attendees are unlimited. But in many respects it is like others: it is easy to convert webinars into recorded videos for distribution to those who did not attend the webinar; there are the great polling, survey and download features you would expect. What really distinguishes BT from its competitors is its social media integration.

With BrightTalk, you can turn your webinars into powerful marketing tools with great ease. From their website:

~ Share your videos and events on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn with one-click sharing features
~ Include social sharing for audience at time of registration, immediately prior to an event, and while viewing your online events live and on demand
~ Encourage your audience and presenters to invite their own network
~ Allow your audience to subscribe to your channel feed using RSS
~ Include keywords in text for search engine optimization
~ Access the BrightTALK audience and promote your content to relevant BrightTALK communities

This broadens the applicability of your webinar service. Instead of being a way to strengthen relationships with existing customers or those who already have acted on curiosity about your products or services, BT gives you a way to draw them in before they even know your company's name. Attendees can sign up for webinars from all around the internet.

Pricing starts as low as $150 monthly (for unlimited attendees). When you consider that GoToWebinar charges $399 monthly with a limit of 500 attendees and without the social media component, BrightTALK is very competitive. Check it out.

Missed Dreamforce?

2011-09-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

If you missed this year's Dreamforce event, one of the best industry trade shows out there, you can catch up on a little of what you missed with these session and keynote videos: http://www.youtube.com/dreamforce.

Some of my favorites in the sales app are:

Social Selling: Rising Above the Noise to Drive Sales Performance
- great introduction to a tool that can help you sort through the social media maelstrom to extract real value efficiently
Dashboard Drive By: How to Transform Your Business with Powerful Analytics - particularly helpful now that profiles other than Sys Admins can create dashboards in your org

Or if you're still learning reporting, as well as dashboard design - Cranking Up Impact with Analytics

This is a mere fraction of over a hundred different training sessions available free of charge. So put in a little "continuing education" time and bump up the return on your SFDC investment.

And keep checking back here over the coming weeks, as I continue to make my way through the videos and pick out the best of the best for you.

Smartsheet - for Smart Project Management

2011-08-15T08:59:00.000-07:00

Smartsheet may just present the simplest and easiest way out there to create and maintain project coordination between multiple parties. Want a task list? Type the info in as you would into an Excel spreadsheet. Want to see that same list as a Gantt chart? Just select "Gantt" from the view dropdown.

Sharing the sheets you create with others is as easy as typing in their email addresses. Think of a really suped up Google Docs/Spreadsheet, with comments and attachments that can be added to each row, email alerts you can set for changes to any row or new comments left, and weekly digests of all changes to any sheet.

Other types of sheets you can create off built-in templates include surveys, reports and discussions. Additionally, you can easily integrate Smartsheet with your salesforce.com CRM using single sign-on.

Pricing

Monthly prices start as low as $15.95 if only one user at your company is going to be creating new sheets and 10 sheets will be enough for your company's needs. An unlimited number of viewers and editors can access the sheets that person creates. (This plan doesn't include surveys or reports as available sheet types.) If 3 sheet creators and a 150 sheet limit is a better match for your needs, the monthly price goes to $49.95 and surveys and reports become available. The next price break points are 10 creators and 25 or more creators. The lowest per sheet creator price gets down to about $5 monthly if paid annually for creators above 25. Note that I keep referring to prices per creator, because users are unlimited at any price point. As with most SaaS providers, non-profits are offered significant discounts on annual subscriptions.

Find out more about the Smartsheet project management solution on their website and take it for a free spin for a month to see how it can work for you. It has quickly become a product my team relies upon to communicate project progress easily with each other and with our clients. Some sheets we share internally only and others we share with the project managers on the client end as well as internal staff. It is easy to learn, quickly set up, and very efficient in organizing communication among multiple parties.

Make Your Salesforce.com User Experience More Visual

2011-06-15T11:06:00.000-07:00

Check out this fun new free app from Force.com Labs called Graphics Pack

If a picture is worth a thousands words, you can get your screen space to say a lot more to your users by integrating these informative icons into your screen layouts. I find them most easily integrated with formula fields, but you can also use them in VisualForce pages and tabs.

Online Payment Processing with Salesforce.com

2011-03-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

When a purchase or donation is made online, a form is used to collect the needed data and send it through a payment gateway to a payment processor, which then sends it to your bank account. If you want some or all of that data to also go directly into your CRM/database, you will need a method of integrating the online payment capture into that system. Once that is done, a single user submission of payment information will both send the funds to your payment gateway/processor (Authorize.net, PayPal, etc.) and to your CRM/database, creating new records as needed.

There are numerous options for online payment apps that can perform the above. RogueIT’s Chargent and Linvio’s PaymentConnect are the only ones that are native salesforce.com apps, meaning they are built on the force.com platform and therefore offer seamless integration. Other contenders are: Kugamon, which is actually PaymentConnect with additional modules built on top to create an advanced order management solution; Zuora, a hybrid of native SF and their own SaaS service (with per transaction fees); and in a manner Pervasive, which seeks to integrate payment data so that it can move from PayPal to salesforce.com, but which unfortunately can't handle some standard functionality needed in such an integration such as refunds or recurring payments. This article focuses on the two native solutions, Chargent and PaymentConnect.

Both of these apps are highly regarded and reliably effective at fulfilling their tasks. If you want the company making the app to do all the work for you, take a closer look at PaymentConnect. For under ~~$1200~~$1400 they will set up the web forms and the connections to both salesforce.com and your chosen payment gateway/processor. After that you will pay monthly fees for use of both the app and the form. Monthly fees are discounted for non-profits.

If you want to process credit card payments manually, not online, the fees for Chargent are equivalent to PaymentConnect for businesses and donated (free) for non-profits. However, if you decide to go with online payments on Chargent, you will have to pay for their "Platform Edition," which sports a somewhat higher price tag and is not free for non-profits, but is discounted 50% for them.

Note that in general I am not giving exact prices in this article, as prices are subject to change and different rates apply to businesses and non-profits. As an example however, when I last checked for a non-profit the Chargent rate for online payment integration was $75 monthly (50% NPO discount) while the PaymentConnect fee was the monthly equivalent of ~~$50~~ $87 (paid annually) if you make your own web form, or ~~$80~~ $120 monthly equivalent if you also want them to create your webform for you.

For online payment processing with Chargent, businesses will need to create their own web form (Visualforce page connected to Sites). Development costs can be anywhere between $1,000-10,000, depending on what your apex developer charges and how customized you want the look and functionality of your form to be. In general, instead of building customizations themselves, Rogue IT chooses to partner with established consulting and integration companies who offer a broader set of skills than just payment integration, including the online payment integration within broader projects. Non-profits can use the free Donate Now! widget from Mansa Systems, which takes just a few hours to install for someone familiar with how Visualforce and Sites communicate with each other and the force.com platform in general. For both businesses and non-profits, since you are setting up both the app and the form in-house, or with a consultant you hire, there is no $1400 set up fee paid to Rogue IT.

So essentially, when it comes to online payment receipt, with PaymentConnect you pay up front for Linvio (the app's maker) to do the set up for you, then pay a ~~slightly lower~~ monthly fee [based on whether] you make your own web form. With Chargent you do more to set it up yourself, but pay no set up fee, then face ~~slightly higher~~ $75 monthly charges ~~relative to using PaymentConnect with a web form you created yourself~~.

Both are great apps, so I won't try to compare them at that level. With either you will be happy with the product you receive. And though the free non-profit version of Chargent for manual payment processing within salesforce.com does not come with support, once you move to the paid online payment processing version their product is supported, just like PaymentConnect.

Edit Note: This article was edited in June 2011 to reflect a price increase by Linvio. The current Linvio non-profit set up fee is $1,320, plus $1,050 in annual recurring license fees for the base PaymentConnect product and $400 yearly for the Mini-Store add-on (Donation Landing Page).

MS Dynamics 2011 vs salesforce.com

2011-01-12T07:55:00.000-08:00

If you read my previous comparative review between salesforce.com (SFDC) and Microsoft Dynamics CRMs, you know that I originally began comparing the two in search of a less expensive option for clients, without saddling them with a clunky, unreliable, ineffective system like so many of the low-cost options out there. So with Dynamics 2011, which is scheduled for general release next week, I was hoping to find that all my annoyances with the cheaper choice were sufficiently mitigated to where I could confidently recommend it to others.

What I found was that Dynamics was definitely worth reviewing again. There were some things I liked all right before that I really don't like now that I've spent more time working in Dynamics, and some things I thought were "nice-to-haves" before that I've come to appreciate much more. I've primarily focused this review on presenting new information, whether it is due to a new feature in Dynamics 2011 or something newly noticed about the CRM in general. Therefore, please consider the combination of the initial review and this one to be the full review of how the two CRMs stack up.

New Features in Dynamics 2011

Improved Microsoft Office interface – Introduction of Ribbons, as found in MS Office products
Advanced user personalization – similar to SFDC’s Admin level homepage personalization features, but available at the user level
Role-based forms and views – similar to SFDC record types assigning appropriate page layouts to different profiles
Inline data visualization – is essentially the contextual placement of individual dashboard components/ Excel charts
Dashboards – Addresses the drawbacks of context specific inline charts with a central dashboard similar to SFDC dashboards. Still no centralized report location.
Better Office Outlook experience – Users can optionally decide to use the Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook edition that allows them to access the on-demand CRM from within their desktop Outlook application, instead of through a browser. This option provides tighter integration with Outlook while also offering significant improvements over the standard online CRM experience by taking advantage of native Outlook functionality.
Contextual document management – SharePoint documents can be accessed and edited within the CRM directly from whatever record the document is associated with.
Goal management – set goals for a campaign or fiscal period, have Opportunity records roll-up, then track those roll-up summaries against the goals within one organized process.
Interactive process dialogs – think of call scripting, where prompted questions are combined with workflow to guide users to ask all the right questions when qualifying a Lead, filling in all the important fields on an Opportunity, or logging a new Case.
Cloud development – take one Windows Azure platform, add two drops of .NET programming and a dash of Visual Studio, then shake with Microsoft Silverlight, Windows Communication Foundation, and .NET Language Integrated Query (LINQ) and you get… well I don’t know exactly what you get, but Dynamics is now letting you get whatever it is.
Solution management – very similar to SFDC’s Managed Packages feature, allowing users to bundle custom solutions for distribution to others with change management and versioning, then offer them in the marketplace.
Microsoft Dynamics Marketplace – Other companies continue to develop integrated products for the CRM, thus building out Dynamics' feature offerings.

Other than the above, the new Dynamics is mostly like the old Dynamics, but one of the items on this list bears particular mention–that is the new Outlook interface for accessing the CRM. This one feature is probably going to be pretty divisive. Some people are going to love the CRM for this reason alone and others are going to trash it for what is at root the same reason. I confess that I fall into the latter category.

The great thing about the new Outlook integration in Dynamics is that if you spend your entire day in Outlook and not in your web browser, and if you like the Outlook user interface and don't really want to have to learn one that is arranged differently, this new feature is going to make your life a lot easier. Instead of navigating back and forth between Outlook on your desktop and your browser's CRM offering, you will be able to navigate to the CRM's remotely stored data without ever opening your web browser. The layout of the CRM and of Outlook is the same, with there simply being a LOT more items in the left navigation pane, with new selections appearing as you work.

For me this is actually a major drawback, because while I think the layout of Outlook is great if the only navigation you are going to do all day is going back and forth between your Calendar and your Inbox, it truly is not up to the task of presenting the complex inter-related data of a CRM system. It is just fundamentally the wrong layout, and no interface designer would ever start from scratch and come up with this for anything requiring that sort of navigation. In wanting to satisfy its customers' desire for a familiar Outlook look and feel even while in the CRM, Microsoft sacrificed an optimized user experience for all users.

This last part relates not just to those people who install the Outlook edition of Dynamics. In general, Dynamics uses Outlook's user interface. You can't avoid that by simply choosing to use only the edition they call "Dynamics CRM Online." In fact, I would suggest anyone who uses both Outlook and Dynamics to definitely get the Outlook edition, because it fixes some of my pet peeves about the previous online edition.

Recall from the previous review that there is no way to view a record without going into edit mode within the Online Dynamics system. In the Outlook edition of the CRM there are record previews, just like one is able to see the contents of an email in the preview pane when that email is highlighted in the Inbox when working in Outlook. And the Dynamics problem of opening 6 windows for you just to accomplish what to you feels like one task is eliminated because you don’t have as many windows popping up all over the place when you can see more of a record in one screen when just viewing records.

This is all small consolation though when there is another CRM that always shows you all your data on a record on one screen when viewing, by way of Related Lists. Which brings me to the next section of this review, the comparative advantages and disadvantages of each CRM. Again, since for the most part Dynamics 2011 is a lot like 4.0, most of the original pluses and minuses noted in the original review still stand and I won't re-post the exact same here again.

Dynamics Advantages in comparison with salesforce.com

Microsoft plays well with Microsoft – Being an Office user, including Outlook, I appreciate the tighter integration that only Microsoft can achieve between its proprietary systems. For example, you can now edit an Office document you attached to a CRM record without leaving the CRM. You edit the version that is uploaded directly, similar to how when you add an attachment to an email in Outlook then click to edit the attachment you are taken to the doc in Excel or Word and saved changes affect both the version on the email and the one stored in the file system.
Workflow Creates New Records – Dynamics offers workflow (renamed Processes) that can branch to other levels of workflow and also create new records. This isn't actually new, but I like it so much I wanted to state it again–salesforce.com? Hello?
List Views with More – Helpful in-context resources such as "how-to videos"and dashboard components on each object's list views put more relevant information in front of you as soon as you navigate to any object.
System default to leave you signed in all day – What good is a task reminder you can't see because the system logged you out when you were inactive in the CRM for 2 hours? This default can easily be changed in SFDC if you know where to look, but if Dynamics can start it at all day, so could SFDC.
Connect Ribbon Button – A greater variety of ways to establish relationship roles between different records. SFDC non-profit users who have the non-profit starter pack will be familiar with the Affiliations and Relationships related lists, which provide this same sort of functionality. SFDC business users don't get this though, so would have to build it out themselves.
Mass Lead Conversion – in addition to being able to convert one Lead at a time by “Qualifying” the Lead, in Dynamics you can also mass convert a group of Leads without using an outside product like CRMfusion.
Dashboard Flexibility – you can add IFrame components to dashboards so that data from outside websites can be displayed within context with CRM data. You can also create chart components directly off criteria, rather than by making a separate report first.
More Types of Report Exports – you can export reports as PDFs, web archives, XML files, and TIFF images, as well as SFDC's standard CSV and XLS exports.
Reusable Picklists – Dynamics offers the ability to apply the values from a saved picklist value set into a newly created picklist (How many times do you necessarily want to type in the months in a year on different objects having a Year picklist?)
About a dozen other benefits I listed in the previous review.

Dynamics Disadvantages in comparison with salesforce.com

Microsoft does not play well with others – unlike the “Platform as a Service” extensibility of SFDC, Dynamics seems to only want to cooperate with other Microsoft products. You get amazingly tight integration with Office, Outlook and SharePoint, with those applications even having altered code to accept data coming from Microsoft’s CRM and only Microsoft’s CRM, but when I think of some client projects I’ve done with SFDC, there is no way Dynamics could have fulfilled the same role.
No Chatter – so all internal communication has to be by email communication, whether manually sent or sent by workflow. Just as personal communications are moving more towards social networks, having a system like Chatter running in the background allows internal business communications to be put on auto-pilot. With Chatter users can subscribe to the information they care about receiving and let others do the same, instead of having users push information to the people they think should want to know. Dynamics has tighter integration with Outlook than SFDC does (though both allow users to share Contacts, Calendar events and Emails between Outlook and the CRM), but this just keeps its users more focused in an email based world that does not leverage enhanced communication possibilities and the efficiencies that could be delivering, particularly for large businesses.
Two-relationship-levels Report Limit – In creating reports, user can only create reports that go up to 2 relationships deep, such as Account with Contacts or Accounts with Cases, but not Accounts with Contacts and Cases. You are meant to create custom Fetched-based reports with .NET for anything more complex, including drill-down reports.
Navigation & Usability – The Dynamics user interface was clearly patterned after the Outlook user interface, even when one is within the browser accessed version of Dynamics Online. Outlook has certainly been a winning product for Microsoft, with even many people who use no other Microsoft products relying heavily upon that one. However, what works fabulously for Microsoft in one application falls far short in another. On top of that, when working in the Online edition of Dynamics, native browser zoom features don't work properly, thus leading to eyestrain if you are someone who normally enlarges their text. When you zoom in, all scroll-bars disappear. There is no zoom at all in the Outlook edition.
Inability to Copy Displayed Data – this may seem like a minor detail, but it is really a pain not being able to highlight and copy any text in this system, with the sole exception of field contents while in edit mode. This may be the reason records are always displayed in edit mode in the online edition! I find it particularly annoying when I’m unable to highlight values in a List View. If you see a value you want to copy and paste from a list view to another location, you have to edit the record and navigate to that field on the full record to copy it.
Cumbersome Picklist Creation Process – An unfortunate drawback of Dynamics' provision of the ability to save a picklist’s values as a set of options available to other picklists is that it comes at the cost of efficiency when creating picklist options the first time. Instead of being able to simply copy and paste a list into the options box, you have to click Add to create each option then edit the label in another box, being sure to leave the defaults in for the “Value” field, which is the unique number between 1.0 and 2 billion that the system uses to think of this value. I love the saved picklist value set feature, but wish it could be achieved in a less laborious way the first time around, particularly since it is likely you will have more unique picklists than duplicated ones within the system.
Campaigns – where to begin… after considerable effort I was able to get Leads into Campaigns such that I could navigate from the Campaign to the Marketing List, then to a list of Leads associated with the campaign through that marketing list, but not only could I not get all this to show on one page, but I had three different windows open by the time I was done, each showing me only part of the information I was trying to analyze. Additionally, when creating a marketing list to go on a campaign, you have to choose to either have it be for Leads, Contacts or Accounts and cannot mix them together in one list. So I could have gotten to five windows open before being able to see a Campaign and all its members. I could not see a list of related Opportunities on Campaigns no matter what I did. I could clearly see Campaigns entered on Opp records, but when clicking on the linked Opp record, no data was found showing the Opp I had just come from, nor any other Opp record that referenced that campaign. The linkage is there, because Campaign reports calculate ROI, but you don't get the related lists showing the linkage on the actual campaign record the way you do in SFDC. If someone can please explain to me how this feature is meant to work, it would be greatly appreciated. This can't possibly be how people are using it every day.
In addition to about a dozen other drawbacks listed in my previous review, there is also a long list of features Dynamics simply lacks that a SFDC enterprise user is going to expect, including:
- No universal search, so you must search object by object. (What Dynamics calls global search is a search of objects related to all other objects, e.g. Users/record owners.)
- No Excel-like calculated formula fields (you have to have a developer code them for you) -- yes, you read that right. SFDC does Excel-style formulas, including functions, better than Microsoft does.
- No HTML email tracking so that you can see when a sent email was read
- No scheduled emailing of reports
- No multi-select picklists, unless you have a coder build them out for you
- No custom roll-up summary formulas without .NET coding (in general, you need programmers to do calculations in Dynamics, where Sys Admins who don't code can do a lot more in SFDC)
- No lookup filters that would allow users to only see applicable options when they search for records to attach to another record (no search filters either)
- No revenue scheduling on products with recurring billing
- No variation of page layouts for a given object, such as different fields or related lists displaying depending on the type of sales deal it is (e.g. deal size, product vs. service, etc.)
- No Sites for public display of select CRM data
- Really, I could go on and on like this, but I think you get the picture. There are just a lot of core CRM functions that Dynamics either doesn't give you or makes you work a lot harder to get.

In Summary

The bottom line is that Dynamics is the economy choice, where you pay less and get less. It is improved in 2011, (such as by allowing record previews when in the Outlook Edition), just not enough for me to actually like working in it. If you have a choice, choose salesforce.com. If your company simply cannot afford SFDC's Enterprise edition, don't feel too bad about having to use Dynamics 2011. It does seem to keep getting better with each release and may eventually present a compromise that is easier to live with from day to day. Maybe Dynamics 2015?

Note on Production of this Article
After my previous comparative review between the CRMs of Microsoft and SFDC I received an inquiry from salesforce.com about whether I had plans to evaluate Microsoft's new offering, Dynamics 2011. I told them that I rarely review any product more than once, since everything has one release after another and I have new products to move on to. Apparently they felt so confident about how their product offering stacks up against Microsoft's that they were willing to pay me for the time it would take for me to do another comparative review, this time using Dynamics 2011 as the basis of comparison.

Since I'd invested my own time in researching and writing the original review, and was actually wanting to review the new version of Microsoft Dynamics, but just not wanting to take the time away from paid work to review the same product a second time, of course I was more than willing to take SFDC up on their offer – provided they were willing to accept just as balanced an evaluation of their product's relative advantages and disadvantages in the requested piece as in the original unsolicited one, without knowing in advance what my findings would be. They were, so here it is. Hopefully you have found it to be a balanced review that presented you with the information you need to make an informed decision you'll be happy to live with in your workplace.

Inexpensive New Option for Non-Profit Online Fundraising Tech

2011-01-07T12:29:00.000-08:00

When it comes to online fund-raising, Convio should be the first option you consider for your non-profit organization (NPO) if your budget can accommodate it. Though competitors like Blackbaud (eTapestry, The Raiser's Edge) have extensive clients lists and obviously have something valuable they offer them, Convio probably has the highest rate of customer satisfaction within that price category, and I will be writing a separate review comparing these two companies at a later date.

A relative newcomer on the seen at a considerably lower price point is NPEngine. This newer venture offers integration with social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter as well as integration with a wealth of Google products (Youtube, Docs, etc.) and Salesforce.com. From the NPEngine website, "Easily automate tasks such as sending 'thank you' emails to donors and volunteers, accept and log donations, synch with spreadsheets and much more. Just set it and forget it, no Admin or 'tech person' required." All for a $1,000 one-time fee with no recurring costs.

Unlike the other services mentioned above, NPEngine really focuses on building the online fund-raising offering from the website up, not just adding features to an existing website built in some other platform. For a new non-profit on a shoestring budget, it is an option worth considering. Time will tell if it can build on success with small NPOs to develop to meet the needs of larger and more established organizations.

Box.net: Remote file sharing at its best

2010-10-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

I've been a happy customer of Box.net for a few years now, and decided to finally let others know just how useful this service is. For just a few dollars per month I am able to provide clients with a secure, on-line environment for uploading files, which is particularly useful during a data migration.

While the free Google Docs product works great for sharing a few spreadsheets, presentations, or word-processing documents, working with large quantities of large CSVs is not efficient in Google Docs, and sharing PDFs is not possible.

With Box.net I can create folders, upload files, and invite users to securely log in to download or upload files. If I upgraded to a different plan I could even integrate the stored files with my SalesForce.com CRM system so that files I share with clients could be accessed from their records in my CRM system, but I wouldn't have to waste CRM storage space housing files that other staff don't need to use in the course of their work. It also integrates with QuickBase, Docusign, and eFax, among many other SaaS products.

When you want something more organized than just emailing lots of attachments to a target group of recipients and want something simpler and far easier to set up than SharePoint (good grief), Box.net can be a real life-saver. And with the Business version of the service you gain version control, higher file size limits, and the ability to sync your desktop file system to your Box.net file system, among other features. You just need to have at least 3 Box.net accounts to upgrade to the Business account level.

For Personal and Business plans, pricing ranges from Free to $15/user/month. For large businesses you should contact Box.net sales to inquire about custom pricing for volume discounts within the Enterprise plan.

The main differences between the plans are storage and file size limits:

Lite Personal Plan (Free) provides 5 GB of per person storage, with 25MB file size limits
Personal Plan upgrade level 1 provides 25 GB of per person storage, with 1GB file size limits
Personal Plan upgrade level 2 provides 50 GB of per person storage, with 1GB file size limits
Business Plan provides 500 GB of companywide storage, with 2GB files size limits
Enterprise Plan provides unlimited storage, with 2GB file size limits

When you go to the Enterprise plan you also get full custom branding, the ability to embed the service in your own website for staff and customers to use, and the full suite of integration with technology partners. This is a great option for law firms, marketing firms, or companies with large marketing departments where there will be many external users with different domains for their email addresses who will all want to be able to create folders and upload files under your account.

One really cool feature of how the service works is that anyone you invite to share a folder with you gets your level of service while working in your folder, even if they only have a free account. So if you have a business account, which unlike the personal plans allows version control, 2GB files and password protected individual documents (as opposed to secure folders, which are available in all plans), even if the collaborators you invite to share that folder with you only open free accounts to access the folder, they will still enjoy all those business plan features.

Of course, when they move on to their next project they will still only have a free account, so if they want those features for folders they create in their account to share with others they will need to upgrade to a business plan themselves. This marketing approach has allowed Box.net to grow at a rapid pace without marketing any of the personal plans other than the free one. Most paid users start as free users on someone-else' account, then seeing the value of the service, upgrade to a fuller featured plan.

I've been very happy with this service and if you have never tried it yourself then you should try one of the free accounts. Or if you already know you need the features of the Business plan, but don't want to commit right off the bat, you can sign up for a free 2 week trial.

Move Your App to the Cloud

2010-09-07T10:36:00.000-07:00

Like SalesForce.com's Force.com database development platform, Etelos is a PaaS vendor, Platform as a Service. The unique offering of Etelos is that it does not require you make significant changes to the code your software applications are already using. If you currently sell a standard LAMP-type application, adding a SaaS offering to your business line with Etelos can be very simple.

With Etelos, if your company currently sells a software package that is downloaded or distributed on disks, you can move to a cloud delivery model, including the recurring monthly revenue stream and ability to release quick updates for ongoing improvements of your service offering. You also get to offer your app in their marketplace and within a network of their distribution and syndication partners, including Box.net, Acteva, and Six Apart.

Find out the details of how by visiting their website at Etelos.

Net Neutrality and Your Business

2010-08-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

The Cloud computing business sector has benefited greatly from the ubiquitous and inexpensive availability of high speed internet access that most businesses can take advantage of. What will be the effect if net neutrality, essentially the idea that all access is equal, comes to an end?

As articles like The FCC's Crusade to Keep the Internet Free - BusinessWeek make clear, there is a battle being fought between the FCC and service providers such as Verizon, Comcast and AT&T over whether users should pay more for internet access based on what kind of data they are transmitting. Think it is fair for users to pay more to stream video? How would that affect your video-teleconferencing budget? How about more for larger amounts of data, the way handheld data plans are tiered? Would that lead to your customers using more or less of your services? Would you download fewer Whitepapers? Would your customers?

So far Google has lined up with the service providers and only the government seems to think the current model is preferable to any limitations on net neutrality. Where does your business line up? Is there any upside for your business if net neutrality becomes a thing of the past?

CRMfusion's DemandTools Mass Data Manipulation Powerhouse

2010-07-06T12:06:00.000-07:00

Have a web-to-lead form on your company's website that feeds into the Leads object, but company policy is to automatically work with all web generated Leads as Contacts and Opportunities? You could purchase single purpose software like Form Assembly or ClickTools to create forms that feed directly into Contacts and Opportunities, or you could use the multi-purpose DemandTools software to mass convert any number of Leads all at once. Cost comparison: $50/user per year with DemandTools versus $30/admin per month with the web forms software($360/admin/year).

In Professional Edition, with no access to Dataloader, but need to upload data to newly created fields on all existing records without needing manual data entry? DemandTools can handle that too, all within the $50/user/year license fee. (While the free Excel Connector software can also handle this task, the limits of Excel seem to cause a lot of crashes when large amounts of data are processed at once, which is not a limitation with DemandTools. Additionally, with DemandTools you can import/update information from other sources besides Excel spreadsheets.)

How about cleaning up duplicates like XYZ Corp., XYZ Corporation, and XYZ which native SalesForce.com merge duplicate functionality won't recognize as duplicates? Again, DemandTools is your solution.

Find out more about this cost-effective yet powerful tool for working with large amounts of data in the most efficient way at CRMfusion DemandTools.

And if your organization is a non-profit SFDC user org, CRMfusion offers this and other software they make completely free of charge. That's a policy that I believe we all want to get behind, even if our own companies are for-profit enterprises.

Microsoft Dynamics vs. SalesForce.com

2010-05-10T06:10:00.000-07:00

I have migrated a number of clients out of Microsoft Dynamics CRM (MS CRM) and into SalesForce.com (SFDC), but never bothered to explore MS CRM beyond the export CSVs. I was happily surprised with what I discovered in exploring the on-demand CRM offering from Microsoft. Recently I was asked by a long-time client whether his new business would be better off going with SFDC again or switching to MS CRM. All I could say was that I'd moved people out of the latter, which is a pretty meager advice offering from a consultant, so I decided to dive deeper and come up with a better answer, for him and for others.

The similarities between MS CRM and SalesForce are extensive. Both allow the creation of custom fields and custom objects. Both have role based security, though MS CRM combines what are two separate identities (roles and profiles) into one. (You get the access defined by your job position, not as a separate decision about what you should have permission to do given your company's security decisions.) In both you can also create new roles/profiles by cloning existing ones then customizing. Both have web-to-lead (WTL) forms, mobile access on PDAs, campaigns, and a host of other features. In short, they fulfill a lot of the same business functionality.

Where things change is with the basic approach and robustness of the on-demand offering. Unlike SFDC's open API allowing integration with back office systems and any webs services from within the UI (using Apex code and triggers, classes, visualforce pages, etc.) customization of MS CRM beyond the basics (new fields and objects) requires on-site server hosting, and .NET developer - which is fine for companies that want to keep an internal IT department running servers, but not quite as easy for companies wanting an on-demand solution that can be integrated with other systems. MS CRM is therefore primarily an on-premise based product, although there are vendors who will customize and host it for you.

That said, the robustness within the Microsoft hosted MS CRM system does not remotely compare to that within SFDC in terms of processing speed. I couldn't believe how long it took to run a simple "off-the shelf" report of all Open Opportunities (of which there were only 7). It was literally over 3 minutes (the time at which I decided to get up and make a sandwich, returning to find it finally finished). Similarly, checking for duplicates as the first step in the process of converting a Lead (best practice) is impractical. That is because MS CRM considers checking for duplicates to be too burdensome a request on the system to be done in real-time, so instead it is done as a background process and you are sent an email when it is done.

Another significant difference between the two is on price. If one compares SFDC's Professional Edition ($65/user/month) to MS CRM ($44-59/user/month), the prices are fairly equivalent. But to get workflow and the open API with SFDC you have to go to Enterprise Edition ($125/user/month). That's a degree of difference worth some compromise on quality, but how much? Well here are additional pluses and minuses of each to help you with your evaluation.

Other pluses I found with MS CRM were as follows:

A familiar Outlook interface is available, though not required
Can be on-demand online option or hosted on internal servers
Ability to selectively decide some behaviors of master-detail relationship between objects, such as cascade deleting the child with the parent or not and cascade ownership transfer of child record when parent is reassigned 1) only for active users or 2) for all users or 3) for just records owned by the current user or 4) not at all.
Can export reports as PDFs, web archives, XML files, and TIFF images, as well as SFDC's standard CSV and XLS exports.
Includes some duplicate detection beyond exact name matches (which can easily be achieved within SFDC by running a name grouped report that counts the number of times a specific name is used for any object's records), but does not work when synching Outlook created Contacts/Accounts with the online version (for records created by the synch). Can select any field and look for an exact match or a match of the first or last X number of characters.
I liked the Articles templates for creating how-to articles for system usage (or for that matter, any business rules). It is pretty simple (click here to type in this info like in MS Word templates), but a nice feature. Wish they could have been set to show in specific locations like reports (with Accounts for articles on Accounts, etc.). Is sort of like SFDC's Answers feature (one of the 3 templates is for Q&A) but without the interactive feedback functionality where any employee can try to provide an answer. These are more like a static MS Word template integrated into the CRM for quick creation of system how-to pages.
Ability to easily create many-to-many table structure without having to manually create the tertiary "linking" object was nice.
Loved that workflow could create new records (complete with dynamically assigned fields, like the related Account filled in for a new Case record created) and cascading workflow (trigger evaluation of the next workflow rule as part of the workflow action of the first), as well as SFDC's create task, send email, and update field values. No sending of outbound messages to other systems, but most small to mid-size businesses don't use that feature anyway.
There is tighter integration with other Microsoft products, so if you are deep in MS Office, you may find it easier to work in MS CRM than SFDC. That said, SFDC does have Outlook, MS Word, and MS Excel plug-ins that allow mail merge, calendar synch, email upload, task synch, and Excel reporting between MS Office and SFDC. It's just not as tight as Microsoft integrates with its own products. (Prelude: Microsoft won't even allow you to access a trial of their system without using one of their email addresses and their browser. Talk about proprietary.)
You get more storage with MS CRM on-demand than with SFDC

Beyond what has already been mentioned, significant drawbacks to MS CRM usage include:

Email templates had to be specified by object to be able to access merge fields from those objects. The selection "Global," which I presumed would return all objects' fields, actually only allowed access to the User object. Choosing Contact got access to Contact and Account fields, but I couldn't find any way to get all fields from all objects available within one email template.
Some expected features standard within SFDC are extra $$ add-ins with MS CRM, such as global search of all objects instead of one at a time.
I could not see a list of related Opportunities/Contacts on Campaigns. I could clearly see campaigns entered on test Opp records, but when clicking on the linked Opp record, no data was found showing the Opp I had just come from, nor any other Opp record that referenced that campaign. The linkage is there, because Campaign reports calculate ROI, but you don't get the related lists showing the linkage on the actual campaign record.
No auto-assignment rules for web-to-lead (WTL). All WTL leads are put in a sort of queue, where presumably anyone can navigate and select a Lead to assign to themselves or someone else. Only then will the Lead appear in general Leads lists. So if you aren't specifically looking for new WTL leads, you won't know there are any. Still, I liked that the WTL form offers a choice of form code you host on your own website or an online page they host on their site, and also the ability to store up to 10 different landing pages (form code or hosted full page), whereas SFDC provides you the code without the ability to store it within the system for later retrieval or minor edits.
While I could find information on converting several Leads at once (create marketing list then convert the list), it took me until a subsequent review of Dynamics 2011 to figure out how to convert a single lead (by qualifying it). I couldn't figure out how to convert a single Lead, nor find any documentation on that method. As far as I can see, you have to create a marketing list for lead conversions, save the lead(s) you want to convert into that lists, activate the list, navigate to the Marketing Lists Members section of that list, then select the Leads you want to convert. Wow. Nice to have the option of converting several at once, but would be awfully nice to have the flexibility of simply choosing a Lead and converting it with a click or two. Also, to change the Lead status to "disqualified" or otherwise "lost" you go through the same process as converting a Lead, just choose a different option in the final screen. So no changing a simple picklist field to "disqualified." Moreover, the button to show the newly created records after conversion would not allow me to select it, and there was no option of customizing an Opportunity name. Compare with Lead conversion in SFDC, which allows you to customize the Opportunity name while creating it, attach the new Contact to an existing Account or create a new one, optionally create a follow-up task within the conversion screen, and be delivered directly to the newly created/appended Account record upon completion, where you can easily see within related lists the new Contact and Opportunity records you just created and edit them further to complete fields unique to those records.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I could not find a way to view records in their entirety without editing them. There is the ability to expand the listing for any record when you are on the View for that object, but you only see a few fields. To see all the fields, sections, and related lists (tabs within MS CRM) you have to double-click on the item, which takes you into edit, not view mode. That is a data integrity nightmare just waiting to happen.
Downtime/Service windows are Tues/Thurs 6pm-10pm PT instead of weekend late nights. I'm still working those hours!
On-demand users are forced to use Internet Explorer as their web browser. Additionally, when I tried to sign up for an MS-CRM trial with my business email address, I encountered a "page not found error." Had to use a personal hotmail/live account to sign up for the trial, which was not at all desired. SalesForce Free Trial sign up accepts any browser and any email address. Beyond sign up, you can always use any browser with SFDC but not with MS CRM.
Although the familiar look of Outlook will be a plus to some, sometimes change is good. The SFDC user interface is easier to read and navigate.
There is extremely limited customization of mobile integration. Basically you can choose which objects dump data to your phone, but not which records are kept synched or which fields on those records show on your PDA. SFDC's online documentation says you can't change those things within the free mobile app, but you actually can. I've done it plenty of times. But in MS CRM the options simply do not exist in the platform.
No self-service portal or public knowledge-base for customers
No customizable forecasting
No Contact Roles or Partner Roles for reciprocal relationships
No custom buttons and links (integrate GoogleMaps into Contact records by address, find Hoover's profile with a single click, etc.)
No Content, requiring purchase of separate SharePoint data storage hosting.
No free 100 platform licenses for access to custom objects
I could go on, but I think you get the picture.

Both CRMs have a sales ecosystem for the purchase of extensions of the base product -- AppExchange and Pinpoint -- though the SFDC one is much richer. There are half as many apps on Pinpoint as on the AppExchange, and it seems like a third of those that are there are actually listings for consulting services starting around $70k (for systems hosted by the MS Dynamics partner company instead of being hosted on MS servers). The variety of offerings is likely to expand in the coming years, as MS goes after more of the CRM market and more vendors decide to play. But right now you get a lot less choice with MS CRM.

The way in which you get set up with the two CRMs seems a little different. With SFDC there is a large ecosystem of consultants who will customize your implementation primarily within the UI, often with some integration of apps and Apex to other systems. With MS CRM the platform hosted by Microsoft won't accept any coding like Apex, which therefore requires either an internally hosted solution or one hosted by Microsoft certified consultants. These consultants are much more expensive than SFDC consultants because their certification requires certification with Microsoft's server technology, as well as the CRM product. So with MS CRM you are likely to do configuration within the UI in-house instead of using a consultant, simply because it makes no sense to pay for server expertise when you don't need any server configuration. In fact, I couldn't even find any MS CRM consultants listing configuration service within the UI that did not include CRM hosting on their servers. While some SFDC users decide to do in-house configuration, the low cost of using a SFDC consultant to get a launch that conforms with best practices and that effectively maps your business process to the technology (in the thousands instead of tens of thousands) makes the use of an implementation consultant a feasible option.

In the end I found the MS CRM system to be the only viable alternative to SFDC out there, but I would still recommend SFDC to anyone who can afford it, especially with Chatter coming out in a few months -- SFDC's Facebook/Twitter like system of automated newsfeeds of any system events you choose to stay updated on -- specific changes to Opp records, status updates by employees on what they are working on, newly uploaded documents, etc., which can often take the place of the need to set up workflow, making Professional Edition the right option for many businesses. SalesForce.com is definitely the best-of-class, but at a price. If the price is too high to get all your users into the CRM who really need to be there, and if you are already using a lot of Microsoft products, Microsoft Dynamics CRM is worth a look.

(Special Note for Non-profits: This review applies solely to the use of the two CRMs within a business environment. If it were a comparison for non-profit editions the clear recommendation by far would have to be SFDC. Non-profits can read a discussion of MS CRM's newest offering here Microsoft CRM Dynamics Webinar today. An excerpt from one of the most detailed comments left in this thread: "First of all, I chose the SaaS option and did not choose to install it on my Outlook client (obviously that would wreak havoc with my Outlook). That said, it still crashed, no kidding. It kept timing out trying to install the NP features and I had to start over a couple of times. Then it appeared to be installed, but wasn't complete, so I shut down my browser, restarted, re-logged in and found the installation complete. What a PITA. Even in the cloud MSFT likes to crash."

You can read the full thread for more particulars, but the concern I normally have with Microsoft products was confirmed by just this statement. Add to that the fact that their non-profit offering is not donated (free) the way SFDC's is, and basically you are paying more to get a lot less. My advice to Non-profits is, stick with the free product that works.)

5/11/10 Update: I heard from someone that they were able to use a non Live/Hotmail email address to sign up for an MS CRM trial. So maybe there was just a glitch on the Microsoft website when I was trying to sign up using my company email address. I used Explorer 8 and their site says it requires Explorer 6 or above, so it shouldn't have been a browser conflict. Yet three tries returned page not found errors, at which time I gave up and tried a live.com email address, which worked on the first try. I wouldn't be at all surprised to find that with a Microsoft product the same behaviors sometimes produce a different response, so if you want a trial of the product, try the email you really want to use on your first attempt, and maybe it will work for you.

1/12/11 Update: See the review of MS Dynamics 2011 vs. salesforce.com for an updated comparison of the two CRM systems

Get Your Business Listed on GPS and more

2010-04-12T16:09:00.000-07:00

Have you ever used the "Points of Interest" function of your GPS? I frequently use it to find various types of businesses when I'm en route and realize I'd like to stop off and pick something up. I don't want to dial directory assistance, since I don't always know the exact name of what I'm looking for. Also, the GPS is automatically set to preferentially suggest places nearby.

I've wondered in the past how businesses are chosen for inclusion in the list. Fortunately some of my favorite restaurants are in there (so I can call ahead for take out when the mood hits for a favorite dish when I'm on the way home), but some restaurants in the shopping district near my home aren't listed.

Enter Enhanced Database Marketing's CustomerReach service. For $179 per year they will keep your business's current contact information on GPS units and in-car navigation units from On-Star, GM, and many other vendors, as well as making sure your business shows on search engine map listings with the little pins marking where you are on the map.

Businesses catering to consumers may find this to be a cost-effective way of extending their reach to new customers while making it easier for occasional customers to find their way back to their door more frequently.

Online visitor stats tracking goes offline

2010-03-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

Check out the new Foursquare network which allows brick-and-mortar businesses to track visitor behavior the same way online businesses have become accustomed to doing with website stats. Here is an article on the service that is worth the read: Foursquare Introduces New Tools for Businesses.

Combining the Foursquare service with website and email promotions, as well as Twitter promotions and CRM data integration, seems like a great new marketing tool for businesses that serve an on foot clientele. This benefits the customer too, as businesses can more specifically cater to their needs and offer them promotions they are likely to value.

I am going to be looking into ways to bring the Foursquare data into CRM databases (SalesForce.com, etc.) in the coming days and invite input from anyone who has already researched the subject.

SaaS Single Sign-on

2010-01-25T09:19:00.000-08:00

Do you maintain a spreadsheet of all your various usernames and passwords? Do you store passwords using your browser's function, but worry that if your laptop was lost others might gain access to sensitive data and wreak havoc in your name?

TriCipher's MyOneLogin may be the solution you've needed. Use a single secure username and password to login to a centralized location where you can access all your various SaaS accounts.

This browser based solution (which requires no downloads or configuration). At only $30 per user per year, it is an affordable solution to managing user identities for your entire staff from a centralized location that a system administrator can control. Add or remove all web-based accounts for new or departing employees within minutes.

Google Apps, SalesForce.com, Citrix, and ADP are just some of the vendors that support MyOneLogin access. It can also be used for your company's VPN network access. Find out more on the company's site at MyOneLogin.com.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T09:47:00.001-08:00

On behalf of the staff at AspiraTech, here is wishing everyone a prosperous and satisfying 2010. We know that many sectors saw a great deal of obstacles in 2009, and are glad we were able to offer innovative technological services to help our clients get more out of the technology they already have and make the most cost effective decisions about new technologies that would further elevate their bottom line.

Another year over, and a new one just begun. We are looking forward to reaching new clients this year, and bringing our Aspira XObject application to new customers who are only just discovering the productivity enhancements it provides within their SalesForce.com CRM system.

Happy New Year!

DreamForce '09 Session Recordings

2009-12-01T08:42:00.000-08:00

If you were unable to attend the SalesForce.com ecosystem conference earlier this month, or if you attended but had simultaneous sessions you had wanted to attend so that you had to miss some, you can find videos for most of the sessions at the following link: DreamForce '09 videos.

Some highlights:
Formula Magic - create groups of roll-up summary fields then graphically represent their contents right on the record's detail page, or in list views.
New SFDC for Outlook - get a peak at the new Outlook integration utility coming soon.
Non-profit Starter Pack intro - Tips on getting the most out of the NPSP for non-profit organizations.
Donor and Member Managment - More tips for non-profit organizations
AppExchange Recommended Sales Apps - introduction to some great apps for sales managers to implement, such as: a business card scanning app; X Squared mass contact updated utility that updates all contact addresses when the Account's address changes (the company moves); Account News Feed; Landslide custom sales process manager; Engage B2B by Silverpop email behavior tracking for lead scoring and sales rep notification automation; and Sales Genius for email-to-website click tracking visible within SFDC.
Sales Process Productivity - For companies newly implementing a universal CRM system, with emphasis on 1) effective end user adoption and change management within a context of ongoing process improvement within phased roll-out; and 2) sales performance dashboards
Platform State of the Union - use a Visio-like graphical user interface to create approvals now and standard workflow in future releases. Also create database schema graphically, and have them actually generate custom objects instead of your having to use the current form field based system to design custom objects.

I welcome your comments on any of these videos or suggestions about others that you think are not to be missed. Now I'm glad I didn't race into SF for that 7:30am session I really wanted to catch, but not badly enough to get up that early. Now it's just a click away anytime I want to reference it.

Chatter brings secure social media into SalesForce.com

2009-11-23T13:28:00.000-08:00

“Why do I know more about strangers on Facebook than my own employees?” asked SalesForce.com CEO Mark Benioff last week at Dreamforce '09.

Chatter is SFDC's answer to the business need for real time communication within dispersed groups that all happens within a private, secure, company environment. With Chatter, which will become a standard feature of all editions of SFDC early next year, every company employee will be able to create a profile highlighting their areas of expertise, publish status updates of what they're working on , and view updates of not only other staff's status but also events within the CRM portion of SFDC. Users won't all have to have CRM licenses to access Chatter, including the updates related to events within the CRM part of the system, which does require a SFDC license for record access.

I can definitely see how many companies will benefit from having this sort of collaborative tool. I can recall years ago when I was doing quality control at a large international company and would often wonder who to go to for information I needed to confirm whether data I was seeing was correct or not. It would have been great to be able to search profiles for expertise and work functions. There was also the one day each month where I was buried deep in number crunching and needed people in several roles to be super available to respond promptly to critical inquiries from me during that time, while others needed to basically not ask anything of me on those days. I would have loved to have been able to just put in my status update that it was "processing day" and to have trained everyone I worked with to know what that meant and how to respond. I could go on and on about the potential I see, just as I personally find plenty of good use for Facebook and Twitter in staying coordinated with important people in my personal life and informed of significant, but not quite email worthy events in their lives.

Chatter will also be available to non-CRM users of the Force.com platform within the version that is at the $50/user/month price point. It will of course provide no insight into CRM record events, since there are no CRM objects in that edition.

In many ways, what was previously done with workflow (notification of important record changes) can now be done with Chatter. It is simply a fresher way of thinking about business knowledge. SFDC's Professional Edition just got a lot more powerful. Look for Chatter with SFDC's Summer 2010 release.

Introducing Aspira XObject

2009-11-05T17:11:00.000-08:00

In a previous article I presented several cross-object workflow solutions, with the caveat that though it was possible to create the rules in SalesForce.com, they wouldn't get triggered across the objects automatically. To solve this problem, we have created Aspira XObject, a free tool that allows System Administrators to create "Relations" between objects so that when criteria is met on one object, workflow rules get run on another as if both were just edited.

The idea of creating the tool arose when I was working on a non-profit SFDC system optimization project and the client had an elaborate set of conditions between different custom objects where internship applications moved through stages dependent on actions being tracked on several other objects, such as the service opportunity being approved, the intern being approved, forms having been received, and so on. There was a web of lookups and workflow connecting the objects, but it wasn't working effectively because you had to know the application should be in a certain stage to go edit it in order to trigger the workflow that would update the field to the correct stage. This obviously made no sense; why use workflow at all if a user needs to know it is time to change the stage?

We created a coded solution at the time that cost them thousands of dollars, and then a few weeks later they came back and said, "This is great. Now can you make it also include this fourth object?"

It was clear a coded solution that worked one object at a time was not going to really solve their problem. They needed to be able to continue developing their cross-object application progress tracking system independently without having to go back to the developer each time.

Around the same time I started participating in a conversation on Twitter where people were lamenting the lack of immediate firing of cross-object workflow. I was then confident that a solution was going to have value to enough companies for it to be worthwhile developing it as an installable app. Thus Aspira XObject on the AppExchange was born.

You can download the free version on the AppExchange if you are in Enterprise, Unlimited or the non-profit edition of SalesForce.com (must have workflow rules to use it). With the free tool you can automate any workflow that is on standard objects. If you need to automate the firing of rules on custom objects, that extended application is available for a fee that is just a fraction of what a custom coded solution would cost. Hope your company finds it useful.

SalesForce.com Partners with Dell

2009-10-20T17:02:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of Dell at all since my problem-ridden experience with my last computer purchase from them, but I am a fan of SFDC. I think one can consider it a consolation prize that when one gets a Dell (as a business purchase at least) it will come bundled with an introduction to what is truly a great CRM tool. I have many times turned small business owners I know on to SFDC, and they are always impressed by what it can do for them. Many of them are just not aware of the entire CRM technological space. I guess they are often not considered profitable enough to market to. Glad to see that is changing in a big way with partnerships like these. Here's an excerpt from a good article on the news:

Dell to Peddle Salesforce.com’s Widgetry
— Dell, itself a user, is gonna pitch saleforce.com’s on-demand CRM widgetry to American SMBs on its web site under a deal announced Monday. Dell, newly service-minded, will offer to integrate the stuff into customers’ existing set-ups along with Dell servers hawking data migration and physical and virtual appliances. Dell means to handle Salesforce’s Contact Manager Edition as well as three different levels of CRM services Group Edition for up to five users, Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition.