Overview

Most modern organizations today understand the value of an integrated view of a company’s customers at all touch points throughout the lifecycle of the relationship. Most organizations also recognize the value of taking advantage of new technologies designed to help organizations meet new levels of profitability through more efficient processes to market to, sell to, and support its customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) presents companies of all sizes and in every industry with several compelling business drivers, among them being operational excellence, cost savings, and revenue growth.

On the flip side, the hard reality is that the results of many CRM implementations have fallen below expectations. Companies today know that selecting the right CRM vendor is one of the most critical pieces of achieving CRM success. Microsoft CRM ensures its customers the viability of its investments today – and tomorrow. This white paper highlights the value of purchasing Microsoft CRM today. It will also describe key business and economic benefits of buying now and upgrading later to Microsoft CRM 3.0. Learn how you can leverage that investment in the most cost-effective way to prepare for the future growth and success of your business.

Key Benefits

If you need a CRM solution that is easy to learn, integrates with Microsoft Outlook, and stores customer and contact data in one central database --- Microsoft CRM is for you. Your company can be up and running with Microsoft CRM immediately out of the box; or you can also choose to customize the solution to your individual business process requirements. Other key benefits are discussed below.

First Time CRM User

Microsoft CRM provides first time CRM users the ability to be installed and running in a matter of hours. You will have full functionality to manage:

• Activities
• Leads
• Opportunities
• Accounts
• Contacts
• Quotes
  • Orders
  • Invoices
  • Cases/Incidents
  • Contracts
  • Sales Literature
  • Competitors

Key Components of Microsoft CRM

In a market filled with a multitude of CRM solutions, each with varying key benefits, it is not always an easy task to identify the right vendor with the best mix of products and services.

Ask yourself: “What are the key components that will make my CRM implementation successful? Will this solution deliver optimally user support? Does this solution align with my business and technology investments?”

Utilize Table 1 on the following page to help guide your decision process and to steer your organization to accurately mapping your organization’s key business objectives to Microsoft CRM business applications.