Usability – Modern UI
Improving readability, modernizing the UI and allowing for more user configuration with themes.
  Less wasted whitespace
  Content called out for better readability
  Labels above content for better localization
  Required data highlighted before saving
  Controls for entering data are visible when hovered over

  Theme able
  User preferences
  Easily change color schemes
  Icons available on Contacts and Accounts
  New Card view on Contact detail

List View KPIs
Adding valuable metrics to list views
  Large selection
  Configurable
  Side by side metrics
  Trends
  Total, Averages, Ranges, etc.

Supported Entities:
  Account
  Opportunity
  Quote
  Sales Order
  Ticket
  Contract
  Return

Account and Contact Images, Company Logo
  Drag and drop to add Account and Contact images
  Simple to add a company logo, replacing the Infor logo in the upper left corner

New Dashboard Widgets
Group List
A group list widget displays a list of records in a group. For more information, see the Web Client help topic “Working with a Dashboard Group List widget”

Bubble Chart
A bubble chart uses bubbles or circles to show the relationship between 3 or more metrics. For more information, see the Web Client help topic “Working with a Dashboard Bubble Chart widget”

E-mail Attachments and Library Files
  Send via email icon on Attachments tab and the Library, attaches the selected file to an e-mail
  The e-mail (.eml) file pops up in the users browser’s download notification area

Lookups (Search across phone and e-mail addresses)
  The Contact/Lead lookups now support searching across all phone numbers and email addresses
  One selection for Phone will search all phone fields (Work, Home, Mobile, etc…)
  One selection for e-mail will search all the e-mail fields of the contact or lead

New Log Menu – Complete Meetings, Calls, etc.
  New Log menu to quickly log a phone call, meeting, or to-do as a history item, or create a note
  Logging an activity to history from this menu opens the Complete Activity view
  Access to this menu must be granted by the administrator

Territory Realignment in Web Client (Administration)
There are some differences between the Territory Realignment in the web client and the LAN Administrator:

Web Client
  Record selection using Accounts list view:

  Cannot realign Activities and Processes

Administrator
Record selection based on:

Options to also realign:

Mail Merge Word Add-in Improvements
  When output to e-mail there is a new From option to specify the e-mail address from which the merged e-mail will be sent. By default, it is the e-mail address for the logged in user.
  On the Mail Merge Complete dialog:

Additional UI Screen Shots

Want to get to know more about Infor CRM? Reach out to us at support@simplesoft.net

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton OH surrounding areas. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CloudSuite CRM (formerly Saleslogix). We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

v8.5.0.x: Upgrade Safe Customizations (Application Architect)
  ‘Seamless upgrades’, meaning:

  Automatic upgrades available with customizations in the Cloud
  64-bit Application Architect support. Greatly improves performance

v8.5.0.x: New Dashboards & Group Dimensions
  Ability to add multiple data sources/sets for some widget types
  New, configurable graphical widgets, including: Funnel, Gauge, Donut
  Zoom and drill
  Filter Pie Charts, bar charts, Line Charts, and more to isolate data sets
  New dimensions to easily see data from This Week, Last Week, Last Month, Last Year, YoY, and more!

v8.5.0.x: CRM Workflow Improvements (Web Only)
  Get notifications straight to your e-mail inbox when critical events or data changes
  Easily configure notification rules in a matter of minutes
  Bulk e-mail distribution groups and get ahead of shipping delays
  Approve discounts created from a notification with links embedded in your e-mail
  New review and approval process includes:

v8.5.0.x: New Mail Merge Replacement (Web Only)
  New server-side Mail Merge engine
  Ability to merge directly from the Web Client from any supported browser
  Easily merge and create Quote or Order templates
  Create your own templates easily with the new Web drag and drop interface
  Now supports mail merge with Contacts associated with Quotes, Sales Orders, Tickets, Contracts, and Returns, in addition to Accounts and Opportunities

v8.5.0.x: Quotas & Forecasting (Web Only)
  Ability to establish Quotas for all sales reps
  Visibility to current and future Opportunity forecasts
  Live tracking against defined quota, i.e., am I going to get my commission?!?
  What-if snapshot view (daily, weekly, monthly)
  Automatic calculations based on sales period
  Ability to add or remove Opportunities (Detail)

v8.5.0.x: Miscellaneous Improvements
  Added Microsoft Office 64-bit support for the Windows client
  The Account detail view Contacts tab now displays Status and Preferred Contact information
  Contact lookups are now filtered to exclude inactive Contacts
  Inactive Products can no longer be added to Opportunities, Quotes, or Sales Orders

Want to get to know more about Infor CRM? Reach out to us at support@simplesoft.net

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton OH surrounding areas. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CloudSuite CRM (formerly Saleslogix). We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

What does that mean to Infor CRM users? Not much as Infor uses SMTP which is not changing.   But it will impact companies using KnowledgeSync and Office 365 and to continue to authenticate with the Office 365 all KnowledgeSync users will need to upgrade to the newest v10.5 to continue to use the integration with the Infor CRM under the new protocol requirements.

Here is the article from KnowledgeSync on the authentication change

Deprecation of Basic Authentication in Exchange Online Affects KnowledgeSync On-Premise

Contact Simplesoft for additional information or to request an upgrade to your KnowledgeSync!

The full article from Microsoft can be found here.

Basic Authentication Deprecation in Exchange Online – September 2022 Update – Microsoft Community Hub

If your company is not ready to make that change due to potential impact on software other than Office 365 then you have a small reprieve as they are allowing a on-time protocol rollback that will allow basic authentication until Dec 31, 2022.  After that date, ALL basic authentication for the Office 365 (Exchange Online) will be blocked completely with no rollback.  You can find the temporary configuration steps in the article above.

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton OH surrounding areas. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor SLX CloudSuite CRM. We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

Here is a link to register for the FREE webinar!    Register for the Webinar Here

Paul will provide a preview to what is planned for Infor CRM SLX version 9 and beyond.

Read the latest Infor CRM SLX Customer Newsletter:
“The Dream Becomes a Reality: Seamless Upgrades for Infor CRM SLX are proven in the field!”

If you haven’t reviewed what was new with Infor CRM SLX v8.5, you can find the following training videos in Infor Campus.
• Infor CRM SLX v8.5 What’s New
• Infor CRM SLX v8.5 Dashboards – Product Use
• Infor CRM SLX v8.5 Workflows – Product Use
• Infor CRM SLX v8.5.0.1 Mail Merge for Web – Product Use
(You will need to have login credentials for Infor Campus to access these videos.)

Don’t forget to subscribe to Simplesoft’s YouTube channel.

Resources you’ll find:
• Previous recorded webinars
• How to videos
• Product Demos

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
550 N. Main St. Suite A
Springboro, OH 45066
937-885-1204
www.simplesoft.net
support@simplesoft.net

2020© All rights reserved. All other trademarks and copyrights are the property of their respective holders.

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton OH surrounding areas. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor SLX CloudSuite CRM. We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

For a full list of all the updates and fixes click below:

Whats New: What’s New PDF

Resolved Issues:  Resolved Issues PDF

In general, the update for v8.5.0 carries the improvements we needed to see for the base version of 8.5.0 released in 2021.

WEB CLIENT UPDATES

Downloading and installing the Word and mail merge integration is available in the Tools> Options menu in the web client.

Mail merge – in any browser (Email only).  The Word add-in is still required for letter or print mail merge.  The process for creating the new browser templates directly mirrors the CRM Workflow email template formatting and creation.  (Start by typing @ for mentions…)

• All common browsers are now mail merge compatible for emails, which includes Edge, Chrome, and Firefox.  (The requirement for Internet Explorer has been removed.)
• You will be able to utilize mapped fields throughout the CRM system and incorporate them into the template as needed for both types of templates.
• You can now perform a mail merge with contacts associated with sales orders, quotes, contracts, returns, and tickets in addition to accounts and opportunities.
• All supported browsers allow the completion of mail merge steps within a sales process.

DEVELOPMENT UPDATES

They did update development features further to support the Upgrade Safe Customization road map.   Application Architect now includes a Manage Customizations view to allow development to review a list of files that have changed or are out of sync with recent Infor CRM SLX updates.

Application Architect is now a 64 bit application to allow for better volume handling for development.  What exactly does this mean?  Well for one, the general build and deploy time to complete is SUBSTANTIALLY reduced!  This also includes a fix for the SLX Client portal deployment error that displayed an Out of Memory error. For that one we are grateful, it was not a show stopper but very annoying for the developer.

Here are some of the development highlights that developers would be interested in:

Local file system versus Virtual file systems: Managing your changes in a Local File System still carries some workarounds that you must stay aware of.  See the full documentation for the steps to utilize this method.
Project backups: Currently, you can only restore the Infor project backups from v8.4.0 and v8.5.0.  So be sure to keep your customization bundles versioned off and clean.  That will be the only way you can restore any failed (or corrupted) changes if you need to rollback.  Infor has discussed bringing back the project backup capabilities but as of this release, that is not the case.
Project Difference Manifest deprecated
Importing from another project deprecated

Overall the User interface is unchanged except for a slight re-branding on the naming that was changed to Infor CRM SLX and bringing the email for mail merge back to the browser.  But the difference is more substantial on the development and management of the development.  This new update has solidified the upgrade-safe development into a cohesive software that allows a layered approach to the development where you can choose to release the new forms or keep your customized ones in front of the user.

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton OH surrounding areas. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CloudSuite CRM. We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

Infor has released an answer to the mail merge issue that has plagued the software since Microsoft announced the retiring of Internet Explorer.  Previously if you needed to use the web mail merge function in the CRM you were restricted to Internet Explorer and 32 bit Office.   NOW with this new release, not only is 64 bit Office compatible but it is no longer browser isolated!

Compatibility is listed with Office 2016 and 2019 (Office 365), but we also tested on Office 2013 and it worked as expected.  This new functionality is appropriate for Infor CRM Web Client version 8.3.0.0 and later.

This new mail merge function is installed as an add-in to Microsoft Word and it adds additional settings to the Mailing ribbon in the Word application.  Configuration is remarkably similar to the XBar and merely requires the SData portal and a user log in.

Templates created from an earlier version will need to be converted and if you are adding a table to display multiple items we recommend re-creating the template in the new function rather than adding a table to the converted template.  We have had some issues with adding tables but the adding fields works fine in a converted template. A new template created in the new function works great when adding a merge table.

Converting…

You can still map fields from the CRM, associate specific user information for a signature, and generate the layout that you have used in the past.

Send the information to a single person based on a specific record, or merge to a whole group.  Regular dynamic groups and Ad-hoc groups are available.

Want to send it out as email or print a letter or create a document, no problem!  It also still creates a history record and an activity follow-up in CRM if you wish.

Some configuration items to consider to allow the CRM and Office Outlook to work together for mail merge:
When the two programs wish to work together you may get a window asking you to allow or deny access to the Office program when you run the mail merge.  This form will pop-up for EACH email that you are trying to send!  There is a way to allow the two programs to work together in the Office Trust Center permanently.

To do this, in Outlook open File > Options > Trust Center> Trust Center Settings button, Then programmatic Access > Mark the ‘Never Warn me about suspicious activity’ radio button.
*There may be caveats to this permission depending on your company policy.

If you are interested in this add-in to Word or have questions please let us know and we will be glad to help.

Would you like to discuss the bigger picture with Infor CloudSuite CRM at your company? Connect with a Simplesoft Consultant at support@simplesoft.net

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton region and offices in Cleveland, OH  and Charlotte, NC. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CloudSuite CRM. We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

Here’s how to begin…What behavior do you want to incent with users? Start with one group of users, we like to start with sales since they tend to have the most measurable goals.
What do you want to measure? Thinking this through helps you come up with what they need to record in CRM.
– Number of calls
– Number of visits

Update Activity pick lists with common values, this keeps the process fast and efficient for the users. Doing this leads to better user adoption when they don’t find the process cumbersome.
– Follow-up on quote
– Send literature
– Priority

Educate your users! This is critical to success with Activity Management. Make sure they understand how, why and where things need done. What are the different types of Activities?
– Phone calls
– Meetings
– To-Dos
Set up actions for follow-ups automatically. Show users how to adjust this in the Options menu in CRM. Make this a best practice so that when they complete an Activity they set up their next step.

How can management use this to improve and review with the team?

• Remember the objective of CRM, Collaboration!
• History vs Activity – Be sure you explain the difference. History in completed Activities. Activity is a task in the future.
• Notes vs Completed Activity vs Completing Unscheduled Activity. Notes are for general things about an account. User must put calls and meetings under Activity for reporting to properly work. Users should always record unscheduled activities under the History tab.
• Group examples
  • Activity Groups for upcoming items
  • Contact Groups that show history of completed Activities
  • Dashboards (v8.5 can show pending vs completed)
  • Stale Opportunities (Always have a next action set)
  • History created without notes (completing Activities with no notes)
• Review in-sales meetings and one-on-one time
• Set clear expectations and communicate them to teams
• Surprises
  • Tickets aren’t being updated or completed
  • Out-of-date Opportunities
  • Meetings & Calls haven’t been recorded

These examples and suggestions will help set you on a clear path to success with Activity Management in Infor CRM.

Would you like to discuss the bigger picture with Infor CloudSuite CRM at your company? Connect with a Simplesoft Consultant at support@simplesoft.net

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton region and offices in Cleveland, OH  and Charlotte, NC. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CloudSuite CRM. We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

Introduction
Understandably the price of a software purchase is always a topic to cover when we discuss on-boarding clients. Many times this is the point of interest driving a potential customer (Prospect) to reach out. There are a number of details associated with understanding the price a new client will be asked to pay. Categorically software has a unique sales proposition with actual product pricing and the typical training budget allocation. Past those details, a future CRM client should understand “Maintenance and Support”, customization (AKA Configurations), and the potential cost of a failed implementation.

Before we get down to the topics detailed above, any organization looking for software to support infrastructure should know software solutions are considered intangible fixed assets. Whenever the owning entity controls those assets through custody or legal rights (i.e. patent, copyright, licensing) – and because they normally provide benefits to the end user for longer than one year, they are also considered to be capital assets. Thus, expenditures on software/development resulting in the creation of a capital asset, are capital expenditures. This is a great way to justify costs and understand the true value of a CRM. Many Owners or C-Level decision makers overlook this detail when realizing the depth of a software solution.

Takeaway: CRM is a capital asset in execution and expense!

Road Map
I like to start with a list of goals. Generally this is collaboration between leadership and those people organizing day-to-day workflow in a solution set. In my approach, we define Progress then workout the very specific activities users will execute leading to measures of success. In my world its CRM objectives review. I accompany the exercise with a Workbook and a loose Project Execution Plan. This is how it looks in short form:

This fundamental discovery process is based on understanding our potential client’s (Prospects) knowledge base and the depth of the software. Most of the time CRM searches start out very narrow, typically rooted in a few superficial features and function interests (Mobile and Simple to use). Because companies don’t know what they don’t know, I comprehensively drive toward a focus on Revenue creation strategy. Ultimately the standard of a successful investment is the return it brings.

Takeaway: Know where you’re going!
Purchase
Now that we’re clear on the back story to getting pricing, let’s pick this up where I left off in the opening paragraph. I differentiate price from cost so keep that in mind while you read these details.

Overall development services and training are based on predicted hours. Our project team and training staff give estimates based on scope of defined work. We outline project plans to quantify task hours, then summarize the total hours to offer blocks of time at discounted rates.

Validating and navigating the purchase phase is a combination of understanding software capability, company awareness and the organization of an internal project team. We certainly can determine some type of price early in the purchase cycle but because of the nature of CRM deployments, understanding what we charge for gives a global understanding of the total project impact.

Takeaway: Know what and why you’re buying!

Closing
When asking for a demonstration of CRM, looking to test run what the software could look like for your organization, be aware. The price per license, per month is for comparative purposes only; so expect to pay annually for a term. Past the price, know if your organization needs a small contact management system or if account management is truly the front office system of choice. The product you are looking at is considered a Capital Expenditure for a reason.

Finally, the cost of a CRM purchase has an unknown value associated with it. To minimize cost, consider people and business processes to define a solid go forward strategy. Once these 3 internal tenants are determined, search for a right fit solution. The price of the product and implementation is a fraction of the cost a company can incur due to a haphazard deployment. Defining system activities measured against progress goals influences buy in. A scaling operation has exponential Return On Investment, so define how CRM equates to Revenue on the P&L Statement.

Takeaway: If activity drives progress then CRM scales Revenue!

Want to get to know more about Infor CRM? Learn Here Or reach out to us at support@simplesoft.net

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton OH surrounding areas. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CloudSuite CRM (formerly Saleslogix). We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

1. Sales Meeting without CRM: Sales team goes through what they did last week and plan on doing next week. Sales Manager asks about upcoming deals and quotes. All this is just verbally communicated and no real follow ups or plans are set. The meeting ends and everyone continues to run their territory as they see fit.
2. Sales Meeting with CRM: Sales Manager starts by displaying the sales dashboards to the team. First, they show the Forecast by Territory and goes through each territory to discuss everyone’s percent to goal status. Next, they display the dashboard for Leads by Territory, this dashboard breaks out new leads in the last week that came in and next to it is the graphed opportunities created in the last week. The Sales Manager asks the team what the plan is to move those leads into Opportunities. They set goals for the team for the next week to hit, such as a certain number of meetings set, calls made, and leads converted to opportunities. The following sales meeting, the sales manager pulls up his Activities dashboard to see who hit their goals.

When you have data behind your sales meetings you have all the information and can call the sales teams’ bluff. It’s easy to say your territory is saturated and that you’re doing all you can do there, but without a process that drives accountability and the data to show the results, how can you be sure? When a company functions without a CRM or doesn’t use their CRM effectively, how do you know what your sales conversion rate is?

Most CRM databases contain tens of thousands of records and only a small percentage of Opportunities when there is no process around driving user adoption and accountability. Leadership should focus on tying all parts of the sales process to CRM; this not only helps the Sales Team be more effective, but allows complete transparency across all users. This allows others to see where they can help foster more sales for the company. Without Forecasting, how can production support you with better lead times? Without quotas and a sales process, how do you know your sales team is really saturating their territory? Without lead conversion rates, how can marketing know if their efforts are effective?

Take time to create a process for your sales team and leading more effective meetings and driving accountability.

Related blog: Lead a Better Sales Meeting ,  Forecasts in CRM

Would you like to discuss the bigger picture with Infor CloudSuite CRM at your company? Connect with a Simplesoft Consultant at support@simplesoft.net

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton region and offices in Cleveland, OH  and Charlotte, NC. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CloudSuite CRM. We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.

Let’s take a look at how easy it is to adjust in a few clicks!

You can edit your layout and filters within groups in each CRM entity. The ability to edit captions in the layout section of group editor is a great tool if you have customer fields you wish to rename.

See all our Infor CRM Quick Tips over on our YouTube channel.

Connect with a Simplesoft Consultant at 937-885-1204 or support@simplesoft.net.

Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. is a customer relationship management (CRM) business consulting and software development firm in Cincinnati/Dayton OH surrounding areas. We provide implementation, integration, development and training for Infor CRM. We have built our business on an ability to creatively adapt CRM to meet the varying needs of our customers’ businesses. We have been helping our customers develop stronger relationships with their customers through improved sales, marketing, customer service, and support processes since 1994.