Menno te Koppele - a CRM freak

I Have Sinned!

menno — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 19:04:00 -0700

I have sinned and bought an iPhone! Thusfar I have no regrets and it's well worth the investment.

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CRM Statement of Direction (SOD) – August 2008 Update

menno — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 14:54:00 -0700

Many of you have probably seen the SOD announcement on other blogs. What makes this different? Microsoft has updated the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Statement of Direction (SOD) with a few important updates. It outlines the future direction of the next major release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, which is currently referred to as “v.Next” and is targeted for release in late CY 2009 or...

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Return of the Big Easy Offer and More!

menno — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 12:00:00 -0700

Please join the US Sales Offers Team for an update on our Q1 offers that are designed to help you drive awareness, interest, and sales of Microsoft-based solutions. What I can tell you in advance is that Microsoft is going to extend their Big Easy Offer. Also, through December 26, Value Added Resellers can earn up to 30% in rebates on new Open Value purchases including Open Value...

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Freaky CRM Link Love for July 2008

menno — Tue, 05 Aug 2008 17:05:00 -0700

Better late than never! I have a good excuse though - I was on vacation. Together with my girlfriend I went on a road trip in a Ford Mustang Convertible across the United States. It was an amazing journey and we've seen a ton of cool things. (26.8 MPG on average, not bad for a muscle car!) Customer RSS Feed in less than 30 minutes! Moving Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0...

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PinPoint, Accelerators & Ramp up Kit

menno — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:25:05 -0700

Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a full participant in the beta for PinPoint, a unified online business marketplace for small and medium-sized business customers and partners. Pinpoint helps customers discover, discern and engage with Microsoft partners to fulfill their unique technology needs, while unlocking business opportunities for partners. Accelerators for Microsoft Dynamics CRM are free...

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Do the Wiggle!

menno — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 23:34:00 -0700

No it's not a dance, it is a bike route through San Francisco. You might think why is that so special?! Well for the ones that have been here it's pretty easy to understand, for the ones that haven't been in San Francisco, we are really the hilliest city of the world. Driving a bike is challenging no matter what in the USA, but having hills adds another challenge on top of that....

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CWR Mobility on Channel9

menno — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 22:45:00 -0700

I have plugged CWR a couple of times on my blog, but it's great to see that my fellow Bay Area blogger, Ben Riga, has discovered CWR Mobility as well. He met them at WPC in Houston and he liked them and their solution so much that he interviewed CWR Mobility for Channel9. Make sure you watch it untill the end as they will show you how their solution integrated with Microsoft CRM Online!!

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Join Social and CRM...

menno — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:45:00 -0700

I'll start with the definition of Social media according to Wikipedia. Social Media is an umbrella term that defines the various activities that integrate technology, social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and "building" of shared meaning...

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Anti CRM example

menno — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 15:11:00 -0700

If you're reading this blog on a regular basis you will remember one of my recent posts about my dentist being a example of great CRM. Today I was surfing the interwebz and bumped into this story about a guy that wants his coffee a certain way. Especially in America, the customer is always King and you can get pretty much anything the way you like it, no questions asked. Read how Jeff...

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SalesCentric updates

menno — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

I love it when our partners are using new and exciting technologies to extend the power of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. SalesCentric is one of those "cool" vendors. At WPC next week in Houston, they will unveil two new versions of Relationship Charts for Dynamics CRM. Visit stand 383 and see the next generation of CRM visualization utilizing Microsoft’s Silverlight technology and...

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CWR Mobile CRM for Dynamics CRM Online

menno — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 17:01:00 -0700

CWR Mobility will officially release their CWR Mobile CRM Online for Dynamics CRM Online at the Microsoft World Wide Partner Conference in Houston. Currently CWR is successfully running a beta program for Mobile CRM Online with a group of partners and customers. Besides this, CWR Mobility announced its participation in the Microsoft Mobility Partner Advisory Council (MPAC). This, again, shows...

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Freaky CRM Link Love for June 2008

menno — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 23:58:00 -0700

Just in time, at least according to my timezone. Here is the much anticipated link love for June 2008. Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Outlook Balloons Differences between workflow and plug-ins Workflow vs plug-ins by Mitch Workflow vs plug-ins by Humberto Creating a Dashboard using MOSS, Excel webservices and more Reports in iFrames for CRM 4.0 Microsoft Dynamics CRM Wiki How instant-on...

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Guest Post: Three Top Tips for CRM 4.0 Plugin Development

menno — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:38:00 -0700

Recently Catherine Eibner, my guest blogger for today, spent time working on some CRM 4.0 plugins, and made a few notes that she thought would be useful to share, as they seem to be common issues for working with the new CRM plugin infrastructure. Tip #1 Sign your assembly! This is a step that's importance isn't made blatantly clear in the SDK documentation, but is absolutely key to...

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CRM Plugin Registration Tool 2.1

menno — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 14:06:00 -0700

You've probably heard or perhaps even used previous versions of the CRM Plugin Registration tool. It makes your life way easier to deploy and register plugins for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Today version 2.1 of the CRM Plugin Registration Tool is released and some of the added features are: Support for HTTPs Allow registration of Image for Surbordinate entity in Merge Tool...

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Flip-Flops, don't get me started!

menno — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 22:00:00 -0700

It is that time of the year again, although in California you see flip-flops almost everywhere and all the time, including in the office! It is apparently "trendy" to walk on them. Now, as you probably can tell I am not really fond of seeing these flip-flops, thongs, sandals, slippers or however you want to call them in especially the office. Oh, did I forgot to mention the uber ugly...

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Stroopwafels Continued!

menno — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 19:54:00 -0700

Do you remember my previous post about stroopwafels? A few weeks after I wrote that post I received an email from Celine Hundt at CoffeeCakes.com letting me know how you, my readers, and I could get their hands on some authentic stroopwafels. The teaser was a free sample, and who am I to decline something Dutch that's for free? After providing Celine my details I received a box of...

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NEW: CRM 4.0 Virtual Machine Sample Data Diff File

menno — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 12:31:00 -0700

The product team heard your feedback regarding the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 VPC loud and clear. The most common complaint about the VPC is the lack of good sample data. I have been involved in the testing of the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Differincing Disk, and not only did we add sample data, we also optimized everything and took care of all the known and unknown bugs on this...

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An Example of Real CRM

menno — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 23:03:00 -0700

There are many definitions of CRM and they all try to explain what it is and what it stands for. I promise that I wont bore you with those. For a person to get a better understanding of what CRM is all about you really have to experience it as opposed to reading complex definitions about it. I am going to use a recent example from personal experience with my periodontist to show you that real...

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5 Reasons Why You Should Upgrade to CRM 4.0

menno — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 10:56:00 -0700

I am sure people get tired of seeing blogs with lists, but I think this list with 5 reasons to consider upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 is worth the read! The great thing about lists like this is that they are very easy to read as opposed to reading huge documents and hopefully this will give you some ammunition for your sales calls as well. The Power of Choice On-Premise...

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AVAILABLE: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Management Pack for MOM 2005

menno — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:01:00 -0700

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 Management Pack for MOM 2005 is available for download. This will help administrators centrally manage the CRM server application, its component services, and the computers on which they run. By managing these Microsoft Dynamics CRM components in MOM, the administrator can respond quickly to critical events and key performance indicators, and take action to...

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Setup Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the minimum required permissions

menno — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 15:56:00 -0700

We released a new version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM but the questions regarding the product seem to stay the same. Recently, I have received several questions around how to install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 with the minimum required permissions, as this is not well documented in the Implementation Guide. Rather then to type it myself I would like to point you to our Online Knowledge Base. The...

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5 Reasons Why Your CRM Implementation Can Fail!

menno — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 00:36:00 -0700

In the 10+ years being active in the world of CRM, it's safe to say that I've seen my fair share of possible reasons why a CRM implementation didn't go as anticipated. These reasons will differ from person to person that are involved in a CRM implementation project. An end-user compared to a CEO, for example, will have a completely different perception of what a CRM System is, what it...

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Speak Dutch, Speak Dutch, Speak Dutch, Speak Dutch!!!!!!!

menno — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 22:50:00 -0700

While getting my much needed cappuccino today I accidentally ran, in the middle of San Francisco, into two Dutch girls asking for directions to North Beach. I had a hard time switching back to Dutch and explain to them how to get there. Note to self: speak more Dutch with family and friends, writing and reading is not sufficient!

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Freaky CRM Link Love for May 2008

menno — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:30:00 -0700

I haven't had much time lately to blog and this also resulted in posting my May Link Love post a little to late. DynamicsCRMGadget by John Straumann Two default views? How to get back to one Reading the right CRM blogs Adding licenses to CRM Online Microsoft Dynamics Sales Process Troubleshooting CRM E-mail Issues in...

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Bike to Work Day

menno — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:40:00 -0700

Today, Thursday May 15th, it is Bike to Work Day! I have been contemplating for a while now to bike to work but always have put it off. Today I will bike to work and join thousands of fellow bikers in moving proof that bicycling is a viable form of transportation in this city. San Francisco can't beat The Netherlands when it comes to biking, but at least you can bike here. Most cities in...

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