Microsoft Dynamics CRM Delivers Social Productivity

Microsoft today announced the availability of the Microsoft Dynamics CRM November 2011 service update for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, as well as for on-premises and partner-hosted deployments.

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM November 2011 service update brings customers new integrated social collaboration capabilities, as well as a unified Microsoft Office 365 experience and enhancements for enterprises using Microsoft Dynamics CRM in the cloud. These new features are delivered at no additional cost to customers and add functionality to the experiences and tools that they're already using.

"Across Microsoft, we deliver social capabilities that help customers and businesses build more productive relationships," said Brad Wilson, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics CRM Product Management Group. "By bringing together new social collaboration capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics CRM with familiar collaboration technologies such as Office, SharePoint, and Lync, businesses will be able to expand their relationships with customers and gain even deeper insight and understanding."

With the new release, Microsoft Dynamics CRM introduces new social collaboration capabilities that include the following:

• Activity feeds: Configurable, real-time notifications on important relationships and significant business events via a blended view of micro-blog posts and interactions for a person, customer, or sales opportunity.
• Micro-blogging: Status updates and notifications regarding business events and actions, providing simple experiences for users.
• Conversations: Post questions, observations, suggestions and status updates, allowing users to collaborate quickly and efficiently, locate information or expertise, and gather feedback from others.
• Automated activity updates: Post information directly to the activity feed based on configurable event rules (for example, when a sales opportunity is closed). People can subscribe to or "follow" these activity feeds and consume them in a variety of ways.
• Mobile activity feeds: A new Microsoft Dynamics CRM mobile Activity Feeds application for Windows Phone 7 allows users to view their activity feeds while away from the office.

"As companies grow across geographical and technological boundaries, businesses need to be able to capture knowledge and disperse it effectively to ensure people have the most up-to-date information when they need it," said Jim Steger, co-founder and principal at Sonoma Partners. "To be effective, social tools need to be easily accessed and usable, they need to be searchable, allowing you to filter information, and they need to be a holistic part of the CRM solution. Microsoft's approach to social productivity uniquely meets those criteria."

With the Microsoft Dynamics CRM November 2011 service update, Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online simplifies cloud service management by offering a common administration, billing, and provisioning platform with Office 365. In addition, the Microsoft Dynamics CRM November 2011 service update offers improved disaster recovery features with in-region replication to further help protect data and offer high levels of business continuity in the event of a disaster.

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