I.B.I.S., Inc., a leading Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner based in Norcross, GA has announced a fixed fee, packaged service offering for Microsoft's Customer Relationship Management software solution. "The market is looking for implementation options and having a fixed fee package is very compelling for an organization who wants to manage a fixed scope -- fixed
price engagement," said Lee House, President of I.B.I.S., Inc.
I.B.I.S. has focused on four specific Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation offerings which are based on a client's business lifecycle. Creating packages around these four lifecycles will give clients a clear understanding of scope and deliverables. The following offerings have been created specifically to address client's business requirements:
-- Better CRM -- designed for clients who want to use Dynamics CRM "out of the box" and only have a desire to be trained.
-- CRM in a Box -- created for clients who want to deploy a pre-configured, best of breed CRM Solution.
-- CRM My Way -- a solution for businesses that want to deploy custom Sales, Service, Marketing or a combination of the three.
-- XRM -- created for businesses that will use Microsoft CRM as a platform. An example might be a company using MSCRM as a tool to manage recruiting.
For more information about I.B.I.S.' packaged service offerings for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, please contact I.B.I.S. Sales at 770-903-3320 or info@ibisinc.com.
About I.B.I.S., Inc.
Founded in 1989, and headquartered in the high tech corridor of Atlanta's Technology Park, I.B.I.S., Inc. (www.ibisinc.com) is a leading enterprise business solution provider for companies seeking to gain a competitive advantage through Microsoft technology solutions.
I.B.I.S., Inc. is a full-service consultancy providing business transformation solutions related to Microsoft Dynamics ERP, SCM, and CRM application systems, Information Worker, and Application Development Services as well as Microsoft infrastructure products. I.B.I.S., Inc. is a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, a Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle Partner, a two-time winner of Microsoft Dynamics Outstanding Partner of the United States award and the 2007 winner of the Worldwide Partner of the Year Award for Microsoft Dynamics GP. I.B.I.S. is one of a select group of companies worldwide with nine Gold Certified Microsoft Competencies.
I.B.I.S., Inc.
Jennifer Alspach, 770-903-3192
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
SugarCRM and Intelestream, Microsoft CRM in School
he news as of the first coffee this morning, and while it's difficult saying what Tom Waits's best song is — "Hold On," "I Don't Want To Grow Up," "Downtown Train," "I Wish I Was In New Orleans" — First Coffee thinks it's awfully hard to top "On the Nickel:"
Intelestream has announced the release of StaffingCRM, what company officials describe as a customizable staffing and sourcing vertical product based on the SugarCRM open source platform.
The product, designed for agencies, delivers automation for business development, sourcing, and recruiting functions all in a single system. "Customization capabilities
are virtually limitless," company officials say, "as the StaffingCRM product is based on an open source platform."
StaffingCRM provides "automation scenarios" across a staffing agency value chain, company officials say, adding that "the product aids several workflows including sourcing professionals conducting research, recruiters presenting opportunities to prospective candidates, and business development professionals focusing on client acquisition."
The product uses what Intelestream officials describe as "proven best-practice sales pipeline concepts," and applies them to the recruiting process. A Customer Relationship Management software core competency is managing human relationships.
. . . .
Microsoft has announced that Pacific Northwest Publishing and its affiliate company, Safe & Civil Schools, both of Eugene, Oregon, have chosen Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 to integrate their accounting, scheduling, customer service and marketing capabilities.
The Microsoft Dynamics products will replace the organizations' Intuit QuickBooks software and a paper-based system augmented by electronic spreadsheets. Safe & Civil Schools provides behavior-management training nationwide, Pacific Northwest Publishing publishes books and other materials used in the program and sold separately.
Officials of both companies say they will use Microsoft CRM to expand their marketing efforts and automate their paper-based systems for tracking projects with school districts.
The organizations work with school districts throughout the United States, and "much of the scheduling of training and consulting sessions has been handled by one person with her own paper-based file system and intricate electronic spreadsheets," Pacific officials say. Pacific Northwest Publishing and Safe & Civil Schools were looking for a way to automate these processes.
Intelestream has announced the release of StaffingCRM, what company officials describe as a customizable staffing and sourcing vertical product based on the SugarCRM open source platform.
The product, designed for agencies, delivers automation for business development, sourcing, and recruiting functions all in a single system. "Customization capabilities
are virtually limitless," company officials say, "as the StaffingCRM product is based on an open source platform."
StaffingCRM provides "automation scenarios" across a staffing agency value chain, company officials say, adding that "the product aids several workflows including sourcing professionals conducting research, recruiters presenting opportunities to prospective candidates, and business development professionals focusing on client acquisition."
The product uses what Intelestream officials describe as "proven best-practice sales pipeline concepts," and applies them to the recruiting process. A Customer Relationship Management software core competency is managing human relationships.
. . . .
Microsoft has announced that Pacific Northwest Publishing and its affiliate company, Safe & Civil Schools, both of Eugene, Oregon, have chosen Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 to integrate their accounting, scheduling, customer service and marketing capabilities.
The Microsoft Dynamics products will replace the organizations' Intuit QuickBooks software and a paper-based system augmented by electronic spreadsheets. Safe & Civil Schools provides behavior-management training nationwide, Pacific Northwest Publishing publishes books and other materials used in the program and sold separately.
Officials of both companies say they will use Microsoft CRM to expand their marketing efforts and automate their paper-based systems for tracking projects with school districts.
The organizations work with school districts throughout the United States, and "much of the scheduling of training and consulting sessions has been handled by one person with her own paper-based file system and intricate electronic spreadsheets," Pacific officials say. Pacific Northwest Publishing and Safe & Civil Schools were looking for a way to automate these processes.
Microsoft CRM for Fixed Fee Service Offered by I.B.I.S.
By David Sims
TMCnet Contributing Editor
I.B (News - Alert).I.S., a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner based in Norcross, Georgia, today announced a fixed fee, packaged service for Microsoft’s Customer Relationship Management software product.
“The market is looking for implementation options and having a fixed fee package is very compelling for an organization who wants to manage a fixed scope – fixed price engagement,” said Lee House, president of I.B.I.S.
I.B.I.S. has focused on four specific Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics CRM implementation offerings which are based on a client’s business lifecycle -- Better CRM, designed for clients who want to use Dynamics CRM out of the box and only have a desire to be trained; CRM in a Box, created for clients who want to deploy a pre-configured, best of breed CRM product; CRM My Way, a product for businesses that want to deploy custom Sales, Service, Marketing or a combination of the three and XRM, created for businesses that will use Microsoft CRM as a platform. An example might be a company using MSCRM as a tool to manage recruiting.
Last month, Cegedim Dendrite, a vendor of CRM and other pharmaceutical industry products, announced what company officials called “an expanded strategic relationship” with Microsoft, to “help ensure brand messages reach prescribers and patients with the greatest impact.”
By incorporating functionality from Microsoft SQL Reporting Services, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007, Cegedim Dendrite’s CRM will offer analytical capabilities for pharma firms’ sales and marketing.
Subhash Vaid, vice president of CRM solutions and analytics, said the alliance with Microsoft “will help those companies turn massive amounts of data into useful information.”
Cegedim Dendrite’s CRM products are marketed to life sciences companies as sales and marketing tools, helping firms “target prescribers with brand messages by using various e-marketing techniques and providing sales reps with Sales Force Effectiveness tools,” Cegedim officials say.
Cegedim Dendrite currently uses Microsoft technology in most of its products. Its flagship SFE product, Mobile Intelligence, is based on the Microsoft .NET (News - Alert) Framework.
TMCnet Contributing Editor
I.B (News - Alert).I.S., a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner based in Norcross, Georgia, today announced a fixed fee, packaged service for Microsoft’s Customer Relationship Management software product.
“The market is looking for implementation options and having a fixed fee package is very compelling for an organization who wants to manage a fixed scope – fixed price engagement,” said Lee House, president of I.B.I.S.
I.B.I.S. has focused on four specific Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics CRM implementation offerings which are based on a client’s business lifecycle -- Better CRM, designed for clients who want to use Dynamics CRM out of the box and only have a desire to be trained; CRM in a Box, created for clients who want to deploy a pre-configured, best of breed CRM product; CRM My Way, a product for businesses that want to deploy custom Sales, Service, Marketing or a combination of the three and XRM, created for businesses that will use Microsoft CRM as a platform. An example might be a company using MSCRM as a tool to manage recruiting.
Last month, Cegedim Dendrite, a vendor of CRM and other pharmaceutical industry products, announced what company officials called “an expanded strategic relationship” with Microsoft, to “help ensure brand messages reach prescribers and patients with the greatest impact.”
By incorporating functionality from Microsoft SQL Reporting Services, Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server 2007, and Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007, Cegedim Dendrite’s CRM will offer analytical capabilities for pharma firms’ sales and marketing.
Subhash Vaid, vice president of CRM solutions and analytics, said the alliance with Microsoft “will help those companies turn massive amounts of data into useful information.”
Cegedim Dendrite’s CRM products are marketed to life sciences companies as sales and marketing tools, helping firms “target prescribers with brand messages by using various e-marketing techniques and providing sales reps with Sales Force Effectiveness tools,” Cegedim officials say.
Cegedim Dendrite currently uses Microsoft technology in most of its products. Its flagship SFE product, Mobile Intelligence, is based on the Microsoft .NET (News - Alert) Framework.
I.B.I.S. Offers Fixed-Fee Services for Microsoft's CRM
By Anuradha Shukla
TMCnet Contributing Editor
I.B (News - Alert).I.S., Inc., a Norcross, Georgia-based Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner today announced a fixed-fee, packaged service offering for Microsoft’s Customer Relationship Management software solution.
According to Lee House, president of I.B.I.S., Inc., the market is looking for implementation options and having a fixed fee package is very compelling for an organization who wants to manage a fixed scope, fixed price engagement.
Primarily, I.B.I.S. has focused on four Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics CRM implementation offerings. These are based on a client’s business lifecycle. The company believes that creating packages around these four lifecycles will give clients a clear understanding of scope and deliverables.
The company has designed the following offerings to address client’s business requirements: Better CRM for clients who want to use Dynamics CRM “out of the box” and want to be trained; CRM in a Box for clients who want to deploy a pre-configured, best of breed CRM Solution; CRM My Way for businesses that want to deploy custom Sales, Service, Marketing or a combination of the three; and XRM for businesses that will use Microsoft CRM as a platform.
Company officials say the XRM offering may be an ideal fit for a company that is using MSCRM as a tool to manage recruiting.
Founded in 1989, and headquartered in Atlanta’s Technology Park, I.B.I.S., Inc. describes itself as an enterprise business solution provider for companies seeking to gain a competitive advantage through Microsoft technology solutions. As a full-service consultancy, I.B.I.S., Inc. is provides business transformation solutions related to Microsoft Dynamics ERP, SCM, and CRM application systems, Information Worker, and Application Development Services as well as Microsoft infrastructure products, according to the company.
Earlier this month, I.B.I.S., announced a fixed-fee, packaged service offering for Microsoft’s hosted CRM solution. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online was developed to compete withSalesforce.com ( News - Alert). Clients licensing this solution from Microsoft have to partner with a firm that will get them up and running in days, not weeks.
TMCnet Contributing Editor
I.B (News - Alert).I.S., Inc., a Norcross, Georgia-based Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner today announced a fixed-fee, packaged service offering for Microsoft’s Customer Relationship Management software solution.
According to Lee House, president of I.B.I.S., Inc., the market is looking for implementation options and having a fixed fee package is very compelling for an organization who wants to manage a fixed scope, fixed price engagement.
Primarily, I.B.I.S. has focused on four Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics CRM implementation offerings. These are based on a client’s business lifecycle. The company believes that creating packages around these four lifecycles will give clients a clear understanding of scope and deliverables.
The company has designed the following offerings to address client’s business requirements: Better CRM for clients who want to use Dynamics CRM “out of the box” and want to be trained; CRM in a Box for clients who want to deploy a pre-configured, best of breed CRM Solution; CRM My Way for businesses that want to deploy custom Sales, Service, Marketing or a combination of the three; and XRM for businesses that will use Microsoft CRM as a platform.
Company officials say the XRM offering may be an ideal fit for a company that is using MSCRM as a tool to manage recruiting.
Founded in 1989, and headquartered in Atlanta’s Technology Park, I.B.I.S., Inc. describes itself as an enterprise business solution provider for companies seeking to gain a competitive advantage through Microsoft technology solutions. As a full-service consultancy, I.B.I.S., Inc. is provides business transformation solutions related to Microsoft Dynamics ERP, SCM, and CRM application systems, Information Worker, and Application Development Services as well as Microsoft infrastructure products, according to the company.
Earlier this month, I.B.I.S., announced a fixed-fee, packaged service offering for Microsoft’s hosted CRM solution. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online was developed to compete withSalesforce.com ( News - Alert). Clients licensing this solution from Microsoft have to partner with a firm that will get them up and running in days, not weeks.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Microsoft has rolled out its Citizen Service Platform to local government
Microsoft has identified local government as a key market, and rolled out its Citizen Service Platform (CSP) to an audience of local council chief information officers (CIOs) in Portugal last week.
First announced in January this year, the CSP is an application framework based on products including Sharepoint, Dynamics CRM, Office and Virtual Earth.
But the move was questioned by one CIO. Dylan Roberts, head of ICT at Leeds City Council, said: “It is really a question of how they are going to fulfil the delivery. And at the moment it looks like several applications and a few case studies.”
However, Susan Attard, deputy town clerk at the City of London - an authority with 9,000 residents and 320,000 daily workers - said it was targeting savings of £1.2m through CSP deployments. The City authority introduced a Dynamics CRM-based contact centre which it said cut call volume from 130,000 to 50,000, with 65 per cent of calls resolved at first point of contact.
Microsoft said the CSP would involve partners developing specific offerings within the framework, working to templates developed especially for the market.
Non-product templates include reference data models, pre-defined workflows and role-based user experiences. On the product side templates include CRM for
municipal governments, electronic form and Sharepoint services templates.
“The CSP launch is customer-driven,” said Ralph Young, vice president for the worldwide public sector at Microsoft. “Though each local government body is unique there is a common set of requirements.”
First announced in January this year, the CSP is an application framework based on products including Sharepoint, Dynamics CRM, Office and Virtual Earth.
But the move was questioned by one CIO. Dylan Roberts, head of ICT at Leeds City Council, said: “It is really a question of how they are going to fulfil the delivery. And at the moment it looks like several applications and a few case studies.”
However, Susan Attard, deputy town clerk at the City of London - an authority with 9,000 residents and 320,000 daily workers - said it was targeting savings of £1.2m through CSP deployments. The City authority introduced a Dynamics CRM-based contact centre which it said cut call volume from 130,000 to 50,000, with 65 per cent of calls resolved at first point of contact.
Microsoft said the CSP would involve partners developing specific offerings within the framework, working to templates developed especially for the market.
Non-product templates include reference data models, pre-defined workflows and role-based user experiences. On the product side templates include CRM for
municipal governments, electronic form and Sharepoint services templates.
“The CSP launch is customer-driven,” said Ralph Young, vice president for the worldwide public sector at Microsoft. “Though each local government body is unique there is a common set of requirements.”
Is CRM Too Hard for Microsoft?
At Microsoft's Convergence event in March, President and Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer told attendees that, thanks to acquisitions and its own development work, Microsoft was in the right place as far as business applications were concerned. "Unless we close this Yahoo! deal, the biggest decision I've made as CEO is pushing into the business applications area," he said. "It's one of the best decisions I've ever made, one of the most important decisions I've ever made, and the reason that brings us all here today."
Ballmer also reinforced Microsoft's ongoing commitment to some of its core business-software design philosophies: role-tailored user interfaces; the expansion of business intelligence to the individual user; ubiquity in personal productivity applications; and familiarity for business users accessing team applications regardless of whether those applications are deployed on company servers or via one of Microsoft's hosted arrangements. Ballmer also noted that the increasingly broad options available in CRM technology meant it was re-emerging in various incarnations, managing relationships of all kinds -- a phenomenon he referred to as "xRM."
Ballmer then tackled a question often posed by prospective customers: Why Microsoft? "We've been in [this marketplace] now for about seven years," Ballmer said, "and I still get asked, 'Is Microsoft a serious player in business applications?' " Before making comparisons to other vendors, he pitched Microsoft's own merits: "We're going to bring raw innovation to these issues," he said. "We're going to bring integrated thinking about how ERP and CRM fit in the broader context of what people are trying to do with technology." Microsoft, he added, would approach business solutions "with the same kind of long-term approach and tenacity we bring to everything."
But, in a report released a week before the conference, The 451 Group suggested that the right strategy for Microsoft is disengagement--not from the customer, but from CRM entirely. "[In] one area, Microsoft stubbornly clings to business as usual: CRM and ERP software, which it sells under the Dynamics brand," wrote Brenon Daly, a financial analyst with The 451 Group. "Despite spending more than $2 billion on deals -- plus untold tens of millions on [research and development] over the past half decade -- this product line continues to lag rivals significantly, particularly at the high end of the market." The report went on: "Unlike its also-ran online search division, which has turned to a desperation bid for Yahoo to make up lost ground, Microsoft shouldn't look to acquisitions to close the gap on rivals of Dynamics. In fact, quite the opposite. We would argue that Microsoft would be best served by simply acknowledging that it never made much of Dynamics, and selling off its CRM and ERP assets."
Daly's strong sentiments weren't echoed by Convergence attendees; the consensus has been that the Dynamics platform, including CRM, is a strong software-and-services offering, hindered by an incomplete vision. Ballmer's view of owning the "white space" between personal productivity and applications platforms is something Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal of Beagle Research Group, a CRM consultancy, calls "a 15-year-old Microsoft strategy." Pombriant's reaction to Microsoft's positioning? "The message that sends is that [Microsoft is] a big ERP company that is building integrations from ERP to CRM, which is backwards for this industry."
"The messaging...is really a mixed bag," writes Paul Greenberg, chief customer officer of CRM consultancy BPT Partners and author of CRM at the Speed of Light, on his blog. "It's not wrong -- but it's not what I'd be doing up against SAP and Oracle, Salesforce[.com] and Sage [Software]."
In fact, Greenberg and others believe Microsoft has turned a corner. He calls Dynamics CRM 4.0 the company's "first truly good CRM product" -- but also stresses that its success rests heavily on the savvy of certain executives, including Ballmer and Brad Wilson, the general manager of Dynamics CRM.
"Microsoft has an extraordinary opportunity to grab some market share and even, with some fortuitous breaks, lead the market," Greenberg writes. Microsoft isn't about building new frameworks for its ecosystem, he says, but merely extending an old framework "that is long broken." In the industry at large, according to Greenberg, that outdated, vendor-defined model is "now being replaced by one dominated by the customer."
Another sign of rejiggered frameworks? In the aftermath of Convergence, Microsoft announced a branding change, rechristening Dynamics CRM Live -- its hosted CRM product -- as Dynamics CRM Online. The new labels denote what is being delivered, to whom, and who is doing the hosting: "Live" will now be reserved for consumer and very-small-business offerings; "Online" will refer to small-and-midsize business and enterprise services hosted by Microsoft in its own data center.
Ballmer also reinforced Microsoft's ongoing commitment to some of its core business-software design philosophies: role-tailored user interfaces; the expansion of business intelligence to the individual user; ubiquity in personal productivity applications; and familiarity for business users accessing team applications regardless of whether those applications are deployed on company servers or via one of Microsoft's hosted arrangements. Ballmer also noted that the increasingly broad options available in CRM technology meant it was re-emerging in various incarnations, managing relationships of all kinds -- a phenomenon he referred to as "xRM."
Ballmer then tackled a question often posed by prospective customers: Why Microsoft? "We've been in [this marketplace] now for about seven years," Ballmer said, "and I still get asked, 'Is Microsoft a serious player in business applications?' " Before making comparisons to other vendors, he pitched Microsoft's own merits: "We're going to bring raw innovation to these issues," he said. "We're going to bring integrated thinking about how ERP and CRM fit in the broader context of what people are trying to do with technology." Microsoft, he added, would approach business solutions "with the same kind of long-term approach and tenacity we bring to everything."
But, in a report released a week before the conference, The 451 Group suggested that the right strategy for Microsoft is disengagement--not from the customer, but from CRM entirely. "[In] one area, Microsoft stubbornly clings to business as usual: CRM and ERP software, which it sells under the Dynamics brand," wrote Brenon Daly, a financial analyst with The 451 Group. "Despite spending more than $2 billion on deals -- plus untold tens of millions on [research and development] over the past half decade -- this product line continues to lag rivals significantly, particularly at the high end of the market." The report went on: "Unlike its also-ran online search division, which has turned to a desperation bid for Yahoo to make up lost ground, Microsoft shouldn't look to acquisitions to close the gap on rivals of Dynamics. In fact, quite the opposite. We would argue that Microsoft would be best served by simply acknowledging that it never made much of Dynamics, and selling off its CRM and ERP assets."
Daly's strong sentiments weren't echoed by Convergence attendees; the consensus has been that the Dynamics platform, including CRM, is a strong software-and-services offering, hindered by an incomplete vision. Ballmer's view of owning the "white space" between personal productivity and applications platforms is something Denis Pombriant, founder and managing principal of Beagle Research Group, a CRM consultancy, calls "a 15-year-old Microsoft strategy." Pombriant's reaction to Microsoft's positioning? "The message that sends is that [Microsoft is] a big ERP company that is building integrations from ERP to CRM, which is backwards for this industry."
"The messaging...is really a mixed bag," writes Paul Greenberg, chief customer officer of CRM consultancy BPT Partners and author of CRM at the Speed of Light, on his blog. "It's not wrong -- but it's not what I'd be doing up against SAP and Oracle, Salesforce[.com] and Sage [Software]."
In fact, Greenberg and others believe Microsoft has turned a corner. He calls Dynamics CRM 4.0 the company's "first truly good CRM product" -- but also stresses that its success rests heavily on the savvy of certain executives, including Ballmer and Brad Wilson, the general manager of Dynamics CRM.
"Microsoft has an extraordinary opportunity to grab some market share and even, with some fortuitous breaks, lead the market," Greenberg writes. Microsoft isn't about building new frameworks for its ecosystem, he says, but merely extending an old framework "that is long broken." In the industry at large, according to Greenberg, that outdated, vendor-defined model is "now being replaced by one dominated by the customer."
Another sign of rejiggered frameworks? In the aftermath of Convergence, Microsoft announced a branding change, rechristening Dynamics CRM Live -- its hosted CRM product -- as Dynamics CRM Online. The new labels denote what is being delivered, to whom, and who is doing the hosting: "Live" will now be reserved for consumer and very-small-business offerings; "Online" will refer to small-and-midsize business and enterprise services hosted by Microsoft in its own data center.
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