Microsoft Dynamics CRM uses SQL Server Reporting Services to generate reports for CRM data. If you have the need to modify or design your own reports, you will need to first make sure you have the software that helps you design and publish reports. The software I am referring to is the Microsoft Business Intelligence Development Studio aka BIDS.

Once you have it installed, you will be able to create SSRS reports. In order to however connect to Dynamics CRM, the BIDS software will need a method of connecting to your Dynamics CRM web service layer to authenticate and pull data from it. This piece is referred to as the Microsoft Dynamics Report Authoring Extension.

The CRM2011 version can be found on Microsoft's site with a quick search:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/search.aspx?q=CRM+2011+Report+Authoring

The install is pretty straightforward. I did however run into an issue with the following error message on my Win7 64 bit machine:

Setup cannot continue because a pending restart is required.

Here is what the error message looks like:

This error appears to be a result of the presence of the RunOnce registry key. I removed it from the following location:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunOnce
Also since I am on a 64 bit machine, I did a registry find and removed it from the WOW64Node area in the registry as well.

Once the registry issue was cleared up, the installation proceeded and I was able to build my reports.

Technology Advisors rose to the top of SugarCRM's Channel Partners shortlist and was named 2012 Most Valued Global Partner and 2012 Most Valued Partner in North America at SugarCon 2013 in New York City. Technology Advisors was selected based on our commitment to the Sugar suite of products as evidenced by major joint customer wins, as well as overall new business revenue. Each year the awards are given to one SugarCRM partner.

Sugar’s EVP of WW Field Operations, Glenn Cross said, “This year’s SugarCRM Channel Partner Award winners have raised the bar for creating great customer experiences and long-lasting relationships.”

“We have a deep relationship with SugarCRM and are honored to be recognized as the Most Valued Global Partner and Most Valued Partner in North America,” said Sam Biardo, CEO of Technology Advisors, Inc. “Enabling our customers to achieve efficiencies and improved profitability with Sugar has been our number one goal. We look forward to being a part of Sugar’s future success and growth.”

With a focus on consulting, customizing and integrating SugarCRM for customers, Technology Advisors also showcased and demoed CRM solutions for the enterprise at SugarCon 2013, including Map to Lead, an app that provides visual lead mining in SugarCRM, Exchange Email Monitoring, Quickbooks integration, and the first in its SugarCRM Foundation Book Series – Getting Started with SugarCRM version 6.x ebook.

Technology Advisors is a Silver Sponsor of SugarCon 2013

Technology Advisors Inc, a Chicago metro-based SugarCRM Gold Partner, announces it will be participating as a Silver Sponsor in SugarCon 2013 in New York City, April 8-11. SugarCon is a three day customer event hosted by SugarCRM, the world’s fastest-growing customer relationship management (CRM) company.

With a focus on consulting, customizing and integrating SugarCRM for customers, Technology Advisors will be showcasing and demoing CRM solutions for the enterprise, including a customized SugarCRM app that provides visual lead mining, their latest Exchange Email Monitoring and Quickbooks integration, and the first in the SugarCRM Foundation Book Series – Getting Started with SugarCRM version 6.x ebook. Everyone who stops by Booth 104 wins a prize and can enter to win a Kindle.

Customer Brad Kirchhofer, COO from Bray International, will give a keynote at the event and Sam Biardo, Technology Advisors’ CEO, will talk about enterprise sales techniques Monday, April 8 as part of SugarCon’s Partner Day agenda.

SugarCRM users, developers and partners from around the globe will convene at The Waldorf Astoria Hotel for SugarCon 2013 to hear keynote speakers Larry Augustin, SugarCRM’s CEO, CRM expert Paul Greenberg, and Terry Jones, founder of Travelocity.com. There will be hands-on training, interactive demos, and an exciting lineup of 70+ breakout sessions spanning 7 CRM tracks covering the latest CRM research and innovations from the world's most experienced CRM experts. For a detailed agenda and registration information, visit sugarcon.sugarcrm.com.

About Technology Advisors
Technology Advisors helps businesses increase sales and marketing productivity and improve their profitability. As a global business and technology consulting company, Technology Advisors specializes in the development of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) process and technology strategies and solutions that make businesses successful, and offers Consulting, Project Management, Support, and Training. Since 1991, the company has enabled over 2,000 businesses to achieve real business results from their CRM initiatives. Headquartered in Des Plaines, IL, Technology Advisors specializes in the Financial Services, Property, Healthcare, Manufacturing, Construction and Professional Services industries.

For more information, visit http://www.techadv.com, call 1.847.655.3400 or 1 877-TAI-4CRM toll free in the U.S. or email info@techadv.com. Connect with Technology Advisors on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

Media Contact:
Mary Craddock
847.655.3410
www.techadv.com

A Training Book for SugarCRM End Users

Today, we are excited to announce the availability of Getting Started with SugarCRM Version 6.x for the Kindle. Published by Technology Advisors, Inc. and endorsed by SugarCRM, it’s the first in the SugarCRM Foundation Series, available on Amazon. The electronic book provides end users with comprehensive and in-depth instruction for SugarCRM – the leading, open source Customer Relationship Management application. Through step-by-step instructions, it guides sales, marketing, and support users on how to use all of the tools and features of SugarCRM.

The 419-page book shares Best Practices and timesaving tips. From navigating the SugarCRM workspace and configuring dashlets to creating custom reports and sending email campaigns, Getting Started with SugarCRM Version 6.x will get users on the path to maximizing SugarCRM’s capabilities to meet the unique needs of their organization. The Kindle Edition of the book can be read on any Kindle device and any device with the Kindle app. It can also be read from a computer using free Kindle software available from Amazon. Visit Amazon and download your copy of Getting Started with SugarCRM Version 6.x today!

Today we are excited to announce the release of Getting Started with SugarCRM Version 6.x: Interactive Edition on the iBookstore℠. Published by Technology Advisors, Inc. and endorsed by SugarCRM, it’s the first in the SugarCRM Foundation Series. The book provides end users with comprehensive and in-depth instruction for SugarCRM – the leading, open source Customer Relationship Management application. With interactive quizzes, how-to galleries, and videos, it guides sales, marketing, and support users on how to use all of the tools and features of SugarCRM.

The 247-page book shares Best Practices and timesaving tips. From navigating the SugarCRM workspace and configuring dashlets to creating custom reports and sending email campaigns, Getting Started with SugarCRM Version 6.x:  Interactive Edition will get users on the path to maximizing SugarCRM’s capabilities to meet the unique needs of their organization. This version of the book, compatible with iPads® only. Visit the iBookstore and download your copy of Getting Started with SugarCRM Version 6.x: Interactive Edition today!

Over the past decade many studies have highlighted CRM implementation failures. Depending on whom you've asked, and when you've asked them, CRM implementation failure rates have ranged between 18-70%.

In most studies, failure simply means falling short of expectations. 

Michael Krigsman, CEO of Asuret, and expert on IT system failures, highlights three big reasons CRM implementations go wrong on his popular ZDNet blog.

Failure #1: Installing technology without a business strategy.

Building a comprehensive strategy is difficult and challenging. Taking into consideration the full context of any CRM implementation, the technology is often the easiest part. Formulating a strategy that takes into consideration the customer's needs and the company's capabilities, including people and processes, is a critical component of CRM success.

Failure #2: Paying insufficient attention to user needs and benefits.

What's in it for me? This is a key question you should be asking all stakeholder groups. Too many implementations have focused solely on the great information you're going to get out of the system without considering that users actually have to use the system for any valuable information to be captured.

Failure #3: Using ambiguous (or non-existent) measures of project completion and success.

Like any change initiative or project, establishing clear success metrics at the outset is critical to evaluating how you did after you cross the finish line. Are you simply trying to gain visibility into key interactions with your customers? Are you trying to increase revenue? Increase profit margins? Reduce administration time?

You must know what you are trying to measure and achieve before something can fail or succeed.

Congrats! Your sales team is successfully leveraging your CRM system to manage their leads, develop their pipeline and increase sales. But what happens after the sale?

What happens when the order is placed?
When the order is shipped?
When the services are delivered?
When the invoice is sent?
When the money is collected (or sometimes when it isn't)?

What happens when the customer has an issue?
When they want a different product or more services?

All these customer actions/interactions happen, yet often they aren't captured in any system. Or perhaps, they're captured in multiple systems, databases, or spreadsheets that aren't tied together, or "integrated".

How much time do your employees spend trying to understand where things are in the process and communicate those things with your customers? How much productivity is lost due to relevant information being distributed across a multitude of systems and/or trapped in one or two employee's heads?

Leveraging CRM to improve sales productivity and profitability is great. The issue is when it stops there, becoming just another data silo.

Unifying the entire lead to cash process by integrating marketing, sales, service, support, production, delivery and accounts receivable details, enables a more holistic view of each customer relationship. This, in turn, enables your employees to proactively, and responsibly, provide better service to your customers. What would a 5, 10 or 15% improvement in productivity mean for your bottom line?

Instead of spending time figuring out what's going on, employees across the organization can instantly leverage information from every touch point throughout your customer's relationship with you. Your Sales team should know whether a product has shipped, what issues their customers are having and whether bills have been paid, or not. Production knows when the order was placed. Marketing can leverage deeper insights about customer activity to further define more targeted customer segments. 

You've taken the first step of your CRM journey. By integrating front and back office activities, more profits and growth await!

Back in April I wrote a handful of blogs about CRM Selection and things to consider when going through the process. On top of all those things you need to sit down and think about/analyze, you need to look at several different CRM solutions to determine which one meets all of your needs. Likely there will be some that you can immediately toss out and a handful that will make it to your final round. 

Sometimes the most challenging part is where to start. How do you know which solutions will potentially fit your business best? A team of consultants and business analysts at Technology Advisors created a tool called the "CRM Comparison Tool" to assist with this stage of the search. The team did an in-depth analysis of several CRM solutions, analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. You can answer as few as 6 questions, or as many as 50+, to get a very detailed analysis of your business' needs and how they fit with specific CRM solutions.

For the first set of questions, you are able to see, in real-time, how each CRM solution handles your needs. If you click-through to the detailed question set, one of our CRM experts will analyze your responses and a 2-page document will be created, and emailed, to you within 2 business days. 

If you need help with the tool, just let me know!

In a blog last week, I talked about some basics of email marketing which should be used in conjunction with the idea of zeroing in that I want to talk about today. When creating your messaging there are 3 key areas you should zero in on:

• Audience
• Purpose
• Message

I'm very curious as to people's opinions on using negative messaging in marketing. I generally try to avoid it at all costs but know of at least one person that really believes in it. Have you used negative messaging? Have you seen results?

I think one of my biggest issues with negative messaging isn't the message itself; it is what someone potentially takes away from it. For example, when I'm reading an email or a webpage, certain words and phrases are bound to pop out at me and then can be associated with whatever I am reading about, regardless of the actual messaging. 

For example if you're trying to sell me a software solution and mention in your messaging that many implementations fail, there's a solid 50/50 chance the word "fail" will pop out at me and my mind will automatically associate it with your software solution. Obviously this was not your message, or the goal of your message by any means, but by placing certain negative words within the copy, the reader has the ability to visualize nearly anything.

Another kind of negative marketing I see is 'consequences of inaction' marketing. For example, "If you don't buy product x, you will not achieve the same success as a person using product x." Is this effective? Perhaps it simply depends on what you are selling? What do you think?