14 DAY TRIAL // Earlier this year, Microsoft announced that its Dynamics CRM is coming to mobile devices as well, in an attempt to provide increased flexibility to its customers.
In March, Microsoft announced that Dynamics CRM Mobile will be launched as part of an upgrade to the service planned for the second quarter of the year, and it appears that it is nearing that moment.
Through becoming mobile, Dynamics CRM offers support for devices such as the iPhone, Windows Phone 7 handsets, BlackBerry and Android, all of which will support native MS CRM apps.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile will provide customers with a variety of new capabilities, delivering fast access to Microsoft CRM data to on-the-go sales and marketing staff straight from the devices they love the most.
Customers will need to subscribe to receive access to the feature, but any Dynamics CRM Mobile Service subscription will cover no less than three devices for each user.
With Microsoft Dynamics CRM mobile, customers will benefit from offline access to CRM data as well, though not on Windows Phone 7 devices. However, the company plans synchronization features for its mobile OS as well, to bring it in line with other platforms.
Some other key features that Dynamics CRM mobile will bring along include:
- Users will be required to separately subscribe to the Dynamics Customer Relationship Management Mobile Service, regardless of their current deployment. Mobile CRM will connect to either premises- or cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics CRM systems.
- Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile will support true native applications, not just generic browser capability, for IOS, Android, and Windows 7 systems.
- But there will be comprehensive cross-browser access for Dynamic CRM Mobile. Users will be able to view CRM end-user pages from Safari (version 5.11+, Apple only), Chrome (version 13x, Microsoft only), Firefox (version 6+), and IE (7.x+, Microsoft only). Access to admin functions will be through IE only.
With the mobile service, Microsoft will offer cross-browser capability on multiple devices, but the main focus was on ensuring that native applications can deliver the best possible experiences. Support for 3rd-party mobile solutions will also be included in the package.
The company explains that the main idea behind this was to keep the screen real-estate and to simply deliver CRM records, forms, and CRM navigation capabilities needed for specific roles (different UI’s for Marketing and Sales, and the like).
“Admins can configure these profiles from the Setting area, and once changed they will be reflected on everyone’s device,” a recent post on the Dynamics CRM software blog reads.
Additionally, there will be support for unique device capabilities, including the GPS receiver. “In the iPad demo we viewed, it was possible to quickly generate a direction map from a current location to the address of a client found in an Account record within Microsoft Dynamics CRM,” the post concludes.