If you have a website, have you looked at the stats which show the different browsers people are using to access your site lately? If you have, you’ll almost certainly have seen an increase in people accessing your site from browsers such as Safari, Android Browser, and Opera Mini.
Currently just over 7% of web sites are accessed via mobile devices. This figure is rising and is pretty certain to continue to rise. While Internet Explorer still has over 53% of desktop browser market share, with Firefox and Chrome both hovering a few points above or below the 20% mark, they’re currently not used at anywhere near that level in mobile devices. Safari, however, has about 60% of browser share for mobiles and tablets, but a lot smaller share of desktop. So if you see an increase in visits to your web site from Safari (and Android), it’s a fair assumption that a large number of these will be from mobile or tablet users.
But what’s this got to do with CRM software?
Mobile devices, tablets and smart phones are developing at a quite incredible rate. They’re becoming more affordable, more powerful, more flexible and, let’s face it, more fun, so an increasing number of people are using them. So, it’s a logical next-step that they should be able to access their CRM solution via their mobile device.
It’s been possible, using third-party applications, to access Microsoft Dynamics CRM on mobile devices for quite some time. But the next release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, due (in the UK) within the next couple of months, has specific enhancements to make it great to use with the latest smart phone, tablet and mobile devices. This is via a new, cloud-based option called Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile.
It doesn’t matter if you’re using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online (the cloud-based version of the product) or you have Microsoft Dynamics CRM installed on-premise. By using Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile you’ll be able to access Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, On-premise or even partner hosted via a wide range of mobile devices. The only main difference between Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and On-Premise is that for on-premise, your business partner will need to have set up internet facing deployment for you.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM will be accessible from a variety of internet browsers including Firefox, Chrome and Safari as well as Internet Explorer, and nearly all the latest mobile devices. These include Windows phones, the iPad and iPad2, Apple iPhones, Google Android and RIM Blackberry’s.
The release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 introduced a whole set of impressive and ground breaking new features to the product. One of these was the dashboards. Dashboards in Microsoft Dynamics CRM are one of those features that ‘wow’ people seeing the product for the first time. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile has been developed so the dashboards are easy to use, read and understand on mobile devices. This takes it way ahead of competitive CRM products and, unlike some others, you won’t have to download or install additional applications to use your dashboards either.
Administering Microsoft Dynamics CRM on mobile devices is quick, flexible, and efficient. It’s performed centrally, and will allow users with administration rights to configure things like record types, forms, views, offline synchronization rules, and navigation structure. These configurations are published only once, no matter what devices each user has. And because administrators can also set up many different profiles showing only role-specific information and functionality, it’s straightforward to tailor mobile CRM use for each user, group, or department.
Unfortunately mobiles, smart phones, and tablets get lost, mislaid, or stolen all too often. What’s more, if an employee moves on to another company or a competitor, you probably don’t want them to have access to your Microsoft Dynamics CRM system. That’s why Microsoft has added a facility to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile which enables administrators to remotely clear devices of CRM data whenever they need to.
Because many people don’t have just one phone these days, each Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile licence allows the software to be used for up to three different mobile devices. There will also be an offline mode on most devices so that Microsoft Dynamics CRM can be accessed even when users aren’t connected to the internet.
For more information about using Microsoft Dynamics CRM on smartphones, tablets, and mobile devices, current and future updates, or advice on how to implement the product in your organisation, please contact Concentrix TSG.
By Concentrix TSG – independent CRM and Business Software specialists
Tablets, Smartphones, Mobile Devices, and Browsers – How Microsoft Dynamics CRM is Way Ahead! is a post from: CRM Software Blog