The world around us is constantly changing at a lightning pace; the evolutions of IT products are keeping pace with the environment. A few years back the mobile workforce was first exposed to a new breed of devices which have quickly developed to outdo the humble laptop. By all this I am referring to the Tablet PC or iPad or Slate PC in their various guises. These devices have developed from the home based toy in which to play angry birds, to the tool that impresses our customers with how in tune with technology we are.
There have been a number of companies who have developed mobile apps which connected to Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 and some of them were very good indeed. With the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 comes a completely free Windows 8 and iPad app which connects to your instance of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013, and it’s a real game changer.
We have connected both a Windows 8 touch screen and iPad to our Dynamics CRM 2013 instance to play with these apps. What you first notice when your connected is the familiar feel of the data. I can clearly see my customers, contacts, opportunities and activities. With a bit of fiddling on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 instance, we can also get our extended customised views and forms up as well as graphical reports.
The data can be made available as read only or can be open to full edit rights allowing the mobile worker to interact directly with the data. New organisations, contacts or just about any entity data can be entered into the app which instantly updates the core data. If you’re outside of internet connectivity the data is made available in “off-line” mode which will update when back in range. With the Windows 8 app, you can take areas of the data e.g. your active customers and create a coloured button on your start page to link straight into the data you require.
If you want to see more of what Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 can offer, we are running a discovery session. This is aimed at either organisations who have Dynamics CRM 2011 or CRM v4.0 and want to see what’s new or for those wanting to take the first steps into Microsoft Dynamics CRM. The session will be held in Sheffield, South Yorkshire. You can book onto the session by clicking here.