Go to the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Marketplace and do a search for "Social CRM" and what is the first result you see? It's Parrot by Webfortis.  As the Social Media Coordinator for Webfortis, it is exciting to watch Parrot grow to become a prominate product on the Dynamics Marketplace.  It is astounding how Parrot attracts masses of interest from users all over the world from all types of business.  The fact that Parrot is such a unique product to the Marketplace allows it to grow and become the best Social CRM product for Dynamics available, despite its short lifetime or being released to the public.  If you don't have Parrot installed already into your CRM, now is the time to get it.  Read the full solution brief of Parrot at:  http://www.microsoft.com/casestudies/Microsoft-Dynamics-CRM/Webfortis/Selling-Social-CRM-Through-the-Microsoft-Dynamics-Marketplace-Establishing-Web-Presence-with-Microsoft-Dynamics-Marketplace/4000011686

Social media and CRM go together like a movie and popcorn or cookies and milk.  Tracking all interactions with customers helps to make CRM as effective as it is.  Social media gives your business another channel to interact with your current and prospective customers in an environment they are comfortable in.  In order for your company to be approachable on a social media channel you must first develop a successful social media strategy by using the most effective Social Media channels.  To help you kick start your Social CRM here is a list of the eight most used channels for Social CRM and reasons why they may be right or wrong for you: 1.       Twitter – Twitter allows you to put bits of news out to your followers.  Pros: It takes little time to set up a Twitter account and even less time to keep it up.  This is recommended for all companies, especially if you are skeptical of the social media tactic of CRM. Cons:  Since the pace of Twitter is so fast, few people will see each post.  Posting regularly is key for a successful Twitter based Social CRM.  Making time throughout the day to post on Twitter can be challenging.  Likewise for readers, following a conversation is also not as simple as most other social media outlets.   2.       Facebook – Facebook allows companies to create pages with just about any type of content they would like. Pros:  Facebook is great if you have diehard fans.  Use Facebook to create a following around your brand by offering special promotions and information only to those who become fans of your Facebook page.  You can create a cult following by giving your fans something unique to talk about both on your page and theirs. Cons: It can become difficult to create fans of your page if your organization provides an obscure service.  One way of getting around this is to find an exciting topic.   3.       LinkedIn – LinkedIn is the professional social media website.  Pros:  Having a company profile gives the viewer insight into your business.  This is a must if you are a small business; making yourself a celebrity in your specialty will only draw people to you.  Cons:  All interactions happen on the individual level.  Meaning, self-promotion as a company representative is the best way to attract customers and prospective customers.  When generating business, many companies confuse LinkedIn with being the go-to site for Social CRM and generating business.  In reality, LinkedIn is a great channel to connect with people you already have a connection with.  Since it is saturated with professionals, when connecting with new individuals you will be drowned out by all the other professionals screaming for attention.  Use LinkedIn as a channel of communication and not for generating new business.   4.       YouTube – YouTube allows you to post any type of videos for others to view. Pros:  You can record tutorials, interviews, public speaking, commercials and facts about your company.  Draw people to you by showing you have the knowledge necessary to give people what they want.  They can also leave comments about your videos and ask questions. Cons:  Badly edited videos can make your company look unprofessional on YouTube.  And even though “going viral” can bring business, your goal is to receive positive exposure, not negative.  Rule of thumb here is that less is more.   5.       Google+ - Google+ is Google’s response to Facebook and works in much the same way. Pros:  Google+ had huge hype during the launch, but unfortunatly corporations were not invited to join in the excitement.  Now there is a rumor that Google+ is related to search rakings on Google. Cons:  The hype is fading and just about everyone has moved back to Facebook.  My suggestion would be to stick with Facebook and not to bother with putting time into making an impression on Google+.   6.       Quora – Quora is a question and answer site. Pros:  This works very much in the same way that LinkedIn Answers works but is not as saturated with other professionals to compete with.  Most people asking questions on Quora are genuinely looking for answers whereas on LinkedIn Answers many people are trying to generate business for themselves.  Quara is a great way to start communication with people who may become new customers. Quora is also a great place to come up with blog topics. Cons:  Most of the “good” responses are lengthy.  If you would like to draw attention to yourself on Quora, my suggestion would be to kill two birds with one stone and create answers that you can also put on your blog.     7.       Foursquare –  Foursquare is a location based social site. Pros:  Foursquare is a must if you are in the retail business.  Just the game of winning points and becoming mayor is enough to draw business.  Communicate with your customers by giving rewards. Cons:  Not for home based business or businesses which do not have customers visiting frequently.   8.       Blog – Blogs are a place to share anything and everything with people on a website you monitor. Pros:  Blogs give you the opportunity to share your expertise and draw people to your website from search engines by using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and should be used by businesses of all shapes and sizes. Cons:  They can be very time consuming.  Use WordPress.com to set up a site and choose a theme that is not a default option (choosing the default theme screams amateur).  Coming up with new topics can also be difficult.  Use a question that you have recently been asked or use Quora to generate topics. When creating a Social CRM strategy it can be very easy to be ambitious and get on every social site on the web.  This thinking is a set up for failure.  To be successful with Social CRM first develop a strategy to include the social media channels that would be best for your purpose.  At Webfortis we have the experience with Social CRM to help you to develop this strategy.  We evaluate the best tactics to use in Social Media channels and the tools necessary to execute these ideas.  Email Madeline Goepp at mgoepp@webfortis.com for more information.  

As a Social CRM expert, one of the things that Webfortis prides itself on is our climbing status in social media.  We do not just work on our social media status for status sake, we work to give our followers and fans relevant information about CRM and Webfortis to improve our customer service, reinforce our expertise in CRM and develop a trust in our brand.  To be a company who uses social media successfully, the business must keep a close eye on what their specific social media trends.  In other words, what is working for their company and what is not.  Each business is different and understanding what fans and followers feed off of is an important aspect of developing a strong social media strategy.   As Webfortis becomes a stronger force in social media, we are building a stronger strategy everyday that satisfies those who are involved.  Some of our most exciting stats are as follows: ·         Our Twitter profile is, on average, receiving one new follower a day and gaining momentum. ·         Our views this month on YouTube are more than 10x what they were in June. ·         We are rated in the top 9% of all social media users on Tweet Grader. ·         Our two most recent hires have been a direct result of social media. Contact me at mgoepp@webfortis.com for more information on improving your company's Social CRM strategy.    

Parrot is Webfortis’ Social Media solution for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and is currently being used in 32 countries worldwide spanning six of seven continents.  Parrot has a large adoption range of industries as well as cultures, allowing companies to globally market their businesses, provide customer service and conduct research.  In addition, Social Media is becoming a worldwide phenomenon that is spreading throughout the industry, making Parrot the optimal tool to bring Social Media into your Dynamics CRM no matter your location.  Our team of Parrot professionals are available virtually for demos or questions.  For more information on Parrot as well as a free download, go to http://www.webfortis.com/webfortis-social-media-solutions.aspx .  

I've come across a number of projects here at Webfortis that utilize Notification Emails by Workflow(i.e. a system process that has a defined trigger to implement a system task). A lot of industries require utilizing this because it is very valuable. Here is an example: I was working with a scientific consulting company that dealt with the handling and research of blood. They had both a Sales team and a Science team. The Sales team was in charge of the business management aspect and client base,while the Scientific team oversaw the internal processes for the actual blood. There were certain phases of the processthat required a CRM system to track all of their clients and products due to the fact that the company was rapidly growing to the point where it was difficult to organize. The solution was to have an option set in the Opportunities Entity to have the different stages itemizedfor the whole business process. Each stage in the process triggered a Workflow upon Save to send out an email stating what stage the opportunity was in to members of a specific team. That solution worked well until I found out that they only had four licenses. I set aside time to speak to our expert engineers, and with some arduous work, we came up with a solution. Only users could be assigned to Teams, but this client did not need the extra user licenses because they would only be receiving emails on where they were in the business process.  They would have no visibility to the administrative side of the company. To resolve this, we first added a Team lookup to the Email entity. We then created a N:N relationship between Contacts and Teams.  By creating a workflow to open an Email and populate the Email with the message, it would then be sent to the appropriate Team. Then, we created a plugin to fire off when the Team field is populated in the Email. It would then look for the emails of the Contacts assigned to that team, populate the "To" field with those emails, and send the email. This solution is now being utilized in a couple of different projects. It is a very convenient way to meet a client business requirement, and is also a very good selling point that can be applied to a lot of CRM customers.  

Here at Webfortis, we use a standardized and well documented methodology for our CRM Design to help maintain quality control in our CRM projects [More]

Many companies are recognizing the worth of Social Media and what it can do for their businesses. Unfortunately, they opt to hiring specialists to promote their social media departments.  This solution, though seemingly harmless, may cause your company to have a neutral or even negative response to your company’s social media.  When hiring specialists, they only know what you tell them about your products and company.  This often leads to the specialist’s inability to give a genuine look into what your company has to offer.  Your social media in turn appears generic and impersonal.  Having an internal report on what an employee experiences  throughout the day will allow for a sincere social media experience that no specialist can give you. Your company can take a proactive step towards opening the lines of communication by teaching and integrating your employees.  In a perfect world a company would hire a social media expert, such as Webfortis, to show them how to be active in social media.  These experts have the experience to teach your business the ins and outs of social media along with a few tips and tricks to point your business  in the right direction.  In the end, your employees will absorb these tactics and execute with a personal touch that is unique to your business.  

San Francisco, CA 8/26/2011 - Webfortis announced today that Sandra Beals has been named Regional Director of Northern California. Sandra will be responsible for Northern California Microsoft Dynamics CRM sales, marketing and business development strategy. “Having Sandra lead our sales and business development practice around Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a great fit,” said Marc Wolenik, CEO of Webfortis. “Her passion for the product, our partners and team, in combination with our continued leading efforts around Social CRM, deep industry knowledge and experience represents a significant strategic advantage for Webfortis.” Sandra is joining Webfortis with an 18-year business development and marketing background in telecommunications, technology and software industries. Consulting with organizations, nationally and internationally, in the areas of compliancy management, systems integrations, networking and software solutions, Sandra has earned Top Performer recognition year over year. Prior to joining Webfortis (www.webfortis.com), Sandra Beals has served as Sales Manager, North America, for INSZoom, a compliancy management software company serving national and global law firms and corporations.  In executive capacities with the company, Sandra oversaw both the sales and marketing teams. During her successful six year tenure, she developed and implemented strategic business plans leading to substantial revenue and profit growth. Furthermore, Sandra excelled in creating both the sales structure and team necessary to guide the company through the turbulence and uncertainty of this dramatic growth in both national and global markets.  Prior to her time at INSZoom, Sandra supported enterprise accounts as an Account Manager with AT & T.  Sandra gained an overall understanding of telecom, data networking and wireless solutions to skillfully present custom solutions to a variety of clients.  Sandra is a business development professional who has a passion for consulting and partnering with her clients for long term success.  Download the complete press release here: Press Release_Sandra Beals.pdf (280.00 kb)

We recently encountered an issue where we needed to import a large data set from CRM 4.0 to CRM 2011. In CRM 2011, there are no methods available in the SDK that will allow you to modify the createdon, createdby, modifiedon, modifiedby fields. The baton was passed to me to write a TSQL script that would loop through all the rows in a bridge table and find correlating records in a CRM 2011 target then update certain system protected fields before moving to the next row of data. The first part of the solution was to have Scribe write this information to a temporary table. The second part is to read this information and populate the necessary fields in CRM.  Our bridge table had the following schema: Scribe writes to this table whenever it performs an insert. So, when the scribe import is done running, you have all of the necessary information stored in this table. It is then just a matter of moving it from the temp table to CRM. Here is the script we used to accomplish this. The idea is to cursor through the rows and update as necessary in CRM. The script was built to run in multiple different environments (development, QA, production) with having to change only the variables at the top.     After running this little gem, we were able to open any of the records and see verified historic data across the board! Win one for the good guys.

Webfortis is excited to announce that we have recieved the Partnering for Success Award from the SoCal Chapter of the IAMCP.  Our team works hard at being a valuble Microsoft partner and we are greatful to be recognized for our effort.  For those of you who are not familiar with the IAMCP (International Association of Microsoft Channel Partners), they are a group of all people within the "Microsoft partner eco-system."  For more information about the IAMCP visit their website at http://www.iamcp.org/.  And once again, we would like to thank the IAMCP for this award.

…I got a call from one of our project team members regarding the Scribe packages that had been built for a client.  Apparently, the client needed us to migrate over data from system protected fields to maintain valid historic values. Ok, I’m down with that.   Having been involved in the upgrade process and hurdles with this client at earlier stages, I was aware that they had issues with AD users.  Having come from a history of CRM 1.0, I could feel the scars of the past tingling.  My mind was racing… “deleted AD users = orphaned SystemUser GUIDs…orphaned GUIDs = ‘Object not set to an instance of an object’ errors…”  Ughhh.   I quickly determined a default user to use in the case that the source user had been deleted, then proceeded to set variables using the cross reference key values stored in the Scribe Internal database from when the SystemUser entity rows were written originally to the target.  As basic as it seems, the formula called XREFLOOKUPNOLOCK_BKEY([label]”SystemUser”, S[x]).  Not so magically, the return value of the formula pulled the new CRM 2011 SystemUser GUID where it found the matching CRM 4 SystemUser GUID in the cross reference table.  Bam!    Now that I had the GUID values that would either match to an active user lookup value or fail to the default system user, I had to find a way to write the data into the target.  Remember, these are system protected fields, so we all knew the Scribe CRM Adapter would be a bust….    Understanding that the Scribe Adapters for CRM communicate through the presentation layer and not directly to the data layer, I knew that the CRM SDK (the foundation for the Scribe Adapter) would not allow an Update function against these system protected fields (hence they are system protected!).  Thinking it would be easy to change my adapter to use the OLEDB connection to the CRM database (yes, I know it’s unsupported), I quickly pointed my source to the new target connection and Viola! all test rows passed successfully.  Job done; go home, right?  Not really.   While the rows all seemed to pass through the OLEDB connection fine, they didn’t get committed to the database completely.  So, since we had already gone down the path of unsupported methods, we decided to go with a straight TSQL script.  However, since we had already validated our lookups and defined what our static source data elements would be, we got a little creative.  Rather than write a set of TSQL nested cursors to do lookups and validations, we added a secondary target to all of our Scribe packages which contained all the key value pairs between the CRM 4 and CRM 2011 records.  We sent this master bridge information to a custom table we created in the Scribe Internal database and used that as our source for a single tiered cursor.  Not only did we mitigate the execution time of a would-be hectic cursor in SQL, but we also created a veritable audit log for the migration effort by safely storing the migration mapping values!   Now that the stage was set, I passed my bridge table information along to our script master.

Are you still on the fence about the best CRM system for your organization?  Not only does Microsoft Dynamics CRM offer the most bang for your buck, now they are offering new Dynamics CRM customers an unprecedented $200 per user cash back to your company! Contact Beth at Webfortis at beth@webfortis.com or (916) 813-3140 to learn more about how Dynamics can improve your business "and" how you can get paid from Microsoft for choosing Dynamics CRM.