Mark Margolis's Blog

Last week my project scoping document proved to be very popular so I’m going to add more articles like this in the future. This week however, I decided to summarise what I felt were the key points from this years Convergence 2013. I will publish the previously planned article (SMS Messages and SMS replies with CRM Online) next week. With all the information coming out I felt it would be more helpful to round off the conference and include some of the screenshots from the upcoming release “Orion”.

For me the key points from Convergence 2013 were:

1. Some fantastic customer stories were told. Find more at this great case study resource from the Microsoft website here.
2. The Marketing Pilot Acquisition Announcement
3. The Netbreeze Acquisition. Announcement
4. New features with Orion and especially the new User Interface (a continuation of the Polaris UI). I have included some hi resolution screenshots below
5. The new mobile experiences available across devices

You can watch  a lot of the sessions from Convergence 2013 online, all you need to do is register here. I particular enjoyed the following:

1. Microsoft Dynamics CRM: The New Era in CRM. Link to video. Good overview of direction and introduction/demo of new UI, Marketing Pilot and Netbreeze
2. Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Product Recap & Roadmap Primer. Link to video. More detail of the roadmap, including mobile
3. Microsoft Dynamics CRM: Reimagining the User Experience. Link to video. Great insight into the UX design process, and why we do what we do.
4. Advanced Analytics for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. Link to video. Great analytics example. Power View, PowerPivot, Office Apps, Very cool.
5. Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Financial Services: Winning & Retaining Customers Link to video. My interest area.

Rather that write yet another article I am going to point you to two excellent summaries:

1. Jukka Niiranen has written a great article here. He also wrote a great recap of eXtreme CRM in Rome a few months ago. You can find that here.
2. Sonoma Partners have also written a  good recap here.

This posting is provided “AS IS” with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Next time on Mark Margolis’s Blog: SMS Messages and SMS replies with CRM Online