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How to Write a Modern RFP for CRM Implementation
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Here’s why customers should pay for more for customizations!
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Finding The Limits of Low-Code
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Dynamics 365 Business Central and RapidStart CRM UPDATE!
In my last post, I announced that we (Forceworks) were developing an addon for our RapidStart CRM to connect to Microsoft's wildly popular Dynamics 365 Business Central. I wanted to update you on our progress. BTW, I did not record audio for this post because it has...
A Better CRM for Business Central?
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The Microsoft Partner Dilemma
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Steve has yet another Chat with Charles
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Let’s Talk About Funnels
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It’s Time for a New Services Model for Dynamics 365 and the Power Platform
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The Myth of Single Version of the Truth
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Pay as you Go, Go, Go
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Hit 50K Users? Get ready for the knock-offs.
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Your organization (tenant) is over capacity
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“Even after everything, we still have adoption problems”
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We Upgraded from Dynamics 365 to RapidStart CRM
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Steve has another Chat with Toby Bowers
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Dynamics 365 for Outlook Deprecated Alert
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Are you over-paying for Dynamics 365?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 business applications are fantastic products. Unrivaled power and features and priced accordingly. Are they over-priced? No! Are you over-paying? Maybe. So, let’s unpack this one.
My Cable Bill
Several years ago, I moved into a new home, and shortly afterwards the local cable company salesperson was on the phone. I was easily talked into the “Gold” package because it “included everything” and I suffer from FOMO. After a few months I realized that I only watched about 10 channels out of the 500+ that I was paying for. Maybe there are other people who watch all 500? Anyway, I was able to slash my cost by about 80% and not miss a thing. But I digress…
What can you do Dynamics 365?
Out-of-the-box, Dynamics 365 apps bring a ton of features and capabilities. The Enterprise Sales app for example, at $95/pupm, allows you to create and manage Leads, Contacts, Accounts and Opportunities, but it doesn’t stop there. Since it is built on Dataverse, it also integrates with Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Office and the entire Power Platform. You can create Product catalogs and multiple pricelists, along with quotes, orders and invoices. It also includes A.I. capabilities to help you predict sales risks and next best actions to take. For your sales team you can enable guided selling to quicky onboard new sellers and implement best sales practices across your team. With your Dynamics 365 Sales Enterprise license, you can set up and experience Sales Premium features such as Sales accelerator, conversation intelligence, and predictive scoring. There are many more features to explore also. And you can add Dynamics 365 Enterprise Service to this for an additional $20/pupm.
But wait a minute… will you use all of these capabilities, or even many of them? If not, maybe Dynamics 365 Sales Professional is a better option.
Professional
Microsoft also offers Dynamics 365 “Professional” for Sales or Service at $65/pupm. Or you can get both Sales and Service for an additional $20/pupm (total of $85/pupm). In this “scaled down” version, they have changed a few things. For Sales Professional for example, the following are not included: Competitor tracking, Customization or extending out-of-the-box reports, charts and dashboards, Knowledge base, Embedded AI, Forecasting, Sales Goals, Product families/hierarchies, Product relationships, Business card scanning, Sales Literature, Territories, Sales Teams, Email Engagement, Predictive Forecasting and Relationship analytics. There are also some limitations in place including: a maximum of 15 custom tables, maximum of 5 Business Processes, maximum of 5 custom reports or charts or dashboards, maximum of 2 custom forms or views. Similar limitations apply to Service.
But wait a minute… does this still include things you may not use? Are the customization limitations too great for you?
Customization
Even though Microsoft Dynamics 365, particularly the Enterprise apps, include a boatload of features and capabilities, we still find ourselves working with customers to configure and extend the apps. Adding custom tables and fields, adding new relationships, building new forms and views as well as workflows. We often end up modifying much of what is provided out-of-the-box. All of this in effort to make Dynamics 365 “fit” an individual business’ needs. Most of the time these customizations become the priority elements, and much of what was provided out-of-the-box is never used.
Every Customer is Different
For some customers many of the provided features and capabilities will be utilized. For others, they may just use the basics. For others still, their customization needs are so great that Dynamics 365 really ends up serving as more of a platform to build on. If you are in the first group, then you are probably not over-paying as you will get the benefit of the features that the price incudes. But if you are in either of the other two groups, you are absolutely over-paying!
RapidStartCRM
Okay, here’s my pitch. Some readers complain when I promote my business, but I gotta eat too. We created RapidStartCRM to address the very issues I described above. RapidStartCRM is a basic Sales and Service app built on the same platform as Dynamics 365. What does that mean? Well, first it means that many of the things that are available for Dynamics 365 are also available for RapidStartCRM, like integration with Microsoft Teams, and Microsoft Office and the entire Power Platform. While the enterprise apps obviously come with many more features, even though they look similar side-by-side, RapidStartCRM will manage your basic Sales and Service needs, which even at the lower Dynamics 365 “Professional” level would cost you $85/pupm. If you foresee a lot of customizations in your future, RapidStartCRM shines even brighter. Since RapidStartCRM is built on the same Dataverse platform as Dynamics 365 the customization capabilities are the same. RapidStartCRM also has over 70,000 users, about half of which came from either Dynamics 365 or Salesforce.com! Oh, I almost forgot to mention, RapidStartCRM itself is free and runs on a Microsoft Power Apps license will cost you $5/pupm.
Why Stop There?
Yes, we are exploiting the fact that Dynamics 365 is very expensive and too complex for many users. And yes, we built a low-cost alternative on the same platform right next to Dynamics 365. But then Microsoft gave us a clear path to continue our exploitation with their Dynamics 365 Field Service application at $95/pupm and their Dynamics 365 Project Operations app at $120/pupm. The exact same issues described above apply to both of these apps as well. So, we thank Microsoft for the inspiration and went ahead and built our RapidStartCRM Field Service addon and RapidStartCRM Project Management addon, both priced at $10/pupm.
Why so Cheap?
Microsoft has basically taken over the business world with their Microsoft 365 products (formerly called Office 365). They offer a very robust set of features for your productivity needs starting at $5/pupm. As a result, many SMB customers and enterprise departments have gravitated to them. When it comes to adding business applications however, too many of these same customers choke when they see the costs. The expected result is that they seek business solutions elsewhere, from other vendors who, while they don’t integrate or share the security model of Microsoft 365, they do meet the price criteria! We intentionally priced our top-rated apps, which run completely within your Microsoft cloud environment, to make it easy for you to decide to maximize your Microsoft 365 investment and security. Also, full truth be told, we know that many of you will reach out to us to assist with your support, integration and customization work.
If you want to learn more about RapidStartCRM, go here, or hit me up!
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How to “Do More With Less” with Microsoft
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How to Write a Modern RFP for CRM Implementation
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Dynamics 365 Business Central and RapidStart CRM UPDATE!
In my last post, I announced that we (Forceworks) were developing an addon for our RapidStart CRM to connect to Microsoft's wildly popular Dynamics 365 Business Central. I wanted to update you on our progress. BTW, I did not record audio for this post because it has...
A Better CRM for Business Central?
At a recent event, Microsoft executives told me that Dynamics 365 Business Central was flying off the shelves. Over the years, I had occasionally peeked over the fence at Business Central, mostly out of curiosity. But "flying off the shelves" is a reason for me to...
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The Works Services-as-a-Subscription Model Update
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- 42 – Podcast – Preparing for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Fall 2018 release wave
- 41 – Benefits and process to building ISV solutions with Microsoft PowerApps, Microsoft Flow & AppSource
- 40 – Four MVPs in a Room
- 39 – Dynamics 365 Saturday Atlanta
- 38 – Mary Jo Foley on (Not) keeping up with Dynamics 365
- 37 – Early reaction as Dynamics 365 for Marketing, Sales Professional reach the market
- 36 – So you want to be an Independent Consultant?
- 35 – Dynamics Marketing with Kishan Chetan and Steve Mordue
- 34 – 2018 Dynamics 365 Predictions
- 33 – Unexpected Curves Crash Microsoft's Dynamics 365 Roadmap
- 32 – MSDW Podcast: Talking Microsoft Dynamics platform plays and eclipses with Steve Mordue
- 31 – Microsoft waffles regarding what's next for Dynamics 365 for SMBs
- 30 – Business Edition vs Enterprise Edition: what you need to know (Webinar)
- 29 – Azure App Service Isolated caters to enterprise security concerns
- 28 – Steve Mordue on Microsoft’s sales shakeup, SMB commitment, and partner survival
- 27 – Tip #896: Don’t get blacklisted by blasting emails from Dynamics 365
- 26 – Microsoft FastTrack: Partner Friend or Foe?
- 25 – Tip #856: Modifying disabled users
- 24 – How Can Microsoft (and Its Partners) Leverage LinkedIn?
- 23 – IT Community Champ
- 22 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM SMB Apps
- 21 – Dynamics 365 Pitch Must Reach Channel
- 20 – Dynamics 365 Needs more Cowbell
- 19 – Can Microsoft Make Dynamics 365 Work?
- 18 – Whiteboarding Microsoft Dynamics 365
- 17 – Timing Microsoft Dynamics 365: CRM partners lament 'fuzzy' pre-launch license planning
- 16 – Microsoft Dynamics 365 to start rolling out November 1
- 15 – Dynamics CRM at a crossroads
- 14 – The Reinvention of the Microsoft ISV
- 13 – Microsoft Dynamics 365: New roadmap, licensing details revealed
- 12 – Dynamics Introspective: What Is Microsoft’s Next Big Bet On Dynamics CRM Success?
- 11 – IP assets: Channel companies seek differentiation
- 10 – Add new business offerings for long-term sustainability
- 09 – The gamification platform: Cool toy or CRM partner opportunity?
- 08 – How one of Microsoft's top CRM partners uprooted its business
- 07 – Cloud channel partners, vendors grapple with metrics
- 06 – Building a successful sales team to maximize profitability
- 05 – Cloud Partner Strategy 2.0 – Going Vertical
- 04 – It just works better: Why we made the move to Microsoft
- 03 – Microsoft Dynamics Partner Roundup
- 02 – Escape from Salesforce: Beware lock-in risks when migrating to Microsoft Dynamics CRM, says one partner
- 01 – Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013: More favorite features from the field
I’ll pimp your stuff.
If you want to make your pimp happy, I’d love to hear more about the process of creating your RapidStart apps, the struggles, business model decisions etc., as an inspiration for other ISVs who’d like to embark on the same journey.