Top 8 Improvements Arriving in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2015 Update 1

Microsoft has confirmed its next update for Dynamics CRM will be released in Quarter 2, 2015.

No other CRM provider can match Microsoft's investment in research and development and that reflects the breadth of enhancements in this latest update!

Here's my pick of just 8 Dynamics CRM Online improvements arriving soon...

#1 New CRM Navigation

The most visual improvement is a revised CRM navigation.

Featuring a new drop down panel listing each supporting category users can instantly find and click the option they want.

Additional navigation enhancements including new buttons to view recently viewed records, switch between CRM sections and quick jump to form sections. Read more about the new CRM user experience 

#2 CRM Themes

Adjust the colour scheme of the CRM user interface to match your own company branding and even personalise the user interface with your logo.

#3 New CRM Mobile Apps

Using the mantra, 'design one, deploy everywhere' Microsoft will release new mobile apps for a unified experience across all devices.

These add considerably more functionality to the mobile interface including user defined home pages, dashboards and business process flows.

CRM mobile apps are free for all users and work with iPhone, Android and Windows Mobile.

#4 Immersive Excel Integration

The new CRM update includes a big improvement in its integration with Microsoft Excel.

• Export to Excel in 1 click - no more export wizard or warning dialogs
• Preserves the CRM view - retaining the same column width, field formatting and the Excel tab name matches the CRM view
• Export more records - transfer up to 100k CRM records
• Works with Excel Online - export, analysis and make bulk edits and write changes back to CRM from the Excel Online

#5 New Exchange Folder Synchronisation

Improve Exchange and CRM integration enables users to track emails on any device and email application that supports Microsoft Exchange folders.

Using any Exchange folder in the Inbox, simply drag an incoming email to that folder and it’ll be tracked CRM. Or, use Exchange rules to fully automate this process.

Read more about the improved integration between Dynamics CRM and Exchange / Outlook.

#6 OneNote Integration 

Microsoft is enabling users to share more information in CRM with the introduction of embedded OneNote integration.

Use OneNote on any device to create notes containing text, drawings, photos, voice recordings and connect these resources to a CRM account, contact, opportunity, or any other CRM record.

With this new integration salespeople can take meeting notes in OneNote and save these to the appropriate CRM record.

#7 Microsoft Social Engagement

Microsoft Social Listening is changing to Microsoft Social Engagement (MSE).

As the name  change suggests MSE extends from purely listening to help businesses to proactively engage with contacts through their social profiles. The latest Social enhancements include:

• New social centre to collaborate and engage on social channels
• Engage over authenticated Twitter and Facebook accounts
• Create CRM actions including cases and opportunities directly from social posts including sentiment
• Social analytics to measure topics that matter to you
• Apply social filters for author, post type, assignee and labels

#8 Improved CRM Performance

Microsoft are rolling out several performance improvements to speed up the responsiveness of the application in the cloud. These include new data centres, reduced latency using the new Microsoft Edge network that Microsoft state will improve CRM Online performance by as much as 25%.

Finally, improved record form rendering will decrease load speed to make further improvements to the user experience.

CRM Online 2015 Update 

Wow! That's a lot to look forward to and we can expect even more from Microsoft when they release their next major Dynamics upgrade later this year.

If you are already using Microsoft Dynamics CRM check a summary of the most recent improvements. 

Warren Butler is the marketing director for Preact Limited a Microsoft CRM consultancy based in Maidenhead, Berkshire.