Today Dennis Michalis, General Manager of Dynamics CRM at Microsoft announced that in Q2 2012 a service update of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 will include cross browser functionality to allow users on a multitude of browsers and operting systems to finally be able to use all the great functionality of Dynamics CRM without having to use workarounds like virtualization or terminal services.
 |
| Supported Browsers (From Microsoft Roadmap PDF) |
He also announced that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile will be released, a Micrsoft based product for bringing CRM functionality to Windows Phones, iPads/iPhones, Androids and Blackberries.
 |
| CRM Anywhere on iPad (From Microsoft Roadmap PDF) |
There were also some other updates that were announced that you can read about in the Service Update Roadmap Q2 2012.
The cross browser functionality is something many of my customers have been waiting for a long time and I really look forward to seeing it. My colleague Rickard noted that no Unix/Linux based systems were mentioned in the matrix which is notable. According to what they previously have mentioned the mutlibrowser version will be based on HTML5 there might hence be two reasons for it not being included. Either it is not tested or there might be parts of the system that required Silverlight or some other component that only exist on Windows and Mac operating systems.
The other notable thing is that the mobile client will be big drawback for companies like Resco, TenDigits and CWR Mobile who have very competent mobile clients. This is always a risk for companies working with products close to Microsofts since Microsoft always need to expand and grow. So, if you are a company looking to invest in a mobile solution, think twice, it might be a good idea to wait a month or two and have a look at the Microsoft version of the product. It will require an extra cost so there will still be room for the other mobile clients but as others have previously noted, it is always hard to compete with Microsoft. Their mobile products do still have several upper hands on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile in this early version for example, it does not support offline functionality and I would presume the mobile API is not as extensive as that of Resco or CWR Mobile (I do not have any experience of TenDigits).
Gustaf Westerlund
CEO, Chief Architect and co-Founder at CRM-konsulterna AB
www.crmkonsulterna.se
Actually the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM Mobile product is CWR Mobile's product re-branded: http://www.cwrmobility.com/which-mobile-crm-product
It's true that this will make it quite difficult for other ISV solutions to compete against the official mobile client. On the other hand, it will certainly expand the market for mobile solutions and get more customers to seriously explore the possibilities offered by mobile CRM clients.
I didn't know that Jukka. Thanks for that useful information! We will certainly see what happens in the new CRM Mobile marketplace.
Thanks for the post. Gustaf has explained me well about the expectation on mobile crm and cross platform but unfortunately microsoft has postponed it to Q4 2012. I admit that mobility is one of the hottest conversations in crm today. Mobile crm let you connect with your customers wherever you are and you can get real time updates as well. 2013 will also be the year during which mobile CRM makes a serious play for the business-to-business.
I have received great information from this book and this blog and now this is my turn to provide some useful information to the blog readers. I have got the chance to get a review of an enterprise mobility solutions provider called Karya Technologies (http://www.karyatech.com) when I was researching about the topic. They are providing mobile solutions in customer's desired platform. I would like to get more posts regarding mobile crm in this blog and I would like to get more suggestions from blog readers to enhance our knowledge.