Convergence Highlights

What a fantastic Convergence 2010 in Atlanta!  There were many memorable moments with customers, prospects, partners and fellow Microsoft folks.  Here were some of my favorite points:

• A strong and positive buzz for CRM Online.  To quote a man I met in the booth, regarding the May Service Update: “CRM Online is gonna be big in 2010!”  Here are some reasons why:
  • The May Service Update includes multiple language support, portal accelerators, cloud-based developer tools and integration with Microsoft Dynamics GP.  Take a look at an example of the portal accelerators with the XRM Showcase Challenge; it’s a living, breathing example.
  • To promote the GP+CRM Online connector we’re offering a discount to existing customers, whether you’re an existing GP or CRM customer.  Details here: https://offers.crmchoice.com/crmgplanding
  • CRM Online is going GLOBAL in 2010.  Need I say more?
• Emphasis on the “We’re all in” message.  We had a log of great questions and interest in connecting CRM Online to the BPOS offerings.  In the next couple of months, CRM Online is part of a Cloud Computing webcast series to demonstrate integration: www.microsoft.com/events/series/cloud.aspx
• Our phenomenal CRM Online partners – I had a chance to catch up with a bunch of people to see some great demos and talk about plans for future ISV offerings.  Some of the partners I talked to were CoreMotives, SalesFusion, QGate, INgage Networks to name just a few.  They blew my mind with their demos, CoreMotives with a baked-in marketing extension for email and web intelligence, and Ingage Networks for all of their social CRM products, crowdsourcing and mobile polling solutions in particular. 
• Social Media and Social CRM (SCRM).  (Stay tuned for an entirely different post about SCRM.)  Social media enhanced the entire Convergence experience.  For example, if you search for hash tag #CONV10 on Twitter you can get a running dialog commentary on keynotes, events, partners, etc.  You can see people’s response in real time to the speakers and demos and get an authentic look at which ideas resonated with the audience.  I had the opportunity to participate in an interactive discussion on social media and CRM Tuesday afternoon and people raised some excellent questions and points.  Like I said, stay tuned for more ruminations on the Social CRM topic to follow.

These are just a few highlights but overall Convergence was more than just a meeting up.  It was a sharing of ideas and a personalization of business.  Did you have highlights from Convergence?  Share them on Twitter using the hash tag #CONV10.  Let’s keep up the momentum!

~Laura