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I heard recently, “.. people are born with Outlook now…!”  This was in a discussion of Outlook and CRM products functioning together as one.

It certainly would seem to be true as we see the X,Y, and Z generation walking around or worse yet driving while using messaging.  Instant messaging and emailing has grown at a rate never experienced in history. Everyone seems to “be connected”.   Most of those messaging systems are some version of Outlook.

In the world of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and sales force automation (the older SFA), Outlook has been a difficult communication tool  to deal with.  Microsoft has not always allowed or been open to developers knowing how to integrate to and from Outlook to other applications.  In fact, even the 1st couple of versions of MicroSoft CRM (now known as Microsoft Dynamics) did not communicate clearly and completely with Outlook.  Some might disagree, but recall the long cryptic message ID scheme in subject lines of the 1st few releases?  Enough said!

Today, as in the past, Outlook is with us in the business and personal realms of day-to-day life. It is time that the CRM developers learn and accept the integration to Outlook.  Some have, and others still struggle to get there.

What should a good Outlook link contain?

1. Email connectivity – to Outlook (from CRM) and from Outlook (to CRM)
2. Contact connectivity – ensure that contacts are available in Outlook that are in CRM and vice-versa
3. Calendar connectivity – it is critical that appointments and tasks created in Outlook (or the connected PDA/phones) get back into the CRM system; in addition tasks and appointments created in the CRM should be in the Outlook calendaring

There are a few including RedHorse CRM that have accomplished these important links as to not leave the Outlook user disconnected from the CRM system and connecting these Outlook users into the CRM system.  No longer is CRM and Outlook different worlds.

In the RedHorse Outlook Link (RHOLink03/07) the integration is comprehensive.

1. RedHorse can be configured to sync email, contacts and calendars, or any combination thereof; all managed from within Outlook.
2. Documents attached/embedded in Outlook messages are handled according to the document management configuration in RedHorse, controlled by the settings in Outlook.
3. Configuration of all record types handled in Outlook in one settings area.
4. RedHorse has the ability to determine how to handle email addresses in Outlook that are in the RedHorse Database and automatically sync them without user interruption, and to handle emails that are not in the RedHorse database differently.
5. RedHorse can be configured to use Outlook as the “fulltime” email messaging client while maintaining the full view of communications within the CRM.
6. RedHorse does not have to be running to synchronize with Outlook, so long as the SQL Database is accessible. This provides for remote access to RedHorse while still utilizing a local Outlook instance.

If you are ready to integrate Outlook as a valued tool for your customer database or CRM system, contact us.

Is Outlook a CRM?

This entry was posted on Monday, June 22nd, 2009 at 7:10 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.