CRM Online and BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite)

With all the recent questions from customers and partners on CRM Online and BPOS (Business Productivity Online Suite) integration, I thought it would be useful to provide high-level guidance as to what integration is possible today.  As these S+S offerings evolve, expect to see more and more examples of how CRM Online and BPOS work well together.

Exchange Online:

CRM Online can send e-mails thru Exchange using the CRM Outlook client.  There isn’t any configuration that needs to be done other than installing the CRM Outlook client on the applicable machine which leverage Exchange Online for their e-mail and specifying in the CRM user settings to have the user send/receive e-mail in CRM via Outlook.

SharePoint Online:

Depending on the requirements, CRM Online can integrate with Sharepoint Online.  There isn’t anything CRM Online currently provides out of the box and some level of effort would have to be done by you (customer or your partner) to get integration to occur.  There is a quick screencast showing a simple integration(<www.democrmonline.com/DocumentManagement/>).  I have also heard partners who are building a CRM Online/Sharepoint Online solution that leverages Windows Azure as well.

Office Communications Online:

CRM Online integrates with OCS Online showing the presence on a lead, contact or user form.  As long as the user you are looking to track presence on is using the same OCS Online instance and their login is their e-mail address on their record, the presence jewel would appear in the applicable entity record (lead, contact or user).  Below are a couple of blog posts describing the integration.

blogs.msdn.com/dynamicscrmonline/archive/2009/04/28/using-ocs-with-dynamics-crm-online.aspx

blogs.msdn.com/dynamicscrmonline/archive/2008/12/11/configuring-instant-messaging-within-crm-online.aspx

Office Live Meeting:

You can track Office Live Meeting Appointments in CRM.