The Power of Choice - be a good host to your employees and customers (1/3) - What?

Did you hear the concept before? 'The Power of Choice' - what is that? In this three part blog post I will give you my angle on the great opportunity for businesses to have IT in their own way - the best.

The first blog post is titled 'What' and will zoom in on what Microsoft means by 'The Power of Choice', more precisely what I mean and see as content in this area of wisdom.

The second blog post is titled 'Why' and will give you some USP's (Unique Selling Points) for customers and partners, users, administrators and sponsors.

The third and final blog post is titled 'How' and will give you starters for your own business or for your customers. It will list some resources for trying out and if you are new to Microsoft Dynamics CRM in general, it will also point you to some places for trying out this great piece of business value extending and people performance accelerating software.

So, let's get going with 'What'?

The Power of Choice - the basics
You have properly heard many sources report that the business world has gone through big changes and will continue to do so in the years to come. One of the major impacts are on the way companies integrate technology into their business and makes the two work together and support each other for growth and development. Another one is on how employees expect to be able to work and how the companies expect them to work and be agile to process changes and market demands.

This is what Microsoft’s philosophy addresses. With 'The Power of Choice' companies on 2 levels literally can choose how IT can best support and motivate both the business and the users operations. The choice is not and either or, you can choose to have both in exactly the extend you need.

The two levels of 'The Power of Choice' are the IT environment and the user’s access.

The Power of Choice - level 1: Environment
First, the company has the choice of how to run and facilitate the platform. Here you will meet the concept and techniques of Software+Service (see link for more information at the end of this blog post). The IT-department may choose to have the CRM-platform in-house - on premise - or to have it hosted - in the cloud. They can even choose to have a combination for example if that will fit the business and processes better. Some might want to host it themselves for the benefits of that. In the next blog post I will go into the different opportunities and what you gain.

The Power of Choice - level 2: Access
Second, the access for the user should be the best fit for the user. One might even have the need for more than one interface. With The Power of Choice companies can give access to CRM through a number of entrances including Outlook, the web, mobile, Office-applications, tailor-made applications, foreign applications etc.

In conclusion
The levels of The Power of Choice can be done independently. When going for a hosted CRM solution you have however to make sure that your hosting partner is supporting the demands you have.

The Power of Choice is given to the decisions makers, the IT-department and the sponsors. Take the best parts, combine them and boost the possibilities of your CRM.

This truly is powerful.

Good resources
Microsoft Dynamics CRM customer video: https://www.microsoft.com/dynamics/crm/product/customervideo.mspx
Software + Services: https://www.microsoft.com/softwareplusservices/

I hope this blog post has given you both answers and inspiration. 

Look out later this month for part 2: “Why?”

Enjoy! :-)

Martin Houlberg Jensen
CRM Evangelist
Microsoft Dynamics CRM team