Browsing articles in "Blog"

Considerations when formatting phone numbers

If you ever read my post about considerations when customising address fields, I reckon you would know by now that I am all about consistency and standards. No, I am not aspy (my mother had me tested). But I could argue that computers are, which is why I am all for data quality and integrity.

I reckon everyone reading this would agree that normally, the formatting of phone numbers is a minor issue. However when one is involved in a project as a solutions architect and a requirement arises asking for phone numbers to be ‘perfectly’ formatted on systems, I am sure they’ll beg to differ. In this post I’ll be going over misconceptions and considerations around phone numbers an the consequences it might have on computer systems.

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A new beginning

I’ve been postponing the writing of this post long enough, but I think I owe the readers of my blog an explanation as to why there is so little updates on Dynamics CRM coming from me. So here is my long and overdue update.

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The dangers of Cortana Analytics and poor data

Microsoft has recently introduced Cortana Analytics — an Azure-based service that allow users to perform predictive analysis through natural language, by just asking a question either via text, or by speech. While I believe Cortana Analytics to be amazing and I look forward not only to use it, but to implement it to our customers, I am concerned on the dangers imposed in relying on this technology. And no, Microsoft is not the one at fault this time. It is the users who I am worried about. Read more >>

Windows 10 and Microsoft Accounts: The Windows team simply does not get it

A while ago I wrote a post about Microsoft’s push of Microsoft Accounts in Windows 8.x, and how it antagonises users. I have been testing Windows 10 and providing feedback since the early iterations of its Technical Preview, and the good news is that I can see by reading the feedback provided by other testers that I am not the only one banging on some issues around Microsoft Account integration. The bad news is that Microsoft is showing no signs of taking these feedback on-board, and in fact it seems that things are going to get worse with Windows 10.

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Dynamics CRM 2015: My light at the end of the tunnel

While I have been busy working on other projects which are not related to Dynamics CRM, I have been eagerly following the development of Dynamics CRM 2015, which is scheduled for release this fall (Q4/2014).

When version 2015 was initially announced, I was not as enthusiastic as I were as in previous versions due to some recent disappointments, which I have ranted on about before. However, Microsoft has made some announcements for this upcoming version that really made me see the light at the end of the tunnel.

In this short post I would like to share with you my feelings about some of these features that have been announced. Read more >>

Windows 8.1 and Microsoft Account: How to alienate people

Microsoft has been doing a lot of work recently to make amends with their customer base after the introduction of Windows 8. The first update (Windows 8.1) brought back the start button, the second update (Windows 8.1 Update 1) made the Metro interface (yes, “Metro” I am sticking with the name) more mouse and keyboard friendly, and they recently announced they will be bringing back the Start Menu in an upcoming update.

All the signs are pointing that Microsoft is listening to their customers and willing to provide them with a choice. Choice: The not-so-secret ingredient that makes a system competitive and flexible across different user bases and segments. The ingredient that Microsoft decided to leave out in Windows 8 for reasons nobody knows why (and I bet this includes people in Microsoft itself), which is as bad as a pasta dish with no sauce, or a paella without saffron.

All well when it ends well, right? Well, not quite. There is one particular “feature” that Microsoft has been silently pushing into Windows, making it more difficult to avoid with every update: The Microsoft Account (previously known as Microsoft Wallet, then Microsoft Passport, then .NET Passport, then Microsoft Passport Network, and most recently Windows Live ID). With Windows 8 Microsoft provided users with the choice to integrate their user account with a Microsoft Account, which allow users to sync their settings across multiple devices.

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Dynamics CRM 2013: Diving into the sales pipeline – Part 3

In my previous post of this series, we discussed how to implement ACME’s sales pipeline through the creation of a business process flow (BPF) considering both the Lead and Opportunity entities. We created two business processes, one for opportunities that originated from leads, and another for opportunities that did not originated from leads.

In this post we will discuss how to implement ACME’s opportunity probability matrix through the creation of business rules.

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Microsoft acquires Parature

Jan 7, 2014   //   by Pedro Mac Dowell Innecco   //   Dynamics CRM/365  //  Comments Off on Microsoft acquires Parature

If there is one module of Microsoft Dynamics CRM that always leave me with the bitter taste of I wish I could, is the service module.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I reckon the service module provides good value, and I have deployed Dynamics CRM solution around this module in past which clients were happy with; but Dynamics CRM isn’t a full fledged service management system such like Remedy or Peregrine. The problem is that it doesn’t have much space for growth, particularly for organisations willing to provide service level agreements (SLAs) slightly more complicated than the default, over-simplistic examples.

The good news is that Microsoft announced today the acquisition of Parature; a customer self-service company based in Virginia, USA. Parature provides a bunch of products and services around service and support including a customer self-service platform, multi-channel customer service and social customer service.

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Bring your own BS to work

Bring Your Own Device (or BYOD) is a trend that really started a little more than a couple of years ago, but I have noticed a significant hype in the overuse of the term in 2013. The concept is nice and I agree it does make sense… If you run a small, hipster company and you have long brainstorming sessions with your R&D team at your local Starbucks. The concept of BYOD for the enterprise is absurd, to say the least. And here is why.

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2014: Goodbye marketing hypes, welcome reason

2014 is finally here, and there is a lot of talk about on what to expect in the IT and technology sector for this year. Yet, I was hoping that we could take a break from marketing hypes, fads and other coolhunting nonsense that the media insisted on talking about in the past year. In this post I cover two topics that are at the top of my hype list: BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) and big data. Read more >>

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