There are many ways to manage your customer data. The easiest way is pencil and paper. Pick up a good planner from your local office supply store and use a pen to keep track of your information. There is a section for contacts, for planning the day and some sheets in the back for notes. This agenda approach works for the most rudimentary people management needs. Hopefully, one doesn’t need to collect too much information about a single person. The inch or two of space allotted per entry will represent nothing more than a home address, a business address, and perhaps a birthday or a note about her favorite color.

Jump to today. Paper daily planners are a far cry from today’s more sophisticated Microsoft Dynamic CRM systems. The address book is replaced by a detailed system of customer profiles. You’ll easily adjust those two addresses, birthday, favorite color…then add order history for the last ten years and cross-reference all related employees if you want. Cross-reference entries with others in the same virtual address book so you always have an idea of ​​who is who and who is related to whom in the big picture of your business.

The MS Dynamics CRM application is a powerful tool that goes beyond simple contact management. It uses a familiar Outlook-style interface to focus the entire customer experience. As you manage each contact, you’ll see a wealth of related information. No steep learning curve with the familiar Outlook interface. You are up and running right out of the box with no specialized training required. As familiarity grows, the power of the product becomes more and more apparent. It integrates with what you (your employees) are already familiar with. It is one more step for an expanding business.

Delivering this power is easy with Microsoft Dynamics CRM Hosting. You can maintain the freedom of your own business servers and allow others to host your data in a safe and secure environment. Going the hosting route also harnesses the power of software as a service (SaaS). It’s a pay-as-you-go a la carte service where you only rent the software you need. Once rented, you can access it from anywhere in the world. The incredible power of SaaS can make even the smallest business seem big. It comes complete with a dedicated IT support team. A support team committed to maintaining the integrity of your customer database. A team at your disposal when problems arise.