Overview of Dynamics CRM

Dynamics CRM is a collection of client applications, Web applications, and databases that aim to help organizations manage front-office processes, such as sales, marketing, and customer service.

Out of the box, the product supports three main front-office processes:

Customer service. Dynamics CRM provides tools for logging, assigning, and tracking customer incidents or cases; creating and managing knowledge bases, such as collections of articles describing problem-resolution steps; and scheduling and dispatching service calls, which is particularly useful for companies that do onsite installation, maintenance, and repairs.

Marketing. The product includes features that help front-office workers manage marketing activities, such as advertising campaigns and mass mailings. For example, an organization could use Dynamics CRM’s marketing features to select lists of potential customers for a campaign; assign, track and manage work activities, such as creation of marketing literature; send bulk e-mails to customers; and manage responses from customers. (For an overview of how Dynamics CRM handles responses to marketing campaigns, see the illustration “Managing Campaign Responses“.)