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Gartners views on Microsoft CRM

Gartner has released their latest research on Microsoft CRM and a new term they have invented "Pragmatic CRM” deployments, the feedback they have been getting is companies have reduced their expectations of what they want from a system and see a need for

"goal is to achieve higher user adoption rates for a system that automates one or two straightforward end-to-end sales, marketing and service processes, or a broader set of department-specific processes. Examples include contact management, opportunity management, pipeline and forecasting, some forms of case management and basic e-mail campaign management"

User Advice: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 3.0 is best suited for pragmatic CRM deployments in a wide number of geographies. However, should potential deployments exceed 500 seats, Gartner recommends that, prior to purchasing, users should build in organization-specific, contractually obligated service-level agreements (SLAs) concerning performance requirements.

Some of the partners that show up for MS CRM are

Microsoft Partner UK

Microsoft CRM partner uk and usa

Gartner predicts that Microsoft CRM will be the fastest growing CRM system for 2006, 2007.

Gartner Microsoft CRM thoughts

Gartner claims RFID to be worth three billion dollars by 2010

RFID, or radio frequency identification,    has been hailed for its promise as a superior way to keep tabs on merchandise in warehouses and retail outlets. Scanning of data-laden chips on pallets and products would help keep inventories in order and assure buyers that they're not paying money for counterfeit goods.

In Mississippi, the technology was used to help identify victims of Hurricane Katrina.

It's also been denounced as a harbinger of a Big Brother society in which personal privacy disappears, either because of voluminous record-keeping on people's shopping habits and travel patterns or because the chips could end up under people's skin.

Most uses so far have been limited to trial runs, but mandates are coming from both the public and private sectors. The US Department of Defense, for instance, recently insisted that its suppliers of packaged rations, clothing, personal-care items and weapon-system repair parts radio-tag products shipped to certain supply depots.

The Gartner report sticks to the mundane side of things, focusing on how RFID would augment — rather than replace — ubiquitous bar codes.

While bar codes are better at collecting data in highly structured locales such as warehouses, RFID tags will be useful in collecting data on mobile assets and in unstructured business processes, including retail stores and hospitals, Gartner said.

"Just because bar codes are used extensively in distribution centres does not mean RFID will be," Jeff Woods, Gartner's research vice-president, said in a statement. "Businesses are beginning to discover business value in places where they cannot use bar coding, which will be the force that moves RFID forward."

Woods pointed to the role of the Food and Drug Administration, which is pushing for RFID tags to combat sales of fake pharmaceutical products. If the FDA's regulatory activity proceeds, he said, widespread tagging could begin around 2007.

RFID info from ZDNet