The CTP has been released for the ECF CRM.  If anyone has any suggestions or feature requests for the release please let me know here. 

A BIT ABOUT THE CRM

The CTP released with minimal features that mainly pulls data from the ECF displaying it as a column in your inbox along with some other visual details of your customer accounts.  Beta  1 which is scheduled to be released this year introduces its first "Post Back" to the ECF.  This feature is known as Notes/Activities which will allow your CRM users to keep detailed notes and activities for your customers.  Beta 1 has removed some items you see in CTP and placed them in other areas of Outlook such as the Options Screen.  This screen is now accessed from Outlooks Tools->Options menu with a tab labeled CRM Options.  More control is added by bringing the customer's account into the email inspector.  What this means is when you double click on an email from the inbox you will see to the left of the email's body the customer's account information.  If thats not enough, you will be able to generate an activity from the selected email for tracking purposes.  The whole purpose of the ECF CRM is to bring you closer to your customers information with the freedom to work with their data online or offline.  What this means is if you are traveling and need to lookup a customer's phone number or address and dont have access to an internet connection the CRM won't know the difference.  Your data is stored locally on your laptop/desktop and is accessable anytime, anywhere.  In the event you get a new laptop or the unfortunate event of a re-format, install the CRM client and configure your store connection.  After a quick sync you are back on your feet because all notes and accounts are also kept safe on your server in the ECF database.

The CRM is an add-in to the ECF and is growing into a powerful tool that is a must have.  If you need to know about new orders that occurred today, yesterday, this week, last week, or even for the entire month or better then the CRM should be installed on your box and serving as a vital tool for your business.  If you have any requests or would like to add features to the road map please let me know.  We are glad to here from you and would love to implement the features and tools that will make your experience that much better.

Thanks,
Gary Cox
CRM Product Manager