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Jonathan Rowley

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Director, Dynamics CRM, Avanade UK

100 points

Worked for Siemens, Siebel and Microsoft in Product Management, Development and Sales and Marketing.

Senior Solutions Architecect working for Avanade an Accenture and Microsoft Joint venture.

March 7, 2012

Jonathan Rowley and 8 other people answered this question

What are your recommendations for a CRM system?

To counter that and show balance you have to consider Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
When used in combination with an eMail marketing platform such as Clickdimensions a solution would provide everything you ask for for a mid sized organisation.
It is based on Microsoft Office and ... more

Information Technology

CRM Requirements

March 7, 2012

Jonathan Rowley answered this question

Is there a solution to integrate Drupal web forms into Dynamics CRM?

I found this for you does it help?
http://www.acquia.com/resources/acquia-tv/conference/drupal-and-microsoft-dyn...

Information Technology

March 7, 2012

Jonathan Rowley and 4 other people answered this question

How prevalent are QR code readers on mobile devices? Do people use them?

At present at least from a UK perspective I see them as very underused.
The majority of the general public are unaware of them and even if they have a smartphone do not have an app to use them and even if they have both ... more

Information Technology

March 7, 2012

Jonathan Rowley answered this question

Who coined the term "CRM"?

I think it is widely acknowledged that Siebel started the whole CRM wave at least from a software solution and technology point of view back in the late 90's.
The story as I heard it surrounded Tom Siebel building a sales pipeline system while at ... more

Information Technology

March 7, 2012

Jonathan Rowley answered this question

What are the top CRM trends to track in 2012?

2012 is bringing some new buzz as well as the continued acceleration and adoption of some of the trends from 2011 that you mentioned.
From my view the most active and prominent topics right now are:
Mobility - Still coming on strong and a long ... more

Information Technology

March 7, 2012

Jonathan Rowley and 2 other people answered this question

Is anyone using a CRM that has drip email and you're thrilled with the results?

Hi Mona - we had a great demonstration this week of a technology called SalesFusion which provides drip email and is fully integrated with a variety of CRM platforms. Take a look. http://www.salesfusion.com/ more

March 7, 2012

Jonathan Rowley and 1 other person answered this question

How do you clean dirty data from an existing CRM system which consists of numerous customer records?

Employ an ongoing Data Cleansing technology on top of CRM such as Trillium www.trilliumsoftware.com. This provides live integration to business data such as company names, postal information such as address and even social media sources now. Correctly employed and licensed this improves and enhances data ... more

Information Technology

Nov. 1, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 30 other people answered this question

Is CRM really worth the hassle?

Yes - If you do it properly and address the cultural and people elements. Remember the technology is the easy bit.
No - If you expect an expensive CRM project to cure all your business issues without addressing the Business Change issues. more

Customer Service

Nov. 1, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 4 other people answered this question

Why did Oracle buy RightNow?

Three simple reasons:
1. Revenue - A healthy customer base, a well fed pipeline and a great margin base.
2. Online - A fresh Cloud based platform to provide Customer Service based CRM. As a previous poster mentioned Siebel is getting old.
3. Customers - ... more

Customer Service

Sept. 9, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 2 other people answered this question

What is the hardest thing about finding, buying, or implementing CRM technology?

Return on Investment.
This is the single biggest issue around CRM - always has been, always will be.
How do you quantify the benefits and justify the investment? How quickly will it pay back?
What is the lifetime cost of CRM - whatever the flavour? ... more

Information Technology

Sept. 9, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 3 other people answered this question

Can the smartphone & tablet finally remove obstacles to wide-market use of relationship management?

Yes -
But only if organisations swiftly adopt mobile CRM applications and IT lowers it's gaurd around allowing multiple devices to access corporate data.
Without C level initiatives and ITs buy in the devices themselves remain disconnected and entertaining. more

Sept. 9, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 4 other people answered this question

What are the top 3 areas sales people can use CRM to leverage personal productivity?

Very simple - CRM is about customers, not sales people.
1. Customer Touch - Enabling Salespeople to engage with Customers more frequently, task and calendar sychronisation - follow ups and internal to external news updates.
2. Pipeline management - Through the creation of accurate pipeline and opportunity ... more

Sales Force Automation

Aug. 23, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 27 other people answered this question

Is arguing on the internet a bad idea?

Yes.
The internet is too permanent and visible a medium for true arguments to be conducted upon it.
Debate yes
Contructive and honest feedback yes
Passionate discussion yes more

Aug. 23, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 7 other people answered this question

Do you think HP's decision to bet 80% of their cash reserves on Autonomy is a wise decision? Y/N?

No - it seems crazy to me, why walk away from your core business no matter how tough it has become.
Diversify Yes but 80% of your reserves on a big bet?
Sounds a little gutsy to me and is Autonomy really the right place ... more

Information Technology

Business Intelligence

Enterprise Search

Aug. 23, 2011

Jonathan Rowley answered this question

What's the difference between an online business and selling thru social media?

In essence Social Media is a conversation and ecommerce a transactional engine.
Whether to move from one to the other depends on the nature of the service and the nature of the customer.
A mix of both is the way to go but most companies start down ... more

Online Marketing

Aug. 23, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 10 other people answered this question

Is it fair to say that CRM and ERP projects should "never end"?

Great question and some great answers.
Yes projects do end - as they should be tied to specific project deliverables.
What doesn't end is what you can achieve by creating new projects if you continue to invest in CRM and ERP across a business.
Each project must ... more

Information Technology

June 20, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 1 other person answered this question

Is MS Dynamics CRM2011 that much better than MS Dynamics CRM 4.0?

Yes - without doubt.
The main leaps with CRM 2011 over CRM 4.0 are
- The user Interface - syled on Office 2010 (ribbon bars etc), a more fluent UI with less clicks and screen pops
- Massive integration with Outlook - one click promotion of items ... more

MS Dynamics CRM

June 16, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 4 other people answered this question

Is low cost the primary benefit of cloud ERP?

No. Cost is only part of the equation and I'm not even convinced that it is cheaper when you take the same approach to Cloud as you do to on premise in terms of maintenance, training, security and application management.
The main benefit I say ... more

Information Technology

Cloud Computing

June 16, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 2 other people answered this question at this roundtable

How to Select the Right CRM for Your SMB [6/15 @ 11 am]

What's your first piece of advice for someone who thinks they're ready for CRM?

1. Ask yourself this question
What do you think you will get out of it and how will you and your organisation and stakeholders measure its success?
Answer this and you should proceed - if either answers are vague then down tools and straighten this out first.
2. ... more

May 31, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 9 other people answered this question

What are the top barriers to CRM Success?

The top barrier to CRM success is without doubt
USER ADOPTION
If the Sales and Customer Service teams dont' adopt it, and that means not just a once a week updte for pipeline purposes then CRM add little value.
CRM needs to be adopted widely, by all the ... more

Customer Service

May 31, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 5 other people answered this question at this roundtable

Why Your SMB Should Consider Investing in CRM [5/26 @ 11 am]

For a small business, is the primary benefit of CRM visibility or automation?

Automation.
In a small business visibility is rarely an issue. Each employee is very close to the cutomer and communication is tight.
So CRM provides efficiencies and automation around the consistent management of the sales process. It also allows for templating i.e. quotes or emails, letters and ... more

May 3, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 1 other person answered this question

Is it useful to integrate your CRM with your phone system?

YES - I can think of two real life examples.
1. Inbound - Using CTi - Computer Telephony Integration. In this example an incoming call from a unique number can be recognised and open up its corresponding record in CRM to present the agent with ... more

Information Technology

Feb. 28, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 14 other people answered this question

What other CRM systems are available besides Salesforce.com for small companies?

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online - It scales from 5 users upwards and is perfect for an SME as it is so closely linked to Microsoft Outlook and Office.
Is available on the Cloud worldwide and is very cost effective at something like $40 per user per ... more

Customer Service

Feb. 28, 2011

Jonathan Rowley answered this question

What specific factors are driving growth in the CRM market?

Three things that I can see:
1. CRM product maturity - CRM solutions really have reached a level where they work, make a difference and make peoples lives easier.
2. The Cloud - the ability to get onto CRM in days not months is making a real ... more

Information Technology

Business Drivers

Feb. 3, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 6 other people answered this question

What is YOUR view of what Social CRM will become in say 2 years?

My view is that the world of Generation Y and Social Media will blur and merge to become just another channel of and in support of a CRM strategy
At present CRM supports traditional communications channels such as The Web of course, eMail, Phone and ... more

General Management

Social Crm Concepts and Implementation

Feb. 3, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 14 other people answered this question

Has anyone dropped salesforce.com and migrated to another CRM platform? If so, to who and why?

At the online Dynamics CRM 2011 launch from Microsoft last week they had a large Salesforce client on the stage who was moving a large Enterprise organisation from Salesforce.com to Microsoft Dynamics.
Can't remember the company but a quick search for the meeting and launch ... more

Jan. 31, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 36 other people answered this question

Do you add everyone that wants to connect on LinkedIn?

No.
I don't believe in connecting with complete strangers unless I can see a connection, opportunity or positive outcome.
I don't get how anyone can keep up with 400 contacts or more and prefer a much tighter group that I know and understand.
I regularly ... more

Social Netowrking

Jan. 31, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 2 other people answered this question

What are your thoughts about the new Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0, which is in the cloud?

I've been with Microsoft Dynamics since it launched in 2003 and through all of its major releases.
My view is that CRM 2011 online has completely come of age.
It's fast, affordable and highly adaptable to most Sales, Customer Service and Marketing Operations.
The killer ... more

Information Technology

Cloud Computing

Jan. 31, 2011

Jonathan Rowley and 1 other person answered this question

What are top, inexpensive CRM systems specifically for the automotive industry?

I have spent several years in the Automotive CRM world and have worked with all the European brands around Dealer Marketing and Showroom systems.
While I'm based in the UK the two most prominent solutions are eGoodmanners - used by Volkswagen and Toyota plus others ... more

Automotive Industry and Various Other End Uses.

Dec. 13, 2010

Jonathan Rowley and 9 other people answered this question

CRM Trends: What are the top CRM trends to track in 2011?

1. Unified CRM communications
Witness Microsofts new Lync platform driving new levels of mobility, remote working and customer interaction. When combined with powerful and insightful customer information, the ability to transform a business and its effectiveness should reach new levels.
2. Cloud CRM
This is ... more

Customer Relationship Management Strategy

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