General Consultant Discussion

Any news to share, @EricAnderson ?

More like: Congratulations???, @EricAnderson ????

Do we need to put on a baby shower?

Yes - sorry, my 90 Minds profile is still attached to my old Eide Bailly email - I'm working on getting that updated. @PeterWolf asked me to come work with him in the CRM world, specifically to direct the MS Dynamics CRM Online practice. Started April 1st at QuantaCRM and we're well on our way to taking over the world!

Wow, what news!!!!!! Leaving the Sage fold for MSFT. Isn't that like jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire? Let me know if Greaytrix has a decent interface for Sage. I would be willing to give that a try. Best wishes and best of luck in your new endeavor @EricAnderson !!!!!

@EricAnderson @PeterWolf Is there any significance to the date April 1, or is that just a coincidence?

It was just good timing, @JohnHoyt For me, this is not a condemnation of Sage CRM or Sage as we are going gangbusters at Azamba with our Sage CRM work. We doubled sales in 2014 and are on track to nearly double again this year. Azamba will continue to focus on Sage CRM and I will be the point person at Azamba. QuantaCRM will focus on MS CRM - primarily Cloud or Private Cloud - with Eric at the helm. I have been keeping my eye on the various CRM products over the last 18 months and I think Microsoft is finally doing some things right with MS CRM. I really like their vision and their strategic plan around MS CRM and I feel that, if we do things correctly, QuantaCRM could be as large as Azamba in 24 - 30 months. The opportunity is enormous. Eric and I developed a friendship at the MotMs over a common interest in booze and music and I think this is a great opportunity to build something cool together and help out a lot of businesses reach their goals through the use of CRM. We are both excited about the opportunity and the challenges that await us. On the downside, margins in the Microsoft world are much more meager than the Sage world - I hate to say that out loud in fear that Sage execs will hear and slash our Sage margins - and deciphering the mystery and puzzles that Microsoft wraps around their partner (and customer) programs requires Herculean effort. I have never met an organization more in love with TLAs (three letter acronmyms)! I'm not sure it's the same on the ERP side but if anyone is interested next year at MotM, we can discuss (either formally or informally) what we have learned in the trenches at Microsoft and if the opportunity has materialized or if it was an illusion.

@PeterWolf @EricAnderson It sounds very promising - good luck!

Congratulations @EricAnderson and @PeterWolf for both your visions into new product ventures and your strong friendship that allowed you to see how working together those visions could be a reality.

thanks everyone! Passed my first MS certification yesterday - had to go to a testing center with an actual proctor. No more taking certification exams in an Embassy Suites hotel room with 15 of your closest friends:)

But was the test equally as ridiculous or was it actually relevant and challenging?

Who would have done a thing like that, @EricAnderson?

Like I said @RobertWood - 15 of my closest friends. @JeffSchwenk - the test was tough, I really didn't think I was going to pass, and I just barely did. The content wasn't difficult, but the way the questions were worded and the fact that I couldn't open up the software or use a lifeline made it tricky. I guess my brain doesn't memorize meaningless crap like it used to.

My 2 cents...Socius uses CRM for our in-house CRM application so I have first hand knowledge of its use. Just like comparing Sage 100 to GP, each has its benefits. MSCRM is a significant part of the practice. So I see an upside for your new venture. I see a lot more front end customization from the MS folks trying to link orders from MSCRM to Dynamics GP. For someone looking for an out of the box solution for CRM/SO I would go with Sage. For someone looking to create the wheel and ""have it your way"" it may be MS.

thanks for the input @alanniergarth - there are some nice integration tools out there for MSCRM. I've mainly been getting my arms around the 2015 cloud version so far and am very impressed with what I've seen, as far as ease of use and customization. MS dropped the ball years ago with this product but have done amazing things in the last few years. They've gone from 37 to approx 500 MSCRM dedicated developers over the last three years, and it shows.