Oh 365 Eh? » First Impressions of New Interface and Features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall ’13

First Impressions of New Interface and Features in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Fall ’13

The new Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM Online Fall ’13 upgrade went online for us yesterday, and I’m happy to share my first impressions, having spent the afternoon exploring the new interface.

Major Visual Differences:

“Goodbye”:

  • Busy, cluttered layout with every functions in your face
  • Bulky navigation pane on the left-hand side of the screen
  • Context-sensitive ribbon anchored to top of the screen
  • Pop-ups galore

“Hello”:

  • Flat minimalist “Metro” design
  • Ample screen real estate and functionality neatly tucked away
  • Large tiled app buttons (think Windows 8 start screen) organized in a ribbon that expands and collapses on command
  • Touch-optimized design for touch-enabled devices
  • Responsive design for seamless experience use on  all devices (computers, laptops, tablets, smartphones)

crm-interface-icons

Major Differences in Functionality:

“Goodbye”:

  • Drilling down to find information
  • Diving deep into the back-end to configure forms and fields
  • Having to configure a mobile view to view information on your smartphone

“Hello”:

  • Edit/add data to list items without having to open the item (“inline editable grids”)
  • Attach images to entities (image stored within CRM database)
  • View Microsoft Bing Maps within CRM
  • See what others have been up to via the Activity Feeds and What’s New Posts
  • Instant business intelligence at the click of a button via interactive Charts tucked away on the right-hand side of the screen
  • Call or instant message contacts directly from within CRM (via full Microsoft Lync integration)
  • Quickly comment on posts or start contextual conversations from within CRM
  • Allows non-licensed CRM users to join the conversation (via full Yammer integration)

For more detailed information, I suggest you take a gander at the: Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Release Preview Guide

What new feature in the Online Fall ’13 upgrade of Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM are you most excited about?

Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing screen shots of my favourite new features, and noting any quirks I come across. I welcome other users to comment.