Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online users get option for iPad, Yammer support
Microsoft made available on February 27 an optional product update for its Dynamics CRM Online service which adds iPad and Yammer support.
This single product update -- which cannot be uninstalled once an admin or user installs it -- provides both the iPad and Yammer functionality. Microsoft officials said in January that iPad and Yammer support would be rolled out for Dynamics CRM Online users in February 2013.
The iPad functionality is designed for sales reps who are using iPads, but not iPad Minis, to access Microsoft CRM Online. This update is not the full, native Dynamics CRM for iPad client that Microsoft officials are known to be developing and that is slated to arrive in the first half of this year (as are similar Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 Dyanmics CRM clients).
The update allows users to log into the CRM Online app through Safari on the iPad and access "most" funcionality from the iPad, according to Microsoft's description. "Most," in this case, means the ability to see what's new, account, contact, lead opportunity and dashboard. (Other forms might be able to be viewed, but not optimally and not in a way that makes "high-volume work" easy.) The update doesn't allow users to access the process editor for sales or service forms; to share records; edit records in bulk; or truly resize charts. (More on what users can/can't do with the iPad update is here.)
Via this same optional update, Dynamics CRM Online customers also can begin making use of Yammer, the enterprise social-networking technology that became part of Microsoft when the Redmondians bought Yammer in June 2012.
To use Yammer, Dynamics CRM Online customers will need a Yammer Enterprise account. As Microsoft officials warn users, "installing Yammer is permanent. You will not be able to replace it with (Dyanmics CRM's) Activity Feeds later." Yammer and Activity Feeds cannot be used simultaneously.
Speaking of Yammer, new message-translation technology is coming soon for Yammer Enterprise users. The translation capability will allow users to instantly translate Yammer conversations into their native languages -- courtesy of Micrososft Translator. It will be available in "late spring 2013," Microsoft officials said today.