Author: Steve Hammett

Best Practice to Migrate Data into a New Dynamics CRM System

I often do CRM demos using the CRM trial for a couple of reasons.  One, the trial only takes a minute to spin up, and secondly, each company I demo I try to tailor the presentation to their company.  I find it easier to create a new environment than to demo and clean up a permanent demo environment.

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February 24, 2016

2016 – What to Watch for as the Cloud Impacts Your Technology Partner’s Value

This is going to be about how the cloud is automating much of what IT  did, (networks, maintaining emails, managed services) and how your technology partner will be giving you much higher value services instead.


Remember when you owned your own servers, connected your users via a network software and had some IT staff (or some outside IT firm) tell you when something was wrong, something needed to be updated or something was down?  

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January 18, 2016

Back-office vs. Front-office Pros and Cons; Four Points to Think about When Implementing a Professional Services Solution

Back in the day when computers first became common in businesses, accounting was the first part of the business that became “computerized”.  Many reasons caused this, but as time passed and computational complexity increased, these first accounting systems morphed into “Enterprise Resource Systems” (ERP) that allowed businesses to build on top of these first accounting systems in order to automate their other functional areas.  Inventory, Sales Order Processing, Purchasing, Service Management, Manufacturing and Professional Services functions were added as modular pieces of functionality that used the core accounting system as its base.  ERP systems proliferated and became the automation standard for businesses to scale, become more efficient and glean visibility into complex costing and other financial metrics. 

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December 22, 2015

How are the Parature and Marketing Pilot Purchases for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Coming Along?

Last year, Microsoft unveiled a comprehensive set of new Microsoft Dynamics CRM capabilities by purchasing a social listening tool, a social engagement tool, a marketing tool, and a customer service tool.  This customer service tool, or “Customer Care” tool, Parature, and the marketing tool, Marketing Pilot, has been integrating into CRM for the last year and are now ready to help organizations match their customers to the right products and services, engage with them in the right way at the right time, and nurture their relationships.  

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November 2, 2015

DCAA Compliance and First Audit – This Should Be a Happy (But Careful) Time

I recently attended a workshop that was so spot-on I’ll even mention the speaker and his company: Kevin Grimes of CFO Leasing. I never met Kevin prior to that workshop but was very impressed with how clearly and succinctly he conveys the pitfalls and nuances of becoming DCAA compliant. 

Getting a notice that you are going to be audited by DCAA should not be frightening, but should be a joyful notice. The fact that your company has gotten the attention of DCAA means that you are about to be awarded a large contract or your business has grown so successfully that you are a larger federal contractor; both reasons to be happy, not frightened. However, at this point, you need to understand that: 

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September 10, 2015

Five Things to Consider When Moving to the Cloud

News about the cloud is everywhere, the sales pitch for cloud computing is simple. 


Companies pay a third-party vendor to run one or more of their systems, like email or payroll, on its own servers, saving tons of money.  

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September 2, 2015