Consumer expectations for 24/7 service and support are growing. Many brands cannot tell their customers that service and support is only available from 9am through 5pm on weekdays, because for many brands, regular business hours do not apply.

An example of this is Tagged.com. An incredibly popular social network with more than 300 million members worldwide, Tagged faces an imposing customer service challenge. Their members are constantly connected and using Tagged’s website 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and therefore, need to engage Tagged for support at any time of the day, and typically on weekends or after normal business hours.

Therefore, round-the-clock customer self-service and full-service options available on the Tagged site are incredibly important to the company that has been ranked on the Inc. 500 and named to the Forbes list of America’s Most Promising Companies, among other awards. 

The Power of Online Self-Service

A self-service knowledgebase and support ticketing on the site’s customer service portal were key support additions for Tagged.com, but it was the continued development of the brand’s self-service knowledgebase, and more importantly, continued improvements to its functionality and organization that proved the most beneficial in improving customer convenience, support and satisfaction.

Tagged incorporated advanced search functionality in its support FAQs / knowledgebase that automatically surfaces the top five most relevant articles or answers that match the member’s keyword search. This search function appears on the site’s landing page, meaning members are not taken to another page, nor do they have to look for the page that allows them to perform a search.

To encourage use of the support portal and self-service functions, a guided tour of the support portal was also added to show the new or returning customer where things are on the portal and to help them navigate and use it more quickly and easily.

For premium customers, a chat feature is also provided in addition to Tagged’s support ticket options so that high value members can get personalized support from a live agent and resolution or customer engagement immediately.

“Customers are certainly happier now than they were before as they can get answers to their issues faster and easier than ever before. We’re always striving to improve the customer experience for our members, and service and support is a big part of that,” notes Fernando Alvarez, Sr. Manager of Customer Experience.

Amazing Results Realized

The use and custom functionality of Parature’s self-service knowledgebase as a cornerstone of the Tagged site and its support portal has paid off with incredible support ticket deflection results realized in an impressively short time, just four months. Prior to the knowledgebase and support portal customizations and improvements, Tagged customer service representatives were receiving and responding to more than 42,000 support tickets per month. Now, the average is just under 20,000 per month, a 50% reduction.

The time spent by support agents responding to tickets has also dramatically decreased, and Tagged is using this reclaimed time to provide increased live customer support on a 24-hour basis, and also to provide more personalized and responsive care to VIP and long-time members to boost retention and brand loyalty and promotion.

Social networking on a personal level requires personal care and attention on a staff and brand level, and not necessarily during the convenience of normal business hours. Tagged is an example of a brand working to meet the changing and growing expectations of today’s 24/7 customers.

Click here to read the full case study.

In our efforts to deliver platforms and applications that enable people to do more and achieve more, today I am pleased to announce that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is now live in the following countries:

Argentina, Uruguay, Ecuador, U.S. Virgin Islands, Indonesia, Thailand, Taiwan, Philippines, Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates

Together with Microsoft Azure and Office 365, CRM Online is a critical part of the Microsoft Cloud for Business that delivers experiences that users love and businesses can count on.  We want to do everything we can to bring these cloud benefits to as many businesses and countries as possible. So, in early June when we announced our Dynamics CRM spring wave updates, I also shared that we would be expanding the availability of CRM Online to many new markets in 2015.  To make this possible, we have made investments to expand our datacenter locations.  With the global expansion, CRM Online is now available and running within Microsoft’s Latin America datacenter located in Brazil.  This means that Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will join Microsoft Azure and Office365 to serve our Latin American customers from our South America datacenter.  This regionally located datacenter means less latency than traversing to North America resulting in better service for our customers in this part of the world! And we are the only CRM vendor providing this in Latin America.

With these investments and this global expansion, Dynamics CRM Online is now available in four global regions serving over 50 global markets! 

Over the coming months please look for country-specific events and announcements.  We encourage you to reach out to your local Microsoft sales or marketing representative for more information and see how Dynamics CRM Online can help your teams to sell more effectively, market smarter, provide care everywhere to deliver amazing customer experiences!

Bob Stutz

I sat down with Tony Stein, Program Director for the Dynamics CRM User Group (CRMUG), to chat about the 2014 CRMUG Summit, happening this October 14-17 in St. Louis, MO.  This year will mark the 7th annual CRMUG Summit and the first time it’ll be hosted in St. Louis.

Michelle Spitzer (MS):  CRMUG Summit attendance has grown quite significantly over the years.  There were less than 200 participants in 2010, and the expected attendance this year is upwards of 650.  To what do you attribute this growth?

Tony Stein (TS): It’s all about the content and really just the inherent good will of users wanting to help users.  There’s no other conference in the world where you’ll find the quantity and quality of focused, Dynamics CRM sessions for existing Dynamics CRM users that you’ll find at CRMUG Summit.  I also think we have the right blend of session formats – from the step-by-step How2 sessions to Ask the Expert and Roundtable discussions.  This, of course, includes sessions for those beginning to use and learn Dynamics CRM but also expert and proficient level sessions where CRM administration, extensibility & development are involved for deeper level learning. We have a great community of users and other Dynamics CRM experts who come together to share their real-world experiences in using Dynamics CRM, and as a result, attendees go home with proven answers and solutions that they can implement right away in their organization.   

MS: How many sessions will be presented at this year’s event?

TS: There are about 170 sessions across 12 focused tracks, including CRM Admin-Newbie, CRM Admin-Support, Developer, End User, Enterprise, General, Leadership, Engaging Microsoft, Partner Showcase, Technical, and of course, User Adoption.  We encourage people to bring several people from their organization to the event, as there are sessions for all types of Dynamics CRM users – from the front line sales, marketing and service reps to CRM admins to tech gurus and developers.  

MS: That’s a lot of sessions.  How do you come up with the sessions that get presented at CRMUG Summit?

TS: There are several different avenues that we use to build the session roster.  We host hundreds of webinars and meetings throughout the year where users are talking to users, so we’re consistently dialed into what users are discussing and the topics that are top-of-mind amongst the Dynamics CRM community.   These discussions are also happening in our online community, CRMUG Collaborate, so we’re always paying attention to the hot topics there, as well as in the various blogs, articles, and research that are published every day throughout the greater Dynamics CRM ecosystem.  We had about 65 people submit their own session ideas in the formal CRMUG Summit ‘Call for Proposals’ as well. 

We then have a committee of 11 Dynamics CRM users, subject matter experts, and MVPs that help take all of this information and turn it into sessions and tracks for CRMUG Summit.  The servanthood of those on this committee and other subject matter experts is truly what makes this community thrive.   

MS: What are some of those hot topics that attendees can expect to learn about at this year’s event?

TS: There are some topics that are always at the forefront with Dynamics CRM users – like user adoption, extensibility, and administration – and we’ll have plenty of content around these.  They’ll also find sessions on adopting and moving to Dynamics CRM 2013 and the enhanced options for mobility and the new UI.  Microsoft continues to extend the Dynamics CRM portfolio with newly acquired solutions for customer care (Parature), social listening (Netbreeze), and marketing (Marketing Pilot) – attendees can expect some discussions around these topics as well.  

But, remember half of us as users are still using earlier versions of Dynamics CRM.  So it’s not always about the new and exciting, it is literally about rolling up the sleeves and figuring out how to manage data better, handle security and administration, work with workflows, goal management, the SDK, just a ton of items that are inherent to Dynamics CRM, regardless of version.  So it really doesn’t matter if you are on Dynamics CRM 2011 or 2013, there will be content, discussions, and experiences shared across versions.  

MS: You mentioned that you listen to members’ feedback and ideas in creating Summit content.  What have you changed for 2014 based on what you’ve heard from attendees?

TS: One of the things I’m most excited about are the new tracks we’re introducing this year based on attendee feedback.   We’ve added an ‘End User’ track for sales, marketing, service and general Dynamics CRM users – with the majority of sessions in a How2 format that show step-by-step where to point and click.  We’ve also been working with some of the Dynamics CRM staff at Ford Motor Company to build an ‘Enterprise’ track to meet the unique needs of our attendees from large organizations, covering topics such as multinational deployments and change management.   Another track that I’m excited about is our ‘CRM Admin-Newbie’ track.  I’m always hearing stories from CRM Admins who are either new to the role, were delegated the role from somewhere else in their organization, or who have a technical background but little experience as a CRM admin.  However they ended up in the role, they’ll find some intro-level sessions in St. Louis that will help them lay the groundwork for a solid foundation in administering Dynamics CRM. 

MS: Is there anything else you’d like folks to know about CRMUG Summit 2014?

TS: Summit is really the epitome of what we do all year long at CRMUG.  It’s our sense of purpose and why we exist – to help Dynamics CRM users work smarter and better using Dynamics CRM.  It’s very fulfilling for me, personally, to see this come to life every year at CRMUG Summit.  We see users helping users, Microsoft not only sharing information but also listening to the users, and the entire community coming together to help each other out…this is why we do what we do at CRMUG and why it’s an honor for me to come to work every day.

You can learn more about CRMUG Summit 2014 and register at www.crmugsummit.com.  Experience It! 

The Discovery Service is down and is impacting multiple customers in EMEA and APAC.  Customers are able to access their orgs, but are not able to sign into CRM outlook client, SDK plug in registration tool,  and the email router.  We are taking the necessary steps to correct this at this time.  We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

Update:

The issue has been mitigated and the discovery service is now functional. Customers are now able to sign into the CRM Outlook client, SDK plug in registration tool, and the email router. We will be monitoring the situation for the coming hours and apologize for the inconvenience this has caused.

We are currently in the process of adding Microsoft Social Listening to eligible CRM Online customers. If you are eligible, you may notice Microsoft Social Listening shown as being provisioned in the Service Health Dashboard of your Microsoft Online Portal. You may continue to see this until we complete the process for all eligible customers by the end of August.

Once complete, you will receive a notification that gives you the option to use Social Listening.

For more information, please see the “Pricing and licensing” section on the Get Ready Page

We sincerely apologize if the extended presence of the 'currently provisioning' message is causing confusion. Thank you for your patience while this is set up for all customers. We truly appreciate your business.

Sincerely,

The Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online Team

A new 2014 State of Multichannel Customer Service Survey commissioned by Parature, from Microsoft shows that old customer service channels certainly aren’t going away, but new ones like social are creating both greater and faster service expectations across the board. 

The survey, which gauged the responses of 1,000 U.S. consumers, shows that time and effectiveness are of the essence when it comes to a satisfying customer experience. Key findings are summarized in the accompanying infographic. To download and read the full survey report, click here.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 Load Balancing

I was recently asked if something would work in a load balanced Dynamics CRM 2013 SP1 environment as part of the work that I do at TSG. So I thought I would set up an environment to test.

 

Of course high availability doesn’t just sit with two clustered CRM nodes, but with a clustered “Always On” SQL Server set up as well. The advantage of clustered servers is that you can take one node offline to install updates or other maintenance tasks.

 

What options do we have?

There are a number of different load balancers and ways to load balance, but the simplest is to use NLB. So what is NLB? Well NLB stands for Network Load Balancing, and something I first came across with Windows NT 4 back in 1998.

 

So how do we set NLB up with Dynamics CRM 2013?

To start off with we use Hyper-V, there are other options, but I find it a lot easier to use Hyper-V for mini virtual networks, plus it comes as standard on Windows 8.1 so why wouldn’t you use it?

 

We create a core Active Directory Server, we add SQL Server 2012 to the core virtual machine. Normally you wouldn’t install SQL Server on an Active Directory Domain Controller, but, we are trying to work smarter not harder and as this is just a test it makes sense to keep the number of virtual machines down. We then need two Base Windows Servers to put NLB on and to install CRM 2013. We can use our host as workstation to test out the cluster.

 

First we need to create a Virtual Switch by going to Hyper-V manager, and clicking on Virtual Switch Manager, and click on the Create Virtual switch.

 

We create the switch connected to the external network interface on the host machine.

 

Next we create three virtual machines, by clicking on New > Virtual Machine.

 

The exact hardware settings and location etc. will depend on your Hyper-V host, but generally I find the following a good set up for each server role:

 

Server Role	Disk Space	RAM	Virtual Processors	Network Cards
AD / SQL Server	1x 127Gb VHDX 1x 146Gb VHDX 1x 72Gb VHDX	8192Mb	4	External
CRM Server Node 1	1x 127Gb VHDX	4096Mb	4	External
CRM Server Node 2	1x 127Gb VHDX	4096Mb	4	External

Of course you do need a virtual host that can handle this, but a decent laptop with 32Gb RAM isn’t that expensive now.

 

Note: We could add two external network cards to each of the Cluster Nodes, and in some cases this would be the preferred option, but as we creating a simple cluster we will just use one network card in each.

 

On to each of the server roles you would install Windows Server 2012 R2, and give each virtual machine an appropriate computer name and an IP address, say as follows:

 

Server Role	IP	Subnet Mask	Default Gateway	DNS
AD / SQL Server	172.16.0.1	255.255.255.0	Router Gateway	172.16.0.1
CRM Server Node 1	172.16.0.2	255.255.255.0	Router Gateway	172.16.0.1
CRM Server Node 2	172.16.0.3	255.255.255.0	Router Gateway	172.16.0.1
Cluster IP	172.16.0.4	255.255.255.0	NA	NA

You can choose whatever IP range you like here, the key thing is that you have the DNS of the servers set to the Core AD Server, and that you have a unique Cluster IP on the same range. You also need to make sure you have internet connectivity for installing CRM in case you’ve missed some of the prerequisites! :)

 

Next we promote the Core AD Server to be a domain controller, by adding the Active Directory Domain Service feature through Server Manager, and using the promote server wizard after the installation has complete.

 

Now we can install SQL Server on the Core AD Server virtual machine. It is Microsoft’s best practice to have separate Data and Log file disk drives, so we would use the 146Gb VHDX drive we created for the SQL Data and the 72Gb VHDX drive for SQL Logs. The reason I chose these sizes was purely that that used to be the typical size of a HP Server Disks, and the ratio is about what you would want.

 

It’s always good practice to have the servers using the Windows firewall. So you would need to create the following firewall rules:

 

Service Name	Program	Local Port
MSSQLSERVER Instance	%ProgramFiles%\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL11.MSSQLSERVER\MSSQL\Binn\sqlservr.exe	Any
MSSQLSERVER Instance	Any	TCP 1433
SSRS MSSQLSERVER Instance	Any	TCP 80
Browser Service	Any	UDP 1434 TCP 2382
Microsoft-DS	Any	TCP 445
MSPRC	Any	TCP 135
NETBIOS-dgm	Any	TCP 138
NETBIOS-NS	Any	TCP 137
NETBIOS-SSN	Any	TCP 139

Now we add each of the CRM Servers to the AD Domain. Then we add the Application Server, Web Server (IIS) Roles, and the Network Load Balancing Feature to each of the servers.

 

Note: If like me you copy a base virtual machine, then you will need to run Sysprep via C:\Windows\System32\Sysprep\Sysprep.exe with the generalize option. The reason we need to do this, is because each installation of windows has a unique SID and we can’t join a virtual machine with the same SID to domain controller that has the same SID.

I have found the now is a good time to set up NLB, we could install CRM 2013 on Node 1 first, but I always find it best to work from the ground up, and getting the network layer right can save a lot of time later on.

We set up NLB by choosing Network Load Balancing Manager from the Server Manager > Tools Menu.

We click on Cluster and then New, and enter CRM1 as our first node to add.

Then we select the dedicated Ethernet in the host parameters and click next.

 

  









Then we enter the cluster IP address and click next.

Then we enter the full internet address of the cluster in the Cluster Parameters and select Multicast. 

 

 

Note: The reason we select Multicast and not Unicast is because we only have one network card. If we selected Unicast we would not be able to see the other Node to add it to the cluster.

 

Finally we click Cluster and then add Host, and follow the steps we have followed previously to add the second node into the cluster. Once done we can see that both nodes says that they are converged and the cluster is now accessible.

 

One little trick that I have used over the years with load balanced clusters, is to create a HTML page with just the name of the current node in it on each of the cluster nodes, e.g. in the Default Site. Then we can browse to the cluster IP address and see which node is currently active, it also allows us to see that when we stop a node the node changes as we hop to the other cluster node.

 

We can now install Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2013 on the CRM Node 1 Application Server as we would do normally. We also need to install the CRM 2013 SSRS Connector on to the SQL Server virtual machine so that the reports run correctly.

 

In my experience it is better to put SSRS on a separate server or on the CRM Applications Server in a production environment, as when we come around to upgrading Microsoft Dynamics to a new version of CRM, we can use the same SQL Server with a different SQL instance, and of course we can only have one SSRS instance installed on a SQL Server. That said, having SSRS on the same server as SQL Server makes it easier to install for testing purposes.

 

As with the Core AD Server virtual machine, the key thing to note is that we also need to create some inbound firewall rules to allow everything to communicate correctly.

Service Name	Program	Local Port
Dynamics CRM	Any	5555,808

Note: Port 808 is needed for SSRS to communicate to the CRM Server Asynchronous and Sandbox Services, for some reporting scenarios.

 

Once we have installed the first node, we need to install the SSRS Data Connector on the Core AD Server as that is the server running SQL and SSRS.

 

Now we can install the second, but instead of creating a new deployment we choose to connect to an existing one. The key thing here is to make sure that the Web Site is on the same port otherwise you’ll find that clustering won’t work.

 

The last and probably most crucial part of the setup is to make CRM aware that it’s running in a clustered NLB environement. So we go to the deployment manager, and right-click properties on Microsoft Dynamics CRM, and change the urls to either the cluster IP address or a more friendly DNS entry which points to the cluster IP address.

 

As with any CRM 2013 installation we must make sure that the SPN’s are set correctly otherwise we won’t be able to access CRM on the cluster url from the CRM nodes themselves. A great blog on setting up SPN’s can be found here or another blog here discusses disabling the loopback check on Windows Servers which can also be useful sometimes.

Obviously this isn’t a definitive step-by-step instructional guide on how to set up a load balanced Dynamics CRM 2013 SP1 environment, but should give you a good understanding of the key elements and best practices.

 

I hope you found this blog useful!
 

@simonjen1

On Monday, August 11th 2014, at approximately 2:16 PM PDT some customers hosted in one of our North American datacenters may have experienced the inability to login to their CRM Online Organization(s). Upon receiving internal monitoring alerts, Service Engineering began investigating, isolated the source of the issue, and then executed the documented mitigation procedures. The service was fully restored by 3:30 PM PDT. This issue affected <10% of CRM Online customers hosted in the region.

On Tuesday, August 12th 2014, at approximately 12:45 PM PDT some customers hosted in one of our North American datacenters may have experienced the inability to login to their CRM Online Organization(s). Upon receiving internal monitoring alerts, Service Engineering began investigating, isolated the source of the issue, and then executed the documented mitigation procedures. The service was fully restored by 12:54 PM PDT. This issue affected <10% of CRM Online customers hosted in the region.

A Post Incident Report will be published here and on the Service Health Dashboard in 5 business days. We sincerely apologize if this issue affected you.

On August 18 – 20, the Big Apple will play host to CRM Evolution, accompanied by the Customer Service Experience and SpeechTEK conferences running concurrently.  Sessions at the conference will run the gamut from digital transformation and social strategies for customer service, to the future of CRM and customer service as discussed by top industry analysts such as Forrester Research’s Kate Leggett, Constellation Research’s Ray Wang and Natalie Petouhoff, and Esteban Kolsky of ThinkJar.

Microsoft, along with Parature, from Microsoft, is pleased to be a platinum sponsor at CRM Evolution. If you’re going to CRM Evolution or the accompanying Customer Service Experience or SpeechTEK conferences, be sure to stop by Microsoft’s booth (#202) at the Customer Solutions Expo, where we will be showcasing our solutions and look forward to talking with you about best practices and trends in customer service and engagement.

We also invite you to listen in on the CRM Evolution speaking sessions and panels that Microsoft, Parature, and Parature customer Ask.com will be participating in. On August 18^th, Ask.com’s Global Customer Care Manager, Eric McKirdy presents Tips to Modernize Customer Service for Faster Response Times. Since joining Ask, Eric has worked to completely revamp the company’s overall CRM platform to better serve Ask.com’s more than 100 million monthly global users. Because of his efforts, Eric has quickly become a noted customer service thought leader and speaker, and in 2014, he received a Stevie Award for Customer Service Manager of the Year. (Click here to read more about Ask.com’s customer service success.)

Also on August 18^th, Microsoft Senior Director Bill Patterson representing Parature speaks on Empowering Your Organization to Deliver Amazing Customer Experiences. In this 20-minute session, Bill discusses how to create amazing customer experiences by developing a company culture driven by empowered and engaged employees who, in turn, empower and engage the customer.

Then on August 19^th at 9am, Bob Stutz, Group VP of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, joins a heavy-hitting lineup of CRM leaders talking about customer engagement strategies and digital transformation. In the session CRM Leader Panel: Evaluating the Landscape, Stutz joins fellow panelists from Ernst & Young, Thunderhead, SAP and Salesforce for a sure to be interesting discussion moderated by noted CRM analyst, Paul Greenberg.

On the final day of CRM Evolution, August 20^th, Eric McKirdy of Ask.com joins a panel of top brands to discuss Evolving Customer Experience. The panel, moderated by Paul Greenberg, also includes representatives from Marriott International, the American Red Cross and Schneider Electric, all of whom have been intimately involved in significant corporate efforts to define and deliver improvements in their brand’s customer experience.

The Microsoft and Parature teams look forward to seeing you at CRM Evolution. Follow the conference conversations on Twitter August 18, 19 and 20 using the hashtags #CRMEvolution and #CustSE, and watch for Parature’s 10 Top Takeaways from CRM Evolution blog post following the conference.

There is a growing community of Microsoft Dynamics® CRM Online users and we hope you take advantage of a unique opportunity at CRMUG Summit 2014 (October 14-17, 2014 in St. Louis, MO) to sit down and share in your experiences and best practices to help all become more confident in your use of Dynamics CRM Online.

Your Dynamics CRM User Group (CRMUG®) has experienced rapid growth in memberships the past couple of years.  One of the big reasons for that growth are the optional deployment options for all of us as customers.  We’ve seen many members join the CRMUG in the past couple of years who have chosen Dynamics CRM Online as their deployment option and we’d like to ensure you have a chance to connect, learn, and share with customers similar to you who are also be using Dynamics CRM Online.

CRMUG Summit will give you an opportunity to:

• Meet with like-minded Dynamics CRM Online users during structured networking Roundtable Lunches
• Dive into new capabilities like server-side synchronization for Dynamics CRM Online
• Discuss Dynamics CRM Online user provisioning and identity federation with ADFS

At CRMUG Summit 2014, there are a variety of sessions, in particular, that we encourage you pay close attention to if you use Dynamics CRM Online.  Although the Dynamics CRM platform is essentially the same – and most Summit 2014 sessions are applicable to any Dynamics CRM environment - there are a handful of sessions designed just for Dynamics CRM Online users, including:

• Managing that Office 365 and Dynamics CRM Online Environment
• Writing Dynamics CRM Reports Using SSRS for Online & On-Premise
• To Cloud or Not to Cloud: Addressing Dynamics CRM Concerns with Cloud Deployments
• Productivity with Microsoft Office and Dynamics CRM 2013
• Tips and Tricks for Implementing ADFS

Click to browse the complete list of CRMUG Summit 2014 sessions.  Then sign up today to experience CRMUG Summit 2014 St. Louis!

It appears that multiple CRM Online customers in North America have become disabled unexpectedly.

The Microsoft teams are working on identifying these organizations and then re-enabling them.

We apologize for the inconvenience this is causing, and we are working to address this as quickly as possible.

We’re only weeks away from CRMUG Summit 2014 and we look forward to seeing the Dynamics CRM community in St. Louis! Before you finalize your travel plans for the event, be sure to consider these additional activities….you might just want to arrive in St. Louis a little early!

Pre-Conference Training | Mon and Tues (Oct 13-14)
If you've not already done so, I'd urge you to take a look at the training courses being offered by CRMUG Academy before CRMUG Summit officially kicks off.  These courses are hands-on classes that not only teach you Dynamics CRM skills...but also allow you to practice your newly learned skills during the class.  There are courses for CRM admins, developers, end users, and even some non-Dynamics CRM topics like Excel and SharePoint.  Take a look at the classes here: http://crmugsummit.com/pre-conference-training/.  If you have any questions about training, reach out to our fearless Academy Director Rich Beliveau - he'll be happy to assist!

Rams vs. 49ers | Mon (Oct 13)
This has nothing to do with CRMUG Summit...but its a great coincidence if you're an NFL fan! The St. Louis Rams will be hosting the San Francisco 49ers in a Monday Night Football match-up on October 13.  The Edward Jones Dome is connected to the America's Center (where Summit will take place) and is an easy walk from our host hotels.  The Rams organization has offered a special $15 discount on tickets for Summit attendees.  Click here for details on securing discounted tickets to the game.  Come early for CRMUG Academy training and take in a football game - feed your brain and your sports-loving soul!

The Partner Connections Event | Mon and Tues (Oct 13-14)
Attention Partners: this event is just for you! Our sister group - Dynamic Partner Connections - is teaming up with The Partner Channel to host #TPCE14 in St. Louis just before CRMUG Summit.  If you're a sales or marketing pro, business leader, consultant or developer for a Dynamics CRM Partner organization - you won't want to miss this event.  Check it out and sign up (for only $199!) at http://www.thepartnerconnectionsevent.com.