One of the really powerful features of Microsoft Dynamics CRM is the integration between Outlook and CRM for contact management. Contacts entered into CRM appear as Outlook Contacts for the owners of those records automatically. If you have a smart phone which is connected to your Exchange, then these Contacts also appear in your phone contact list automatically. There’s no need to maintain three different contact lists! Furthermore, if you format the phone number correctly, your smart phone can simply push to dial everything for you. Hurray for Dynamics CRM contact management!
Unfortunately, bad phone number formatting can keep people from taking advantage of this time-saving feature. I often see data structured like this:
Or like this:
Some phones error when dialing phone numbers in these formats. If yours is one, there are alternative ways to format the number that can help. I’ve seen people try to get around this problem by adding a different field for the extension. While this does allow the dialer to properly dial the primary number, it is still not the optimal way to handle phone numbers because users must manually enter the extension from their phone. No one wants to try to remember and type an 8-digit access code to the conference bridge while driving.
A better alternative is to enter phone numbers is with this format: number space comma space extension. The dialer interprets the comma as a pause.
This pause gives the system time to answer before the keystrokes for the extension are entered. Experimenting with the format that works best for your phone can pay off when on the road.
Another CRM How-to from your friendly CRM Experts at PowerObjects.
Happy CRM’ing!
JoeCRM
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