Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Image by leslie feinberg via Flickr

Last year I worked for a payroll software solutions company, primarily on their integration between their flagship product, which is based on Microsoft Dynamics GP, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  I enjoyed the experience immensely because it gave me a “behind the scenes” look at how businesses in the Professional Employer Organization (PEO) industry can create and manage customer interactions.

Of course I came from years of experience with social technologies and community management, and I was intrigued at the potential to bring some of that into my work. In my learning, the question of ROI would often come up as businesses and organizations were considering entering the social media space.

“Rushing into social computing initiatives without clearly defined benefits for both the company and the customer will be the biggest cause of failure.” — Gartner.com

What I love about CRM is (more…)

Whoever said that the only constant is change wasn’t kidding.

Work status. This past Monday morning, my work at ThinkWare, the payroll processing solutions company here in Cincinnati, ended. I was laid off, not because of performance, but because business conditions facing the company, the industry as a whole, and the economy.  I know. I didn’t like the news either. (more…)

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Who doesn’t love to get an e-mail, phone call, or some other message on their birthday?  I’ve been researching how to accomplish this via Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 workflow. Not only this, but also how to adapt it for other things like special anniversaries, etc.

The current best example I’ve found is from this video that Dustin Wright from Wright IT Solutions put together: (more…)

No one ever gets admitted to the hospital because everything is going alright with them.  Similarly, most people don’t call technical support when the computer system is behaving superbly. Behavioral economists Daniel Kahneman and Dan Ariely have some interesting insights into how we can provide better service. (more…)

A common proverb goes something like this:

Catch a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.

The point of this is that I can only go so far if you catch a fish for me every day. If you teach me how to fish so that I can do it for myself, then I’m good to go with or without your being around. I need to learn how to take care of things on my own. (more…)