Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week
Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a fairly developed customer relationship management system. Surely, many have heard such a definition (and perhaps there is a more accurate one). However, Microsoft's solution has much greater potential due to its wide capabilities based on extensions (IFrames, Worflows, Plugins). This leads to the fact that this CRM can be found in the most unexpected implementations.
Last December (yes, the post was a little late, but still relevant) Microsoft hosted the Incubation Week at one of its MTC (Microsoft Technology Center) in the suburbs of Washington, DC.
The idea of Incubation Week is to provide startups with assistance in realizing their ideas at an early stage, as well as, more valuablely, to bring these ideas to potential investors. Among the many applications from startups (with a brief summary of the idea), Microsoft selects 5, representatives of which (3 people) are invited to participate. Each team is allocated a separate office with all necessary equipment and software and a consultant. The role of the consultant is invaluable; he helps the team in almost everything - the formation of a project vision, design, assistance in implementation, etc.
Consultants are not Microsoft employees, but are invited from the outside. We are extremely lucky with our consultant. Jim Steger is one of the owners of Sonoma Partners, a company specializing exclusively in Dynamics CRM. In addition, Jim has written excellent books Programming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Working With Microsoft Dynamics Crm 4.0.
On day one, Microsoft employees and invited lecturers talk about Dynamics CRM, business, and startups. The next three days are allotted for encoding the prototype. And finally, the last day is the presentation of the prototype to investors. It is worth saying that even in a crisis, Microsoft manages to find representatives of investment funds ready to invest real money.
Clients of our company (software development), having experience in CRM, decided to create a startup based on their own ideas. They sent an application to Microsoft to participate in the Incubation Week, and their project was selected from the crowd. One problem is that our customers are not developers. And since you still need to write the code, they turned to us, and I flew to the States in a week.
Application development involved the use of Silverlight and, accordingly, .Net. All the teams worked a lot - rarely did anyone leave before the paycheck. This race was greatly facilitated by the efforts of MTC employees - starting from catering and ending with all sorts of little things like calling a taxi or finding additional furniture.
As mentioned earlier, the final day was reserved for the presentation of prototypes to investors. Investors were different - from reputable professionals in the field of CRM to representatives of multi-million dollar funds. For startups at an early stage, this is an invaluable contribution. On the one hand, you can get investment, and on the other, you can hear the views of industry pioneers and ordinary users.
I will not bore the stories about our prototype (and I can not). I can only say that our startup received the first prize - Super Cool Award.
MTC (Microsoft Technology Center) is a fascinating place where Microsoft technologies and products are shown to potential customers / buyers. Accordingly, everything that MS has is in MTC. And most importantly, you can touch everything there.
At least two floors (and on the rest I was not) are partly occupied by racks with servers and near-server equipment. The view is fascinating. MTC has absolutely all servers released these days. Why is this needed? Everything is very simple. If a customer wants to buy software (for example, SQL Server), then he will most likely be interested in software performance and compatibility. To help the buyer make a choice and decide, MS installs software on those servers that the client uses. As a result, the buyer can spend a month launching various tests and conducting integration directly on MS servers.
All the attention of the participants was drawn to the Surface installed at the reception. Of course, I saw him many times in photographs, but still this is not the subject that should be considered on paper. The device is very monolithic and heavy (I certainly did not wear it, but I manage to move it with difficulty). It works under Windows (as the staff said, but could not clarify the version and edition).
However, the appearance of the device is far from the main thing. Although, in my opinion, the device is sorely lacking in “lightness”, but this is the general style of MS. And the main thing about Surface is the interface. The application window is the entire surface of the table (there may be other modes, but I did not find them). Each interface element is an independent entity that can be moved, rotated and flipped just by touching and swiping your fingers across the table.
For example, in an application for listening to music, all albums are shown in the form of CDs (in boxes), on the one side of which is art, and on the other, a list of tracks (as in real life). Disks can be dragged, turned over and, in general, arranged as you like on the surface (you just want to write “on the screen”). And there is a bit of physics. If you pull the disc over the edge, then, as in the real world, the disc will not only “drag”, but will turn.
Another application that interested me was maps (virtual Earth?). The map is presented on the whole surface and there is nothing easier than navigation with the help of hands. It very much resembles a globe with the only difference being that you can also change the scale.
There are also several games available - air hockey and something else. There is a paint option, but, of course, draw with your finger. For games, the idea is generally interesting - after all, you can play together (and more players).
I also liked the screen saver (surface) - as if spilled and swaying water on the table. Passing by (even knowing that Surface is somewhere nearby) each time you catch yourself thinking that it seems that someone has spilled water.
I can not say anything about the technical stuffing. I saw only a USB connector near the leg of this table, to which you can connect at least a disk.
There are no photos either, although he took with him a heavy nickel with two lenses and a puff. But the battery just remained at home in charge, and there was no time or desire to buy a new battery and charge.
PS: This is my first post on Habré, although I’ve been here since very old times. If something is not pleasant in the statement, then unsubscribe in the comments - I will know where to strive. Of course, you can also pass, but I don’t understand anything;)
Last December (yes, the post was a little late, but still relevant) Microsoft hosted the Incubation Week at one of its MTC (Microsoft Technology Center) in the suburbs of Washington, DC.
Incubation week
The idea of Incubation Week is to provide startups with assistance in realizing their ideas at an early stage, as well as, more valuablely, to bring these ideas to potential investors. Among the many applications from startups (with a brief summary of the idea), Microsoft selects 5, representatives of which (3 people) are invited to participate. Each team is allocated a separate office with all necessary equipment and software and a consultant. The role of the consultant is invaluable; he helps the team in almost everything - the formation of a project vision, design, assistance in implementation, etc.
Consultants are not Microsoft employees, but are invited from the outside. We are extremely lucky with our consultant. Jim Steger is one of the owners of Sonoma Partners, a company specializing exclusively in Dynamics CRM. In addition, Jim has written excellent books Programming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Working With Microsoft Dynamics Crm 4.0.
On day one, Microsoft employees and invited lecturers talk about Dynamics CRM, business, and startups. The next three days are allotted for encoding the prototype. And finally, the last day is the presentation of the prototype to investors. It is worth saying that even in a crisis, Microsoft manages to find representatives of investment funds ready to invest real money.
My story
Clients of our company (software development), having experience in CRM, decided to create a startup based on their own ideas. They sent an application to Microsoft to participate in the Incubation Week, and their project was selected from the crowd. One problem is that our customers are not developers. And since you still need to write the code, they turned to us, and I flew to the States in a week.
Application development involved the use of Silverlight and, accordingly, .Net. All the teams worked a lot - rarely did anyone leave before the paycheck. This race was greatly facilitated by the efforts of MTC employees - starting from catering and ending with all sorts of little things like calling a taxi or finding additional furniture.
As mentioned earlier, the final day was reserved for the presentation of prototypes to investors. Investors were different - from reputable professionals in the field of CRM to representatives of multi-million dollar funds. For startups at an early stage, this is an invaluable contribution. On the one hand, you can get investment, and on the other, you can hear the views of industry pioneers and ordinary users.
I will not bore the stories about our prototype (and I can not). I can only say that our startup received the first prize - Super Cool Award.
MTC
MTC (Microsoft Technology Center) is a fascinating place where Microsoft technologies and products are shown to potential customers / buyers. Accordingly, everything that MS has is in MTC. And most importantly, you can touch everything there.
At least two floors (and on the rest I was not) are partly occupied by racks with servers and near-server equipment. The view is fascinating. MTC has absolutely all servers released these days. Why is this needed? Everything is very simple. If a customer wants to buy software (for example, SQL Server), then he will most likely be interested in software performance and compatibility. To help the buyer make a choice and decide, MS installs software on those servers that the client uses. As a result, the buyer can spend a month launching various tests and conducting integration directly on MS servers.
Surface
All the attention of the participants was drawn to the Surface installed at the reception. Of course, I saw him many times in photographs, but still this is not the subject that should be considered on paper. The device is very monolithic and heavy (I certainly did not wear it, but I manage to move it with difficulty). It works under Windows (as the staff said, but could not clarify the version and edition).
However, the appearance of the device is far from the main thing. Although, in my opinion, the device is sorely lacking in “lightness”, but this is the general style of MS. And the main thing about Surface is the interface. The application window is the entire surface of the table (there may be other modes, but I did not find them). Each interface element is an independent entity that can be moved, rotated and flipped just by touching and swiping your fingers across the table.
For example, in an application for listening to music, all albums are shown in the form of CDs (in boxes), on the one side of which is art, and on the other, a list of tracks (as in real life). Disks can be dragged, turned over and, in general, arranged as you like on the surface (you just want to write “on the screen”). And there is a bit of physics. If you pull the disc over the edge, then, as in the real world, the disc will not only “drag”, but will turn.
Another application that interested me was maps (virtual Earth?). The map is presented on the whole surface and there is nothing easier than navigation with the help of hands. It very much resembles a globe with the only difference being that you can also change the scale.
There are also several games available - air hockey and something else. There is a paint option, but, of course, draw with your finger. For games, the idea is generally interesting - after all, you can play together (and more players).
I also liked the screen saver (surface) - as if spilled and swaying water on the table. Passing by (even knowing that Surface is somewhere nearby) each time you catch yourself thinking that it seems that someone has spilled water.
I can not say anything about the technical stuffing. I saw only a USB connector near the leg of this table, to which you can connect at least a disk.
There are no photos either, although he took with him a heavy nickel with two lenses and a puff. But the battery just remained at home in charge, and there was no time or desire to buy a new battery and charge.
PS: This is my first post on Habré, although I’ve been here since very old times. If something is not pleasant in the statement, then unsubscribe in the comments - I will know where to strive. Of course, you can also pass, but I don’t understand anything;)