Microsoft Dynamics CRM Incubation Week
Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a well-developed customer relationship management system. Surely such a definition has been heard by many (and perhaps there is a more accurate one). However, the solution from Microsoft has much greater potential due to the wide possibilities 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 bit late, but still relevant) Microsoft spent Incubation Week in 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 the implementation of their ideas at a very early stage, and also, which is more valuable, to convey these ideas to potential investors. Among the many applications from startups (with a brief statement of the idea), Microsoft selects 5, representatives of which (3 people) are invited to participate. Each team is allocated a separate office with all the necessary equipment and software and a consultant. The role of the consultant is invaluable; he helps the team in almost everything - the formation of the project vision, design, implementation assistance, etc ...
Consultants are not employees of Microsoft, but are invited from the side. We are extremely lucky with our consultant. Jim Steger is one of the owners of Sonoma Partners, specializing exclusively in Dynamics CRM. In addition, Jim has written excellent books on Programming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Working With Microsoft Dynamics Crm 4.0.
')
On the first day, Microsoft employees and invited lecturers talk about Dynamics CRM, business and startups. The next three days are set aside for encoding the prototype. And finally, the last day is a presentation of the prototype to investors. It is worth saying that even during the crisis, Microsoft manages to find representatives of investment funds who are ready to invest real money.
Customers of our company (software development), having experience in CRM, decided to create a startup based on their own ideas. They sent a request to Microsoft to participate in Incubation Week, and their project was selected from the crowd. One problem is that our customers are not developers. And since it is still necessary to write the code, they contacted us, and I flew to the States a week later.
Developing an application meant using Silverlight and, accordingly, .Net. All the teams worked a lot - rarely who left before the midnight. This race was greatly facilitated by the efforts of MTC employees - starting from catering and ending with all sorts of trifles such as calling a taxi or finding additional furniture.
As mentioned earlier, the final day was devoted to 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 is an invaluable contribution. On the one hand, you can get investment, and on the other - to hear the opinion of the pioneers of the industry and ordinary users.
I will not tire with stories about our prototype (and I can not). Let me just say that our startup received the first prize - Super Cool Award.
MTC (Microsoft Technology Center) - an exciting place where potential customers / customers demonstrate technologies and products of Microsoft. Accordingly, everything that MS has is in MTC. And most importantly, everything can be touched there.
At least two floors (and on the rest I was not) are partially occupied by racks with servers and near-server equipment. The view is mesmerizing. In MTC there are absolutely all servers released these days. Why do you need it? Everything is very simple. If the customer wants to buy software (for example, SQL Server), then he is more likely to be interested in software performance and compatibility. To help the buyer make a choice and decide, MS installs the software on the servers that the client uses. As a result, the buyer can spend a month running various tests and integrating directly on MS servers.
All the attention of the participants attracted Surface, installed at the reception. I, of course, 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 can hardly move it). It runs under Windows (as the staff said, but could not clarify the pro version and revision).
However, the appearance of the device is not the main thing. Although, in my opinion, the device is extremely lacking in “lightness”, but this is a common MS style. And the main thing in Surface is an interface. The application window is the entire surface of the table (maybe there are other modes, but I did not find them). Each element of the interface is an independent entity that can be moved, rotated and turned over just by touching and dragging the table.
For example, in the application for listening to music, all albums are depicted as CDs (in boxes), on one side of which there is art, and on the other - a list of tracks (as in real). Disks can be dragged, turned over and, in general, placed on the surface as you like (I just want to write “on the screen”). And there is a bit of physics. If you pull the disc by the edge, then, like in the real world, the disc will not only “drag”, but turn.
Another application that interested me is virtual Earth? The map is presented over the entire surface and nothing is easier than navigating with your hands. Very similar to the globe with the only difference that you can also change the scale.
There are several games available - air hockey and something else. There is a paint option, but, of course, we paint with a finger. For games in general, the idea is interesting - after all, you can play together (and more players).
I also liked the screen saver (povernost) - as if spilled and swaying water on the table. Passing by (even knowing that somewhere near Surface) every time you catch yourself thinking that it seems that someone spilled water.
I can’t say anything about technical stuffing. I saw only a USB connector near the legs of this table, to which you can connect at least a disk.
There are no photos either, although I took with me a heavy penny with two lenses and a puff. That's just the battery remained at home in charge, and there was no time to buy a new battery and charging desire and time.
PS: This is my first post on Habré, although I have been here since very ancient times. If you do not like something in the presentation, then write in the comments - I will know where to strive. Of course, minus it is also possible, but I don’t understand anything;)
Last December (yes, the post was a bit late, but still relevant) Microsoft spent Incubation Week in 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 the implementation of their ideas at a very early stage, and also, which is more valuable, to convey these ideas to potential investors. Among the many applications from startups (with a brief statement of the idea), Microsoft selects 5, representatives of which (3 people) are invited to participate. Each team is allocated a separate office with all the necessary equipment and software and a consultant. The role of the consultant is invaluable; he helps the team in almost everything - the formation of the project vision, design, implementation assistance, etc ...
Consultants are not employees of Microsoft, but are invited from the side. We are extremely lucky with our consultant. Jim Steger is one of the owners of Sonoma Partners, specializing exclusively in Dynamics CRM. In addition, Jim has written excellent books on Programming Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 and Working With Microsoft Dynamics Crm 4.0.
')
On the first day, Microsoft employees and invited lecturers talk about Dynamics CRM, business and startups. The next three days are set aside for encoding the prototype. And finally, the last day is a presentation of the prototype to investors. It is worth saying that even during the crisis, Microsoft manages to find representatives of investment funds who are ready to invest real money.
My history
Customers of our company (software development), having experience in CRM, decided to create a startup based on their own ideas. They sent a request to Microsoft to participate in Incubation Week, and their project was selected from the crowd. One problem is that our customers are not developers. And since it is still necessary to write the code, they contacted us, and I flew to the States a week later.
Developing an application meant using Silverlight and, accordingly, .Net. All the teams worked a lot - rarely who left before the midnight. This race was greatly facilitated by the efforts of MTC employees - starting from catering and ending with all sorts of trifles such as calling a taxi or finding additional furniture.
As mentioned earlier, the final day was devoted to 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 is an invaluable contribution. On the one hand, you can get investment, and on the other - to hear the opinion of the pioneers of the industry and ordinary users.
I will not tire with stories about our prototype (and I can not). Let me just say that our startup received the first prize - Super Cool Award.
MTC
MTC (Microsoft Technology Center) - an exciting place where potential customers / customers demonstrate technologies and products of Microsoft. Accordingly, everything that MS has is in MTC. And most importantly, everything can be touched there.
At least two floors (and on the rest I was not) are partially occupied by racks with servers and near-server equipment. The view is mesmerizing. In MTC there are absolutely all servers released these days. Why do you need it? Everything is very simple. If the customer wants to buy software (for example, SQL Server), then he is more likely to be interested in software performance and compatibility. To help the buyer make a choice and decide, MS installs the software on the servers that the client uses. As a result, the buyer can spend a month running various tests and integrating directly on MS servers.
Surface
All the attention of the participants attracted Surface, installed at the reception. I, of course, 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 can hardly move it). It runs under Windows (as the staff said, but could not clarify the pro version and revision).
However, the appearance of the device is not the main thing. Although, in my opinion, the device is extremely lacking in “lightness”, but this is a common MS style. And the main thing in Surface is an interface. The application window is the entire surface of the table (maybe there are other modes, but I did not find them). Each element of the interface is an independent entity that can be moved, rotated and turned over just by touching and dragging the table.
For example, in the application for listening to music, all albums are depicted as CDs (in boxes), on one side of which there is art, and on the other - a list of tracks (as in real). Disks can be dragged, turned over and, in general, placed on the surface as you like (I just want to write “on the screen”). And there is a bit of physics. If you pull the disc by the edge, then, like in the real world, the disc will not only “drag”, but turn.
Another application that interested me is virtual Earth? The map is presented over the entire surface and nothing is easier than navigating with your hands. Very similar to the globe with the only difference that you can also change the scale.
There are several games available - air hockey and something else. There is a paint option, but, of course, we paint with a finger. For games in general, the idea is interesting - after all, you can play together (and more players).
I also liked the screen saver (povernost) - as if spilled and swaying water on the table. Passing by (even knowing that somewhere near Surface) every time you catch yourself thinking that it seems that someone spilled water.
I can’t say anything about technical stuffing. I saw only a USB connector near the legs of this table, to which you can connect at least a disk.
There are no photos either, although I took with me a heavy penny with two lenses and a puff. That's just the battery remained at home in charge, and there was no time to buy a new battery and charging desire and time.
PS: This is my first post on Habré, although I have been here since very ancient times. If you do not like something in the presentation, then write in the comments - I will know where to strive. Of course, minus it is also possible, but I don’t understand anything;)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/54960/
All Articles