Customers of Microsoft Dynamics 365 will on average have 187,500 inaccurate records by the end of the year, a new study by Free Data Health Check and Clean Contacts reveals. In the UK 1.5 million households move each year. Since January 2021 the number of households in the moving journey has increased by half a million to two million as a direct result of the buoyant property market caused by the Chancellor’s stamp duty holiday. This means that there are unprecedented numbers of people moving home with estate agents now reporting less than two month’s stock left on their books to sell. This is coupled with the fact that at the hands of the pandemic the UK has experienced one [...]

There is absolutely no doubt that a CRM system is essential to businesses of all sizes; however, Gene Marks’ recent article in Forbes Magazine raised some interesting points. He began his argument by stating that anywhere between 30 and 70 per cent of customer relationship management systems don’t achieve their objectives and believed that this was, in part, due to companies not putting the same emphasis on their CRM systems as they might with their accounting systems (all businesses need to keep track of the vanity and sanity of their turnover and profits, right? Although adding and subtracting numbers can sometimes be less daunting than finding out if several thousand Joe and Josephine Blogs have had a change of status [...]

The Software Bureau has launched Free Data Health Check – the unique ability to review how clean your data is, in a seamless and secure manner. Free Data Health Check enables Microsoft Dynamics 365 users to quickly understand the accuracy of their contact data. Providing a simple health check report, via Teams & Outlook, indicating how many of UK contacts (Contacts, Accounts or leads) have moved or passed away. There is no financial commitment required, but if you decide you want the detail sitting behind the results, then we offer a unique subscription model that provides total peace of mind, regardless of the number of updates required. It is easy to set up and simple to use - Free Data [...]

New figures from JICMail, the joint industry currency for advertising mail reveal the improved effectiveness of direct mail since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The data from the first three months of 2021 showed that mail volumes recorded year-on-year growth for the first time since the start of the pandemic. Despite the lockdown, advertisers remained more optimistic than they were at the start of the pandemic. Mail volumes grew by three per cent year-on-year, primarily driven by a strong performance from direct mail, which was up nine per cent year-on-year, and business mail, which grew by seven per cent. The report also found that mail effectiveness continued to record double-digit year-on-year growth across nearly all stages of the customer [...]

Charities are being urged to turn to CRM to harness the army of volunteers that has formed as a result of the pandemic. People want to help, but harnessing this will be key for charities moving forwards, believes Reach Volunteering, an organisation that connects volunteers with good causes. In the UK, within seven days of the first lockdown being announced, 300,000 people had volunteered with a charity and more than 750,000 had signed up as NHS volunteers. An article in The Guardian revealed that of the 12 million adults in the UK who offered their services during the last year, a third did so for the first time, indicating that a new and sizable cohort had the opportunity to experience [...]

Last week Royal Mail trialed the use of drones to deliver health and safety equipment, COVID-19 testing kits and general mail items, including direct mail, to the Isles of Scilly. It was the first time an out-of-sight autonomous scheduled drone flight has been used between the UK mainland and an island to deliver mail. The drone left Cornwall at 6 am and arrived back at 8 am having dropped its 100 kg load, which is roughly the same size as a typical delivery round. The test flight dramatically reduced the amount of time delivery to The Scilly Isles usually takes and also significantly reduced the carbon foot print. It is hoped that the initiative, which is part of a month-long [...]

A new report by the Fundraising Regulator shows that more charities are taking data hygiene seriously than previously. This year, only 14 charities were found to be flouting the Fundraising Code of Practice by failing to access requests to stop communication made through the Fundraising Preference Service, which was set up in July 2017 in response to the fall out of the tragic death of poppy seller, Olive Cooke. It enables people to ask specific charities to stop contacting them by phone, email, SMS or post. In the last review 20 charities were found to be uncompliant. By removing people that have registered on the FPS charities adhere to Section 3.2.5 of the Code of Fundraising Practice, however in Section [...]

The Software Bureau are delighted to have been invited to introduce Clean Contacts to the Dynamics 365 Birmingham User Group. It's a fantastic opportunity to engage with a community of Dynamics 365 experts and inform them of our unique solution. This meeting is free to attend for all Dynamics CRM users and being a virtual event EVERYONE will be very welcome!! It will be taking place on Wednesday 19th May 2021 at 5:30pm, and we would love to have you along! The full agenda for the event is as follows: Session : A new & unique approach to data cleansing in D365 Speaker : Ben Warren, The Software Bureau Every business has to clean their data, but the current methods can [...]

It was recently announced that the UK government has signed a new three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Microsoft to enable public sector organisations to continue to unlock the benefits of cloud computing and business applications. The new MOU, entitled the Digital Transformation Arrangement 2021 (DTA21) will run until April 2024 and allows all public sector organisations to benefit from discounts and beneficial terms for Microsoft 365, Azure as well as associated Support and Consulting services, including for the first time – Dynamics 365. The addition of Dynamics 365 builds on the Government’s One Government Cloud Strategy and the principles of the Digital Data and Technology (DDaT) strategy, which focuses on modernising technology, stronger data strategy, improving digital skills, enhancing relationships with [...]

As many of you will know a few weeks ago we launched Clean Contacts, an innovative data hygiene product for customers of Microsoft Dynamics 365. We were therefore excited to read about the new deal between Microsoft and Nuance Communications, which will spearhead next generation customer engagement driven by voice search. The $19.7 billion purchase is the second largest in Microsoft’s history, after its acquisition of networking site LinkedIn in 2016, indicating just how important speech recognition will be. Nuance provides AI expertise and customer engagement solutions across Interactive Voice Response (IVR), virtual assistants, and digital and biometric solutions to companies around the world across all industries. Microsoft believes that this expertise will come together with the breadth and depth [...]