Esendex company news

xRM Consultancy opens up Microsoft’s CRM to SMS

XRM Consultancy is a UK-based  company that specialises in building custom business applications and products on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform.

Their latest product provides users of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 to send SMS messages directly from within CRM. The SMS messages are stored as activities and are viewable from a contact’s (or anyother entity with an activity relationship) Closed Activities view once sent.

xRM Consultancy have chosen Esendex as their SMS partner for this new product and are the newest member of our Partner Program.  Bruce Buxton, xRM Consultancy’s MD said

“We needed an SMS provider that understood the importance of our messaging requirements.  Esendex’s focus on quality of service sets them apart as the clear leader in the field”.

To trial this new product for free simply email sales@xrmconsultancy.com with your CRM Unique Organisation Name (this can be found in Settings -> Customizations -> Developer Resources) for a free license.  You’ll also need to register for a free Esendex trial account .

A day in the life of a Developer by Neil Kilbride

Sam (Software Developer) and I (Head of Applications Development) recently attended the University of Nottingham Jubiliee Campus, to give a talk to second year Computer Science students that were taking part in the group project module. The talk was entitled ‘What’s it like to work in an agile software development team?’.

The talk focused on how the Esendex development team tackle software development, and we presented some ideas for the planning and development aspects of their own group projects. Sam and I are Nottingham Alumni and we both did the same module as undergraduates at Nottingham. For both of us, the module stands out as the closest thing you’ll experience at university to working as part of a real software team in industry.

It was tough selecting exactly what to put in the talk, ‘agile development’ is a broad subject and means different things to different people. We could have easily talked about the Agile Manifesto for the 50 minutes we had, but in the end I think we did well cherry picking the parts that would interest the students and be relevant to their group projects. We also thought it important to run through a demo of some of the concepts we talked about and this part was especially well received.

We carried out a ‘mini retro’ at the end of the talk, asking the students to leave some feedback on their way out. We split the board in two; ‘What went well?’ and ‘What could have gone better?’, providing the students with some post-its and pens.

You can’t see the comments on the picture below, but here’s some examples…

• Content truly excellent! All highly relevant and interesting, right level of detail
• First live demo from a guest lecturer
• Great to see a live demo, putting theory into context
• Actually related to the group project
• Students might have struggled following the detail of some examples. Slow down a little. Font size and colour, for demo.

If you would like anymore information I’d love to hear from you, please email neil.kilbride@esendex.com.

Esendex announces free Business SMS Audit service

We’re offering companies in the East Midlands free access to a vital business tool aiming to help boost the region’s economy.

We are launching a New Year health check for firms to make sure that they are making the most of business texting services. SMS offers companies new ways of marketing to their customers and cutting operational costs.

Chief Commercial Officer Geoff Love said; “In the current economic climate, where budgets are being cut and companies are being asked to do more and more with less and less, smart companies are switching to SMS.

“Text messages are cheaper and quicker than phone calls or letters to customers and staff and are more widely read than emails. Whether it’s sending balance reminders, delivery notifications, appointment reminders, satisfaction surveys or system alerts – SMS ensures that messages get there fast.”

Our SMS Business Audit offers a review from one of our SMS experts who will carry out a free one hour consultation, during which our SMS expert will gain a fuller understanding of how their business communicates. Following the review, we will provide recommendations suggesting ways in which SMS could be deployed to improve business communications.

Geoff Love, said; “Just about any business can benefit from using SMS more effectively, whether you are looking for new ways of reaching your customers or making sure you get vital messages through to staff.

“We are hoping that by offering this service we can help businesses in the East Midlands to keep up with the latest developments in this field and to make the region’s economy more competitive.”

Businesses who wish to take advantage of the Business SMS Audit service should contact Hannah Giles on 0115 989 5125 or email hannah.giles@esendex.com.