What’s changed in CRM 2013

Here are a couple of handy guides from Microsoft including What’s changed in CRM 2013 and the Microsoft CRM 2013 Release Preview Guide

To summarise the changes;

Updated Navigation
The first thing you’ll notice is that the navigation has been completely redesigned. The navigation pane has been removed and replaced with a new horizontal navigation bar at the top of the screen which is designed to be ‘touch friendly’ for use on tablets.

Goodbye Ribbon
The ribbon has been removed from within a record and the top 7 commands are now displayed, additional commands are displayed under the More Commands (…) button.

Process Flows
Originally introduced in the Polaris update back in February, the new UI allows the creation of structured business processes. A good example of this is now when converting from a Lead to an Opportunity, these are now displayed within the same window instead of a flurry of popup windows.

Mobile Apps
Microsoft have introduced mobile apps for the following platforms:
Windows Phone 8: Windows Phone Store
Windows 8: App store for Windows 8
Apple iPhone: Apple App store
Apple iPad: Apple App store
Android phone: Google Play store

Quick Create Forms
Quickly create a new record when working within a new record. For instance, create a new phone call when working within a lead.

Legacy code discontinued
The way custom code was written changed between Microsoft CRM 4 and 2011. This was still supported until CRM 2011 Rollup 12 and is now no longer supported in CRM 2013. This means if you previously upgraded from CRM 4 and are on an older version that was heavily customised; these customisations may no longer work when upgrading to CRM 2013. Fear not; we can assess your system and determine if any code needs to be changed prior to the upgrade.

If you would like help upgrading or would like a CRM 2013 orientation session, please feel free to call us on +44 1924 665589 or use the Contact Us form.