Dynamics CRM 2011 SMS – Select Your Own Provider

Paul Nieuwelaar, 09 June 2011

Ever wanted to send a simple SMS to a customer from your Dynamics CRM 2011 system, but have been restricted to using out-of-the-box Email? There are a number of reasons why having SMS capability built into your system could be of use, for example sending an SMS to the owner of an appointment before it is due. They might be on the road between appointments, and so they may not be able to check their emails unless they have a smart phone. If however they are sent an SMS instead, they can be instantly reminded about their appointment.

Our SMS Connector

We have developed a solution for Dynamics CRM 2011 which will allow you to send SMS to any Customer in your system. You can simply create an SMS from any activities menu in CRM, or from the Activities grid view under Workplace. Once an SMS has been sent, the SMS activity will be visible under Closed Activities for each recipient of the SMS, meaning you can easily keep track of customer engagements and history via SMS.

You Choose Your Own Gateway Provider

Not only have we built a solution which will allow you to send SMS to any combination of Leads, Contacts, and Users in your CRM system, but using our SMS Connector you can also select your own Gateway Provider, this means you can choose the provider that works for you, rather than the one you’re forced to work with.

You can use the following link to choose a Gateway Provider from the list, based on your country and preferences to suit your needs:
http://messaging.office.microsoft.com/HostingProviders.aspx?src=O12&lc=1033

Send SMS Via Workflow

As well as being able to create SMS’s manually from the activities menu, you can also create and send an SMS via a workflow, so for example you could create a workflow that sends an SMS to the owner an hour before an appointment is due. To add this step to a workflow, all you need to do is select ‘Create Record’ from the workflow rules menu, and then choosing SMS. If you edit the properties of this record, you can dynamically set values such as the Owner as the To address, or specifics in the SMS body.

To set the SMS to be sent instantly after it has been created, all you need to do is select ‘Yes’ on the ‘Send Now’ radio button at the bottom of the form. This will send the SMS as soon as the workflow reaches this step. Otherwise if the ‘Send Now’ radio button is left as ‘No’, the SMS record will be created, but not sent straight away, allowing for someone to manually send the SMS.

For more information about our SMS Connector please check out our SMS Product Page, or contact us for further details.