With Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online – you are allocated the following storage:

Storage: 5GB

Custom Entities: 300

Workflows and Dialogs: 200

Checking Your Resource Usage:

You can check your total usage by logging into CRM Online and navigating to Settings.

From Settings –> Administration

Administration –> Resources in Use

You will be shown your total usage for each of the above categories.

Increasing Your Storage:

From the Office 365 console, navigate to Subscriptions –> Purchase.

Scroll down to the CRM section and choose “Add More”.

Two questions that we get every week (literally) from our customers are:

1) How did this post get on my Facebook wall?
2) I have a friend who says they are getting messages from me – but I know I didn’t send it and I have a strong password – how did this happen?

I ran across this article in USA Today this week and it sums up how these two incidents happen. More often than not it’s driven from the fact that the user clicked a link….that they thought was from a friend. Oftentimes these links are very exciting or enticing and they prey upon your instinct to click before you think.

I just recently installed the Lync Apps for Windows Phone and iOS. Ballmer wasn’t kidding when he said Microsoft was now a devices and services company!

Highlights:
Sleeker Lync 2013 interface
Make and receive Lync calls on both WiFi and Cellular Networks – including video calls!
On iOS you can now view the desktop and application sharing in meetings
Nice view of your up coming meetings

We have been dealing with this issue with several of our customers: the screen on the surface appears to ‘flicker’ or go from bright to dim. This article is a great step by step tutorial to keep this from happening.

One of the new features of Lync 2013 is the ability to have gallery view (think Brady Bunch opening song with all the tiles) in video conferencing. We’ve had lots of questions about this and there are two things that have to be installed:

1) You have to be on the latest version (referred to as Wave 15) of Office 365.
2) Lync 2013 should be installed on the desktop.

If you are an owner of a business – chances are you are on the road…a lot. The great thing about Office 365 is that it is extremely flexible AND portable. Something that the other cloud productivity provider can’t say. Since I started this series – the things that I travel with have been downsized pretty dramatically. Case in point – I used to carry 4 devices – iPad, Windows Phone, Laptop, and Verizon MiFi. I have since pared that down to TWO. My toolkit now includes a Microsoft Surface RT and Windows Phone 8. I took a day trip to Tampa today and didn’t carry a bag…just my Surface and my phone.

Here’s what my day looked like:
1) Review of CRM with a partner to look at open opportunities. We updated a few and added several new deals to the pipeline. When I added them my sales team knew immediately (no syncing or waiting to get back to the office).
2) 3 conference calls – all using Lync Online (we also have Enterprise Voice enabled – but that doesn’t matter).
3) A Skype call with my wife (Happy Wife=Happy Life).
4) Review of a SOW from our technical pre-sales team. I made comments on the document, a few revisions, and checked it back in to SharePoint Online for final sign off.
5) A quick post to Yammer outlining some of the details of our new partnership to our team (Our employees are using social media every day in their personal lives – it only makes sense to bring the benefits of social into the enterprise).
6) Check in for my flight home (even got on the earlier flight which means I get to tuck my daughter in).

Here’s what continues to amaze me as I am out meeting customers. A good 80%+ of them are still running Windows XP and Office 2003. (That technology is AT LEAST 10 years old!) More than half of them aren’t even aware that Microsoft has a complete end to end offering that works both on-premise and in the Cloud. When they see the way that we can work, using the same feature rich clients that they are used to OR in the Cloud, they are completely blown away. These tools are instrumental in helping me achieve the work/life balance that I have always wanted…and isn’t that why we all start businesses?

I’ve been using my Microsoft Surface RT now for two months. My iPad has been passed down to my daughter to play Princess games and play interactive coloring books. Here’s the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good:
Integration with Office 365 is top notch. When I travel I don’t miss having the weight of my laptop in my bag. I also don’t have to take the Surface out of my bag at airport security checks – which helps me breeze through without a problem. The SkyDrive integration helps me get to my documents even when I am out of the office. When I am on the place it’s interesting to watch others pull out their iPads for ‘play’ (music, reading, etc.) and then have a separate laptop for work. I don’t miss those days.

I also use Lync as my voice client – so using the Jabra USB speakerphone allows me to receive and make calls from my Surface no matter where I am.

The Surface RT runs full Microsoft Office for Excel, Word, and PowerPoint. It’s great to have the full Office client on a tablet.

The Bad:
There is no integrated cellular WiFi – I really miss this type of connectivity.

The Ugly:
The mail client is just flat out terrible – extremely slow and difficult to use. It is not as responsive to typing as Word on the Surface RT is – which I don’t really understand. I really miss having the full Outlook client on the Surface – but I find that I use my mobile phone for most of my email anyway – so this isn’t a deal breaker.

Bottom Line:
I don’t travel with a laptop anymore…my 4 year old has my iPad…you be the judge.

We were working with a customer who had lots and lots of documents. They were considering a move to Office 365 but were concerned that SharePoint Online wouldn’t scale to meet their needs.

After a little research – we found that a document library or list can support up to 50 million items.

Problem solved

Recently we had a client that was experiencing a log in loop for Dynamics CRM Online 2011. Basically, when the client would try to log in via the web portal – the webpage would just continue to loop through a series of webpages – never giving the user the opportunity to actually log on with their Windows Live ID (Microsoft Account).

After reviewing the settings – we determined that the internet settings for IE had been recently reset. We added *.dynamics.com and *.live.com to their trusted sites (Tools-Internet Options-Security-Trusted Sites). After adding this and restarting IE – the client was able to log in just fine.

As a Microsoft Cloud Champion Partner and outsourced IT support specialist in Greenville, SC, Palmetto Technology Group (PTG) upgraded to Windows 8 before its official release.  It’s been a lot of fun to learn this new operating system, and there are many shortcuts and quick keys built into this OS that can really enhance the overall customer experience. Now that Windows 8 has been released to the public, I’d like to take some time to share our 3 favorite features:

“Windows on the go”- This is a slick new feature that I’ve personally been waiting for years to see. Windows on the go lets me take my Operating system with me via USB drive, so I can boot my PC, with my documents, and my settings, on any computer in a matter of seconds.

“Personalization” – The tile feature is a major part of Windows 8’s start screen. It’s incredibly easy to add and remove tiles, adjust tile size, and configure my dashboard for streamlined performance. In addition to live news feeds, there is a custom app center for everything from Netflix to “INRIX Traffic” an app that features updates like accidents, police, construction and events to help you avoid traffic. This feature is what really seperates Windows 8 from previous Operating Systems.

“Universal Profiles” – I’m constantly on the go, so it’s been great to have a profile that follows me between multiple devices. With Windows 8’s built in SkyDrive functionality, I don’t have to worry about which documents made it onto my jump drive, or redrafting a proposal on the fly. Everything’s automatically linked to my windows live account.

Ultimately Windows 8 is a smaller, faster, better version of Windows 7. It’s got faster boot times, it gives me 40% longer battery life, has quicker performance, it’s more secure, has a faster wi-fi reconnection, there are multi-monitor improvements, and an improved task manager. What’s not to like?