Tag Archives: Tips
Tips to limit the number of steps in #PowerQuery – #PowerBI
When returning to some of my first queries built in Power Query, I always get a bit sad.
My old queries contain some unnecessary extra steps that makes it harder to evaluate what is happening in the query and in most cases I haven’t even bothered to rename the steps which makes the queries very hard to read for me and for others.
So, in order to improve here are some tips that can make mine and your queries shorter and easier to read.
Always Rename your Steps
Always spend time to rename your steps and avoid spaces in the step name.
Makes it easier to read and is documentation.
Especially important because the step name does not necessarily describe what is happening.
In this example I used the Remove Other columns function, and the step name refers to that function
– but what is actually happening is I am selecting specific columns – notice the formula bar – Table.SelectColumns
So, rename the step.
Check if you can avoid a column rename step
Using the interface in the Query Editor makes it very easy to get the “Renamed Columns” step but it can sometimes be avoided – For instance expanding a record column – in this example the DimGeography Column
– in this example the DimGeography Column and then double clicking the headers returned will lead into 2 steps but notice the last argument in the formula bar.
That is a list of column names that will be given and by modifying that we can do the expansion and renaming in one step.
Avoid the empty filter steps ie to not filter by (Select All)
When testing my queries, I sometimes filter the result to check the data
And then to clear it I sometimes use the (Select All) to remove the filter
This however leaves a filter step in your query where the Table.SelectRows function just is “each true”.
If you use the clear filter instead
The Filter step will be deleted
Limit the number of Rename Columns
Doing column renaming during the query steps can lead to several column renaming steps.
Try to do only 1 renaming step.
Limit the number of steps with Remove columns
Try to consolidate the column selection or deletion of columns in one step.
And remember the optional parameter in the Table.SelectColumns and Table.RemoveColumns where you can specify what should happen if a field in the column list is missing.
Don’t reorder your columns
You can change the column order in the Query editor but there is no need to do it
The columns will appear in alphabetical order in your data model anyway.
If you have a large table and can’t find the column use the Go to Column to locate it
A good bad example
Yes, this is one of my queries
This is the query after a clean-up – it does exactly the same but in fewer step and with a proper explanation in the step name.
Do you have any tips ?
This was a few tips to limit the number of steps in your query.
Let me know if you have any in the comments.
Stay queryious.
Tips to limit the number of steps in #PowerQuery – #PowerBI
When returning to some of my first queries built in Power Query, I always get a bit sad.
My old queries contain some unnecessary extra steps that makes it harder to evaluate what is happening in the query and in most cases I haven’t even bothered to rename the steps which makes the queries very hard to read for me and for others.
So, in order to improve here are some tips that can make mine and your queries shorter and easier to read.
Always Rename your Steps
Always spend time to rename your steps and avoid spaces in the step name.
Makes it easier to read and is documentation.
Especially important because the step name does not necessarily describe what is happening.
In this example I used the Remove Other columns function, and the step name refers to that function
– but what is actually happening is I am selecting specific columns – notice the formula bar – Table.SelectColumns
So, rename the step.
Check if you can avoid a column rename step
Using the interface in the Query Editor makes it very easy to get the “Renamed Columns” step but it can sometimes be avoided – For instance expanding a record column – in this example the DimGeography Column
– in this example the DimGeography Column and then double clicking the headers returned will lead into 2 steps but notice the last argument in the formula bar.
That is a list of column names that will be given and by modifying that we can do the expansion and renaming in one step.
Avoid the empty filter steps ie to not filter by (Select All)
When testing my queries, I sometimes filter the result to check the data
And then to clear it I sometimes use the (Select All) to remove the filter
This however leaves a filter step in your query where the Table.SelectRows function just is “each true”.
If you use the clear filter instead
The Filter step will be deleted
Limit the number of Rename Columns
Doing column renaming during the query steps can lead to several column renaming steps.
Try to do only 1 renaming step.
Limit the number of steps with Remove columns
Try to consolidate the column selection or deletion of columns in one step.
And remember the optional parameter in the Table.SelectColumns and Table.RemoveColumns where you can specify what should happen if a field in the column list is missing.
Don’t reorder your columns
You can change the column order in the Query editor but there is no need to do it
The columns will appear in alphabetical order in your data model anyway.
If you have a large table and can’t find the column use the Go to Column to locate it
A good bad example
Yes, this is one of my queries
This is the query after a clean-up – it does exactly the same but in fewer step and with a proper explanation in the step name.
This was a few tips to limit the number of steps in your query.
Let me know if you have any in the comments.
Stay queryious.
5 Tips to Lower The Cost of Your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Quote
On a Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation proposal, the cost of building custom reports can be substantial. As we mentioned in our previous post, there are ways that you can dive in and learn to do some of this reporting on your own. However, there are times when it is just better to leave it to the experts. In those cases, here are five tips we know that will help you to reduce the time, and therefore the cost, from your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner.
- Explain the why
I often tell my clients, “If you can’t explain why you need that report in a sentence or two, then you haven’t thought it through well enough.” There is a reason for every report.
We are doing two right now. Two identical programs, two similar reports for sales reps. Two completely different reasons why they want the report.
One guy does sales for other companies, and he wants to be able to provide metrics to his suppliers. He wants to show manufacturer A what he is doing for them. Then, he wants to present a completely different set of data for manufacturer B. Each personalized with their logo so he can do PowerPoint presentations.
The other guy wants a Power BI report to see how his salespeople are doing. He wants to analyze his team, to figure out where the holes are, where the trends are. They are using the same data for completely different reasons.
When we know why you want the report, we know how to build it. And we can even offer suggestions you may not even have thought of such as, “You want to see overall sales. Wouldn’t it be cool if we put a trend line on this report that showed you average sales on your bar chart? So, you can see, sales are going up, but over the past three years they’re trending down.”
So be able to explain why you need and who will read it.
- Get rid of the garbage
Everyone in the software industry has heard the phrase, “garbage in, garbage out”. Bad data gives you bad reports. So make sure you invest time for data cleanup. For example, a single wrong keystroke can make 2012 into 1012, and your results suffer. The Microsoft Dynamics Partner can do the cleanup, but it will be more inexpensive than if you do it on your own. Some companies hire interns to comb through the data so they can deliver crisp, clean files to their Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner.
- Make a mock-up
If you can do a mock-up of the report you are looking for the results will always be better. You can draw it with crayon, on the back of a napkin, whatever. Translating the expectations you have in your mind, into a hard format, is priceless in the planning process.
- Don’t be afraid of the wish list
Some clients are afraid to admit they have a wish list. They think that if they tell me now, the focus will be lost, or the project will become too expensive. However, this can create expensive problems later on.
Think of it like building a house. Someday you want to have a pool, but you are not ready for it yet. If you tell the builder you might want a pool in the future, they can plan around that. It will be much less expensive to put the house in the right place now versus ripping it down and moving it later so you can fit that pool.
An example in the CRM world would be if you someday want to tie the data into a project management tool, an accounting system or a public-facing web portal. Or maybe right now you are only a few salespeople in the office, but a few years from now you want customers to be able to do their own ordering online and have those orders feed into the CRM system.
If you plan for this when you are building your CRM system, it can be structured a bit differently to make this happen. It could be something as simple as creating a table called users, instead of employees, which limits your options.
You want to think about where you want to be in five years and ask your Dynamics 365 Partner to build with that in mind.
- Watch and learn
If you are setting up Power BI reports that pull data from different sources, the first report is always the hardest. If you need several similar reports, you could choose to pay your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partner to build the first one, then use the data that is sitting there to create your own. A good Partner can show you how to drag a chart over, and slice and dice the data in new ways.
There will be a learning curve on your side, but learning these skills can pay off in the long run.
P2 Automation can help you get the reports you need at an affordable cost. One way we do this is with a to assess your needs and meet your demands.
Read:
to learn more about our . We’ll be happy to help you draw out those crucial insights that you need to make more informed business decisions.
By P2 Automation,
Insider Tips To A Successful CRM Implementation
How do we determine authenticity? From “fake news,” to Nigerian Princes who want to share millions with us, to tv doctors promoting the latest cure-all, how can we know who to trust? Sometimes, it is obvious (chances are nobody is trying to give you a million dollars.)
But what about other everyday decisions we need to make personally and for our business. What criteria do we use in deciding what’s best for us?
Many times we put our trust in the big brand names. Have you ever heard the adage: “nobody ever got fired betting on IBM?”
At one point in time, when IBM was at the top of their game, that adage would have pointed you in the right direction. But times and technology have changed, and IBM didn’t keep up with new technology and customer demands.
So there’s risk involved with relying on big names. Will they be able to continue meeting their commitments and delivering what we need? Do they understand how the world is changing, and will they adjust to stay out front?
When it comes to CRM implementations, it’s sad but true that many things can go wrong and sabotage your organization’s investment.
Depending on which research expert you listen to, forty to seventy percent of CRM projects fail to meet expectations. A lot of time and money is invested in a CRM solution only to have it prove disappointing within a year or so. Money has been lost, time has been wasted, and the business is left with the same problems it sought to solve with the new CRM solution. Maybe your organization can afford wasted money, but who can afford wasted time?
The importance of CRM
As customers become more demanding, more sophisticated, more knowledgeable, a properly chosen and implemented CRM (Customer Relationship Management) solution will allow your team to meet their needs and deliver consistent, high-quality customer experiences. Without such positive experiences, you lose all hope of customer loyalty.
Here are a few specific tips:
- Your CRM project is only an asset if it delivers what you need, what your customers need, what your employees need, and adds value to your business.
- Of course, a well-implemented CRM can do many things. But it will only do those things if your team is using the software properly. To get full , you must focus on making it practical, simple, and easy for your team to use.
- It’s not about what features your management team wants. That’s easy. All management teams want the same thing: an efficient, smooth-running system.
- The question should be, “how do we set up CRM to make the lives of our people easier? How do we make them look at CRM as their best friend?” If you accomplish that, your management goals will be met as a natural result of the front-line team adopting the software.
So a robust CRM solution such as is crucial. But how can you find a reliable Partner to perform the implementation?
The Azamba way
At , we take CRM implementations beyond good intentions. One of the fundamental things we do differently is to offer a 100% Money-Back Guarantee on our services.
Clients learn that it’s not just lip service when we talk about customer-focus. We are sincerely dedicated to our customers and their success. If we don’t hit the mark, we put our money where our mouth is and provide a refund. We’re not perfect. But we strive to be.
We focus on working with customers that we feel we can help. We may not be the perfect fit for every firm, and that’s ok. If you are looking for a CRM solution and we know we can help you best, let’s make the magic happen. If not, we’ll recommend a company that might be better suited for you. It’s that simple.
The path forward
We understand what a huge risk there is with moving forward on business investments. For us, the path is clear. We will continue to stand behind our services and offer expert performance and our .
If you are interested in purchasing a CRM solution and want to know more about our Azamba guarantee, our team and let’s talk about how we can help.
By Azamba Consulting Group,
6 Cool Tips for Customers in August
Reading Time: 2 minutes
If you’re anything like us, you’ve lost track of how many days “stay at home” has lasted. While we aren’t out of the woods yet, when you do head back to work, you’ll want to do so safely. So, we created the TIBCO GatherSmart symptom tracking solution to help organizations responsibly reopen their offices. This #TIBCO4Good sponsored initiative applies to any size organization that allows you to regularly check in with your staff and assess their readiness for coming into the office. Also, you can stay informed with the COVID-19 analytics resource hub and latest care provider capacity visualizations.
CXO Insight of the Month: Four Essential Steps for Post-COVID Recovery
After so much disruption, embracing the new reality of work in the post-COVID world will not be easy for any of us. How you handle the recovery professionally may define your brand for years to come. Deloitte shares four essential steps we can all take to ease the transition: reflect, recommit, re-engage, and reboot. Learn more.
How you handle COVID-19 recovery professionally may define your brand for years to come. Click To Tweet
Rethink How Your Organization Does Business
Over the last few months, you’ve had the challenging task of changing the way you deliver services to your customers. One example, SIBS, a leading European payments processor and financial technology services organization built an open-banking platform offering its customers newer ways to engage. See how they did it. To learn how more customers like you are pushing the technology envelope to delight their customers and grow revenue, join us for the TIBCO NOW Connected Experience, September 22-24.
Put Your Data in Context for Better Business Outcomes
Today, it really is as simple as: the more you know about your data, the more successful you will be. We’re proud to introduce the TIBCO Cloud™ Metadata solution that delivers the data context, coherency, and control you need to improve performance, efficiency, and decision-making. Join this webinar to learn the value metadata brings and take a guided tour of the software in action.
Today, it really is as simple as: the more you know about your data, the more successful you will be. Click To Tweet
Microsoft Azure and TIBCO: Even Smarter Together
Staying on the leading edge is crucial, especially now. For TIBCO Spotfire® and TIBCO® Data Science customers, that means expanded machine learning capabilities, arming your data scientists with more powerful tools, and giving you greater development and deployment flexibility. We’re excited to share that we’ve added support for Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services to keep you one step ahead. For more, read this recent article from TechTarget.
Conquer Your Cloud Migration Challenges
It seems everyone is moving to the cloud. Don’t let any migration challenges keep you from making the shift. In association with TIBCO, MIT Technology Review Insights surveyed 325 senior executives around the world and interviewed experts who have addressed cloud migration. Read the report from MIT to learn about the challenges and the impact cloud migration had on their digital transformation.
It seems everyone is moving to the cloud. Don’t let any migration challenges keep you from making the shift. Click To Tweet
Have You Upgraded to Spotfire 10.10 Yet?
Since we introduced TIBCO Spotfire® X software in Fall 2018, users have said how much they love its many features — artificial intelligence (AI)-driven insights, new web-based UI, native Python data functions, location analytics enhancements, and broader data connectivity. We continue to listen to user feedback to bring you more features and functionality. Walk through Spotfire 10.10’s powerful new updates.
Be sure to check back next month for September’s tips.
Join JourneyTEAM’s Tech Insider Update for Business Strategies and Insider Tips & Tricks | August 6th
Article by: Dave Bollard – Head of Marketing | 801-436-6636
JourneyTEAM is an award-winning consulting firm with proven technology and measurable results. They take Microsoft products; Dynamics 365, SharePoint intranet, Office 365, Azure, CRM, GP, NAV, SL, AX, and modify them to work for you. The team has expert level, Microsoft Gold certified consultants that dive deep into the dynamics of your organization and solve complex issues. They have solutions for sales, marketing, productivity, collaboration, analytics, accounting, security and more.
6 Cool Tips for Customers in July
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Over the last few months, we’ve seen you, our customers, be innovative in your businesses as you’ve adapted and shifted to a new way of working. We know this journey is not over, and your strategy and technology needs will continue to evolve. Managing this evolution to ensure the sustainability of the long term health of your business is a crucial step as you continue to face immediate challenges.
Learn more about Sustainable Innovation, our theme of this year’s TIBCO NOW brought to you wherever you are in an easy-to-consume, customizable connected experience. The TIBCO Connected Experience. Watch this video, featuring TIBCO COO Matt Quinn and CMO Fred Studer, to learn how the TIBCO Connected Experience opportunity can help you sustain innovation in your organization.
And read on for more tips!
CXO Insight of the Month: Elevate Customer Experience for the Next Normal
Having reinvented your customer engagement during the coronavirus crisis, it’s time to look to the next normal. How will you respond? Read this article for key tips on preparing for digital recovery, adopting a safe and contactless customer journey as your default, and predicting what customers want rather than waiting for them to ask. Learn more.
Having reinvented your customer engagement during the coronavirus crisis, it’s time to look to the next normal. How will you respond? Click To Tweet
Empower Users Across Your Organization with Analytics
How do you support and scale your entire organization to foster innovation? Cross-organization insight can be accelerated if you equip everyone with the right tools. Agriscience leader Bayer Crop Science was able to drive innovation in digital farming by empowering over 14,000 users with analytics. Learn how you can too.
Put Data at the Core of Your Business Strategy
Data is at the center of every successful business strategy. Smarter decision-making, better customer experiences, and greater operational efficiency results when you build robust data foundations and architecture that flexibly delivers the insights you need. Read how you can put data at the core of your business strategy in this report from MIT Technology Review.
Want the Inside Scoop? Join the TIBCO League!
The TIBCO League is an exciting “insider program” exclusively designed for our customers. Use it to boost your TIBCO skills, access new releases, engage with industry experts, provide product feedback, and more. You can even win special rewards along the way as a thank you for your valued engagement. Sign up today.
How a Data-Driven Feedback Loop Can Fuel Innovation
Sense. Respond. Optimize. That’s the basis of an intelligent feedback loop. Whether you are a world-renowned motorsport team or an insurance company, you can apply a data-driven feedback loop to accelerate innovation. Read how three organizations used the insights from their feedback loops to transform their business and how you can too.
Use this Blueprint to Build a Modern Application Architecture
Business agility is a business imperative. A modern application architecture that is highly responsive not only helps make your business more resilient, it also provides the foundation for rapid innovation. Build your modern application architecture and take advantage of strategy, people, process, and technology best practices using the new TIBCO Responsive Application Mesh blueprint. For an overview of the TIBCO Responsive Application Mesh, watch the on-demand webinar.
Five Design Tips to Deliver a Seamless Embedded Analytics Experience
In Managing Up, we give product managers and their teams actionable guidance on how to build, test, and release programs that will delight users and stand the test of time. From development to execution, our industry experts and seasoned pros can help you work smarter, not harder.
Delivering additional value to your customers by providing data-driven insights is a sure-shot way to improve your competitive advantage and monetize your data. It’s not a question of if but when this functionality becomes basic table stakes.
Several steps are required to turn data into revenue and go even further — including creating the right data strategy and identifying data opportunities, building your profit and loss statement and use cases, getting buy-in, finding a partner, implementing and launching, and finally growing post-launch through an iterative innovation process.
Zooming in on design and implementation: Delivering value means combining the right features, KPIs that drive action, and visualizations that tell a compelling story.
In addition, there is an important but oft-overlooked aspect to successful data monetization: user interface (UI) design (or visual design). While UI design is a vast topic, a common challenge when delivering analytics to customers is to create a consistent and seamless experience, since you are embedding a third-party application in your product.
Simple UI is good UI
Consistent design is intuitive design. It should be immediately obvious to the user how to accomplish whatever they want to do. Expectations of users today are higher, so you also need a beautiful design that intuitively directs a user to take action.
From a branding standpoint, it should also always be clear to the user that the product is unified: Typography, logo, image styles, brand color schemes, etc., should be reflected across the application (in the core offering and the analytics), just like the rest of the brand’s properties.
When embedding analytics, you are bringing two different applications into one space, so it is critical that your end-user seamlessly experiences both the core product and analytics.
Let’s take a deeper look.
Tip 1: Maintain consistent branding elements
Your brand matters! Consistent visuals resonate more effectively with your audience.
This is no different when you are delivering analytics to your customer. Remove any trace of third-party applications by changing any external logo or text to align to your organization’s brand. Leveraging a drag-and-drop UI-based interface to change the settings makes this process faster and will allow you to get to market rapidly without worrying about custom development.
Tip 2: Consider visual hierarchy
Colors can convey powerful messages, so it’s crucial they be used mindfully and consistently. It can be unharmonious to have your brand colors be teal and black, for example, and part of your application or the analytics you deliver be yellow and white.
Leverage your corporate brand guidelines, if they exist, to customize the analytic application’s primary brand colors, primary and secondary text colors, etc.
If brand guidelines don’t exist, use easily available color palette selectors (there are tons of options to choose from) to select a color palette. Build your palette with a primary color in mind (usually your main brand color). Most products that are well designed use a visual hierarchy of fonts and color palettes to help ignite the experience.
In the palette, make sure to have a couple of options:
- Primary brand color
- Highlight or accent color for banners or toolbars
- At least two light and two dark colors for contrast between background and texts (dark background, light texts or vice versa)
Once you have the colors, you can add them to “favorites” and make it easier to pick and choose.
In addition to the application colors, also make sure to change the visualization color palette to match the application brand color palette. You can either use one of the several out-of-the-box color palette options or create a custom visualization palette. Again, you can customize your palette to match your brand colors.
Tip 3: Build branding with typography
Typography is a crucial element that uplifts a design and gives it a personality. Typography is also an important element that should be part of your brand. Typography conveys personality and grabs a user’s attention while establishing the tone of your brand. Certain fonts can also improve scannability, legibility, readability, and even navigation. It’s important that the font or fonts you use are consistent throughout your digital experiences.
Tip 4: Minimize the steps to insights
It’s a fundamental tenet of UI/UX design that the fewer clicks a given action takes, the better. When embedding analytics, be sure to keep actions like filtering, exporting, etc., in one place in the host application so users don’t have to repeat the actions twice.
Think like a user: Would you want to first filter on the host application and then repeat the action again in the embedded analytics? Of course not. A seamless user experience (UX) means that when you do something once, it affects the entire application without you having to repeat steps.
Explore how you can implement these experiences and get inspired in the Sisense Embedded Playground.
Tip 5: Focus on ease of implementation
While good UI design makes a difference, it’s also important to be mindful of the cost, effort, and complexities of implementing seamless and consistent experiences.
Customizations that require developer skills and coding take considerable effort and increase time to market. These are also difficult to maintain over time. For example, upgrades can become a hassle due to backward compatibility issues. Changes to underlying infrastructure can break the code, requiring complex updates.
To avoid such hassles, find an analytics solution that makes rebranding and customization quick and easy. Using a solution that allows you to implement your changes via drag-and-drop, out-of-the-box capabilities that are always up to date with newly released versions helps you avoid some of these larger issues down the line. It also allows you to focus your efforts on data insights and application functionality instead of worrying about code, maintenance, or changes that can break your code.
Delivering standalone analytics solutions
Whether you choose to deliver analytics as a standalone product or service, or you embed them into your application, your analytics product should be an extension of your brand and visual story, and all the tips above remain true.
By white-labeling and customizing the look and feel of your analytic application, you deliver a consistent and great user experience! Sisense is equipped to allow you to put analytics where you need them and make them look and work the way you want. Whether you are creating your own solution from scratch or using ours, keeping these design tenets in mind will help you build an awesome product.
Shruthi Panicker is a Sr. Technical Product Marketing Manager with Sisense. She focuses on how Sisense can be leveraged to build successful embedded analytics solutions covering Sisense’s embedding and customization capabilities, developer experience initiative and cloud-native architecture. She holds a BS in Computer Science as well as an MBA and has over a decade of experience in the technology world.
Virtual Training During Covid-19: 5 Tips for CRM Professionals
The world is adjusting to a new reality that was unimaginable three months ago. COVID-19 has altered every aspect of our lives, introducing abrupt changes to the way businesses and communities operate. Everyone is and plans have certainly changed for in-person conferences, trainings, and seminars across all industries.
The COVID-19 crisis offers an important reflection point for CRM trainers to question the status quo and explore new, virtual approaches for delivering quality training programs. Here are a few tips to get the most out of your virtual CRM session or class.
Virtual CRM Training Tip #1: Set a strategy for format and questions
- Unexpected questions should not create undue pressure. Call on other resources within the training session. If there is a participant who can answer a question better than you, ask them to answer. Adding in a new voice also makes the call more interesting.
- Hypothetical questions can also be answered by those on the call who understand their processes better than the host of the virtual training session. Redirect the question to the asker or other participants with something like, “Excellent question; how would you handle the situation?”
- Clarify your strategy before the training by providing attendees with guidelines at the start. For example, ask for questions to be submitted in the chat window after designated sessions, while leaving enough time for Q&A.
Virtual CRM Training Tip #2: Reduce the Training Time
Virtual meetings should not go for more than an hour or two at a time. What would’ve been a day-long training might need to be shortened into several 2-hour sessions over a period of several days. Always include breaks for those exceptions where you need to go over the 2-hour mark.
Virtual CRM Training Tip #3: Murphy’s Law – Plan Accordingly
“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” – Murphy’s Law. Technology works most of the time, but it seems like the ideal time for things not to work is when you have 100 participants tuning in to your virtual training session. Test well in advance to resolve issues before showtime:
- Internet connection: If you have poor connections, consider plugging in. Invest in long ethernet cables and if possible, secondary WiFi access points.
- Mic quality: Computer sound or headphones can be unreliable. Ask someone to listen as you test prior to your go-live session. Purchase an external plug-and-play mic to ensure the best quality possible on important calls and videos. This inexpensive investment can make all the difference to your participants.
Computer updates and notifications: Calendar reminders or external chat notifications can be distracting and can impact the overall effectiveness of your virtual training session. Eliminate these distractions in advance by shutting down the necessary tools and turning off notifications. ““ is available on most PC computers and helps to automatically mute most notifications.- Computer updates: How often do you click the “update later” button when a computer software or application update notice pops up? Yeah, me too. In fact, I once delayed these updates so long that my computer initiated an automatic restart in the middle of a call. Take my word for it, go ahead and make those updates well in advance of your online training session.
Virtual CRM Training Tip #4: Get to Know Your Virtual Platform
The virtual platform you will use for your training session will include features you need to know to run the call effectively, such as: mute all participants, mute SPECIFIC participants, attachments, group chat, whiteboarding, presenting only specific programs, etc. Understand where the presenter options are and how to use them. If possible, secure a facilitator to assist you who can be responsible for muting / unmuting people and tracking incoming chat questions.
Virtual CRM Training Tip #5: Embrace the Unexpected
In any virtual training call, you are sure run into unknowns. Just go with it and embrace the unexpected. Be confident and handle any hiccups calmly.
Apply these helpful presentation tips from AKA, and you are sure to host a successful virtual CRM training session. Want more tips for your virtual workforce? Read these blogs:
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specializes in making it easier to do business, simplifying processes and reducing risks. With agility, expertise, and original industry solutions, we embrace projects other technology firms avoid—regardless of their complexity. As a true strategic partner, we help organizations slay the dragons that are keeping them from innovating their way to greatness. Call us at 212-502-3900!
Article by: Matthew Case | 212-502-3900
Matthew Case has worked with CRM for 9 years and with Microsoft Dynamics since CRM 2011. Specializing in CRM architecture, interface design, user adoption, and change management, he is driven by the desire to help users find ways to easier, more efficient work through software innovation.