Overview of Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop

This chapter provides an overview of Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop. It includes the following topics:

Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop is a client-side desktop application that is an extension to Microsoft Outlook. It allows the user to work with Oracle CRM On Demand in a native Microsoft Outlook environment. The data is accessible offline in Microsoft Outlook, and it can be synchronized with the Oracle CRM On Demand server when Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop is connected to the Internet. Oracle also supports an Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Lite product. For more information on Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Lite, see Overview of Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Lite.

About Using Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop

Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop centralizes essential business information in the familiar Microsoft Outlook environment. This centralization complements the existing capabilities that Oracle CRM On Demand provides. These features help the user to perform common interactions. The user can perform the following actions with Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop:

Log in Using Single Sign-On (SSO). Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop Single Sign-On (SSO) is a single sign-on feature that allows you to implement single sign-on for the Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop client. It supports standard Web browser functionality, such as HTTP forms, cookies, and process redirects. It also provides Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop users with a flexible sign-on system that supports Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) versions 1.0 and 2.0.
Manage Oracle CRM On Demand data. Users can manage Oracle CRM On Demand data such as accounts, contacts, leads, opportunities and activities, including appointments and tasks, directly in Microsoft Outlook.
Synchronize data. Performs bidirectional, incremental synchronization between Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop on the Microsoft Outlook and Oracle CRM On Demand, which helps to keep the data in these applications up-to-date and consistent.
Work while disconnected. Allows you to work with your records when you are disconnected from the Internet.

For your organization, some benefits include:

Increased user adoption of your business processes and tools. Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop does not require the user to use an application that the user is not familiar with.
Increased accessibility to data because the user is not required to log in to Oracle CRM On Demand to view and maintain Oracle CRM On Demand data.
Decreased training costs. Most users are already familiar with Microsoft Outlook. You can focus your training on Oracle CRM On Demand processes instead of spending time and resources on learning how to perform simple interactions.

Scenarios for Using Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop

This topic describes several scenarios of how you can use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop with Microsoft Outlook. It includes the following information:

Scenario for Working with an Activity That Is Associated with an Opportunity

This scenario gives one example of how you might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop with an activity that is associated with an opportunity. You might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop differently, depending on your business model.

On Friday afternoon, a sales manager reviews the Big Deal opportunity and realizes that it has been inactive for some time. The manager does the following work in Microsoft Outlook to assign the task to a sales representative:

Creates a new Microsoft Outlook task
Associates the Big Deal opportunity with the newly created Microsoft Outlook task, and completes the other details of the task
Sends the task to the assigned sales representative

On Monday, the representative uses Microsoft Outlook to view opportunities. The representative examines the opportunity and notices the new activity, notices the assignor, and realizes that an upcoming demonstration must be revised. To examine more information the representative drills down on the activity record. On Thursday, the representative finishes revising the demonstration and changes the activity status to Done.

To view the activities that are assigned and completed, on Friday, the sales manager uses a customized version of Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop to choose the Oracle CRM On Demand Activities view in the Activities Folder.

Scenario for Managing Contact Information

This scenario gives one example of how you might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop to manage contact information. You might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop differently, depending on your business model.

A sales representative works at High-Tech Office Expo and manages many customers, including a customer named Company Y. While at High-Tech Office Expo, the sales representative meets a new contact who is the CEO of Company X, which is a competitor of Company Y. The sales representative also encounters an old college friend who just moved to town. They trade contact information.

The sales representative creates a new contact in Microsoft Outlook and enters information about the CEO in this new contact record. While creating this contact, the representative links the contact to the existing Company X account. Because the representative must share this contact with colleagues, the representative clicks the Sharing Bar. Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop then marks the contact as shared and changes the Sharing Bar to an orange color, which indicates that the contact is shared.

In the same Contacts folder, the sales representative creates a new contact for the old college friend. Because the default option does not share the contact with Oracle CRM On Demand, the contact remains not shared.

The sales representative must call the VP of sales at Company Y, who is represented in Oracle CRM On Demand data as another contact. The representative finds the contact record and then locates the cell phone number for the contact. The contact record for the VP displays in Microsoft Outlook along with all the other contacts that the representative can normally view in Oracle CRM On Demand. In the meantime, another user at High-Tech Office Expo updates the contact information for the VP. When the sales representative synchronizes, Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop displays this updated information in Microsoft Outlook.

Scenario for Managing Account Information

This scenario gives one example of how you might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop to manage account information. You might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop differently, depending on your business model.

Company Z is one of the smaller accounts that a sales representative manages. Because Company Z recently relocated, the representative must update the address details that are associated with the account. The representative drills down on the account in the accounts view and then enters the new address in the form.

To make sure that everyone on the account team is aware of the new location, the representative must send an email to the account team. To include all account team members, the representative uses the Email to Account Team button in Microsoft Outlook. Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop enters email addresses for the entire account team in an email message and then displays the message. The representative types a brief note about the new location and then sends the email.

While the representative is in the account record for Company Z, the representative decides to add a new contact to the account. To do this, the representative clicks Add Contact in the Contacts section, and then Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop displays the Account Contacts SalesBook dialog box where the representative can select a contact for association or create a new contact.

Scenario for Associating an Email with an Opportunity

This scenario gives one example of how you might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop to associate an email with an opportunity. You might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop differently, depending on your business model.

A sales representative opens an email from an external contact’s company. This email explains that the purchasing director at the external contact’s company has changed. The representative knows that this information is important for the Big Deal opportunity. The representative shares this email with the Oracle CRM On Demand server and associates it with the opportunity, making sure that the entire sales team who are working on the opportunity are aware that there is a new purchasing director. Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop synchronizes this information with the Oracle CRM On Demand server as an activity record that is associated with the opportunity, along with the original email as an activity attachment.

When the representative shares the email with the Oracle CRM On Demand server, the representative can choose the sales data with which the email is associated. To associate the external contact with the email, the representative clicks the Contacts button and selects the contact that is suggested in the list. To associate the Big Deal opportunity with the email, the representative types the name in the Opportunity control. If the external contact is associated with the Big Deal opportunity, then Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop presents the opportunity in the list of suggested opportunities when the representative clicks Opportunity. The representative chooses the record for the Big Deal opportunity, and then Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop links the email to the opportunity.

Scenario for Managing an Opportunity

This scenario gives one example of how you can use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop to manage an opportunity. You might use Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop differently, depending on your business model.

After meeting with a contact at a strategic account, a sales representative learns of an upcoming Request For Proposal (RFP) that might help to improve the sales pipeline for the next quarter. To complete this work, the representative uses Oracle CRM On Demand Desktop to create a new opportunity in Microsoft Outlook.

To begin, the representative clicks Opportunity on the toolbar, which opens a new opportunity form. The representative enters details of the new opportunity, including the name, related account, lead quality, sales stage, close date, and so on. The representative knows two contacts at the account, and that these contacts decide whether or not to place an order. Therefore, the representative associates these contacts with the opportunity. The representative can choose one or more products and associate them with the opportunity. To indicate the projected value of the opportunity and to describe how that value is distributed across related products for the opportunity, the representative can assign expected revenue values for the opportunity.

When the representative saves these details in Microsoft Outlook and then synchronizes with the Oracle CRM On Demand server, Oracle CRM On Demand makes the details available to other users who have access to the account and contacts.