iMIS Rumors

In the last few months since Metisc has updated their iMIS CRM offerings things have changed substantially on the world market. Now more than ever customers are seeing the value in free open source software as a viable alternative to expensive and proprietary closed source solutions.

 Today Metisc announced new iMIS Authentication Services that allow customers to deploy sites based on the following packages - and have those packages authenticate their users against an iMIS CRM database:

1. Media Wiki - The web’s most advance Wiki System
2. PHPBB - The web’s most popular forum and community management solution
3. WordPress - The web’s most popular blogging tool.

Businesses and Not-For-Profit organizations running the IMIS CRM system can now deploy powerful content driven sites - and ensure that their content is viewed and updated by approved users. These systems are invaluable to trade associations, legal associations, membership groups and similar who’s very viability and business depends on providing value added services to paid members.

In the past, Metisc has released support for linking the open source content management systems DRUPAL and JOOMLA to iMIS. These new releases reaffirm Metisc’s commitment to the open source market, and further establishes Metisc’s position as the world’s leading vendor of iMIS CRM and Open Source Authentication Services.

iMIS Authentication for PHPBB and Media Wiki is shipping now.  The WordPress version will ship December 15, 2008.

For further information contact Metisc at 1-888-4-METISC or visit www.metisc.com on the web.

Metisc today confirmed that V1.0 of MiSync for Microsoft Dynamics CRM will ship on Friday October 31st. In a surprise anouncement, this will not be a Beta, but will be a fully functional production ready version that includes full one way synchronization of Contacts from Microsoft Dynamics CRM to shared folders in Microsoft Exchange.

Metisc had earlier announced that a beta was expected by the end of October, but sources today confirmed that instead of shipping a beta version, Metisc will be shipping a fully production ready version - with Synchronization limited strictly to contacts.

Existing MiSync users of the ASI iMIS CRM system will need a license upgrade if they are switching to Microsoft Dynamics CRM as a synchronization source.

For further information on MiSync for Microsoft Dyanamic CRM or ASI iMIS CRM, contact Metisc directly at www.metisc.com

MiSync, the server side tool that allows direct synchronization between Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Exchange Server, will see beta 1.0 release around the end of October 2008.

Beta 1.0 will support the Synchronization of Contacts from Dynamics CRM to Exchange. Synchronization will be conducted 100% server side and will not require any client software to be installed on user workstations. Beta 1.0 will support any Email client that can access Exchange Shared Folders including Outlook, Outlook Web Access (OWA), Entourage for Mac OSX, Kmail for Linux and Evolution for Windows, OSX and Linux.

Metisc will release a followup beta (1.1) planned for mid November that will support updating of Calendars. Up until now, calendars can only be updated if users have installed the Microsoft CRM client for Outlook. This has the drawback of requiring users to be logged in for synchronization to occur. Many customers have shared that their sales teams and executives are not always logged in to the network. This causes problems when Personal Assistants, team members and other staff need access to up-to-date calendars. A typical problem occurs when a Financial advisor is out of the office, and a PA may double book an appointment because the advisor has not synchronized with CRM while out.

The final Beta (1.2) will add support for Tasks and Activities and is expected to be avialable around the end of November.

The fully functional system will ship December 2008 - and Metisc has shared that customers ordering the software prior to shipping date will be eligible for a 25% discount on standard pricing.

For more information, contact Metisc at www.metisc.com

Note: MiSync is also available for the ASI iMIS CRM system. The current version 1.0.6 shipped in May of 2008. If you are an ASI iMIS CRM user in the Not-For-Profit market and wish to see information regarding MiSync for iMIS, then please contact Metisc directly.

Up to now there has been no tool in the ASI IMIS CRM world equivalent to the Microsoft CRM Offline Client. The Offline Client allows users of Microsoft CRM systems the ability to take snapshots of data offline and access them while out the office and on the road.

Now ASI iMIS users can rejoice - no longer the poor cousins to Microsoft CRM - as Metisc is announcing Version 1.0.0.6 of iRemote - the leading iMIS Offline Client for the iMIS CRM system.

In our opinion, when an organization of the size and sophistication of Microsoft recognizes the need for an offline client - it shows just how important such a feature is. The lack of this feature for the ASI iMIS CRM system has been a major stumbling block for the older ASI system as it seeks to rejuvinate its product line to compete against Microsofts latest offerings.

The iRemote Offline CRM Client for ASI iMIS is available immediately and provides an instant solution to offline iMIS data browsing. 

Metisc, the leading open source developer for Microsoft CRM and ASI’s iMIS CRM systems today announces the release of its JOOMLA Authentication Services.

Traditionally, customers wanting to authenticate website users against their CRM system have had very few choices. Metisc now provides a cost effective solution allowing JOOMLA powered websites to authenticate their users against customer/member records in their ASI iMIS database.

Metisc’s JOOMLA Authentication solution works with ASI iMIS Versions 4, 10 and 15. It also with iMIS sites with or without ASI iBO.NET services. If you do not have iBO.NET - then Metisc’s JOOMLA Authentication Solution will read user information directly from the underlying SQL database that is powering your CRM System. 

JOOMLA Authentication Services is the latest in a series of middleware products from Metisc. Other solutions include a DRUPAL Authentication Services, and the cross platform MBO WebServices - the only truely cross platform WebServices API to support access to both Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ASI iMIS CRM - allowing developers to deploy websites that can work on EITHER CRM target platform without recoding.

For more information on Metisc and JOOMLA Authentication for ASI iMIS - visit their website at www.metisc.com

Today Metisc announced its support for accessing the ASI iMIS CRM system by users of the  Microsoft Entourage Email client on the Macintosh OSX platform.

“To date, Microsoft Entourage users on OSX have not been able to access information in their ASI iMIS CRM databases. We now support Entourage users with our MiSync product - allowing direct synchronization of CRM data from ASI iMIS into Microsoft Exchange. Once data is in Exchange, it can be accessed via the Entourage Email client for OSX.” said a Metisc spokesperson.

This support is available now. If you are interested in learning more, contact metisc at www.metisc.com

Metisc today announced that MiSync for Microsoft Dynamics CRM (V3 and V4) will release in Q4 of 2008. MiSync provides true server side replication of contacts and other important CRM information - directly into Microsoft Exchange Server.

The MiSync solution eliminates the need to have an Outlook Plugin. Organizations who do not want the burden or expense of maintaining CRM plugins on Outlook desktops across the corporation will find MiSync an invaluable tool. 

A key benefit of a direct server side synchronization process is that you do not have to wait for an Outlook client to be fired up for Synchronization to occur. In the event that you have external staff who are not in the office, you can be left with users with out of date calendars or information due to workstations being turned off. MiSync overcomes this problem by allowing you to schedule synchronizations to occur at regular time intervals directly from CRM into Exchange and Active Directory.

In addition MiSync allows users of Macintosh workstations running OSX and Microsoft Entourage to access CRM Contacts and other information. To date - Mac users have not been able to access CRM information - by synchronizing Microsoft CRM directly with Exchange, Mac users with Entourage can gain access to CRM data via shared folders.

MiSync for ASI iMIS CRM system is already shipping, the addition of Microsoft Dyamics CRM as a Synchronization Source will be completed in Q4 of 2008. For further information - visit the Metisc website at www.metisc.com

A commonly asked question at Metisc is “How do i synchronize my iMIS members with my Smartphone?”.

Most smartphones are capable of synchronizing their contact information with Microsoft Outlook. So the question becomes, how do i get my iMIS contacts into Outlook?

The easiest and most cost effective way is to use the MiSync iMIS to Outlook and/or Exchange module. MiSync will synchronize your iMIS membership data to your Exchange or Outlook System - and then Microsoft Active Sync will synchronize your contacts onto your Windows Smartphone PDA or your Pocket PC.

If you are using a Palm Pilot or Palm based Treo phone such as the Centro then the steps are the same. Instead of using Active Sync to synchronize between Outlook and your Palm device, you will use the free software provided by Palm and included with your device.

For blackberry users, you can use MiSync to synchronize iMIS to your Exchange server, and then use RIM’s (the maker of Blackberry) Exchange Push tools to synchronize from Exchange to your Blackberry devices.

If you are using a PDA from other manufacturers, then you can check your PDA instructions on how to Synchronize your contacts between Outlook and your PDA. Most PDA phones include this functionality out of the box.

So the next time you want to make sure that you have the latest contact information for your customers at your fingertips, consider using MiSync to do the hard work for you!

SMS Texting has become a huge part of our lives. And it seems to be a technology that has widespread appeal not only with the business crowd, but also with younger generations.

SMS Texting is an easy and cost effective way to send text messages to large groups of people. It has the advantage of being able to touch people whereever they are - whether they are on the internet or not.

Savvy businesses and membership organizations understand the power of texting and are harnessing it to help drive revenues and memberships. Whether you are trying to organize a political rally, or help save the whales - if you need to get a message to your customers and members, then SMS Texting is a great option.

Metisc’s iMAIL for iMIS provides an easy to use, safe, secure and 100% legal way for iMIS customers to add bulk emailing, faxing and SMS messaging to their systems. This inexpensive and high value tool works with numerous third party communications and delivery systems including Xpedite (for fax and sms), Blue Hornet and Magnet Mail.

So if you are looking for a quick, easy and highly cost effective way to get started with SMS, Fax or  Email marketing campaigns, then look no further than iMAIL by Metisc.

You’ve all seen them. Hordes of smug business people running around with their Blackberrys like they are members of some elite crowd. Dashing off emails and looking like they own the world. Well, just maybe they do! Because how cool is it to be able to get your email and contact information any time of the day, any where in the world? Like totally!

So now have a rabid case of Blackberry envy. You rush out and pick up one for yourself, and may be a dozen or so for everyone else in the office. Perfect - you install the Blackberry Synchronization tools into Microsoft Exchange and in just moments you are up and running. Now your emails are popping up on your Blackberries 24×7 and you are in Blackberry heaven!

Or are you?

Hey, what about my iMIS contacts? My Blackberry is nothing more than a paperweight when it comes to working with my real contacts - those in my iMIS database.

Well fret no more, because Metisc has you covered. Simply install our MiSync software and you can be synchronizing your iMIS contacts into Microsoft Exchange in just minutes. And MiSync deals with the notoriously famous iMIS “Cell Phone Field” issue. With MiSync your Blackberries can be accessing iMIS contacts in minutes. This is a production proven solution that works for MiSync customers.

The elegance of this solution is that it reinforces Microsoft Exchange as your corporate communications hub. Countless businesses are already running Microsoft Exchange and RIM’s Blackberry Synchronization tools. It’s a known standard that works. Both Microsoft and RIM back their products with solid support. So using MiSync to bridge your iMIS system into your Exchange/Blackberry environment makes a lot of business sense. 

So if you are looking for a highly cost effective and simple way to integrate iMIS with Blackberries - consider using MiSync.