When CRM Online was first introduced one of the differences between it and on-premise versions was the free Internet Lead Capture capability. This tool would quickly allow you to create branded landing pages to capture Lead information and funnel it directly to CRM. It was easy to set up and easy to use, but I noticed in September that any new instances of CRM Online no longer had this feature.
I searched for announcements explaining why it was missing but couldn’t find anything, until October 30 when Microsoft posted this announcement that it was ending this free service. They also sent an email on November 15, 2012 to all Online CRM instances that were actively using it that this service would be ending on February 15, 2013.
To be fair, not many customers took advantage of this free service, so I see why it is being dropped in light of the major releases that Microsoft is planning starting with the December 2012 Update. The resources simply aren’t there to keep a service that is underused. Still, it was a nice little feature to the online service, especially for small businesses and because it was free.
So if you are using Internet Lead Capture be sure to read the announcement and look at your options for integrating web forms with CRM. There are several options in the MS Dynamics Marketplace and your Microsoft Partner is capable of helping fill the gap when this service ends.
To learn more about web form integration with CRM (for Leads as well as other entities) contact Cargas Systems, a certified Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner, offering software, services, and support that help improve your business processes.
By Dave Packard with Cargas Systems