It’s Wednesday which means it’s time for another CRM MVP Q&A blog post, last week it was Andrii from the Ukraine and today we are hoping over to France and an MVP whose toolkit is bursting with CRM tools which he has mostly crafted himself.

Tanguy has written so many fantastic CRM tools that he decided to put them all into one tool called – XrmToolBox which is available on codeplex.

The XRMToolBox currently has a splash screen and if you want to remove this then please donate to Tanguy and you can find more details on his latest blog post XrmToolBox : Donate and get rid of the sponsor screen

I would like to thank Tanguy for answering my questions and all the CRM MVP’s who have answered the questions. Any CRM MVP’s who haven’t yet answered the questions, please jump on board.

I am a fan of Rockstar 365 profiles, it’s a fun and quick way to quickly summarize the important details of a person, you can look at Tanguy’s profile here – http://rockstar365.com/TanguyTOUZARD . The pictures below are the highlights of Tanguy’s profile

Tanguy TOUZARD CRM MVP Q&A

1. Name, current job title and social media links please
Tanguy TOUZARD
CRM Technical consultant
Social :
Twitter url : http://www.twitter.com/TanguyTouzard
Blog : http://mscrmtools.blogspot.com
Website : http://www.javista.fr

2. What does an average day at work look like
Essentially deployment audits and project work. My lunch break is when I contribute to the CRM community

3. What different roles/Job titles have you had whilst using CRM
I guess I had each and every possible role : technical, functionnal, trainer, etc.

4. What job did you did before you starting using CRM
Nothing, I started to work on Dynamics CRM during an internship at Microsoft France

5. What was the first version of Microsoft Dynamics CRM you worked with and how long have you been using Microsoft Dynamics CRM
I started with CRM 1.2 in October 2003

6. How do you stay up to date with the CRM
I read a lot of blogs and articles about Dynamics CRM and do some proof of concept/training when I have free time

7. How do you find time to contribute to the CRM community whilst doing your job
Again, lunch break ! 30 minutes to eat, 1 hour for the community

8. What advice would you give to someone who wants to have a successful career in Microsoft Dynamics CRM?
As a technical guy, my answer might be weird but Dynamics CRM is not just about customization and development. It’s first about understanding your customer business rules and needs. If you understand that, being able to understand and master the technical parts is easy. If you understand what your customer needs, you win.

9. What where your first impressions of CRM 2013 and what do you think now.
First impression : wow ! Really nice new UI, but not so many new features as expected.
Now : New UI seems to be sometime a disadvantage to win projects since it misses enough contrast. And I can leave with existing features, it makes my job as a technical guy more interesting than just customizing the platform.

10. What one feature would you add to CRM 2013
Polymorphinc relationships ! It’s kind of MVP’s private joke during summits but being able to define a lookup to target multiple entities types will help a lot in many projects.

11. Most annoying feature of CRM 2013
UI style. Microsoft, give us ability to add colors in a supported way

12. You favourite 2 CRM blogs (I have filled the first one in for you)

I dont’t have favorite blogs. I use feedly to aggregate more than 80 blogs related to Microsoft Dynamics CRM and so, I don’t focus specificaly on one (or three) blogs. And yes, your blog is part of the 80 

13. What year will Microsoft Dynamics CRM have more customers than Sales force
Can’t tell. Or if I could, I certainly would be able to predict Euromillions result (kind of european lottery, for people who don’t know it) and I will be rich.

14. Are you doing more CRM projects with CRM online? Do you think it will all be online in the future
Most of project I do are with OnPremise. Most of leads are talking about CRM Online.

15. What is the best tool/solution you have used recently
Should I say the XrmToolBox ? Well, apart of my tools, Ribbon Workbench just rocks !

16. What CRM certifications do you have, do you try and keep up to date with CRM certifications
I have all CRM 4.0 certicifications, only one in CRM 2011 (customization) and plan to get all CRM 2013.

17. How important is it to have good business analytical skills working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
A lot ! If you don’t have these skills, don’t do projects with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

18. How useful is it to have programming knowledge to become a good Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professional?
A lot (again) ! Even if Microsoft Dynamics CRM is more and more capable to be extended with just customization, there will always be specific needs that require custom code.

19. What knowledge/experience do you have with software/systems which integrate with Microsoft Dynamics CRM e.g. (sharepoint, SQL Server, Scribe, Etc)
I am capable to install/configure quite all softwares around Dynamics CRM (Windows Server, AD, IIS, SQL, RS, SharePoint) but I’m not a specialist. As I am curious, I enjoy understanding how they work and what I can do with them.

20. How often do you travel as a Microsoft Dynamics CRM Professional?
Never.

21. Can you see yourself not using CRM in your career in the future
For the moment, no. But I’m sure somedays I will surely have to work with different softwares.

22. What is favourite part of being a CRM MVP
Having access to the product team, be able to meet other MVP and I’m honest, there are a lot of cool advantages that come with the award (MSDN subscription, MVP Summit, free softwares for MVP’s)

23. What are your hobbies outside of CRM
Cinema and reading. Spending time with my 4 month old baby boy

24. What was the last book you read and what was the last film you watched
I’m currently reading Game of throne, which is excellent !
Last movie was « The Island »

25. Has CRM ever got you in trouble with your partner/family.
Never.

26. Have you friends ever told you to stop talking/tweeting/blogging about CRM? What does your partner/family member(s) think of CRM
No

27. Tell me something interesting/unusual about yourself
Don’t know… I have my black belt in Judo

28. Who is the first CRM MVP you remember reading/seeing
I think it was Ronal Lemmen

29. Tips for someone who wants to become a CRM MVP
You shouldn’t want to become a MVP and work hard for it. It is because you work hard for the community that you will eventually be awarded as a MVP.

Quickfire questions (choose one option and no explanation)

Steve Jobs or Bill Gates

Bill Gates

Javascript or .NET

.Net

Internet Explorer/Chrome/Firefox/Safari

Wine/Beer/Soft Drink

Wine

Certifications or Use CRM

Use CRM

twerking or tweeting

Tweeting