Microsoft Dynamics 365: The Definitive Guide (2021)
Are you a business looking to generate new leads, manage a customer database to engage with your prospects, and support your customer with their queries?
Then you must surely have gone on a whirlwind search to finding the best Customer Relationship Management software for your business. I understand choosing the right CRM can get tricky. Because there are hundreds of CRM software solutions available in the market and you need only one that deem fit for your business. And that’s why I am here to help you with that today.
If you are someone who is trying to understand what Dynamics 365 is all about, this blog is for you.
If you are someone who is evaluating Dynamics 365 for your business, this blog is for you.
If you are someone who wants a comparison of Dynamics 365 with Salesforce and other companies who are leading in the CRM segment, this blog is for you.
When I say this blog is for you, it is because, we have got everything you need right from building the awareness around the need for having a CRM to considering what license works best for your business.
So, let’s get started from the ground rules of Dynamics 365.
What is Dynamics 365?
Launched in 2016, Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers an integrated solution for business of all kinds. Perhaps, Microsoft is one the first Tech companies to offer an integrated solution that combines CRM and ERP.
What is Microsoft Dynamics 365 used for?
Dynamics 365 is used to bring business units together by connecting people and data across applications. It is widely popular for its user-friendly interface as most of the businesses are familiar with Office 365 which makes navigation easy for the first time users.
In addition to making smarter decisions with built-in AI, Dynamics 365 can easily help you integrate with plethora of applications without having to change the course of your business direction.
How does Microsoft Dynamics 365 work?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 brings all the customer data and sales information together into a single system making it a single source of truth. By doing that, it gives users a complete picture of their customer journey lifecycle that can help them reach out on mediums that works best for their customers and close deals faster.
Dynamics 365 automates the most critical and time-consuming activities across business functions allowing businesses to operate effectively and more efficiently.
Related Blog: How Microsoft Dynamics 365 can improve your business Growth in 2021?
Dynamics 365 versions
From the humble beginnings of offering a basic contact management solution to keeping a track of prospects and existing customers with a functionality to run email campaigns way back in 2003. Microsoft has launched its first ever CRM called Microsoft CRM 1.0.
Ever since the launch, for the past 17 years, Microsoft has been relentlessly working towards providing a more personalized and targeted experience to small, medium and enterprise businesses. In October, 2016 Microsoft rebranded its CRM software as Dynamics 365. Combining both the Microsoft business products (CRM & ERP)
Within Dynamics 365, Microsoft has allowed customers to choose which module they’d prefer based on their business requirements. The two of the modules cover – CRM and ERP services.
Learn more about Dynamics 365 versions
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement
Dynamics 365 for Sales
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service
Dynamics 365 for Marketing
Dynamics 365 for Field Service
Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation
While Dynamics 365 CE covers the CRM applications,
Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations, Dynamics 365 Business Central are fulfilling the ERP needs of the customer.
Dynamics 365 Pricing:
Dynamics 365 Licensing Guide (June 2021) – PDF Download
Dynamics 365 Licensing (Team Users & Full Users)
In almost every organization, we have two types of users who are on the tool working most of their time in generating reports, data sheets and other insight driven information. While some of the users don’t necessarily have a need to work on the tool as much as the former user does. It can be a simple task such as entering time sheets or updating records.
For users, who will have limited exposure to the full functionality of the Dynamics 365, a team user license is ideal instead of having a full user license which is comparatively expensive.
Know more about Dynamics 365 Pricing updates here
What are Dynamics 365 capabilities?
To make better and informed decisions, Microsoft has bundled CRM and ERP capabilities into one power packed solution in the name of Dynamics 365. It has all the features and capabilities in seamless functioning of a business unit.
Here are some of the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics 365.
Dynamics 365 for Marketing
Dynamics 365 for Marketing allows you to quickly automate and run campaigns at lightning speed. It helps you build stronger relationships and also improve the overall productivity and performance of the business.
Some of the capabilities of D365 Marketing that keeps competitors at the edge of their seats are,
Multi-Channel Campaigns
Lead Management
Event Management
Templates
Marketing Insights
Dynamics 365 for Sales
Dynamics 365 Sales brings digital intelligence into every business. From tracking sales opportunities to providing insights, Dynamics 365 sales plays a pivotal role in building exceptional experiences by driving more qualified leads.
Pro Tip: Here’s what VP of Dynamics 365 in his own words about the power of D365 Sales when integrated with LinkedIn Sales.
“When you integrate LinkedIn Sales Insights with Dynamics 365 Sales you can automatically import the latest company profile data, such as size and growth of specific departments and job titles, from LinkedIn Sales Insights into a matched account in Dynamics 365, to help keep your data up to date,” said Alam, Corporate Vice President of Microsoft Dynamics 365 during the April Wave 1 release updates.
Actionable Insights
Relationship Management
Sales Productivity
Sales Performance
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service
Dynamics 365 Customer Service empowers your customer service teams to respond quickly to customer requests and guide agents using agent-facing bots to surface relevant information and provide recommendations.
Omni-channel engagement
Unified Knowledge
Dynamics 365 for Field Service
Dynamics 365 Field Service time and again exceeds the customer satisfaction levels with intelligent scheduling, native mobile support and remote asset monitoring to help you accomplish tasks faster than estimated time.
From accurate billing to SLA management, you can build service agreements and manage them all from within the application.
Service Agreements
Inventory Management
Dynamics 365 for Retail (Commerce)
From giving customers the convenience and flexibility through its Omni-channel experience, Dynamics 365 for Retail (Commerce) is helping businesses understand the growing customer needs to engage.
Unified Commerce
Intelligent operations
Customer Engagement
Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation
Get the most out of billable resources using a unified scheduling engine with real-time resource visibility using Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation (Project Operations).
Some of the capabilities of Dynamics 365 PSA include,
Project Planning
Team Collaboration
Opportunity Management
Dynamics 365 for Human Resources
Dynamics 365 for Human Resources is a comprehensive set of HR applications with Office and LinkedIn integration. It helps you hire the right talent by streamlining process using automated interview scheduling.
Hiring the right talent
HR Administration
Dynamics 365 CRM vs Salesforce Comparison
In a highly competitive market, holding a major chunk of the user base consistently for years is no mean thing and Salesforce was able to do that effortlessly for quite some time now. While they continue to dominate the CRM segment, there’s also a lot of discussions around what the future has in store for the CRM giant? Because, Dynamics 365 is pacing up with functionalities that businesses of today are in need of. It’s deep integration capabilities and familiar interface is becoming the guiding light for businesses of all sizes. Not just that, Dynamics 365 offers advanced BI capabilities that can propel any business forward clearly becoming a direct choice for businesses to choose Dynamics 365 over Salesforce for their CRM needs.
While Salesforce is fully cloud-based, Dynamics 365 still having its traces on premise. Having a clear advantage of being able to support businesses that are on premise.
As we drill down into more advantages, the simple interface, seamless integration with other Microsoft suite of products is a clear competitive advantage for Dynamics 365 while Salesforce’s wide range of applications and plugins makes a better cut.
Dynamics 365 CRM for Small Business
There’s a common misconception to many of the early stage and small businesses is that, Microsoft Dynamics 365 is too big for business of their size and it is cost intensive. But if you look at the close proximity businesses today have with the technology, it is all because of cloud-technology. It has made life easy for businesses of all sizes.
Using Microsoft Dynamics 365, you can now have the privilege to choose applications on a subscription model. Which means, it requires no server setups, no dedicated systems or no infrastructure required to get your operations on the flow. Because, the cloud subscription comes all included. So, less hassle to your business which can translate to more productivity.
Dynamics 365 CRM for Small Business Forum
Dynamics CRM for Mid-level companies
Is Microsoft best fit for SMBs?
Well, to answer that, Microsoft caters to businesses of all sizes. As you know organization size often has a heavy influence on the technology requirements and the financial decisions in a company. While small businesses find a challenge in going with the right CRM for their business, mid-level companies or SMBs are relatively in a better position to afford Dynamics 365 for increased ROI.
Here are some of the reasons why businesses of all sizes should consider choosing Dynamics 365 for their CRM or ERP needs.
Flexible Licensing Options
Easy Integrations
24*7 Data Access (Anywhere & Anytime)
So, if you are looking at what Microsoft has for SMBs, it has designed a Business Edition for SMBs to address their key challenges.
What does it have?
Inventory Management
Financial Management
Project Management
Customer Service
Sales & Support
Being a cloud-solution, any small and medium businesses (SMBs) can easily benefit and grow in size and number.
Dynamics 365 for Enterprises
Enterprise companies with over 250+ employee count are more likely to invest on technology to position themselves ahead of their competition. Because, the management clearly understands the need to have a robust security along with a process that can help them do their job better. With rising employee count, an enterprise resource planning software is essential for a seamless operational experience.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP and CRM services are meant to solve the challenges businesses of all kinds experience. It enables business productivity and help in accelerating digital transformation to meet customer growing needs.
Dynamics 365 for Healthcare
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Healthcare offers a comprehensive suite of solutions for the healthcare industry. Previously, healthcare consultations are more of in-person but with the on-going pandemic, the need for having a virtual consultation has become a major differentiator which has forced the industry to go digital. And that’s exactly where Microsoft Dynamics 365 Healthcare is making a significant difference is meeting the healthcare requirements on-the-go.
From virtual consultations to keeping track of patient information and data, healthcare industry is experiencing a super surge in admissions and discharge due to the on-going pandemic. So, with handling so much of volume at hand, health care professionals and organizations can leverage the full functionalities of Dynamics 365.
A recent survey has revealed that 93% of patients need timely access to their medical history. 71 % of patients have indicated that they expect healthcare specialists to provide care through a mutually-agreed digital channel of communication about all the information on decisions about the treatment.
Here’s what Dynamics 365 Healthcare is packed with
Care Management
Home Health
Patient Access
Patient Outreach
Patient Service Centre
Health Assistant
Related Blog: Top 5 Reasons to Use Microsoft Dynamics for Healthcare
Dynamics 365 for Manufacturing
Being a process-heavy industry, manufacturing industry is bound to experience huge volumes of data that can add significant value to business if only the information was put to good use. Thanks to the rising customer expectations and the need for digital transformation, the industry has seen a massive improvement in terms of their technological investments.
A report by IDC predicts that by 2020, 60% of all manufacturing supply chains will have benefited from digital transformation.
For over 2 decades, Microsoft has been at the forefront of operational management across the manufacturing companies. In fact, Manufacturing industry contributes to one of the highest share in the business verticals among the Dynamics users.
Let us know take a look at how Dynamics 365 for Manufacturing is helping businesses at large.
Streamline Asset Management
Digitalize Operations
Improve Customer Experiences
Increase On-Field Productivity
Related Blog: How to transform your Manufacturing Business with Microsoft Dynamics 365?
Dynamics 365 for Retail
Deliver safe and personalize shopping experiences across physical and digital channels using Dynamics 365 Retail – An Omni-channel solution with Point of Sale, Store and merchandise management capabilities that bring more dimensions to any retail business.
With Dynamics 365 Retail, you can leverage both CRM and ERP solutions as it allows retailers to have a complete view of business that includes, order history, customer data, pricing and a lot more all from a centralized system.
Here’s what retailers experience while using Dynamics 365 Retail
Unified E-commerce
Inventory Management (More feasible)
Business Optimization based on Insights
Create exceptional shopping experiences
Related Blog: Why Choose Dynamics 365 for Retail Business? – Reasons and Benefits
Dynamics 365 for Nonprofit
Microsoft is providing an out-of-the-box solution for Non-profit called Dynamics 365 Non-profit Accelerator. It is at the forefront of retail innovation by easily connecting and unifying customer-centric retail experiences with intelligent, adaptive business solutions.
Some of the pre-built features that Microsoft offers to the Non-profit users are.
Pre-built dashboards
Workflows
Sample apps
Templates
Customer engagement
Content management
Data connectors
Donor Profile
Dynamics 365 for Education
Schools can gain insights into student data with the help of Dynamics 365 integrated solutions, that allows them to help improve the learning standards of their students.
Here are some of the solutions Dynamics 365 has for education.
Personalized student profiles
Student Portal
Cases, requests and ticketing
Knowledge base for efficient service
Learn more about Dynamics 365 for Education
What’s new in Dynamics 365?
Last year has been quite a challenging year for all of us with the sudden emergence of the pandemic which affected businesses across all the industries. But, on the brighter side of it, it has forced businesses to go digital and there’s no better time than now to build digital capabilities to stay afloat.
Microsoft, in its pursuit of becoming an undisputed leader in the CRM segment, has come up with wave 1 release updates for the year, 2021. So, let’s quickly check out what’s new in Dynamics 365.
Connected Customer Experiences
Dynamics 365 is committed to deliver personalization at scale. From data insights to understanding customer preferences better, Dynamics 365 helps you find new ways to engage and delight customers with more of a human and empathetic approach.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing
Improved changes in customer journey orchestration brings customer experience and marketing automation together to engage customers in real-time across all the functions such as sales, commerce and service.
Enhanced Integration with Teams bring new webinar capabilities within Microsoft Teams.
Redesigned Email Editor helps business create impactful and personalized content powdered by AI.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales
In order to guide sellers to close deals faster, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales has seen some major improvements to bring in productivity within the sales team in an organization during the Dynamics 365 Sales wave 1 release updates of 2021.
Sellers can now automate time-consuming sales tasks
Optimized seller workspace
Embedded Teams chat within Dynamics 365
Conversational Intelligence to auto extract actionable insights from sales calls.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service
Dynamics 365 Field Service + Microsoft Dynamics 365 Remote Assist + Microsoft Teams = Enabling on-field technicians to stay connected for work orders, information in real-time.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce brings Business to Consumer (B2C) and Business to Business (B2B) onto a single unified retail commerce platform to better understand, engage and serve customers.
Here are some of the new updates from wave 1 release update.
New AI-powered intelligent shopping features for more personal and relevant shopping experiences.
Synergize task management between D365 and Microsoft Teams to improve productivity.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance
Dynamics 365 Finance has been consistently driving business growth by providing real-time insights, visibility into operations, predictive outcomes and data driven decisions for financial organizations.
Some of the most anticipated features from the recent wave 1 release are.
Intelligent cash flow forecasting
Power of AI into finance process (To help you predict company’s cash flow)
New electronic invoicing service
Public preview of tax calculation service.
Why choose DemandDynamics?
Whether you intend to integrate new apps with Microsoft Dynamics 365 or an existing stack, DemandDynamics is here to help.
To begin with, our team of experts evaluate your current and future needs to strategically align the Dynamics 365 implementation with your specific business goals and objectives to make sure we leave no coin unturned.
As a Microsoft Gold Partner, we provide the best Microsoft Dynamics 365 Consulting and Implementation services in the industry to meet your business needs with insights and expertise that increase productivity and drive digital transformation.
Our clients love our unique and scalable Pay-As-You-Use model that offers exclusive benefits when compared to traditional Microsoft engagement models.
Over the years, we have set ourselves ahead of the competition, only because, we are:
Affordable | Flexible | Scalable | Available | Agile
There’s no one-size-fits-for-all in the CRM industry. You can be a business of any size, small, medium or enterprise, we understand the hassle you have been through. Every business that is in dire need of a customized solution is no longer in the offing. It’s here.
Talk to Dynamics 365 experts today!
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All you need to know about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Training Service
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a platform where all your business application that are required for your business are available.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Training Service is the solution to provide proper Dynamics 365 Training to your team and employees. Training is the foundation on which the success of a business solution is built, and not offering enough training can have a severe knock-on effect on your business. Not only will the new system not drive the results it could and should, if your people aren’t properly engaged with the systems, they use every day their overall engagement is likely to slump too. Unengaged employees can be hugely expensive, leading to lower productivity and high employee turnover.
Good training is not a cost, but an investment; how well your employees are using your new system is critical to your business results. Luckily, there are a number of places to find great Dynamics 365 training, whatever your circumstances.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Training Service is one of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Solutions offered with Dynamics 365 for your business.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Partners/Providers offer online and onsite customized training services. To further enhance performance and productivity of your D365 implementation, they also offer integrations with external systems, international roll-outs, performance tuning, BI reporting, testing, and test automation services.
With Dynamics 365 training and skills, your workforce can better help you realize the technology’s full potential and maximize your ROI.
Firms transition to new models and processes helping to ensure that your workers have the skills they need can provide you the business edge you need.
It’s true that workers of all levels can use Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to good advantage. But these sophisticated tools work even harder for you when your teams are trained to use them.
Skilling up your workforce can give you a business edge. People working across an organization from sales, marketing, service, finance, to operations and even human resources may have great communication and other skills, but they might not have the training to take advantage of the latest technology.
CEOs whose businesses provide more advanced upskilling programs—a clear commitment to developing employees’ capabilities and advancing their technical, soft, and digital skills—” cite improved engagement, innovation and ability to attract and retain talent.” By encouraging and supporting Dynamics 365 training, you can help increase your company’s ROI and its success in today’s uncertain business world.
Another benefit of Training is that you might just increase employee satisfaction when you encourage and support more training. Learning is a necessity in today’s world. Plus, it contributes to a sense of job satisfaction and helps boost employee confidence. When members of your team earn certifications in Dynamics 365, they can make a greater impact—not only on their careers but also on your company’s success.
The module Training Organization helps you organize training measures - from the selection of internal and external coaches, to the administration of participants, right through to the printing of certificates.
2 Types of Training are:
1. Classroom Training - Traditional way of training up your team is to learn from a real live expert. Instructor-led, classroom-based training can give your employees hands-on product experience, with the added benefit of having a specially trained expert on hand to answer questions. Classroom training often features group activities and discussions, which can also be useful for getting the skills learned in training to stick.
2. Online Training - training option is e-learning. E-learning offers a huge number of benefits, including reduced costs and expenses, and the convenience of learning in your own time.
“With Dynamics 365 training and skills, your workforce can better help you realize the technology’s full potential and maximize your ROI.”
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