Why Microsoft CRM? The Advantages of Dynamics 365

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM offers growing and mid-market organizations a powerful solution to manage business relationships and transform their sales, marketing, and customer service processes.

Dynamics 365 CRM’s practical functionality allows employees to be more productive and knowledgeable, and it gives executives deeper insight into performance, opportunities, and customer relationships. The sales and marketing features streamline the way businesses communicate with customers, prospects, and team members.

Why do businesses choose Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM over the competition?

• Its familiar and intuitive user interface ranks among the highest in user adoption.
• Its integrations with other Microsoft products offer a huge advantage.
• Its powerful built-in tools like LinkedIn Sales Navigator and assistant improve productivity and efficiency.
• Its flexible architecture and deployment options can be easily customized to meet an organization’s unique needs.
• Its competitive pricing and commitment to the product and partner support highlight the system’s longevity and quality.

Dynamics 365 CRM Demo

Learn what sets Dynamics 365 CRM apart from the competition. This short demo, led by a Cargas CRM consultant, gets right into the software, highlighting key features and benefits. Learn how Dynamics 365 CRM helps you sell more, sell faster, improve communication, and gain insight into your sales pipeline and your business.

Capabilities

Dynamics 365 is a collection of apps capable of managing any business process, from sales and operations to accounting and HR. The apps can be used individually or collectively depending on your business’s unique needs, so you can adapt the best solution to fulfill your requirements.

Dynamics 365 Sales, the CRM offering, is a popular choice; it features a process-driven user interface that simplifies lead qualification and helps drive the successful conversion of leads to customers. The software’s opportunity management area contains a built-in process header that manages opportunities through various sales stages.

Microsoft Platform

The Microsoft platform has several benefits when compared to other software solutions, and some CRM features help Dynamics 365 stand out from the competition.

Dynamics 365 CRM seamlessly integrates with Microsoft tools, including other Dynamics 365 apps and all of the Office 365 apps.

For example, with Dynamics 365’s integration to Outlook, you can view existing customer information, sales activities, cases, and opportunity information in Outlook. You can also complete CRM tasks such as adding new leads; adding a task, appointment, or phone call to a customer record; and tracking emails to CRM records directly from Outlook.

The functionality doesn’t stop with Outlook. Here are some other benefits you can enjoy by integrating Office 365 with Dynamics 365:

Import customer data from Dynamics 365 into Microsoft Word or Excel templates.

Run live Excel analytics within Dynamics 365, or link data from Dynamics 365 to Excel spreadsheets that will update automatically and maintain Dynamics 365’s security permissions.

Access anything you capture in OneNote directly from a Dynamics 365 customer record.

View SharePoint calendars and documents directly from Dynamics 365.

Empower your business’s Dynamics 365 users to share files and documents quickly through a Microsoft Teams integration. Additionally, Teams’ audio and video calls help keep your team connected.

See your Office 365 Group calendars and documents in Dynamics 365, right next to the relevant customer information.

Just as Dynamics 365 CRM integrates with Office 365, it also integrates with all of the other Dynamics 365 applications, including Marketing, Customer Service, Field Service, and Business Central. This means you have the power to pick and choose which applications your business will use. If you ever want to add another Microsoft software solution, it’s a simple matter of updating your Microsoft license. Furthermore, Microsoft takes responsibility for upgrading its software. If you’re working with a Microsoft-exclusive suite of programs, you don’t have to worry about managing integrations with third-party solutions.

Assistant. The assistant, known previously as Relationship Assistant, tracks your activities, opportunities, and messages. Based on this information, the assistant generates action cards that will appear on your dashboard and relevant records in Dynamics 365. It can alert you to upcoming meetings, remind you to follow up on an opportunity, or notify you of a customer question or request. In addition to alerts and reminders, the assistant connects to Outlook and can track email activity like opens, replies, attachment views, and link clicks, storing this data in Dynamics 365. It will also suggest emails from your Outlook account that you may want to track in Dynamics 365.

Custom-built workflows. Dynamics 365 CRM offers some flexibility to configure workflows in the system to automate processes like sending emails, scheduling follow-up activities, and updating record statuses. However, Microsoft’s custom workflow builder (PowerAutomate) allows you to create powerful and flexible workflows within the software and between the other applications you use for your business. PowerAutomate syncs with Office 365, Dynamics 365, and other Microsoft products, which means it’s capable of handling a slew of paperless tasks.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Microsoft bought LinkedIn in 2016, which means LinkedIn now fully integrates with Dynamics 365. LinkedIn Sales Navigator (also known as LinkedIn Sales Nav or just Sales Nav) allows your sales team to leverage the full power of LinkedIn directly through Dynamics 365:

Reporting & Insights

Dynamics 365 CRM has a powerful query feature that allows you to request data for entities like clients, contracts, activities, and more. You can also define your own dashboards in the software to bring forward the graphs, reports, and information that are most relevant to your role.

For data visualization purposes, you can easily import data from Dynamics 365 into Power BI to analyze it against other information. Even better, you can feed data from Dynamics 365 into Power BI dashboards so the information you’re most interested in is always at your fingertips. These insights provide a better understanding of how your business is performing and how you can scale.

Deployment Options

Dynamics 365 has several deployment options, including cloud, on-premise, or partner-hosted. Keep in mind that, when using cloud-hosted software, your team will be able to access the information they need anytime, from anywhere, without the hardware and IT costs that on-premise solutions require. No matter which option you choose, your monthly price will follow a software as a service (SaaS) model.

Pricing

With Dynamics 365, you get more functionality at a lower price point than competitive CRM systems. Microsoft offers three tiers of subscription packages with different levels of access and pricing. By providing these options, Microsoft ensures you can get the best deal out of your investment by only paying for what you truly need.

Microsoft’s Commitment

If your business wants to invest in Microsoft Dynamics 365, you’ll likely work with a Microsoft partner to implement, learn, and troubleshoot the software. Microsoft is committed to its partner channel approach as the best way to scale its business while still providing quality customer care. You might find it hard to believe, but Microsoft prefers that customers purchase their software through their partner channel rather than from Microsoft directly! Microsoft Cloud Solution Providers (or CSPs) are available to help you select the right solution for your business and offer ongoing service and support.

Cargas was the first certified Microsoft CRM partner in the world, and we became a CSP in 2016 with the launch of Dynamics 365. The Cargas CRM team of consultants and developers has the experience and expertise necessary to evaluate your business processes and tailor a CRM solution to fit your specific requirements. Whether you need a rapid implementation or complex customization with multiple integrations, our adaptable project management will keep your project on track and help you get the most out of your solution with the least amount of disruption to your business.

Ready to learn more? Contact us to discuss how Microsoft Dynamics 365 can transform the way you do business.

Dynamics 365 CRM Demo Tips & Tricks

This short demo video, guided by a Cargas CRM Consultant, gets right into the software, highlights key features and shares tips and tricks along the way. Learn best practices for Navigating Around CRM, Enter Leads and Opportunites, Scheduling Activites, Reporting, Charts and Dashboards.