What is Dynamics 365?
“What is Microsoft Dynamics 365”? It is a question I am often asked by business people looking to improve and grow their companies.
For many, the question arises as their business becomes more complex and using Excel spreadsheets to manage processes just doesn’t cut it anymore.
They find their staff getting bogged down with workflows that are manual and time-consuming, with few connections between people, departments and customers.
There is little flow of data and information, leading to potential mistakes and inefficiencies.
What started out as an agile and fast-moving small company becomes beset with chronic red-tape and adverse growing pains.
So, is Dynamics 365 the answer? The answer is yes, it may well be.
Dynamics 365 provides what I call “joined up writing IT” – a CRM system that enables you to record, track and report on business processes across sales, marketing,
customer service and operations: one system for all end-to-end processes.
But it is also much more than that, and companies need to get some clear advice on how to adopt and implement it into their business, as it is easy to get swamped
by all the information and different offerings within the Dynamics platform.
Dynamics 365 brings together Microsoft’s Customer Relationship Management platform (Dynamics CRM) and their Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems
Dynamics AX and Dynamics NAV). These components sit side by side and are accessed by a single consistent user interface, with the capability for data to be synchronised
between both systems.
Some provide ERP and CRM capabilities for large enterprises, while most companies who are moving to the cloud to get rid of spreadsheets and paper-based or
on-premise systems can happily use Dynamics CRM that scales from one to 100,000s of people, providing all that is needed to modernise and digitally
transform the business.
The magic of the Dynamics 365 platform is that there is a structure of defined business processes that give a firm consistency, with automation that ensures data
and workflows move seamlessly from one department to another: the baton is passed along with ease.
For companies with supply chain management, inventory and warehousing, they may need to use Dynamics 365 Business Central, which is a parallel
system to Dynamics 365 CRM and – again – can be joined up.
And with all systems sitting on top of the “Dataverse” – the repository for all company and customer information – it is relatively straightforward
to build effective workflows and reporting.
The advantage of Dynamics 365 is that you can build your sales pipeline and enable it to flow through to your customer and business management system,
so that all parts of the organisation, including finance, HR and legal, have the right access to the right information, at the right time.
In our next article, we will discuss how Shared Solutions can help you in the move to Dynamics 365 and how the cloud can help drive your growth.
Hopefully you now know more about Dynamics 365
Speak to us to learn how Microsoft Dynamics 365 can make you more efficient.
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About the Author
John Clark
Founder | Microsoft Dynamics 365 & Power Platform Consultant, Solutions Shared Ltd