How Dynamics 365 Works: Unified Data and Insights

How does Dynamics 365 work?

As implied in the intro (and noted in the title), a great word to describe the purpose and utility of Dynamics 365 is unification. Bringing together features that were previously distinct, it massively improves the accessibility of data to help them integrate: instead of using separate solutions for ERP, CRM, and BI (business intelligence), you can get them all in one cloud-enhanced suite.

Structurally, Dynamics 365 consists of various modules serving purposes across the business spectrum but using shared databases. This makes it highly expandable (Microsoft can easily add to the lineup when useful) and cost-effective (you don’t pay for the modules you don’t use).

There are currently 12 Dynamics 365 modules available:

The Retail module will eventually be reworked as a module called Commerce, and the Finance and Supply Chain Management modules were previously parts of a module called Finance and Operations. As features are refined and improved, we can expect further changes to take place.

Why it’s valuable for sales

When you’re trying to explain the value of a system, the most direct path is to address sales. Every business needs to have a strong sales pipeline to bring in qualified leads and move them towards conversion, and that’s precisely what the Sales module of Dynamics 365 provides.

Dynamics 365 can track the entirety of a lead’s lifecycle: you create the opportunity (or import it automatically through integration with systems including Office 365 and LinkedIn), then go through qualification, development, proposal, conclusion, and follow-up.

Along the way, sophisticated analytics can make it clear how well the pipeline is performing, giving you ample opportunity to make alterations before it’s too late — and with the rich automation options inherent to the cloud architecture, you should be able to free up plenty of time to focus on those all-important tweaks.

Any business of a moderate size (and/or aspiring to reach the enterprise level) needs to embrace this kind of optimization, and there’s no other sales solution on the market with the breadth, utility, connectivity and convenience of Dynamics 365. The value is also solid, particularly for any company that already relies heavily on Microsoft services.

What it brings to customer service

Dealing with customer problems and achieving positive outcomes can take a lot of time and effort, and the more customers you bring in, the more complicated things become. Dynamics 365 offers a Customer Service module that fully tracks customer activities, problem cases, conversations, rewards and actions, allowing them to be viewed from one dashboard.

For customer service agents, this is incredibly useful. Having all that information available cuts down on the need to consult management, bolsters their ability to resolve customer problems, and helps them turn their conversations into further sales opportunities (drawing from the same data pool as the Sales module, it can suggest dynamic recommendations).

And with Azure resources behind it, it can integrate very neatly with advanced chatbots: companies can script responses to common issues and trust Dynamics 365 to automate as much as possible, freeing up service agents to make best use of their skills.

In essence, Dynamics 365 gives customer service the position of prominence it warrants, making it part of the core business management system instead of a tacked-on addition that employees and customers alike might struggle to use. This saves time, effort, and money, all while achieving vastly-superior results.

An elevator pitch for implementation

Having run through the basics of Dynamics 365 and detailed some of what it brings to the table, let’s now attempt to compose an elevator pitch that you can deploy when dealing with a client that could benefit from this system but isn’t very familiar with it.

Every ambitious business needs to embrace technology to optimise its sales pipeline, manage its customer service, allocate its business resources, generate analytical insights, and handle a wide range of other tasks. This has typically been done with disparate systems (one for each task) — but this causes major problems such as data insecurity and incompatibility.

Dynamics 365 offers something new: a comprehensive single-system business management solution that features all the technology you want (and nothing you don’t). Powered by the Azure cloud network, it comprises a set of modules for varying tasks that work seamlessly together.

That means no more frustration importing or exporting data. No more difficulty configuring your latest SaaS investment. No more downtime due to broken integrations. By investing in Microsoft’s business ecosystem, you can save a lot of money while making the everyday running of your company considerably easier.

How to handle a qualified lead

Let’s say that you introduce a client to Dynamics 365 (possibly through using the above elevator pitch) and get some clear signs of interest: where should you go from there? Well, if you’re not sure exactly how to approach the implementation, we can point you in the right direction.

We work with a company called Cloud 2020 — they’re a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and were among the first UK suppliers of Dynamics 365 — and can leverage that relationship to help you make the most of your sales opportunity.