A Complete Guide to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Implementation

Have you ever wondered how certain businesses manage to stay ahead of the curve no matter how many pandemics hit? Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based solution that combines ERP and CRM to offer the full power of innovative technology. One of its primary benefits is the seamless connectivity across your organizational systems that makes data siloes a thing of the past. In addition, it has predictive intelligence that enables businesses to preempt challenges and predict changes in the market.

A successful Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation can take your business to new heights.

APPLICATIONS OF MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 365

 Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a cloud-based platform that combines CRM and ERP systems. It unifies the prime operational areas in a business such as finance, supply chain, retail, HR, Sales, customer service, project operations, field service, marketing, and the entire gamut of operations, through CRM, Finance, SCM, and Business central applications in the platform. These applications can talk to each other and thus help implement best practices as per customer requirements.

Dynamics 365 ERP

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software manages and integrates business processes end-to-end. An ERP implementation optimizes modules such as Finance and Operations, Retail, Human resources, Supply Chain Management, and more:

1. Finance and Operations: Dynamics 365 Finance automates financial processes and provides better planning tools for back-end operations.
2. Human Resource: It is an end-to-end employee management platform that handles complex HR functions and saves time, money, and resources.
3. Retail: The retail industry benefited the most from the ERP implementation as shopping became digital.
4. Supply Chain Management: A cloud ERP provides the data necessary to monitor supply chain activities and helps companies to keep expenses in check.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation has become a top priority to most SMEs because of its capabilities to digitally transform organizations.

Dynamics 365 CRM

A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution serves as a single application to host all the tools of the prime business operations such as Sales, Marketing, Field Services, Project Service Automation and Customer service.

1. Sales: Dynamics 365 delivers sales process automation for access to insightful customer data and a complete picture of each prospect’s journey.
2. Marketing: combine sales and marketing modules to automate business processes and to maximize ROI.
3. Customer Service: Dynamics 365 records all customer communications across several channels, which makes it easy to create more personalized communication strategies with customers. It helps organizations to create, manage and track cases and see them to their logical conclusion.
4. Field Service: Built-in intelligence resolves service issues and reduces operational expenses.
5. Finance and Operations: Microsoft Azure caters to unique business requirements across industries and helps businesses thrive in challenging economic conditions without infrastructure worries.
6. Project Service Automation: Optimizes project management and predicts the profitability of ongoing projects.  

With AI and powerful intelligence tools, Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 CRM implementation has helped countless companies across multiple industries grow their business.

HOW DOES DYNAMICS 365 WORK?

A Dynamics 365 implementation enables enhanced performance with advanced features and robust architecture. It integrates seamlessly with financials and business management solutions that are comprehensive and easy-to-use.

• Connects Internal Teams to a Unified Solution: Dynamics 365 easily integrates with other Microsoft business applications such as Office 365 and Outlook, operations that run on Azure, and third-party plug-ins. Additionally, the entire Microsoft suite of business applications shares the same UI. Dynamics 365 can also be integrated easily with other 3rd party applications using available APIs.
• Enhanced Communication: With a cloud-based business platform, employees can work from anywhere and anytime, regardless of network accessibility. Employees can stay connected to Dynamics 365 and operate on web browsers available across several devices.
• Highly Scalable: Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation services use simple yet flexible low-code custom tools to customize views, reports, forms, workflow, and security. It also combines data with AI to produce insightful results. Power users of the application can develop low-code/no-code based apps that help in day-to-day business.

HOW TO GET DYNAMICS 365 FOR YOUR UNIQUE BUSINESS REQUIREMENTS?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides different deployment productivity tools. Experienced implementation partners can help you leverage these to their fullest potential. Dynamics 365 professionals are essential to analyze business requirements and ensure a smooth implementation. Be sure to select and evaluate the right partner who can fully understand your business challenges. 

HOW MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 365 BENEFITS YOUR BUSINESS OPERATIONS

Modules of Microsoft Dynamics 365

Dynamics 365 suite of applications includes the following modules:

Dynamics 365 for Marketing

Acknowledging the need for a new Dynamics marketing platform, Microsoft set out to build a new cloud-based marketing automation platform. Here’s what it brings to the table:

1. Know your leads better: It shares the entire Information about your leads from every part of your business
2. Personalization and Branding: It helps you develop a coherent brand by providing an easy-to-use email editor, personalized customer journeys, and coordinated information on leads common to different departments.
3. Insights and actionable feedback: The data analytics feature provides extensive insights about the performance of your marketing strategies.
4. Configuration and expansion: Basic functionalities of Dynamics 365 can be easily customized and there are several third-party tools available to leverage its benefits.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales

Dynamics 365 offers actionable insights, better customer engagement, and collaboration capabilities. Benefits of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales:

1. Efficient sales processes – Increase the work efficiency of your sales team by automating sales processes.
2. Scalable CRM platform – The cloud-based CRM system provides the flexibility of processes across teams and departments.
3. User-friendly application – A user-friendly and intuitive user interface enables you to work with more productivity.
4. Unified systems – All customer processes in one system help you track the entire customer life cycle and offers all customers’ data in a single source.
5. Fully integrated Power BI solution – The Power BI integration gives you access to intelligent and handy dashboards and reports that save you from cumbersome manual data entry.

Dynamics 365 Business Central

Business Central is an ERP platform that can harmonize your business and offer you a holistic view of your organization. Dynamics 365 Business Central is now seeing a 200 percent annual user growth across all industries because of its numerous benefits.

• All in one flexible and secure solution
• Financial and project management
• Helps control costs
• Most powerful ERP to increase sales and customer service
• Simplify supply chain optimization

Dynamics 365 for Customer Service

Dynamics 365 Customer Service enables companies to offer better customer support and have a clear understanding of their requirements. Furthermore, its artificial intelligence and automation features help businesses prevent and solve complex problems anytime, anywhere and provide personalized services that help strengthen business bonds.

• Engage with customers across several channels and devices.
• Helps businesses meet and exceed increasing customer demands.
• Easily integrates and connects with other applications.
• Artificial intelligence provides brilliant customer insights.

Dynamics 365 for Field Service

Dynamics 365 for Field Service enables companies to exchange critical business-related data easily to smooth operations. It deftly manages intra- and inter-team communication and coordination. Built-in intelligence preempts challenges and seamlessly solves them in advance, increasing productivity. In addition, it offers a holistic view of user records and helps personalize customer experiences.

• Offer a self-service portal and proactive updates to customers
• Predictive analysis of data resolves problems in advance.
• No-code visual editors and flexible tools seamlessly manage end-to-end operations
• HoloLens mixed reality headsets provide maintenance services anytime, anywhere. 

Dynamics 365 Project Automation

It helps plan, execute, and keep track of projects and manages tasks and resources accordingly. In addition, the Project Automation module optimizes project management to keep your time and budget in check. Its advantages include: 

• Increase productivity
• Operate in a modern, agile, and flexible platform
• Intuitively predict project profitability
• Unified system for project sales, resourcing, delivery, and billing teams

Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations

Finance and Operations apps are enterprise resource planning (ERP) software built on the Microsoft Azure platform for medium and large-sized companies. They offer complete custom ERP functionality for organizations to help them thrive through the tides of changing economic times. They benefit businesses in the following ways:

• Optimize and automate business processes
• Plan your finances with ease
• Make better business decisions with real-time data
• Deliver exceptional end-to-end customer experiences

Dynamics 365 Commerce

This module combines in-store and back-office operations. It is tailored for the retailers and helps them create innovative shopping experiences. Dynamics 365 Commerce enables customers to enjoy both online and offline shopping experiences. Some of its most prominent features include:

• Brilliant shopping experiences increase customer satisfaction, brand loyalty, and ROI.
• Adapt to increasing customer demands and manage multiple stores in a unified platform.
• Intuitive customer insights help increase profitability.
• Drive innovation with a flexible application that easily integrates with other services and applications.

Dynamics 365 Human Resources

Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation for Talent empowers the HR team to hire, train, and retain employees who accelerate results. It integrates with Office 365 and LinkedIn to find the right candidate for the business. It helps the HR team manage the entire recruiting and onboarding process and automates routine tasks such as tracking attendance. It provides the full information employees need in a single, easily accessible portal:

• Payroll, budget, and tax return management
• Create employee profiles
• Holiday and absence tracking
• LinkedIn Talent Solutions

STEP-BY-STEP PROCESS OF IMPLEMENTING MICROSOFT DYNAMICS 365

Implementing Process of Dynamics 365

Step 1: Business Process Review

Careful evaluation of current processes is essential to implement Dynamics 365 without disrupting existing processes. It is the primary step toward a successful implementation.

Step 2: Dynamics 365 Review

Understand the features, functionalities, and capabilities of Dynamics 365 to plan implementation costs, identify performance gaps, and zero in on processes that can be automated.

Step 3: Create a Data Migration Plan

Create a robust data migration plan to ensure a smooth implementation process. Before migrating data, eliminate redundant, inaccurate information to ensure high-quality information and optimum value from your new ERP system.

Step 4: Test Extensively

Test the implementation using a sample database, check whether integrations are in synchrony, and validate system output. Test extensively to identify and weed outperformance or data accuracy issues before rollout.

HOW MUCH DOES A DYNAMICS 365 IMPLEMENTATION COST IN 2022?

Different components affect the price of a Dynamics 365 implementation. Therefore, organizations must consider the cost of the implementation including people resources. 

Ongoing costs can include solution version upgrades and ongoing application maintenance. 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 has Three Licence Types to Choose From:

a) Essentials: $70 per user per month

This license entails the following:

• Financial Management
• Supply Chain Management
• Customer Relationship Management
• Human Resources Management
• Jobs/Project Management
• Warehouse Management 

b) Premium: $100 per user per month

This license comprises the following: 

• Everything in Essentials
• Service Management
• Manufacturing

c) Team Members: $8 per user per month

This license is open to the following: 

• Read anything within Business Central
• Update existing data and entries in Business
• Approve or reject tasks in all workflows assigned to a user, with the limit that approvals and rejections can only update data in records that BC team members can access.
• Create, edit, or delete a sales or purchase quotation
• Create, edit, and delete personal information
• Enter a timesheet for Jobs
• Use Power Apps/Power Automate Use Rights with Dynamics 365 license

Dynamics 365 Finance – $180 per month per user

Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management – $180 per month per user

Dynamics 365 Marketing:

• $750 per month per organization (A minimum of ten users)
• $1500 per month per organization (Less than ten users) 

Sales Professional plan –               $65 per user/month

Sales Enterprise plan –                  $95 per user/month

Microsoft Relationship Sales –     $162 per user/month

Customer Service Professional plan –       $50 per user/month

Customer Service Enterprise plan –           $95 per user/month 

These plans come with a 30-day free trial, and many of the paid features are not available during the trial period. Microsoft Dynamics 365 allows users to buy add-on apps that can precisely help organizations meet their business requirements.

INDUSTRY EXPERTS, YOU CAN TEAM UP WITH

Selecting the right Microsoft partner for a smooth implementation and integration is important. DemandDynamics is a trusted Microsoft Gold certified partner that has worked with numerous companies for Dynamics 365 implementation and migrations. It has been providing Microsoft services for years through various business sectors. Its On-Demand Services are popular with clients for its ability to meet technical, operational, and financial goals.

Image Credit: Provided by the Author; Thank you!

Aishwarya Nagarajan

Aishwarya is a Senior Writer at DemandDynamics with a passionate interest in Tech. She authors content that helps companies stay updated about Microsoft Dynamics 365 products. Off the job, she is a traveler and an avid reader.