The winds of change spare no one. Every enterprise is in the process of some transition or other, trying to cope with a highly fluid business environment, characterized by fast-paced changes. Two common threads underlying the transformation efforts are
- Updating legacy systems to leverage the latest technologies, in a quest to stay relevant.
- A focus on personalization. Today’s customers demand personalized services and experiences, and enterprises not playing ball stand the risk of being left out big time.
In such a state of affairs, Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM positions itself as a handy catalyst in the digital transformation exercise.
MS-Dynamics Helps Enterprise Shift from Legacy Systems
The cloud-based Microsoft Dynamics 365 helps enterprises propel itself forward from legacy systems.
As the first step towards orchestrating digital transformation initiative in enterprises, Microsoft brought together its ERP and CRM systems into MS-Dynamics 365. This contributes significantly to delivering a single-view of the customer. Further, the offering is delivered as an intelligent Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) application, enabling anytime, anywhere access on a subscription basis.
However, MS-Dynamics 365 did not rest upon its laurels after such a significant initial push. It soon embarked to position itself as a key enabler of the next big wave – mobility. Many enterprises today leverage MS- Dynamics 365 Mobile CRM add-on to update sales executives, marketing professionals, and managers on the latest information and status related to their deals, in real time. Such key stakeholders, in turn, can also update customer records immediately, keep track of appointments, add or review notes and tasks, and do more, all in real-time. The sales rep can access customer information even as they engage with the customer. They become empowered to close deals immediately, without having to get back, and in the process cause delays and even risk losing the customer itself.
Read: A step-by-step guide to configuring emails in MS Dynamics CRM
MS-Dynamics 365 Helps Enterprise Cope with Change
MS-Dynamics 365 also facilitates resiliency and adaptability, which is essential for enterprises in today’s age of constant change. The traditional connotation of flexibility in business software meant being able to modify software to meet unique business requirements. Such modifications came at a heavy cost, required experienced programmers, and created issues when upgrading. MS-Dynamics 365 offers the tools to indulge in the required customization easily, without requiring a programmer, without having to worry about the upgraded software causing disruption to enterprise systems, and without having to worry about costs every time. The seamless and non-disruptive transformation shifts enabled by MS-Dynamics 365 perfectly gels with a proactive orientation that digital transformation in a highly competitive and fast-paced business environment warrants.
MS-Dynamics 365 is now delivering industry-specific variants of the Dynamics software, such as different Dynamics 365 versions for retail, talent, service, and finance and operations. The variant for the financial industry is especially noteworthy. The complex processes and strict regulations make the finance industry laggards in adopting new technology. Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers such industries an easy way to modernize and keep pace with the winds of change.
MS-Dynamics Improves Productivity
Today’s highly competitive and fast-paced business environment leaves no room for slack or waste. Enterprises are forced to become lean and mean, and MS-Dynamics 365 positions itself as the perfect tool for the same.
Using MS Dynamics, a marketer may orchestrate the entire email marketing campaign from a single point. All associated tasks, be it offering price quotes and invoices, sending documents, and more, syncs seamlessly to incoming customer email, and integrates seamlessly with the workflow. The workflow syncs completely with the related documents and opportunities, and account status gets updated automatically for all recipients, and is displayed in the sidebar.
MS-Dynamics also offers an intuitive AppDesigner functionality, which enables even lay users to create custom business apps in double-quick time, without knowing even a single line of code. The AppDesigner makes available common features, such as entities, dashboards, charts, views forms, and business processes, ready-made.
The AppDesigner also offers the option to embed visual controls such as switches, star ratings, sliders, and more, to enhance the user interface for Calendar, YouTube player, website preview, and a host of other interfaces. Such installations may also be customized.
Editable Grids, another intuitive new feature, enables editing any records from any entity by the grid view itself, sparing the hassles of opening the form for editing.
MS-Dynamics Helps Enterprise Cope with the Data Explosion
Side by side with the cloud, data is also a key driver of the digital transformation. Rapid digitization has resulted in a data exposition, with people literally drowning in data. MS-Dynamics 365 helps enterprises leverage such data and apply it well, to make informed decisions.
One notable tool which comes integrated with MS-Dynamics 365 is Power BI. The Power BI business intelligence tool allows the creation of interactive visualization reports and dashboards, with drag and drop enhanced GUI. It pulls in data from various sources, such as Adobe Analytics, Salesforce, GitHub, Google Analytics, MailChimp, MS-Dynamics CRM, and other sources, and facilitates effective analysis of such data. Users may modify the displayed charts directly from the automatically updated home screen.
MS-Dynamics 365 products are also all set to be spruced up with artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities, and also co-opt Internet of Things (IoT) into its fold. MS-Dynamics allows linking any connected digital device to the CRM mobile solution. The ability to compile real-time data from IoT things into the centralized database of MS-Dynamics 365 is invaluable, throwing open a host of use-cases which would potentially revolutionize the enterprise. The system could, for instance, make available real-time data on the connected customers’ equipment and product, to Field Service technicians and marketers, enabling instant and highly relevant responses to situational actions.
Catering to the Customer’s Needs for Personalization
Today’s customers have no patience and don’t wish to be left behind or slowed down. True to form, MS-Dynamics 365 offers a host of features and capabilities to cater to the customer on a personalized basis, on their terms.
Understanding the customer is an important pre-requisite before embarking on a personalization initiative. MS-Dynamics 365, by offering a single, integrated view of each customer, throws light on their needs, wants and desires, an also the sales triggers for each customer.
The MS-Dynamics 365 process flow is now equipped with a host of intuitive functionality, such as the ability to predict and show the time spent on a stage in the business process flow. Such cues reveal when the customer is “sales ready,” what their preferences are, and other critical insights.
MS-Dynamics 365 co-opts the Cortana Intelligence tool, which predicts what a customer is likely to buy next. Sales executives never had it so easy. They not only improve their productivity and efficiency manifold, but also delight the customer in the process.
MS-Dynamics 365 is also integrated with the Adobe Experience Manager, the leading content management solution. The integration will help enterprises optimize their sales and lead management. Enterprises may design and connect their marketing content with CRM data, and personalize the brand experiences for every customer, easily. The hitherto mostly manual task of defining and delivering customer experiences for each customer has now become largely data-driven, automated, and more accurate.
MS-Dynamics 365 is the perfect vehicle and a panacea for enterprises caught frozen in the headlights of the digital transformation challenge. With such an intuitive and powerful tool in hand, enterprises can embrace the future confidently.
