The application of useful technology is driving transformational change in organisations around the globe and is a key driver of competitive advantage. This competitive advantage is normally achieved by either improving customer engagement or business efficiency. In this article we discuss how the combination of Dynamics 365 and Office 365 can make this happen.
Disconnected systems hold businesses back
In business, for many people work is no longer a place but an activity and having access to emails and systems anywhere is a key requirement. Almost every email will create some sort of task that will involve the use of a different applications, from accounting software to preparing invoices, to CRM systems to manage your contacts and sales pipeline or an ERP system to track production or inventory.
Switching back and forth between fragmented, stand-alone solutions takes time and often requires duplicate data entry. This diminished productivity, stifles your ability to scale and cuts into time that could be spend improving your business. To keep up the pace of your growth, you’re likely considering the move to a more comprehensive business management solution like Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations. Dynamics 365 helps you get through administrative tasks quickly and easily, so you focus on the big picture, and your team can spend more time taking care of their workloads.
Connected business solutions
Microsoft brings the worlds of business processes and personal productivity together, connecting your people, processes and systems like never before. Right now, your employees are the common link between your business systems and the email, spreadsheet and word processing tools they use every day. This means employees waste a lot of time flipping between apps or cutting and pasting, which can lead to data entry errors.
Connected business solutions from Microsoft help pull everything together so your people don’t have to. Together, Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations and Office 365 helps you:
- Drive productivity by reducing time spent switching between stand-alone apps;
- Foster collaboration and communication by breaking down internal silos and broadening visibility across the organisation;
- Accelerate user adoption and lower training time with a seamless user experience.
Improve Customer Interactions
Imagine you receive an email from a high-priority customer who urgently needs an order delivered in a short timeframe. With Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, you can find the information you need and act on it without searching disparate systems or coordinating with other departments. Without leaving your inbox, you check inventory and discover that you don’t have enough stock on hand to fulfil the order. In the same interface, you create and send both a purchase order to the supplier and a quote to your customer, moving on to your next task within minutes.
Dynamics 365 workflows help secure processes and work on the go. Suppose you are out of the office and an email alerts you that a sales quote has exceeded your established 10% maximum discount. Right from your mobile inbox, you quickly review the quote and check the customer’s order history, account status, and credit limit. You make an informed decision to approve the discount, which automatically updates the quote and notifies the sales rep that it’s ready to be sent to the customer.
When thinking about customers, your sales team are at the heart of managing them. You know how critical it is to keep your sales team connected in the office and on the go. Dynamics 365 and Office 365 simplifies and automates daily tasks to keep your sales team focused on managing sales.
For example, your sales rep receives an email from a customer requesting a quote. The system recognises the sender, enabling them to easily pull up the customer card within Outlook.
From this dashboard, they review the account – including the customer’s existing quotes, ongoing orders and sales history. As they create the quote, customer and product information auto-populate, helping them complete the task quicker.
While sending the sales quote, an email arrives in the inbox from a potential customer from a recent event. The system recognises their email address is not in the customer database and prompts you to add them. Without leaving Outlook, you can create their profile in the Dynamics 365 app. This kind of automation reduces time spent on administrative tasks, allowing your sales team to quickly respond to enquiries and ultimately improve customer interactions.
The above are just a few examples of the many ways you can save time and reduce duplicate effort. At every step, the combination of Office 365 and Dynamics 365 applies automation, auto populating fields and pulling the information you need into the system you are using. The email integration is extremely efficient and helps you action tasks straight from your inbox.
Download our guide ‘Taking office 365 further wit Dynamics 365’