How Good is Microsoft 365 Compared to Microsoft CRM?

A few years back, Microsoft Dynamics CRM was the go-to platform for businesses requiring efficient customer relationship management. Though it isn’t necessarily one of the most popular Microsoft technology solutions ever, it did have a fair share of successes in its long run till 2016. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is now Microsoft Dynamics 365 – a revamped version of the old one with the latest features, and focusing on improved customer engagement.

Microsoft Dynamics 365

The Dynamics 365 is basically a repackaged bundle of the best of what Dynamics CRM had to offer. It officially replaced CRM in November 2016, and is now considered one of the best business solutions from the tech giant catering to tens of thousands of businesses across the globe far better than its predecessor ever did.

The Dynamics 365 Suite comprises 6 apps including:

Dynamics 365 for Sales
Dynamics 365 for Marketing
Dynamics 365 for Customer Service
Dynamics 365 for Field Service
Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation
Microsoft Dynamics Social Engagement

Businesses can purchase these apps separately as per their needs or under the Engagement Plan along with other ERP applications.

What makes it better than its predecessor?

Both platforms share an almost identical design architecture. So what makes Dynamics 365 capable of serving businesses better than the already reliable Dynamics CRM you ask?

Because 365 comes with enhanced features.

The Dynamics CRM was originally designed to assist enterprises as a Customer Relationship Management tool that can carry out customer-facing operations like sales, customer care, and marketing. Dynamics 365 essentially combines the CRM applications with its ERP products thereby dissipating silos of both internal and external information.

This way, a business using Dynamics 365 would be running all front-end and back-end operations from one single platform. Microsoft also provides great support to the Dynamics 365 platform imbuing it with even AI and machine learning capabilities. It enjoys as much demand as ASP.NET development services today.

Features exclusive to 365

Better integration – Microsoft ensured improved integration capabilities in Dynamics 365 enabling it to deliver great productivity and accurate information. Another great benefit is that Dynamics 365 apps can be easily integrated with the data from over 600 million LinkedIn users as the tech giant had acquired LinkedIn a few years ago. The Microsoft Relationship Sales feature of Dynamics 365 enables users to build relationships with the right people on LinkedIn.

Additionally, Office 365 and Power BI can also be integrated with Dynamics 365 granting businesses accurate insights on their performance.

Better interface – The new interface of 365 was unveiled by Microsoft back in 2017. Known as the Unified Interface, the interface was designed with a mobile-friendly look and an emphasis on standardization across apps i.e. the apps will deliver optimal performance across devices of all types and screen resolutions.

AI/ML capabilities – The October 2018 release of Dynamics 365 introduced Dynamics 365 AI for Sales – a feature that leverages machine learning to deliver data-driven insights that can help businesses make better decisions. This also allows the suite to automate various business processes thereby allowing users to focus on issues of greater importance.

Conclusion

There are still many businesses that rely on Dynamics CRM to handle customer relationship management. Considering the fact that the extended support for Microsoft Dynamics 4.0 ended by April 2018 and that the support for CRM 2015 would cease by 2020, businesses should consider upgrading to Dynamics 365.

There are also businesses that rely on custom software development services to tailor-make CRM software as an alternative to Dynamics 365. But getting a custom CRM solution that rivals the capabilities of Dynamics 365 is just wishful thinking at this point unless a business is fine with investing tons of money into developing a bespoke solution. The bottom line is that Dynamics 365 is a worthy investment for modern businesses that realized the value of customer relationships.