What You Need to Know About Dynamics 365 Business Apps

Microsoft’s current version of business support is under the name Microsoft Dynamics 365, which includes a number of business applications. Microsoft has changed the names of their business applications and the way in which they are offered.

 
Microsoft has also changed their strategy of offering products in two versions, one for large companies and one for small companies. To give customers more choice, Microsoft has restructured their Dynamics 365 business apps to let customers choose only those applications that suit their needs.

For example, a customer can start with one product and add others on easily as their needs change. If a mid-sized business wants to experiment with an application that was formerly only available in enterprise products, they have that flexibility.

The capabilities offered by Microsoft are divided into five main categories: Sales, Marketing, Customer Service, Field Service, and Project Operations (formerly Project Service Automation). The Sales application also offers separate complementary modules.

This is the first of two articles that will give you the information you need to know about the Microsoft Dynamics 365 business applications.

Dynamics 365 Sales

Users can manage the sales process using one dashboard in the Dynamics 365 Sales application. It guides the user through sales activities that can be customized to meet your specific needs and to improve productivity.

Microsoft have incorporated a number of features to make the sales process easier to manage, including:

• An embedded Microsoft Teams chat that supports collaboration among all users
• AI-powered conversation analysis to help users understand how prospects and clients are relating to their conversation
• LinkedIn Sales Navigator that assists in broadening a user’s LinkedIn network, finding new leads, and learning more about existing leads
• Salespeople can review reports to stay focused, and managers can use results to coach their teams
• The Sales application can also be used on mobile devices to support remote workers or those employees whose work takes them out of the office regularly

 
Microsoft offers two Dynamics 365 Sales complementary applications, Dynamics 365 Sales Professional/Hub and Relationship Sales.

Dynamics 365 Sales Professional/Hub

If a business doesn’t need the capabilities in the Sales app, and they use Microsoft 365 (formerly Office 365), this streamlined application offers dashboards that allow sales professionals to manage and track customer activities. Dynamics 365 Sales Professional/Hub can integrate with the LinkedIn Sales Navigator to take advantage of LinkedIn for lead generation.

Dynamics 365 Relationship Sales

Dynamics 365 Relationship Sales combines Dynamics 365 Sales and the LinkedIn Sales Navigator Enterprise service. Businesses that focus on relationship sales will have the ability to use LinkedIn to its fullest. Users can expand their network, get introductions to new prospects from existing contacts, and more. This application also includes predictive lead scoring and the ability to track their progress.

Dynamics 365 Customer Service

Since customer service is critical to all businesses, Microsoft offers a Dynamics 365 Customer Service application that addresses self-service and agent service options.

The self-service features include virtual agents and robust knowledge base information. This capability can reduce the burden on your call centers.

When agents are providing customer service, they can use a dashboard to review a customer’s profile and see previous service interactions. Agents can respond to customers via voice, chat, SMS, Facebook, and more.

If an agent needs help answering a question, the application offers AI-powered suggestions for resources to use. And, with the integration with Microsoft Teams, a user can contact an expert quickly to get specific information to answer customer inquiries.

To assist managers, reports are available to help identify the need for additional articles, and to review agent activities to assist in coaching.

Dynamics 365 Marketing

When a business needs to use interactions with buyers at scale to develop relationships, they can use the Dynamics 365 Marketing application. This application helps sales and marketing departments to work together successfully and automates basic marketing activities.

Users can create marketing campaigns that use channels such as email, mobile, social media, and in-person contacts. To facilitate campaign development, users have access to digital assets, reusable content blocks, and a wide variety of templates.

Other features include AI-recommended images to create eye-catching communications, and A/B testing is available to refine your campaigns based on customer response. Information gathered in the Marketing application can be shared across the organization.

Dynamics 365 Field Service

Miscommunication is a problem where providing service in the field is concerned, so Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 Field Service application is designed to ensure that everyone in the organization is working with the same information. The application aligns its records with the Sales, Marketing, and Customer Service applications.

To assist in scheduling, the Field Service app provides manual, semi-automated and fully-automated scheduling, along with AI-enabled scheduling insight. For employees in the field, the app is mobile friendly, it offers articles to help find and fix problems, it can integrate with Dynamics 365 Remote Assist, and it lets field staff connect with experts in-house.

Take Advantage of Datavail’s Microsoft Dynamics 365 Services

Many of our customers need assistance to take full advantage of Microsoft Dynamics 365. They need everything from consulting and development to fully managed services to make their installation a success.

Implementing Dynamics 365 often requires upgrading to the cloud, establishing connections among applications, end-user training, 24/7 support and more. Datavail is a Microsoft preferred partner for enterprise and mid-market customers, and we’ve helped customers with thousands of Microsoft application projects.

Review our whitepaper, “What Everyone Needs to Know About Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Apps – An Overview” for more information. And, feel free to contact our experts to discuss your needs and see all of the things you can accomplish with Datavail as your partner.