Microsoft has made substantial investments in Dynamics 365. Over the past several years, it has acquired and/or built several best-of-breed products that provide new capabilities around marketing automation, social engagement, field service and more. But perhaps one of the most significant areas for improvement is the enhanced integration of Dynamics 365 with Microsoft’s other productivity products, especially Office 365 and Power BI.

These solutions all work together to increase productivity, collaboration, and insights across the organization.

Here are just some of the ways Dynamics 365 integrates with other applications to improve workplace productivity:

1. Cortana Intelligence: Dynamics 365, powered by Cortana Intelligence, enables the workforce by automatically injecting actionable insights throughout the sales cycle and related content management processes. Users can quickly and easily find suggested actions, follow-up reminders, and even receive specific emails to input into Dynamics – significantly boosting productivity.
2. Outlook Email: Dynamics 365 can be integrated with Outlook to allow sales teams to easily track email, apply templates, create tasks, and conduct follow-up phone calls directly from the Outlook app. Key data (email, contacts, tasks and appointments) can be taken off-line and automatically synchronized when reconnected.
3. Word Documents: When using Dynamics 365, users can export account info into editable Word documents to better enable the management of those files. Due to the widespread use of Microsoft Word, this capability simplifies ease of use by leveraging familiar platforms. Users can also attach these documents to relevant opportunities in Dynamics 365 for a more streamlined experience.
4. Excel Spreadsheets: Much like the integration with Microsoft Word, users can also analyze and manipulate data from Dynamics 365 using familiar Excel spreadsheets, enabling them to make smarter decisions without having to switch between multiple platforms. Data can be easily exported to Excel workbooks, and imported via formatted Excel file as well. Of course, data security can be configured to ensure the applicable business and compliance requirements are met.
5. Teams and Groups: Microsoft Teams and Groups, which are closely related and tightly integrated, provide flexible and powerful information sharing, collaboration and content management capabilities for ad-hoc and small-to-medium scale projects, initiatives or other joint-effort scenarios. For those working in Dynamics 365, users are able to easily track the conversations, files, and meetings related to clients, sales opportunities, etc. This can create a cohesive experience and quick access to relevant content across the entire organization.
6. Power BI: Microsoft Power BI is a suite of business analytics tools that let you analyze data and share insights. Microsoft provides ‘Content Packs’ for Power BI, which make it easy to visualize and analyze Dynamics 365 data in ways that are useful for most sales, service and marketing scenarios. Custom dashboards, analysis reports and data visualizations can also be created to provide deeper and more organization-specific insights.

These are just a few examples of the many ways in which Microsoft Dynamics 365 provides a rich palette of options to address the specific productivity needs of your business.

Of course, the challenge lies in determining which products, capabilities, add-ons, customizations, and other options are right for you, and how to assemble them into an easy-to-use solution that best meets your requirements. As always, BDO Digital stands ready to help you figure it out pragmatically and then to execute effectively on implementation, deployment, enablement, adoption, and long-term support.