Dynamics 365 Means Unlimited Possibilities

At Admiral Consulting Group, our clients are proving that Dynamics 365 gives you unlimited possibilities.

More of a platform than a product, Dynamics 365 is a suite of purpose-built business Apps.  These Apps are designed to scale as you grow so you can start with what you need today while preparing for tomorrow.  This design allows organizations to integrate their ERP system not only with Apps inside the Dynamics 365 family but also with the hundreds of Apps available on AppSource or with other third-party applications.

From a single system, on any device, you can view your top 5 sales from last month, run a P&L, check out the deals in the pipeline, send a marketing blast, view your latest inventory and send a quote simply by replying to an email, without ever leaving Outlook.

The average company must click through several different solutions to get the same thing done.  More clicks means more time wasted.

Whether you work for a company or run your own business, time can be your most precious resource.  To get the most out of the available time, we rely on tools and applications to complete our business processes.

But have you ever really thought about how much time is wasted, when switching between apps? Back and forth between Excel and QuickBooks? Salesforce and Outlook? Retyping information between programs and hoping you’re not making too many mistakes?

It's estimated that around 40% of a worker’s productive time is lost when switching between tasks. The financial toll is an estimated $450b per year, to the global economy.

The Cost Of Task Switching

Think about the individual software applications you use to manage your business on a daily basis, from Outlook for email to QuickBooks for accounting or Excel for reports. Users engage in a lot of task switching as they must leave one application to use the other.

One study from University of California, Irvine, shows that it takes around 25 minutes to return to the original task after an interruption. Distractions derail mental progress for up to 30 minutes, even afterward. Switching between applications is a form of multitasking, and in a study by the American Psychological Association, switching between apps and/or tasks before the first task is complete i.e. interrupted task switching, leads to diminished productivity.

But despite the potential for poor business performance, many organizations still use multiple standalone business applications.

At Admiral Consulting Group, our clients are replacing those disparate systems with Dynamics 365.

Not sure if it's right for you? Here are five reasons to make the switch

1.  It Provides Better Value - While larger businesses can afford licensing fees and custom integration required for ERPs, smaller businesses tend to use standalone apps to complete the same tasks.

But is that really a cheaper option in the long run?

Let's look at managing CRM; when comparing the features and cost of Salesforce (a leading CRM solution) with Microsoft Dynamics 365, you find that you get more features than Salesforce, and at a much lower price.

To take full advantage of Salesforce, users also need to purchase add-ons that are more expensive than those offered by Microsoft Dynamics 365. In the long run, the cost per user for Dynamics 365 is around 50% that of Salesforce.

2.  Improving Application Functionality - In keeping with Microsoft's commitment to continuous development, core applications are regularly updated to improve customer satisfaction.

It used to be that older versions of the Dynamics CRM used an Outlook plugin that users found to be slow and resource intensive. With the latest version of Outlook, users find it operates faster, has A.I capabilities in the application and even allows users track email opens and clicks.

3. Power BI - Most businesses know about 'big data’ but assume they can't take advantage of the business intelligence this data offers. How many can afford to retain a data scientist on their payroll?

With Power BI, Microsoft’s business intelligence tool, you harness data into Power BI, and with Dynamics 365 you can connect the data, and pull the Power BI dashboards back into the ERP or CRM for further analysis.

Access to this data expands your capabilities as you no longer must leave your primary application to analyze data, it becomes your 'control panel' for all your information needs.

4.  Ease of Development (even for non-developers) - Microsoft's Dynamics 365 allows users, like you, to create custom processes inside of the system. Whether you are on-boarding a client, customizing a form or defining a workflow, the tools are easy to use without developing code.

Dynamics 365 includes a visual designer with drag-and-drop processes that make it easy to create and share process flows.

5.  Seamless Integration with Other Technologies - Dynamics 365 easily integrates with any other technologies that your company already uses. Whether it’s Outlook, Excel, Word or even non-Microsoft apps, Dynamics 365 syncs with them quickly. Since the core entities share a single common data source, the potential and possibilities are boundless.

When you consider the cost of all the separate software your business uses, the cost of managing complex and not-so-perfect integrations, the lost hours of productivity just start to pile up.

A powerful business management platform like Dynamics 365 provides the relevant information your business needs to deliver data-driven insights to all departments, from procurement to marketing to sales. Because the software allows departments to ‘talk’ to each other, your business will benefit from substantial time savings.

Conclusion

In a world where downloading the 'latest' app is supposed to help us get more work done, we are finding that more apps equals less work getting done.

Purchasing yet another application designed for specific needs and hoping it integrates with other applications only creates bottle-necks in your business operations.

Whether it's lead nurturing, customer relationship management, supply chain or financials, Microsoft Dynamics 365 is an inexpensive and robust business management system that companies of all sizes can benefit from using. To successfully choose and implement the right Dynamics 365 solution for your business, work with a partner that can help you maximize your investment in Dynamics 365.

For more information or to consult with an expert at Admiral Consulting Group today, click here.

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