New Dynamics 365 Capabilities 2017

Do you need new ways to drive your business forward in today’s digital landscape?

You don’t have to look far to find companies that are disrupting their industries by applying software and technology to transform customer experiences, improve operations and create new opportunities.

As the rate of disruption increases, customers are looking to transform their companies – the business processes and systems used to run operations, connect with customers and manage teams – to drive better business outcomes. But many of those systems, particularly the CRM and ERP systems of the past, are siloed, complicated and outdated.

The result: Customers are slowed down by fragmented, disconnected and unintelligent business applications that don’t give them a holistic view of their business.

Last July Microsoft introduced Dynamics 365, powered by Microsoft Azure (read our blog on Cloud Adoption Trends for 2017), turning what was rigid and disconnected into a set of intelligent cloud services that allow any business to start small with just what it needs, scale on demand as its needs grow and add additional solutions as its needs change.

With Dynamics 365 Sysco are delivering modern, intelligent experiences and services that connect all the data across your enterprise to help you make better, faster decisions and achieve optimal outcomes.

Improving sales with Dynamics 365 + LinkedIn Sales Navigator

Dynamics 365 for Sales is already helping salespeople with improved experiences. For instance, they can already work on sales data and surface actions directly within Office 365 to more quickly close a deal. Quotes can be created using customer insights, accurate pricing and inventory data, and then recorded in the appropriate system, including any custom discounts offered, and sent to the customer – without ever having to leave Outlook.

With LinkedIn new integration is possible that will help salespeople deliver better outcomes using insights from LinkedIn Sales Navigator and LinkedIn’s 500 million professionals. Sales Navigator with Dynamics 365 will dramatically increase the effectiveness of salespeople by tapping into their professional networks and relationships, giving them the ability to improve their pipeline by:

• Leveraging signals across email, CRM and LinkedIn to get contextual recommendations for the next best action within Dynamics 365 for Sales, facilitating introductions directly through the company’s network, and sending InMail, messages and customised connection requests
• Engaging buyers with tailored content throughout the account lifecycle, and getting account and lead updates including news mentions and job changes
• Building strong relationships with existing contacts through access to LinkedIn profile details including photos, current roles and work history.

Modern talent solutions for a modern workforce

Employees are the heart of every company, and talent is without question the most scarce and expensive resource. To help companies better manage and nurture that precious resource, we’re introducing a new application for HR organisations called Dynamics 365 for Talent.

From sourcing and recruiting, to on-boarding and retention, Dynamics 365 for Talent provides a 360-degree view of your workforce with modules that empower an organisation to:

• Access the best talent, more quickly, with LinkedIn Recruiter integrations that enable dynamic candidate profiles to give managers and interviewers the most up-to-date information
• Deliver personalised on-boarding experiences that accelerate employees’ ability to deliver impact with targeted activities and learning resources, along with access to relevant contacts
• Maintain an up-to-date view of employee experiences through a consolidated HR profile spanning Office 365, Dynamics 365 and LinkedIn profile information
• Drive operational excellence, measure business impact and improve program effectiveness with integrated intelligence that lets you maximise your human resources.

The new Dynamics 365 for Talent with LinkedIn integration will bring together the place companies find talent and the world of work in Office 365 in a new, modern HR experience designed to make companies and employees more successful, available starting in July 2017.

Customer-centric retail experiences designed for an omni-channel world

Modern retailers face many challenges, from managing daily operations at their stores to transforming their businesses for future growth. Dynamics 365 for Retail, a new intelligent cloud service we are announcing today, provides retailers with an Integrated end-to-end view of their operations with centralised management and clear visibility across stores, employees, customers, inventory and financials.

• Modern, mobile-optimised, point of sale experiences that empower front line employees to deliver exceptional customer service and improve sales
• Powerful omni-channel capabilities that allow shoppers to engage with retailers on their terms and to buy, fulfil and return anywhere
• Data driven retail experiences that enable customer engagement at every touch point

Additional updates across Dynamics 365 include:

• Empowering small to mid-size organizations with Dynamics 365 Business Edition apps for Sales and Marketing, available in preview 1st July 2017
• New industry-specific solutions available in Microsoft AppSource – the place you can discover, trial and evaluate finished SaaS solutions.
• Plans to deliver Dynamics 365 from local data centres in the U.K. and Germany. These new Dynamics 365 regions adhere to Microsoft’s Trusted Cloud principles – including security, privacy, compliance and transparency (see our blog on GDPR Compliancy). They also help customers meet the unique data and regulatory needs of their country and geographic area along with the needs of their business, industry and customers.

For more information on these new releases and the entire Microsoft stack contact dreid@sysco-software.com