When you use Dynamics 365 in conjunction with Azure, you gain access to a number of benefits. These benefits can help streamline your business activities and improve our customer experience, bringing you an attractive return on your investment.

Flexibility.

There are three options to choose from in terms of hosting and accessing your software. Hosting Dynamics 365 on Azure means you don’t own the software; instead, you are using a service. Because you don’t need to purchase the software, you also won’t need to install it on individual devices since the program and everything related to it (including your data) are stored online.

One of the main benefits of using Dynamics 365 with Azure is that the software is hosted on Microsoft’s servers. There is no need for you to invest in the hardware or maintain the software infrastructure. Managing security measures, performing data backups, and issuing updates are all done by Microsoft.

However, if you wanted to, you could host Dynamics 365 on-premise. In this case, you will host the program and store all of your data on your own servers or through an IT partner. This option will require you to perform all the upkeep and maintenance of the hard and software.

Hybrid Dynamics 365 deployments combine cloud and on-premise hosting. These deployments are fully integrated with the Microsoft cloud, giving you access to cloud-based services while your transactions and data are stored on your own servers.

Quick to set up.

Dynamics 365 is built and optimized for Azure. There is no need to invest time, money, and effort into on-premise CRM development and deployment. Dynamics 365 has easy-to-use point-and-click setup wizards that will have you up and running in no time. There is no need for developers to configure custom links to ensure your applications interact seamlessly.

The size and scope of Dynamics 365 can be scaled up or down as your needs change. Additional features may require more complex implementation. Still, using cloud deployment negates the need for additional computing power and servers.

Easy integration with other cloud-based products and add-ons.

When using Dynamics 365 and Azure, you can connect to programs like Office 365, SharePoint, Outlook, and PowerBI. Integrating Dynamics 365 products in Microsoft’s productivity suite allows you to harvest and use data from programs like Excel, Word, and Outlook. This could give you a more comprehensive picture of your business and increase productivity while managing everything from your Dynamics 365 interface.

More than that, combining Dynamics 365 with Azure gives you access to Microsoft’s business intelligence tools. This includes features involving machine learning to provide accurate and relevant data to grow your business and boost productivity.

AppSource gives you access to over 500 apps and add-ons from, all designed to streamline your business processes and enhance your customer experience.

Always on, always backed up.

Microsoft offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. The company keeps synchronized copies of your company’s data on two servers. This allows your company to continue operations during planned or unexpected service outages.

In addition to excellent disaster recovery, cloud deployment automatically creates backups of your data. Saving time and resources that would otherwise be required to backup your data means you can focus your efforts on growing your business, increasing productivity, and enhancing your customer experience.

Up-to-date updates.

Dynamics 365 platform updates are issued every three months, while application updates are issued every six months. These updates are optional, and you can test them in your development sandbox before implementing them. Many of the updates offered to Dynamics 365 users aren’t offered to on-premise deployments. This means Dynamics 365 users can take advantage of the newest software developments as they become available.

Dynamics 365, in conjunction with Azure, help you take care of the business end of things so that you can focus on what really matters: delighting your customers and growing your business.

Teams and Dynamics 365 – They go together like PB & J!

And that’s just part for the lunchbox of new tech reveals at Microsoft Inspire 2021.

Microsoft recently held its annual Inspire conference – the tech giant’s annual release of all that’s new and innovative in the world of Microsoft. Here’s a quick rundown of 2021’s biggest announcements.

They go together like PB & J: Teams and Dynamics 365

You never know, but “What was life like before Microsoft Teams?” is a question your kids just might ask you someday! With hundreds of millions of daily users around the globe, Microsoft Teams has rapidly established itself as the number one way to keep connected.

To ensure this nifty tool continues to lead the way in business, Microsoft recently announced new innovations and integrations to make Teams even more powerful … along with some other great tech updates that make its product suite one of the most comprehensive and versatile around.

PB and J. Tea and crumpets. Chips and tomato sauce … Some things just go better together. You know it’s true, and Microsoft knows too. That’s why, in 2021 and beyond, Microsoft’s major goal is to support the future of hybrid, collaborative work with Teams.

Going forward, Microsoft Dynamics 365 will work even better together, delivering new ways to exchange ideas and information. Thanks to looser licensing restrictions, Dynamics 365 users will now be able to invite anyone in the company to collaborate on customer documents within a Teams channel or chat. Sales teams will be able to share key info across sales opportunities, customer relationship health, customer history, and more. Users of Dynamics 365 will also be able to add Teams meetings when creating appointments, allowing access to information within a Teams call.

In short, all Teams customers will now receive access to Dynamics 365 data in Teams at no extra cost! The integration will boost productivity for customers and eliminate silos between collaboration and business processes for easy, intuitive way to do business.

Opening the doors to new partnerships: collaborative apps

At Inspire 2021, Microsoft also announced that new apps from companies like SAP Sales Cloud, Atlassian Confluence, ServiceNow, Salesforce, and Workday are coming to Teams. That will mean new opportunities for powerful integrations as well as simplified experiences for IT admins to purchase subscriptions and apps from the Teams admin centre directly. Welcome to a whole new world of functionality from some great ISVs.

Did you say Windows 365?

Inspire 2021 also saw the announcement of Windows 365 – yes, you read that correctly. The solution will give users the ability to connect data, apps, and settings from any endpoint and device. This will mean you can bring collaborative apps, Dynamics 365, Microsoft Teams, and security or identity credentials with you wherever you go. 

Viva, Microsoft Viva

Microsoft also announced new upgrades to Microsoft Viva, including the arrival of Viva Partner Integrations, with a host of content providers to choose from, including Qualtrics, Workday, and many others. Viva Learning APIs will also be available later this year to allow developers to integrate content from learning providers, as well as assignments and due dates.

Empowering partners

In 2021, Microsoft is also empowering partners with new security offerings to improve sustainability, accessibility, and inclusion. For example, Microsoft 365 Lighthouse is now entering preview to provide managed service providers with a central location for security management, while add-on app governance functionality has been added on to the App Security environment.

From new ways to use Teams to opening doors to partnerships with new software providers, Inspire 2021 is paving the way for a new age of digital transformation and hybrid work. We’re super excited by the changes and looking forward to seeing what comes next.

Markets are changing constantly. Buyers are too. That’s why the technology you use to reach, engage and connect with your customers needs constant evolution. 

With its new round of updates, Dynamics 365 Release Wave 1 2021 will help you power better, deeper experiences, simpler, more effective campaigns and more exacting, precise customer insights. Here’s what’s new and exciting. 

Power real-time, event-based customer journeys 

Your customers are constantly on the go. And an opportunity to sell can appear – then fade out – almost instantly. Now, you can make the most of every opportunity by tailoring specific journeys to respond to what your customers are engaging with in the moment – such as visiting a store – or other events in their lives. It’s a powerful tool helping to make sales more proactive than ever. 

Create flexible, tailor-made journeys powered by AI 

The marketing content that works best for one buyer may not be right for another. With the power of AI, you can tailor every aspect of the customer journey to every individual. Specifically, by creating engaging content using enhanced AI that responds to a 360-degree understanding of the customer, you can make sure every buyer sees the content that works best for them.  

For example, Dynamics 365 new enhancements enable: 

• AI-driven recommendations for images, videos, documents and fragments 
• AI-driven run-time channel optimization 
• Natural language to create conditions for branching customer journeys 

And more. 

More channels, greater power 

The Wave 1 release also sees the creation of more channels, and greater ease and power to reach your customers with the right messages.  

The updates allow you to: 

• Send push notifications to iOS or Android apps 
• Send and create SMS messages for any mobile device
• Manage your digital content with a new centralized asset library 
• Content management and creation for Instagram 

Low-effort email creation 

Many marketers spend a large chunk of their time creating engaging emails. That’s why the email editor was redesigned to make it easier to create better emails faster. Discover: 

• A more flexible layout, easy image resizing, text line-height adjustments and an improved email rendering and preview experience 
• Smart AI wording suggestions 
• The ability to duplicate, edit, and delete email sections and elements with one click 
• The ability to move sections and elements easily on the canvas 
• The new email editor experience directly from the editor itself, without admin privileges. 

Teams webinars integrations 

Whether you choose to create a webinar in Teams or Dynamics 365 Marketing, both approaches are just as easy and intuitive – and fully connected. With the power of Dynamics 365 Marketing, you get total control over your live events. Plus, you are one click away from collecting all that rich engagement data and following up effortlessly.  

All this and more is possible with the new Dynamics 365 Marketing. Want to learn more?
Chat to us today to learn how to put these new features to work in your business.