Today (11/1/2016) marks the first Microsoft Dynamics 365 release – specifically, the initial release of Dynamics 365 Business Edition in the US and Canada (initially consisting of Dynamics 365 for Financials), and the release of Dynamics 365 Enterprise Edition worldwide. In 2017, not only will additional Dynamics 365 apps come out (for Sales and Marketing for the Business edition), but Dynamics 365 for Financials will be released in an additional four countries. This bold set of applications together are being billed as nothing less than a “Digital Transformation” of businesses of all sizes.
In short, Dynamics 365 helps you automate and streamline your business processes as comprehensively as you like. It is the only cloud-based solution that tackles your customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) needs in one place, along with Office 365, using a “Common Data Model” (CDM). Whether you need tools for sales, customer service, operations, financials, field service, project service automation, or marketing, Dynamics 365 has an app. Today’s release provides the first day of general availability for most of those solutions. The value proposition here is that businesses of all sizes can choose just what they need and pay for those tools to get started, and then grow into a wider set of functions as required.
For small business, today is the first day that Dynamics 365 Business is available, which, at the moment, consists of the “Financials” app. The Business edition is intended for small businesses with between 10 and 250 employees (although there is no minimum seat count), and allows for simplified accounting and business management. Dynamics 365 for Financials was previously in preview in the US and Canada as Microsoft Project Madeira, and in terms of functionality, it is based on Microsoft Dynamics NAV. It provides contact management and financials for small business with features such as Quotes, Orders, Invoices as well as accounting functions.
NOTE: since Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online will no longer be available, and Microsoft recognizes that this will leave a gap for small businesses until the Sales app becomes available, they have agreed to offer the Dynamics 365 Sales, Enterprise edition (this is the “Sales” app that most closely resembles the CRM Sales Module as we now know it) at a reduced-priced for a limited time. Specifically, this app contains the Sales Module entities, such as Leads, Opportunity, Contacts, Accounts, etc. as well as some of the Marketing Module entities, such as campaigns and quick campaigns. The price is $40/user, there is no minimum seat count, but there is a 15 seat maximum. This offer will be available from December 1, 2016 until June 30th, 2017, or until the Dynamics 365 for Sales, Business Edition is released – whichever comes first. Finally, a company who purchases this app now will be eligible to also purchase the $5/user/mo “Team Member” subscription, which provides what amounts to read-only data across the Common Data Model (for now, Leads, Opps, Contacts, Accounts, and other entities available in the Sales app.)
The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Enterprise edition is intended for larger organizations (over 250 employees), and is, essentially, a combination of Dynamics AX and CRM, using a CDM. It will eventually make use of Adobe Marketing Cloud suite, the result of a recent partnership with Adobe. The use of the Adobe Marketing Cloud suite differs from the Business edition, which will use Dynamics 365 for Marketing starting in 2017. What is now known as “Microsoft Dynamics Marketing” will no longer be available.
Since change can be stressful, Microsoft has lessened the burden by providing an Assisted Setup & Tasks section on the homepage of Dynamics 365, as well as the offer described above. There is a Getting Started tour to give you an introduction to the application, and then there are access points to create a trial company, import existing company data (vendors, customers, etc.), and set up sales tax, email, and more.
Keep an eye out for instructional posts and videos from xRM to get you started using Dynamics 365,and please don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have questions.
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