Looking for new business software can be a daunting task, especially when it comes to something that will hopefully be an all-encompassing solution, like an ERP or CRM system. No matter what kind of system you’re in the market for, there are quite a few options out there, and for such a crucial backbone to everyday business processes, understandably no quick decisions can be made.

If you’re looking to add productivity powerhouses like Dynamics 365 Business Central or CRM applications like Dynamics 365 Sales and Marketing into your toolbelt, read on for some of the benefits you can expect when you join the Microsoft business application ecosystem.

Though the cloud-based ERP market may feel saturated, when the granular details of each solution come to light, it’s easier to narrow the field. Business Central offers high customizability, modernization, flexibility, scalability, security, automation, and seamless integrations with other applications—both Microsoft applications and 3rd party—all built upon a proven, successful ERP solution. As a part of the expansive Microsoft ecosystem, Business Central can be leveraged as a powerful cloud ERP independently, but you will reap unique and calculable benefits from employing other components within the ecosystem Business Central is part of.

Time is a valuable resource—make the most of it by utilizing smart automation functions for day-to-day tasks. With Dynamics 365 Marketing, you can easily automate email communications to customers, but did you know that you can also delegate send as permissions so others can send emails on your behalf—automatically? Sending quick reminders to check in and follow up have never been easier.

Although writing physical checks is slowly becoming a thing of the past, check fraud prevention is more important than ever. In 2018, the American Bankers Associated estimated that attempted check fraud surpassed $15 billion. So, what can businesses of any size do to buckle down on their financial security?

Utilizing Safe Pay features in Dynamics GP is an added layer of verification for outbound checks and payments. Once Safe Pay is set up, it’s quite straightforward to use, not to mention an easy practice to incorporate into the check running process.

Get the most out of your team’s various marketing endeavors by using smart insights and analytics from Dynamics 365 Marketing. Using analytics is a simple, yet effective way to measure the successes and pain points of marketing efforts to clearly see what’s working well and determine how to fill in the gaps.

Know that you want to measure marketing analytics, but aren’t sure where to start? Here’s a brief look at a few of the things you can track using Dynamics 365 Marketing insights and how to use the data to make better, more informed decisions.

Microsoft’s Bridge to the Cloud promotion will be available to qualifying customers, and it offers large strategic and financial benefits. Current Dynamics GP (or Dynamics NAV or Dynamics SL) customers can transition away from their current ERP and into Business Central in the most cost-effective manner available.

One way to crack down on potential digital payment and check fraud is by implementing Positive Pay, a fraud protection service offered and used by many banks, which can be considered an automated second set of eyes that monitors checks and payments and flags things that may cause concern. So, how exactly does Positive Pay work, and why should you implement it?

Microsoft Teams provides businesses with an excellent solution for managing file storage and collaboration. It has its own editor for Word and other Microsoft 365 app files that can be useful for some quick, small changes. However, for larger edits and authoring, it is usually much easier to open the file in the corresponding desktop application such as Word. The functionality is usually better and the formatting can be a bit difficult when editing in Teams itself. New in the preview release of Microsoft Teams is the ability to set the default opening behavior.

This year, Community Summit is October 12-15 in Houston, Texas. We’re revving up for our trip! Are you? We’ve already written a blog about how to get the most out Summit, and we hope you add our booth and sessions to your calendar when you sit down to strategize your time. We’ve compiled a complete list of where you can connect with us at Summit—including our booth and sessions—and we’ve also got a little surprise for you. (Yes, it’s a giveaway!)

Throughout the entire manufacturing marketing and sales process—from initial contact, to lead, opportunity, and quoting—all the way to order processing, a manufacturer constantly strives to optimize their processes. This makes sense; the faster and better they do their job, the more competitive they are through lower prices and more customers with increased satisfaction. There are countless moments along the sales and production pipelines with the potential to increase efficiency, and utilizing premier business solutions is perhaps the largest area of opportunity. ERP and CRM solutions such as Dynamics 365 offer features and functionalities to optimize business processes and are highly customizable to meet the needs of any manufacturer.

Microsoft has recently announced the features that will be included in the 2021 Year-End update to Dynamics GP, which will include the 2021 Feature release as well. Users should note that only the 2018 version of GP will be updated – GP 2016 received its last-ever update in June 2021, so it’s in your best interest to upgrade to GP 18 for continued use.

Here are the features coming to GP 18.4:

With Sales Accelerator in Dynamics 365 Sales Insights, save time and effort by automatically assigning new leads to sales team members as they come in. Sales Insights is available by default for Sales Premium licenses or as an add-on for Sales Enterprise. The Sales Accelerator can be activated by navigating to the Sale Insights Settings area. Use the Change Area menu at the bottom of the navigation pane to switch over. Users will also need to have the sequence manager, sales manager, or administrator role.

It’s been a while since we’ve been to in-person events. So as Community Summit 2021 approaches, we may wonder if our conference-attending skills are a little rusty? Well, whether you’ve attended two dozen conferences or none at all, it’s a worthy task to consider your approach to the conference. What do you want to get out of Summit? How can you best achieve your goals? You can’t have it all, but you can get what you want the most. Today we’ll cover six tips for successful conference experiences you can leverage to squeeze every last drop of value out of Summit.

Microsoft continues to expand the functionality of the Dynamics 365 Marketing to provide better tools for businesses to connect with their audiences. New to the armory of features is SMS messaging and push notifications for mobile apps. This gives new ways to take control of communication efforts all within the same system. Currently, these features are only in public preview, so they don’t quite have their full functionality. However, they can still be utilized to get a taste of their full potential and help to brainstorm ways a company could benefits from them.

Choosing the right partner for your business is not something to take lightly, and there are many things to consider, from Microsoft competency certifications to how they treat potential and existing clients. Here are seven qualities of excellent partners your company will want to carefully consider when you’re in the market for a Microsoft Partner.

Integrating an email account to Business Central using an Outlook add-in can help users better keep track of which documents are sent to which contacts. Here’s how you can integrate Business Central with Outlook, plus a few of the scenarios where you’d want to use this helpful feature.

Each business is its own ecosystem, with specialized needs for the customers they serve, the distinct services they provide, and their individualized business processes. You wouldn’t buy a suit without tailoring it to fit you perfectly; the same expectation should apply to CRMs. Companies are not cookie cutter and generic, and neither are the customizable abilities possible with solutions such as Dynamics 365 Marketing or Sales.

Efficiency and connectivity have been at the forefront of Microsoft’s efforts to update products lately. Teams in particular has been at center stage, so it saw the majority of updates made, but other exciting features and functionalities were added across the other Microsoft 365 products as well. Here is a recap of some of the best new features that were added to Microsoft 365 products this summer:

As we continue to push forward, cloud hosting is very much becoming a dominant player for business data. Many legacy systems are starting to age-out and need to be replaced. For many of these businesses, it can be difficult to finally make the call to upgrade, let alone migrate to the cloud. If the company is accustomed to managing everything in-house, that pass-off can be a bit daunting. Once you get past your initial “what-ifs” of making the switch, a cloud-based ERP system has many benefits over traditional on-premises server.

CRMs are powerful tools for automation and record keeping, but did you know that they can also take on a bulk of digital marketing activities too? Finding an all-in-one CRM solution can drive success and help teams exceed expectations, all within a single workspace.