With the October 2018 release of Dynamics 365 Business Central, the business world gained a powerful new tool. Dynamics 365 Business Central comprises a suite of tools intended to improve the way your business runs. Encompassing the entire spectrum of business processes — including marketing, sales, service, operations and finance — it allows users to integrate processes faster, facilitates the decision-making process and enables connection with customers in real time. This improvement results in better insights and increased efficiency.
With its comprehensive lineup of features and four distinct deployment options, Business Central is designed specifically to meet the demands of modern businesses. The result is a customizable solution that can be adapted to the needs of different types and sizes of organizations across a wide range of industries.
One of the most important features of this tool is that it integrates with Office 365 — a suite of business applications that, since its release in 2010, organizations around the world have widely adopted. Microsoft states more than 155 million commercial entities use Office 365 each month. A subscription-based service, Office 365 is the logical follow-up to Office and gives businesses access to familiar tools, including Word, Excel and Outlook.
Dynamics 365 Business Central seamlessly expands on the functionality of Office 365, delivering the ideal system for today’s ever-evolving businesses.
All in One
Previously, when working with an ERP system, users had to navigate multiple tabs or windows to accomplish a single task. Doing so was inconvenient and inefficient.
Dynamics 365 Business Central directly integrates with Office 365 to connect a range of applications within a business’s system. Users no longer need to toggle between programs to complete a task. Files and programs can be accessed from within the same space, meaning processes involving more than one application can be performed in a centralized location.
In short, by integrating with Office 365, Dynamics 365 Business Central eliminates the need for any complicated setup and helps streamline a wide range of processes. Here are some examples of this interconnectivity that can benefit businesses.
Data Management in Excel
Thanks to ever-advancing technology, organizations have a growing amount of data available to them, whether that’s financial figures, information about customer behavior, product specifications or other types of data. When they accumulate large sets of data, businesses run the risk of that data getting buried in their systems. Through using an ERP system, businesses can create secure locations to store and retrieve data.
Some ERP systems are challenging, requiring users to duplicate items for use in the multiple applications involved in the process. Due to the connectivity between Dynamics 365 Business Central and Office 365, users can simply retrieve the data and import it into the relevant application.
For example, with Microsoft Dynamics 365, accounting becomes more streamlined. Users can directly connect to Dynamics 365 Business Central and import financial data into Excel. They can even link between both programs to generate the necessary data for charts and graphs without having to move back and forth.
In addition, actions such as filtering and modifying can be easily performed. Similarly, users can directly update records in Dynamics 365 Business Central via Excel. All of these factors combined provide users with enhanced ease of use and facilitate a more streamlined workflow.
Integration With Outlook
Another highly useful feature of Dynamics 365 Business Central is that it allows users to perform a range of actions from within Outlook. For example, if a sales associate receives an email from a customer placing an order, they can go directly into Dynamics 365 Business Central and retrieve all the data pertaining to that specific customer in real time. Purchase history, sales contact, outstanding balances and more become immediately available.
Moreover, instead of having to check inventory or pricing in a separate application, the sales associate can input quantity or generate a sales quote directly in Outlook. This ability greatly reduces the time involved in processing an order and preparing it for shipment.
Why Adapt?
In today’s marketplace, organizations need a solution that simplifies everything. With the interconnectivity provided by Dynamics 365 Business Central and Office 365, businesses can streamline their processes, maximize their productivity and — by extension — become more competitive.
Contact us at Clients First Business Solutions to learn more about these solutions and how they can help your business.
