Posted on September 21, 2018

Microsoft Dynamics + InEvent | Integrate your events with one of the leading business platforms in the world

Microsoft Dynamics is a platform consisting of applications for businesses originally launched in 2003 and its latest release in 2016. It is cloud-based and combines both CRM and ERP tools. To begin, we need to understand what those two acronyms mean.

ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. An ERP software’s purpose is that of organizing a company’s administrative and operational work, bringing together automation for most of their day-to-day operations from accounting services to checking in employees. However, according to Aberdeen Group surveys, only 27.6% of all available functionalities in the ERP software were actually used.

CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. CRM is an innovative tool which both the marketing team and sales team can use to acquire customers. Additionally, information in real time can be captured for qualifying leads. By maintaining a customer database, you can track their actions for proper sales funnel analysis and anticipating their needs.

It was in its 2016 update, titled Microsoft Dynamics 365, that the product came to join Dynamics AX — ERP — with Dynamics CRM. Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers apps for iOS, Android,and Windows Phone while also being supported by Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Mac OS, Linux, HP-UX, AIX, Solaris, Unix, IBM OS / 400, Web browser (Agnostic OS), Windows 2000, Windows 8 and Windows 10.

According to the Microsoft website, its pricing starts at US$ 40 per month for each user and varies according to the selected tools of the platform. The Dynamics 365 Plan, which is the most complete one that contains all applications and features, costs US$ 210 per month for each user.

Table of Contents

MAIN FEATURES

ERP: With ERP functionality, you can control all of your company’s resources. For example, the ERP can give access to gather purchasing, warehouse, stock, suppliers, and treasury billing processes information and integrating them with accounting features. All processes are associated with the accounts installed and each accounting entry can be reviewed and posted by the accountant.

CRM: You can view, add, or edit information saved in the CRM database. The tool can track Outlook emails, making them a part of the lead’s permanent history and contact information there can be added to marketing segmentation lists.

Microsoft Dynamics X Salesforce

Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics are two of the most popular cloud-based CRM applications in the world. Salesforce was built with cloud-based capabilities, which makes the user access it through a web browser, Microsoft Dynamics depends much more on the integration with Office 365, especially with Outlook.

It’s hard to say if one is better than the other. It’s easier to affirm that both have good features that allow users to customize them with third-party applications and the choice depends on what is already being used at your company. If there has been an investment in Microsoft products, Dynamics will be the best option because of its integrations. Otherwise, Salesforce is more functional on the cloud and has a gigantic community of loyal users.

Microsoft Integrations: Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrates with other Microsoft products such as Outlook, Lync, SharePoint, OneNote, Office 365, Skype, Windows, Azure, Power BI, and Yammer.

Yammer: One of the integrations mentioned above that deserves attention is Yammer, a corporate social media that has a similar interface with Facebook, bringing along many of its features, which makes it easier for user adaptation. With Yammer, it is possible to create groups, 1: 1 chat and giving access to external people, either from partner companies or suppliers.

Power BI: Another standout Microsoft integration is their business intelligence (BI) platform for discovering, viewing, analyzing, and sharing data. You can upload content to the BI tool to analyze Dynamics 365 data and customize your reports and views.

Mobile App: Microsoft Dynamics 365 can be accessed by iPhone, Android and Windows Phone. The Apps enable professionals to manage sales data on their smartphones. Updating notes, tasks, contacts, accounts, cases and leads can be done with this option. They are available offline, too, so users can work without internet connectivity. This data will then be automatically synchronized as soon as the connection is reestablished.

Customers: Customer Insight functionality is a solution for analyzing customers from Microsoft Dynamics data and other sources such as business applications, web, social media and IoT, creating a consumer overview. The functionality also generates engagement suggestions. With the Dynamics 365 Customer Service, it is possible to make contact with customers through telephone, social media, email or chat.

Sales: The platform has the capacity of generating relationship insights to determine the health of relationships with a consumer. You can use them to build stronger relationships and deliver personalized customer experiences.

With Microsoft Cognitive Services learning algorithms, these vending machines can offer buyers personalized suggestions. The suggestions are based on individual consumer buying history, items on their wish list, and what profiles of similar consumers are purchasing.

Reports: You can generate simple reports without using XML or SQL. For more complex reporting, you can customize them or use an existing template.

PROS & CONS

PROS

-> Integrations with other Microsoft products, such as Sharepoint, Yammer, and Office 365, streamline work processes.

-> It’s easy to use and intuitive, enabling a view of all customers information in one place.

-> It has a high customizations level. JavaScript customizations can do almost anything in forms.

-> The access level security system is robust, allowing you to delete generic accounts and to keep track of each user’s transactions.

CONS

-> The capacity for generating more complex reports is limited.

-> Most customizations are done through JavaScript, but the way Microsoft Dynamics allows you to make changes is not practical. You need to copy the existing JavaScript and paste it into an editor. After the edition, you need to copy and paste the Javascript back into the CRM screen and publish it to see if it worked out.

-> Microsoft support receives a lot of criticism from its customers, especially regarding communication failures.

-> Marketing possibilities are not as effective as other CRM systems. For example, email marketing campaigns could be more flexible. It’s easy to set up filters for their lists, but it requires a lot of effort to coordinate them, as well as restrictions on limiting outbound messages per minute and on issues of starting, stopping, and resuming a delivering process.

-> Compared to its competitors, there is a limitation on the number of third-party softwares that can be integrated with it.

InEvent + Microsoft Dynamics Integration

The InEvent platform, which is focused on optimizing the management of corporate events, offers integration with leading industry companies such as Microsoft.

Microsoft Dynamics allows you to integrate your contact lists with InEvent central database, synchronizing data bidirectionally. You can also provide synchronization of employee databases through Active Directory (AD). Updates or removals can be made automatically with your chosen settings.

With this integration, you will be able to enjoy all the features that InEvent’s event management platform offers with its expertise that CRM-focused platforms do not have. In addition, the InEvent support team is one of the company’s most praised assets which is different from most of its competitors.

Check out some other InEvent features:

-> Ticket Manager: You can add event ticket types, price them, and set the entry that participants with each ticket should use at the event location.

-> Cost control: the InEvent platform can aid in an event’s cost control. In addition to ticketing, this is centralized and all spreadsheets can be loaded simultaneously to control the available budget. You can also extract the ROI from the event at the time of its end.

-> With InEvent Hospitality, information on accommodation, location, and guest hours can be tracked. Flight information for participants includes schedules, arrivals, departures statuses. By centralizing all hospitality and personal information in the InEvent application, such as travel insurance, passport or special notes, the event management has full control over the participant’s experience.

-> Communication among event organizers and their target audiences is facilitated through the use of InEvent’s tools. You can create smart lists to follow-up on emails or on unverified guests, as well as seeing the click-through and bounce rates. Targeted email marketing campaigns can also be launched using this information from our platform. The event agenda is made available to participants through the use of the event app.

-> Event statistics are also available in real time as soon as participants begin their registration. Information on printed badges, people at the event, and controls over rooms, sessions, and booths can be established, along with updates of participants.

-> Through the InEvent Pass, the event accreditation is optimized with the use of QR Codes, both personal and non-transferable which are generated for each participant.

To check InEvent’s case studies click here. If you are interested in integrating your own methods with the InEvent API, which has more than 100 modules distributed among event solutions, get in touch with us by clicking here.

About the Author / InEvent

InEvent is your all-in-one virtual event platform, with built-in event management solutions, interactive live networking features, and a fully customizable Virtual Lobby. Offering easy-to-use tools and a 24h support team, InEvent empowers businesses to build strong customer relationships through memorable virtual and hybrid experiences.