Dynamic 365

Microsoft has announced the next step in their investment in their cloud business software, Dynamics 365. It combines their best-of-breed Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Business Intelligence (BI) solutions into a single product offering, all online. To put it into context, think about what Microsoft recently did with putting its Office suite online with Office 365.

That’s what Microsoft is doing now with their line-of-business software. And, of course, the “365” allusion to Office is no accident. Dynamics 365 is designed from the ground-up to closely work with Office 365. While all of that is interesting in theory, none of it matters without answering the fundamental question “what does that mean for my business?” Well, it may mean a lot for how you decide to operate your business going forward.

This has potential for large cost-savings, as it removes the need to manage your own datacenter and servers. But it can go beyond that, and potentially eliminate the need for offices. While clearly that is a major cultural concept for any business, Dynamics 365 provides key technical building blocks to support fully virtual office environments. From the marketing team to the accounts receivable team, everyone can be online from the location of their choice, and still achieve the work they need to do.

The combination of eliminating the need for large offices and allowing people to work from home is a strong win-win for everyone, as offices are expensive to maintain, and working from home is a highly desirable benefit.