Microsoft Dynamics 365 The First Look

Recently, on 11th Oct 2016, Microsoft release first look of it’s most awaited product “Microsoft Dynamics 365” a previously announced suite of business applications for handling front- and back-office processes. Actually the applications, already announced this summer, were re-announced, with availability slated for November 1.

Dynamics 365 offers features and functions previously found in a bunch of separate products—including Dynamics CRM and at least three enterprise resource planning (ERP) software applications—in what it says is a new, single code base that also incorporates AI features. Microsoft’s pitch is that while Salesforce is adding AI cobbled together from a set of acquisitions over the past year, Microsoft is “building in” technology that it’s been working with for years, much of which was built in-house. ERP software is used to manage inventory, manufacturing processes, and finances. It’s complicated and critical to how companies operate.

The new Dynamics 365 software runs atop Microsoft Azure cloud. The offering includes functionality that once was found in several product lines including Dynamics AX (Axapta), Dynamics GP (Great Plains), Dynamics NAV (Navision)—all products acquired by Microsoft more than a decade ago—but the service builds mostly on the latest AX code.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is essentially a piece of software that aims to unify both current CRM and ERP cloud solutions into one cloud service with new purpose-built apps to help manage specific business functions such as financials, sales, operations and customer service. The technology will integrate with Office 365 to connect the ‘structured workflow’ of business apps with the ‘unstructured workflow’ of collaboration and productivity.

“For example, a sales person receives an email and can respond directly in Office with a quote that is created based on information from both finance and sales apps, stored back to the right app, with right pricing, discounting etc. All without the user having to leave Outlook.”

Microsoft is also working to naively embed its Power BI and Cortana Intelligence technologies to provide analytics insights and prescriptive advice to users. For example, Cortana Intelligence will enable cross-sell recommendations to help sales reps predict which products and services a customer will need.

You can get the first look of Microsoft conference for Dynamics 365 Dynamics 365 First Look