Seamless integration, enhanced efficiency, and connectivity between systems have never been so important for organizations trying to maintain an edge in an increasingly competitive field.
Enter Dynamics 365 integration!
Dynamics 365 integration can provide users with powerful and versatile platforms to unify their most critical business systems and improve efficiency across their entire Microsoft landscape.
Read on to learn more about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Integration and how our senior Microsoft Dynamics consultants can come in to help.
What is Microsoft Dynamics 365?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a comprehensive suite of business applications that offer improved operational efficiency and excellent customer experiences. This way, companies can improve flexibility and reduce system complexities while also maintaining lower total costs in the process.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers the ability to seamlessly integrate with other Microsoft solutions and third-party applications, including BI tools, web portals, and ERP systems. Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrations don’t require complex configuration requirements and can be completed quickly, making them appropriate for both small and large businesses across industries.
Why Integrate With Microsoft Dynamics 365?
Take a look at some of the benefits of integrating with Dynamics 365:
- Robust Mobile and Web Applications: Businesses can use the data from Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM software to improve customer service, target specific demographics for campaigns, foster loyalty, and maintain efficient customer communication.
- Access to Microsoft Solutions: With built-in Microsoft resources like Outlook, Office 365, Windows Server, SharePoint, Skype for Business, PowerApps, and Exchange Server, businesses can collaborate and share data.
- Access to Third-Party Tools: Powerful Dynamic 365 APIs can link to external solutions, like supply chain participants, shippers, BI tools, and more. Management teams can leverage APIs and powerful third-party connectors to monitor and enhance operations across all locations and improve data visibility.
- Simplified Management: Seamless integration connects departments, eliminates the need for manual data entry, provides real-time inventory data, reduces labor costs, and enables more informed business decisions. This way, companies can leverage such integration to simplify management functions and achieve significant cost savings over time.
- Improve Engagement: To curate profiles of clients and their habits, Dynamics 365 user interfaces can improve visibility into critical business data from third-party applications. And, with improved engagement across teams, businesses can better interact with their clients, track online activity, and research current market trends to prepare for better business outcomes in the future.
- Quicker Scalability: It’s simple to update and add technology with Dynamics 365 APIs that offer flexible and scalable features and help companies stay updated with industry trends.
How to Integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft APIs refer to the main methods used for integrating external applications with internal Microsoft systems and Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications. These are frequently referred to as Dynamics 365 REST APIs and include REST-based, SOAP-based, and web-based APIs.
One of the primary purposes of Dynamics 365 REST APIs is the control of all company operations and customer-facing functionality in one place. Businesses must connect to other corporate applications and technologies, such as BI tools, ERP programs, customer apps, and portal systems, to provide a better user experience and more connected operations across the entire organization.
Choosing the best Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM API can be difficult, so it’s crucial to work with an API expert to help you make the best choice for your critical integration and implementation needs.
Here’s a closer look at each of the pre-built APIs and their core capabilities:
Dynamics Web API
The Dynamics Web API delivers information based on HTTP requests to pull specific data from CRM software, allowing developers to integrate business systems more effectively across their entire technical landscape. The API is compatible with various devices, operating systems, and programming languages, simplifying integrations and supporting any existing system or application.
It adheres to the same standard as Restful APIs – the Open Data Protocol. With the Web API, companies can also request information from third-party libraries and connect to any libraries, regardless of the platform or programming language used. This allows companies to link systems that don’t connect to Dynamics 365 APIs independently and facilitates better collaboration between teams and systems.
Online Management API
Another critical integration tool designed for managing customer engagement and interaction among Office 365 tenants is the Online Management API. The Online Management API also helps companies facilitate better connections between in-built Dynamics applications, like Project Service Automation, Sales, and Field Service.
SOAP-based APIs
Older SOAP-based APIs that leverage XML as their default format focus less on raw data and more on business processes. As SOAP-based APIs are some of the most widely used APIs across systems and applications, it’s critical for businesses to leverage their enhanced connectivity to connect with third-party systems and external business partners.
REST-based APIs
Newer and more adaptable REST-based APIs have predefined default implementation standards and guidelines. However, developers must still work on system architecture and program coding to incorporate all business apps into the correct API to improve connectivity and efficiency across the board.
In most REStful apps, developers use both XML and JSON programming languages to facilitate the exchange of valuable business data between systems. With REST batch APIs, users can manage large volumes of purchase orders in one place, making it easier to improve on-premise inventory management and facilitate better connections between finance and operations apps.
In addition to APIs, some other tools and applications can be used for specialized Dynamics 365 integration:
Integration Tools
Some software vendors provide pre-built products and services to make integrations with Dynamics 365 applications possible. These technologies allow businesses to connect different systems and applications without coding different procedures or exchanging data manually.
Employees with specialized technical experience can use solutions like these to improve their integration knowledge and promote better integration strategies in the future.
Custom Tools
Sometimes, integrations are specialized and don’t have the in-built functionality to work with a tool or system already in use. And, while a custom integration requires more time and effort to put together and manage, it offers specialized functionality that’s unavailable with typical out-of-the-box applications, tools, and integrations.
Apps Built To Integrate With Dynamics 365
Building integrations between third-party software and Dynamics 365 applications can help companies expand functionality and improve efficiency across their entire system landscape.
Applications, including virtual document management, project management, mapping tools, and marketing automation, help to minimize implementation time and improve connections between teams and systems.
With built-in integration options and specialized app functionality, users can create stronger integrations from the start and maintain connections with Dynamics 365 more efficiently.
Manual Integrations
The best option for consumers involves periodically exporting and importing data (i.e., accounts, leads, orders, etc.) from one system to another.
With functional integrations, users can import data into Microsoft Dynamics 365, allowing them to access and manage all data from disparate spreadsheets, databases, and other systems in one location.
Manual integrations are typically less expensive than automated ones, but they require internal staff to carry out manual data entry and exchange processes, extending time-to-value far beyond automated integrations.
Platforms to Integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 365
Here are eight examples of existing Microsoft platforms that provide seamless integrations with Microsoft Dynamics 365 applications:
1. Microsoft Dynamics 365: Power BI
Improved decision-making is a common goal among organizations looking to monitor data overload and analyze key business, customer, and competitor data more efficiently.
Benefits of Power BI Integration
With Power BI integration, users can:
- Access a variety of rich data charts and dashboards on various devices
- Use DirectQueryto learn about existing data and create reports to organize large amounts of data in one place
- Utilize ready-to-go reports and modify or extend them as needed
- Export data from Dynamics 365 into Microsoft Excel and create powerful data visualizations in Power View
- Update data, share dashboards, and create reports through Microsoft Dynamics 365 Marketing, Sales, and Service connections
2. Microsoft Dynamics 365: Office
By leveraging many disparate applications on a regular basis, companies often face issues with limited productivity and lack the right resources to improve functionality on their own. Integrations with Microsoft Office 365 offer improved connections between existing applications, allowing for better collaboration among teams and increased time savings.
Benefits of Office 365 Integration
With Office 365 integration, users can:
- Better communicate with clients and teams using Skype for Business
- Merge emails from customers and suppliers with Exchange Online
- Improve document management through SharePoint Online tools
- Manage notes for opportunities and potential leads with One Note
- Improve collaboration across teams by leveragingYammer
- Create new leads from email with connections to Outlook
- Utilize insightful reports and dashboards with the Power BI platform
3. Microsoft Dynamics 365: SharePoint
With SharePoint, companies can store documents related to opportunities, leads, and services in a single, unified location, making it easier to access and manage critical business data and generate better leads.
Benefits of SharePoint Integration
With SharePoint integration, users can:
- Improve collaboration with secure access to documents
- Create, download, view, and work with documents that are stored in SharePoint
- Easily store, find, and share information across the company
- Allow non-Dynamics 365 users to access SharePoint documents directly
- Utilize SharePoint document management capabilities, such as viewing version history, reviewing documents, and editing document properties
4. Microsoft Dynamics 365: Outlook
Finding recent emails and locating older ones in Outlook is an exhausting task, especially if you’re required to use a separate program or web interface to keep track of all your email-related activities.
Benefits of Outlook Integration
With Outlook integration, users can:
- Keep track of every email they send and reply to, and add knowledge-based articles to their existing email content
- Create tasks and access all Dynamics 365 information.
- Automatically link Dynamics 365 information, like contacts and opportunities, to emails in Outlook
- Make activity lists for email responses and automatically schedule them as tasks for employees
- Utilize the Outlook interface to access all Dynamics 365 features, open them from any Outlook email, and manage critical conversations in Outlook
5. Microsoft Dynamics 365: Exchange
Integrations with Dynamics 365 Exchange allow companies to sync all contacts, tasks, appointments, deadlines, and customer communications in a single, unified platform.
Benefits of Exchange Integration
With Exchange integration, users can:
- Create automated emails from Dynamics 365 to boost collaboration
- View all emails related to a specific contact, account, case, or opportunity
- Directly add contacts to Dynamics 365 from email messages
- Connect new or existing Dynamics 365 records to email, appointment, and contact data
- Drag an email to an Exchange folder to enable the Dynamics 365 Exchange folder monitoring tool, which tracks the email automatically
6. Microsoft Dynamics 365: OneNote
Users can easily locate previous interactions, quotes, opportunity details, and orders with functional OneNote integrations.
Benefits of OneNote Integration
With OneNote integration, users can:
- Monitor potential leads in a hassle-free way
- Easily take notes on leads and opportunities
- Create a OneNote tab for each record
- Add unstructured notes to any record and share them with key stakeholders
- Quickly store, organize, and take notes on any device
7. Microsoft Dynamics 365: Yammer
Integrating Dynamics 365 with Yammer helps streamline communication with other people or teams. Yammer makes it easier to exchange information and updates automatically rather than trying to schedule phone conversations or keep up with emails.
Benefits of Yammer Integration
With Yammer integration, users can:
- Curate, edit, and share documents and information without sending repetitive emails or attending meetings
- Utilize activity feeds and socialize with Dynamics 365 users and others
- View posts in the newsfeed and participate in conversations from any place at any time
- Allow specific record rules and types to trigger a Yammer post
- Make a centralized location for conversations and stay up-to-date across teams
8. Microsoft Dynamics 365: ESB
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) functionality connects applications and services, making it easier for users to manage critical business information and facilitate more efficient data exchange across teams and systems.
Benefits of ESB Integration
With ESB integration, users can:
- Easily allow communication with a wide range of different applications and services to streamline critical business processes
- Support practical transitions to architectures built on a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) without having to abandon existing applications
- Reduce issues about message addressing, data format, communications regulations, and routing within existing integrations
- Increase levels of adaptation and flexibility for better operational functionality and system efficiency
How Can We Help
Whether you’re interested in learning more about Dynamics 365 interactions with other applications and systems, you’re looking to build a new integration strategy, or you need an extra hand getting started with Microsoft Dynamics 365, Surety Systems can help.
Our senior-level Dynamics consultants have all the skills and experience needed to help you successfully implement a new Dynamics application or build integrations to improve functionality with your current system architecture.
Contact Us
Are you ready to learn more about Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration and how our senior Dynamics consultants can help improve your business operations?
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