Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Azure enable businesses to leverage agile, flexible business solutions that bring their operations into the digital age. Both built in the Microsoft Cloud, it goes without saying that these two products work seamlessly together. If you’re embedded in one Microsoft solution and want to expand your business capabilities exponentially, it makes sense to employ another.
Managed service providers (MSPs) and other tech businesses that currently offer Dynamics 365 are probably familiar with moving clients using on-premises versions of the software to the cloud. These same arguments are easily transferrable to conversations about Azure. And because Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365 make a perfect pair, making the jump to providing Azure services presents a lucrative opportunity for providers looking to grow their business.
What’s Microsoft Azure?
Microsoft Azure is an online portal and cloud platform that allows users to manage and access cloud computing solutions and resources, including but not limited to storing and transforming data based on their needs.
Using Azure, MSPs can create various “as a service” offerings such as platform as a service (PaaS) and infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), among others. Microsoft Azure can also be used to enhance and secure storage, networking, analytics, virtual computing and other business essentials, supplementing and replacing on-premises servers as necessary.
It’s an affordable, flexible and fast cloud platform with a wide variety of capabilities and pricing, making it one of the best public cloud options available.
3 reasons why Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365 work well together
If you currently offer clients Dynamics 365 but are looking for new ways to grow your cloud business, Microsoft Azure could be the perfect opportunity. Here are three reasons why Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365 work well together for the benefit of both providers and their clients.
1. Dynamics was built on Azure
Because they’re both part of the Microsoft family, Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365 were made to integrate well with each other. If you host Dynamics 365 on Azure, there’s no need to build customized links between various applications because Dynamics was built on the Azure platform. Additionally, Azure makes testing and deploying Dynamics 365 applications much more straightforward.
An MSP business can save on implementation costs if it merges these two Microsoft products. If you’re already hosting clients’ Dynamics 365 workloads on Azure (a likely bet), it’s also then an easy transition to hosting more client workloads and data on the platform—email inboxes, for example.
2. Azure can help enhance your Dynamics 365 offering
Microsoft Azure can improve your Dynamics 365 applications significantly by providing a perfect setting to create, deploy and manage applications. Azure also offers a range of benefits to support your cloud business in general such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and better encryption and security, making it your all-in-one go-to cloud platform.
For example, Azure’s excellent access control and security features allow companies to better manage and control visibility on reports, customer data and other information taken from CRM and ERP software like Dynamics 365. Tools like Azure Active Directory can be used to assign roles and responsibilities, and ensure people only have access to data they’re authorized to see. Furthermore, Azure has industry-leading compliance coverage and encryption options to choose from, which can be especially helpful for business that need to comply with regulations such as GDPR.
By adding Microsoft Azure to your solution stack, MSPs with robust Dynamics 365 offerings can then provide increased protection and control over Dynamics data, thereby giving clients better support and an overall improved experience.
3. The IaaS opportunity
Once you’re more familiar with Azure for Dynamics 365, you can begin to offer additional services and strengthen your relationship with clients by taking on more of their IT management.
Maintaining onsite datacenters can incur considerable costs for your customers. However, Azure’s infrastructure as a service (IaaS) capabilities can empower MSPs to take more than just their clients’ Dynamics 365 business to the cloud. For example, MSPs could use Microsoft Azure to offer Azure Virtual Desktop licenses to customers, not only helping clients set up tools for remote work but also opening up a new revenue stream for the MSP.
Work with an expert partner to help navigate Microsoft Azure
Hosting Dynamics on the Azure platform can benefit businesses by offering excellent value, increasing productivity, streamlining processes, and ensuring success. After that, MSPs with a Dynamics 365 offering are well-positioned to start offering clients additional cloud services through Microsoft Azure.
Microsoft Azure isn’t only a cloud; it’s one of the best, most powerful tools that enable companies to leverage more with ERP and CRM. Using Microsoft Azure and Dynamics 365 together is the way forward to ensure a successful, prosperous business.
If you’re planning to move from on-premises Dynamics to the cloud or just looking for new ways to grow your cloud business, Sherweb can help! Our experts know the Microsoft ecosystem inside and out and can help you grow your business your way. Check out our Partner Guide to learn more, or join our Partner Program to get started.
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