You’ve invested a lot of money to build the best on-premises solution for Dynamics 365. Most of you just purchased new hardware to run their applications and are not interested in spending more money to change how you use Dynamics. So, how can we convince you to make the big move to the cloud?
There are two versions of Dynamics 365. There’s the Dynamics 365 cloud version and the on-premises version. Let’s take an in-depth look at both.
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The Cloud Version
Companies perform many functions that can take advantage of the cloud version of Dynamics 365. If you sell your products online, you can really benefit from the cloud’s unique features. All orders generate from the online store and process information in real-time so every employee will know what to do and when to do it. Also, customers may access and have information available about their order status and the delivery route.
Sales agents will benefit from seeing all the information they need in real-time. It gives them a significant advantage when communicating with customers and closing the deal. The management teams will have real-time information about business activities no matter where they are. This helps to make better decisions.
Learn more on how to manage your business with Dynamics 365
The On-premises Version
Having your Dynamics 365 solution on-premises is like doing things the old way. This version is suitable for manufacturing companies or companies operating in areas where the internet is not accessible or very slow, but this is far from being a generalized problem. When you are on-premises, you spend more time and money on maintaining software. You will need more resources to stay up and running and to have a scalable solution for your business. In the long run, it’s not an ideal choice. Let’s dig a bit more into the risks of having your solution on-premises.
The “What if”s of Dynamics 365 On-premises
What would you do if your servers crash? Do you have an IT expert on staff who could start a backup process to recover your business data? If not, you’re in big trouble. Did you know that almost 40% of small businesses never fully recover from a natural disaster, such as a flood or fire?
What if you don’t have the money to be up-to-date?
What about installing and maintaining that hardware? Most on-premises servers have to be renewed every five years and require a considerable capital investment. If you move your Dynamics CRM solution to the cloud, you won’t have to worry about on-site hardware or capital expenses. All the software renewals and updates can be handled by the provider. And, if you have a technical problem, you can call the provider’s support department for help.
Getting All Your Apps from One Provider
Think about all the apps you use every day. Do you realize how convenient it would be to integrate all solutions, such as Office 365, Dynamics 365, Power BI and Microsoft Azure in one central location? Because all these applications are built on Azure, you can be sure you’re getting the most secure cloud platform on the market. Azure also has a wide variety of tools you can use for all special tasks and projects. Here are a few integrations that make this combined solution ideal:
- Single Sign-on
If you use many applications, you likely have a lot of passwords. With the single sign-on function, Office 365 customers will only have to sign in once to access any application in Office or Dynamics 365.
- Power BI and Dynamics 365
This is an excellent tool for your sales department. By implementing Power BI directly into their Dynamics 365 dashboards, staff will find it easier to access and analyze all the company’s sales, service, and marketing data. Since the data continually refreshes, users will always have the latest information to create reports and sales forecasts.
- Excel and Dynamics 365
Does your company need to update a large number of records? Instead of editing them one by one, quickly process the updates in Excel Online directly in Dynamics 365.
- Word and Dynamics 365
The next time you create a professional document for an entity in Dynamics, you can use a template in Microsoft Word. This will save you time, and you can merge customer data into a Word template to create other documents.
- Outlook and Dynamics 365
Integrating Outlook with Dynamics makes it efficient to track emails and view information about sales activities so that you can track meetings and customer appointments.
- SharePoint and Dynamics 365
You can use SharePoint to manage documents directly from Dynamics 365. For example, all documents containing customer data stored in SharePoint will automatically attach to matching customer records in Dynamics.
- Yammer and Dynamics 365
Social media tools, such as Yammer, provide sales teams with real-time data about how potential customers are reacting to certain topics. By connecting Yammer with Dynamics 365, you will be able to create a page in Yammer each time there’s a new customer record in Dynamics. Now, you can discuss this customer with other people in the company.
- Skype for Business and Dynamics 365
Skype for Business makes it easier for users to connect with coworkers and customers. Your team can make sales calls, host online meetings and send instant messages to each other without ever leaving the platform. They can conduct webinars with Skype for Business and then send an instant record of the event to the participants.
Easy and Simplified Migration
There are many migration tools on the market, such as Scribe, KingswaySoft or Cobalt, and more that simplify the entire process. Here is additional information on migration tools:
Scribe: Offers data migration to/from on-premises systems or cloud-based applications. Includes ready-to-go connectors and drag and drop mapping tools.
KingswaySoft SSIS: The SSIS integration toolkit simplifies data integration for Dynamics 365, CRM, AX or NAV. Components work with all applications in Dynamics 365.
Cobalt: Offers a Migration Dynamics tool that transfers data from one CRM instance to another without requiring access to the SQL server database. The tool imports data and reduces the number of missing relationships and broken records. Guarantees zero downtime.
You may qualify for a special promotion. Microsoft is offering a 40% discount to all on-premises customers who move to the cloud. The offer is through a special transition SKU and expires on Oct. 31, 2019.
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New Plans and Pricing for Dynamics 365
Don’t forget about the new plans and pricing for Dynamics 365. Microsoft recently announced it is canceling the Business and Enterprise Editions and replacing them with a single collection of applications. Now, you can buy Full User or Team Member licenses, depending on your roles in the organization.
Conclusion
So these are all the reasons why you should let your on-premises solutions go and move directly to the cloud. Every company benefits from this move. Don’t be afraid of this big change; you are not alone! Gartner predicts that by the end of 2017, the worldwide market for CRM software would grow to $36.5 billion, a 77% increase from the $20.6 billion forecast in the first quarter of the year.
One more thing. Microsoft is releasing many online-only features for Dynamics 365, and it’s a trend that will continue. So, businesses that stay with an on-premises solution will miss out on all the powerful integration and data analysis tools. Don’t be left behind!
