One of the main benefits of choosing as your customer relationship management system is that it gives your employees access to its data anywhere there’s an internet connection. Better yet, Microsoft continuously updates Dynamics CRM's included features.
One such feature that was recently added to Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online is integration with Office 365. In case you’re unfamiliar with it, , is a service that brings together cloud versions of Microsoft’s most trusted communications and collaboration products with the latest version of its desktop suite, making it easy for your employees to stay in contact with one another and easily create or edit documents from anywhere they have access to the Internet. Although this capability hasn’t gotten quite the same press as some other recent additions to Dynamics CRM, it does have immense potential to increase the productivity of any workforce. Here are just a few examples how this duo of powerful services could help your staff get their jobs done more efficiently than ever.
- Increased meeting preparedness – imagine that your sales force is traveling for a very important meeting when the potential client calls with a last-minute change to their project requirements. If your company uses both Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online and Microsoft Office 365, the person who takes the phone call can update the client's information in the CRM system and send an instant message or e-mail to the sales team alerting them to this change. Then, because Office 365 allows them to store a copy of their work in the cloud, the sales team can open the document they wrote before leaving on their trip and begin to make the necessary changes. If they decide they’d like other people on the team to look over the new documents, this can be done very easily. Any staff member with an Office 365 account can access the file, read over it and give their suggestions during a virtual meeting held with the help of ; the communications service piece of Office 365.
- Improved customer service response time – imagine that a long time customer calls with a large and urgent order. Because this customer has been a very loyal one over the years, you do not want to disappoint him/ her. But, you realize that in order for your company to be successful at meeting this request, several disparate teams are going to have to pull together. With Office 365 and at your fingertips, the nearly impossible just got a little easier. As soon as customer service receives this order, enters a case into the CRM system and alerts the production and distribution teams, it's time for them to come up with a plan of how to meet this increased demand in a short period of time. Similar to the example above, even if these two teams work opposite shifts on opposite ends of the country, Microsoft Office 365 makes it easy for them to meet, share and edit documents on the fly until the customer's demands are met.
today if you're interested in learning more about either of these services and how they can help increase efficiency and productivity across your organization.
By: Laura Heinbockel, ., A North Carolina Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner.