Microsoft Dynamics 365 Implementation: 2024 Guide

Microsoft Dynamics 365​ implementation

Mircosoft Dynamics 365 is a powerful business application platform that offers a bundle of features such as an enterprise CRM, enterprise resource planning (ERP), analytics, and productivity tools.

Depending on the solution you choose, Dynamics 365 can help your business to:

  • Build custom low and no-code applications for internal usage
  • Connect the aforementioned apps with data sources like LinkedIn and Microsoft Azure
  • Get detailed insights into your marketing and sales processes with powerful analytics
  • Personalize sales and marketing offers for individual customers
  • Prioritize opportunities in your sales pipeline
  • Deliver great customer service across multiple channels, such as email, phone, and chat

As a result- and unlike CRMs that may work out of the box- you’ll need to choose from the many options Dynamics 365 offers, customize it to fit your use cases, and maintain it after the initial implementation.

This article will explain:

  • The challenges you’ll encounter as you roll out Dynamics 365 across your organization
  • A step-by-step process for implementing Dynamics 365
  • The different team members you need to make up your Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation team
  • How to drive CRM adoption of your new Microsoft Dynamics investment

Top 5 Tips for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Migration Success

  1. Plan for implementation
  2. Create requirements and scope
  3. Properly configure
  4. Migrate successfully
  5. Onboard and train your team

5 Common Microsoft Dynamics 365 Implementation Challenges

Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers a wide range of features designed for larger organizations.

That in itself is a huge advantage. But challenges may arise when you need to migrate your data, onboard your staff onto the Dynamics 365 platform, or choose the right solution from the bucketload of options that Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers.

1. Lack of compatibility

After setting up Dynamics 365, it’s not going to work in a vacuum.

In most cases, you already have an existing stack of tools, CRM workflows, and processes that you use to manage your internal operations. So, it can become a challenge when you want to integrate those tools with your Dynamics 365 deployment.

2. Not using the right tools

The tools you use will either make or break your Dynamics 365 implementation. Whether you’re trying to:

  • Choose a tool to clean up and migrate your data
  • Onboard your users
  • Build custom integrations, or
  • Sync with your databases,

— review each tool you’re interested in with the help of experts to help you make an informed decision. 

You can read up on reviews, guides, and testimonials (especially those shared by customers with use cases similar to what you want) to understand how you can expect these tools to work when you start using them to implement Dynamics 365.

3. User adoption

According to estimates by Grand View Research, 91% of companies with 10 or more employees use a CRM. But deeper research shows that 76% of sales leaders report that their teams don’t use the majority of the tools in their CRM. This applies to all kinds of enterprise software and buying licenses for your entire organization doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll use it.

This can be either because of a steep learning curve, inadequate training and coaching resources, or even because the users in question have developed processes that help them work at peak capacity using their current tools and so they’re unwilling to try out any alternatives.

After rolling out a Dynamics 365 deployment, you will still struggle to get a positive ROI from your investment if you don’t coach your end-users to make the most of the platform.

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Create personalized learning & training flows for better Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation with Whatfix

4. Migrating your data

When you’re switching to a new CRM or ERP, you’ll need a number of tools to clean up and migrate your CRM data, map the data in your old platform to locations in your new platform, validate your data after the migration, and back up a copy of your data.

Without using the right CRM data migration tools, you can run into issues that may require more time to fix, or even lose some or all of your data in the process.

5. Information security

Dynamics 365 offers robust security that’s designed to keep your organization safe from cyberattacks, fraud, and ransomware. Even if the Dynamics 365 comes under attack, the Microsoft team usually pushes out a security update to fix it.

The main point of attack is the human component. So, you should be trying to gauge their security consciousness with questions like:

  • Do you know enough not to click on spammy links and malicious resources?
  • Do we have firewalls to prevent unauthorized access to our systems and databases?

Rolling out a Dynamics 365 implementation means you have to invest significantly into training your employees and end-users to be security conscious regarding how they use the platform, your databases, and the tools offered to avoid security breaches.

Related Resources

5 Tips for a Successful Microsoft Dynamics 365 Implementation

Here’s a detailed process you can follow to roll out your Dynamics 365 deployment safely, put together the best team, prepare for any downtime required during your migration to a new ERP or CRM, and coach your employees to start using the platform for their daily workflow.

1. Planning

Planning starts with figuring out:

  • Why you’re looking to switch to Microsoft Dynamics 365
  • The problems you want to solve with the platform
  • The resources you’re prepared to dedicate to the migration
  • How the Dynamics 365 platform will help you meet the challenges you have with your current tools

A detailed plan will help you figure how much you want to invest into implementing Microsoft Dynamics 365, the challenges you may encounter in the process, and if you need external assistance to make it work.

2. Creating requirements and scope

Once you understand why you want to implement Dynamics 365, the next step is where you decide the number of licenses you want to invest in, the volume of data you want to export to Dynamics 365, the pricing tiers you’re opting for, etc.

3. Configuration

Configuration involves choosing which of the tools Dynamics 365 offers that you want to use, adding integrations, custom apps, and building workflows and processes that you will use for your day-to-day operations.

4. Migration

Data migration is almost like taking a brain and putting it in another body. You essentially export all your data formats, workflows, processes, customer details, transactions, files, and notes to Dynamics 365.

To make sure your data migration goes smoothly, ensure that you:

  • Figure out the format of data and data structures you’re exporting
  • Find a data migration tool to assist you
  • Test and validate your data to ensure the origins in the old CRM or ERP are mapped to the correct destinations in Microsoft Dynamics 365
  • Run a test with sample data, and finally
  • Move all your data

5. Onboarding and training

Onboarding your employees can take the form of training for your sales people, group coaching sessions, or webinars. If you want a more effective training system, you can use a guided onboarding platform like Whatfix to offer your organization’s users contextual assistance.

A training program will teach your end-users how to carry out their usual work inside Dynamics 365, learn the tips and tricks of using the platform, and navigate any issues they have with it.

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Create guided onboarding and in-app training flows to drive drive Microsoft Dynamics 365 adoption with Whatfix

How to Structure Your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Implementation Team

You’ll need a team of experts to help you guide your Dynamics 365 implementation, monitor the project, identify challenges, and eliminate them as quickly as possible.

1. Project manager

A project manager serves as a point person who assembles the rest of the team and monitors the project’s timeline, resources, and any risks that come up.

2. Business analyst

A business analyst should be an expert from outside your company who will review your existing process and workflows to figure out what’s working and what needs to be changed.

The BA functions as a process engineer of sorts to help you create the right process inside Dynamics 365 instead of exporting everything from your old CRM, ERP, or tool stack and carrying on business as usual.

3. IT specialist

An IT specialist is the technical lead who’s responsible for configuring your Dynamics 365 instance, setting up the right integrations, custom apps, architecture, etc. An IT specialist can either be an individual or another organization that’s licensed as an implementation partner.

4. Executive sponsors

Executive sponsors are often not directly involved in the day-to-day running of an implementation project. They provide high-level leadership on the processes to follow and serve as a channel between the organization’s leadership and the implementation team.

5. Training lead

A training lead creates training programs for coaching end-users, as well as testing and rolling out onboarding and assistance tools to help them catch up with Dynamics 365.

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NEW EBOOK
The Keys to a Successful Enterprise Software Implementation

How to Drive Adoption of Microsoft Dynamics 365

To find the technology ROI of your new MS Dynamics 365 investment, you’ll need to create a user adoption strategy. The best route for success starts with a digital adoption platform (DAP) like Whatfix.

A DAP helps you provide real-time, in-app guidance and training for Microsoft Dynamics 365.

It allows you to add pop-ups, step-by-step walkthroughs, and tooltips, on top of different features of Dynamics 365, to help employees understand how they work.

Here’s how Whatfix can help drive user adoption for Dynamics 365:

1. Task lists with walkthroughs track learning progress

Whatfix allows you to organize important tasks in Dynamics 365 into a task list, so new users can independently learn how to use the software. Each task item can be a walkthrough or step-by-step instructions to complete a workflow within the app.

You can also tailor task lists based on an employee’s role and the workflows they’ll need to complete within Dynamics 365.

For instance, when a sales manager logs into the Sales module for the first time, they may see a task list as follows:

  • Create a sales lead
  • Qualify a lead
  • Move marketing leads to sales

When that sales manager clicks on a task, they’ll see a set of pop-ups or tooltips to guide them through each step of the process.

Such task list-based walkthroughs are a great way for employees to keep track of their own learning. It also helps managers see how far an employee has progressed within Microsoft Dynamics 365.

2. Personalization that makes training content relevant

Instead of offering generic training for Dynamics 365 to each employee, Whatfix lets you surface only the most relevant training content within the app based on an employee’s role, title, customers they manage, and other criteria.

Thus, an admin or manager might see different training material than, say, a basic-level user. Or within an app like Finance, those who manage budgeting and cost accounting may see different training content than employees who handle accounts receivable and accounts payable.

This type of laser-targeted training is especially beneficial for onboarding users onto a behemoth like Dynamics 365, which has nine different apps across sales, marketing, finance, operations, HR, and customer service, and multiple functions within each app.

It allows employees to quickly get up to speed on Dynamics 365 features that matter to their job instead of wading through unnecessary documentation.

3. Contextual training content that improves learning retention

Whatfix’s contextual training option ensures your employees only see training material related to the section of the app they’re in, and not all at once.

For instance, those in the “Leads qualification” tab of the Marketing app in Dynamics 365 will only see tutorials and tips related to that specific tab. This could be workflows related to creating a lead in the app or tips on qualifying sales leads.

With training material organized and presented in this way, employees are more likely to find it meaningful, as opposed to viewing content out of order or context. This, in turn, helps them remember key features and workflows within Dynamics 365.

4. Announcements that make it easy to track product updates

Whatfix lets you announce new product releases, features, and changes in feature or product names within Dynamics 365 using beacons. Beacons are blinking red spots that draw users’ attention to an area of the app.

Each time Microsoft announces an update, you can add a beacon to the changed section of the app to let users know. You can also attach videos, links, or tutorials to a beacon.

Thus, employees won’t have to rummage through Microsoft’s product update announcements to learn about key changes or wonder what happened to Microsoft Forms Pro (it was renamed to Dynamics 365 Customer Voice) and other important features.

5. Create varied content formats for more effective and engaging training

Training content for Dynamics 365 doesn’t have to be drab or boring when you use Whatfix.

You can create both static and interactive training content for employees — PDFs, videos, links, slideshows, and articles, as well as walkthroughs, smart tips, and task lists. Additionally, content formats are interchangeable. So, walkthroughs and tips can easily become PDFs, videos, and slideshows.

You might use walkthroughs to explain more complex workflows in Dynamics 365. For introducing simple features, you could use a quick video tutorial.

Varying content formats ensures employees don’t get overwhelmed with a single content type, and learn in a format they find most valuable.

6. Automated form-filling that reduces manual work and reduces errors

Automated form-filling in Whatfix helps you pre-populate certain fields in your Dynamics 365 forms based on given conditions.

For example, when creating a new customer profile, you can auto-fill fields such as company information, email, and the number of employees, based on sales data.

This helps you tackle one of the most tedious aspects of a CRM like Dynamics 365 — data entry. It also helps you reduce errors from manual data entry to a minimum.

How Whatfix supports your Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementation

Whatfix is a guided onboarding platform designed to coach enterprise users to start using software faster. That includes salespeople, customer service agents, marketing ops managers, etc.

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After you set it up, our platform lives inside your SaaS tools (such as Salesforce, Netsuite, and HubSpot) and offers your users on-demand videos, guides, and walkthroughs to explain how different parts of your new tool works.

Whatfix can help your team start using Microsoft Dynamics 365 faster by offering assistance and onboarding resources at the moment they need it vs. during monthly seminars.

Check out how Whatfix works to learn how you can drive adoption by coaching your organization’s users at the moment of need.

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