1. Streamline and grow your business with Dynamics 365 Business Central, a comprehensive business management solution for small and medium-sized businesses.
2. Announcing new capabilities for a connected and engaging experience between Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Teams. Learn more Learn about the new Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform features and capabilities previewed at the Microsoft Business Applications Launch Event.

Dynamics 365 Sales focuses on adding productivity enhancements for sellers and providing more access to data-driven insights to help with decision making. Look for updates to automation and sequencing, conversation intelligence, and many exciting updates to the mobile app enhancing the mobile experience for sellers on the go.

Dynamics 365 is the Microsoft family of business applications. It promises to turn business process into business advantage for organizations everywhere. But what does that really mean?

Dynamics 365 Includes Both ERP and CRM Apps

Dynamics 365 includes more than a dozen apps and add-ons, which address your needs for ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning), CRM (Customer Relationship Management), and so much more.

Dynamics 365 customers license the apps that provide the best value for them. The whole Dynamics 365 family is designed to provide you with maximum flexibility and extensibility.

Because of this flexibility and rapid innovation, Dynamics 365 (D365) can adapt to fit almost any business. But it can also be hard to understand, especially with all these acronyms flying around: D365, CRM, ERP, and so on.

In this article, I’ll give you an overview and many links to more detailed explanations and comparisons.

What are the Dynamics 365 ERP Solutions?

Dynamics 365 ERP solutions focus on your core accounting, manufacturing, and distribution needs, but extend to much more. Overall, their value to your business is to increase your automation, efficiency, control, and scalability.

At the highest level, there are 2 main Dynamics 365 ERP solutions to choose from: Business Central and Finance & Operations.

• Dynamics 365 Business Central: ERP solution well-suited for most small and medium-sized businesses. Lets a company start small but scale up and add functionality as their needs grow.
• Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations: ERP solution well-suited for large or diversified companies. Especially used by companies with multiple lines of business, international operations, multi-currency needs, or complex discrete & process manufacturing needs.

Business Central is usually best for small and medium-sized businesses, while Finance & Operations is usually best for larger companies. However, there are many other differences between the two, and the best fit for your company depends on your specific business needs. We built an automated Dynamics recommendation tool that considers 20 factors to help you assess the best fit for you.

Now, within Finance & Operations, there’s a little more detail. Even though most customers, commentators, and consultants still call it Finance & Operations, Microsoft now licenses it as 2 different apps:

• Dynamics 365 Finance: Includes budgeting, project management, financials, and accounting for large, international companies.
• Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management: Includes engineering, manufacturing, warehousing, and distribution. Excels at multi-level warehousing and complex discrete & process manufacturing.

It’s still a single implementation, but you now choose whether your individual users have access to one or both apps, depending on your business processes. Read more detail on the new Finance & Operations pricing.

You may also have heard of Microsoft Dynamics GP. GP is a powerful Microsoft ERP solution, which many of Encore’s own clients use. Technically, it’s not part of the Dynamics 365 family, but it’s a close cousin with a similar interface.

Many companies currently on GP are now undergoing needs assessments with Dynamics Partners to evaluate a transition to Dynamics 365, especially Business Central. For a broad comparison between those two solutions, please read Dynamics GP vs Dynamics 365 Business Central.

What are the Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM Apps?

There are 5 different apps within Dynamics 365 that fulfill a business’s CRM needs. These apps help your team make sales, retain customers, dispatch support when needed, and keep track of it all.

• Dynamics 365 Sales: This is the most prevalent of the 5. It gives a 360-degree view of your interactions with prospects and customers so your team can plan and forecast your next interactions with them. It provides a single source of truth for your sales, marketing, and account management teams.
• Dynamics 365 Marketing: Strengthen your marketing efforts by creating nurture campaigns, calculating lead scores, and providing insights for next actions to acquire and retain customers.
• Dynamics 365 Customer Service: Power up your customer service team by efficiently tracking customer complaints, returns, warranty claims, SLAs & entitlements and how your team handles each of these transactions.
• Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation: Great for any organization providing professional services with fixed price or time & material projects (e.g., engineering, consultative services). Provides resource scheduling, time entry, and expense submissions. These licenses also include sales functionality.
• Dynamics 365 Field Service: Great for any organization where your team conducts services offsite (for instance, at a customer’s location, or on your equipment in the field). These licenses also include customer service functionality.

You can leverage any combination of these apps and integrate them with your ERP as well as Office 365. Your Microsoft Dynamics partner can help you match your business processes and strategy to the best licenses for your needs.

What are the Other Dynamics 365 Offerings?

There are also several offerings within Dynamics 365 that go beyond ERP and CRM:

• Dynamics 365 Human Resources: App that helps you simplify compliance, compensation, benefits, and more. Also helps employees get relevant HR info through self-service tools.
• Dynamics 365 Commerce: Digital commerce app that brings together your back-office, in-store, call centre, and digital experiences for omnichannel sales.

• Dynamics 365 Mixed Reality: Includes four different offers for business needs:
  1. Dynamics 365 Remote Assist – to collaborate at a distance.
  2. Dynamics 365 Layout – to visualize and share floor plans through holograms or VR.
  3. Dynamics 365 Guides – to improve training and performance.
  4. Dynamics 365 Product Visualize – to let sales reps showcase products within a customer’s own environment.
• Dynamics 365 AI: Includes several different Artificial Intelligence add-ons for CRM apps:
  1. Dynamics 365 Sales Insights
  2. Dynamics 365 Customer Insights
  3. Dynamics 365 Customer Service Insights

There are also several other Microsoft AI offers, especially in the Power Platform and Microsoft Azure cloud.

Dynamics 365 is Implemented With a Partner

Because these applications are continually evolving, and because they connect to your whole business, you need expert guidance to determine exactly which apps fit your business needs and strategy.

You also need expert help to set them up well for your business processes and support you over time as your business and technology change.

That guidance and help comes from a Microsoft Dynamics Partner, like Encore Business Solutions.

So, part of your choice as a business leader is what Dynamics 365 apps to use. But an even more important part of your choice is who to partner with. Your Partner can help you assess your business needs, and then implement, train you on, and support the best apps to suit your needs.

Are There any 3rd-Party Dynamics 365 Apps?

Yes. There are thousands of 3rd-party apps created by Microsoft Partners, available on Microsoft AppSource (which is different from the Office Store and Azure Marketplace).

Does Dynamics 365 Include Power Apps?

Technically, no. But in practice, many companies use both.

Power Apps are part of the Microsoft Power Platform, and part of Microsoft’s offer of low-code/no-code solutions for power users and “citizen developers.” Power Apps are a great way to fill any gaps between your business needs, your Dynamics 365 solution, and any other solutions you may have.

Does Dynamics 365 Include Power BI?

Power BI is purchased in addition to Dynamics 365, although often through the same Microsoft Partner. Power BI adds highly accessible visualizations and powerful data controls to your Dynamics 365 apps.

Power BI is also part of the Microsoft Power Platform.

Is Dynamics 365 Part of Office 365?

No, but they do integrate excellently. For instance, you can invoice right in Outlook with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Dynamics 365 Has a “Common Data Service”

Traditionally, enterprise software has been built on a layer of complicated databases. Consultants would have to set up, maintain, and customize databases for unique business processes. And these customized databases are difficult to integrate and upgrade.

Microsoft has moved away from this older data model of silos.

Instead, Microsoft Dynamics 365 and many other Microsoft solutions use a common data service so that apps built for one company can be used at another without complication. This increases repeatability, lowers costs, and makes Microsoft an attractive option for those evaluating enterprise software.

Microsoft’s Partners are also enabled by the standardization and consistency of database schema. They can build innovative applications and customizations with confidence that their solutions can be deployed and used across Microsoft’s entire customer base. Customers can browse these applications in Microsoft AppSource.

The common data model also allows for tighter integrations with other apps, such as Office 365 or any other business app with a standardized API. Microsoft Office 365, Power BI, Microsoft Power Automate, the Internet of Things, and Cortana Intelligence are all central to Microsoft’s value proposition of the Microsoft Cloud and Dynamics 365.

Dynamics 365 is Built for the Cloud

Microsoft’s increasing commitment to the cloud means that the availability of their Dynamics 365 products in the cloud is not a surprise. The cloud also allows Microsoft more control and standardization over the development of Dynamics 365, which is necessary given the common data model.

Generally speaking, Microsoft Azure cloud deployment decreases cost, increases security, and increases workplace mobility.

However, there are on-premise versions of Dynamics 365 apps. Those may be best for companies dealing with special regulatory environments or weak Internet connectivity in their warehouse and workshop locations.

Dynamics Solutions Names and History

Many of today’s Dynamics 365 apps are built on previous Microsoft ERP and CRM offerings, and they have undergone several name changes in the last few years.

So, your own company may be using Microsoft solutions with older names.

Here’s a quick list of the most common older terms:

• Dynamics NAV: The predecessor to Dynamics 365 Business Central. Many companies now on NAV will eventually transition to Business Central.
• Navision: An even older name for NAV.

• Dynamics AX: A predecessor to Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations. Many companies now on AX will eventually transition to Finance & Operations.
• Axapta: An even older name for AX.

• Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement: An older umbrella term for the Dynamics 365 apps that fill CRM needs. This term is still technically correct for on-premise versions of those apps.
• Dynamics CRM: A previous solution that fulfilled the same needs as some of the current CRM apps. However, this is no longer the name of any one app.

• Dynamics 365 Business Edition: An early Dynamics 365 offer that included both ERP and CRM components, intended for small and medium-sized businesses.
• Dynamics 365 Enterprise Edition: An early Dynamics 365 offer that included both ERP and CRM components, intended for (you guessed it) enterprise.

• Dynamics 365 Talent: Predecessor to Dynamics 365 Human Resources.
• Dynamics 365 Retail: Predecessor to Dynamics 365 Commerce.

Conclusion

Microsoft Dynamics 365 has added powerful new capabilities to the Microsoft line-up. But there are so many new options year over year that it can be hard to keep up.

If you’re a business leader looking for guidance on business applications, please feel free to reach out to us with the form below. We’d love to help.

Which Dynamics Product Is Best for You?

Answer some basic questions about your company and your requirements, and find out what products would fit your business.

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Download the 2021 release wave 1 PDF (last updated March 11, 2021)

The Dynamics 365 release plan for the 2021 release wave 1 describes all new features releasing from April 2021 through September 2021. You can either browse the release plan online or download the document as a PDF file. The PDF file also includes information about Power Apps, Power Automate, Power Virtual Agents, Microsoft Power Platform governance and administration, and data integration.

The Microsoft Power Platform features coming in the 2021 release wave 1 have been summarized in a separate release plan as well as a downloadable PDF.

2021 release wave 1 overview

The 2021 release wave 1 for Dynamics 365 brings new innovations that provide you with significant capabilities to transform your business. The release contains hundreds of new features across Dynamics 365 applications, including Marketing, Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Finance, Supply Chain Management, Human Resources, Commerce, Fraud Protection, Business Central, Customer Insights, and Customer Voice.

Ms Dynamics 365 Certification

Marketing

• Dynamics 365 Marketing focuses on delivering deeper personalization and more channels to engage and reach your customers with the right messages with built-in analytics dashboards and cross-journey insights to improve results and achieve your business goals.

Sales

• Dynamics 365 Sales focuses on adding productivity enhancements for sellers and providing more access to data-driven insights to help with decision making. Look for updates to automation and sequencing, conversation intelligence, and many exciting updates to the mobile app enhancing the mobile experience for sellers on the go.

Service

• Dynamics 365 Customer Service transforms the contact center by providing intelligent omnichannel routing across channels. The all-in-one contact center will ship with a logistic and integrated first-party voice and chat solution to enable customers to be up and running quickly.
• Dynamics 365 Field Service introduces a comprehensive experience for customers that will allow them to self-schedule service and rate technicians to ensure the maximum satisfaction. Other investments in 2021 release wave 1 include streamlined onboarding experience, comprehensive customer engagement capabilities, and broader resourcing options.

Finance and Operations

• Dynamics 365 Finance brings the intelligent cash flow offering to public preview with automation based on predictive results. Users experience out-of-the-box machine learning including when customers are predicted to pay, forecasting the budget and viewing forecasted cash positions based on actual accounts payable, accounts receivable and project transactions, and predicted outcomes.
• Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management expands on inventory and logistics scenarios providing a single, organization-wide source of truth for inventory quantity-on-hand with the Inventory Visibility Add-in. In Asset Management, customers will be able to bill for maintenance work. Manufacturing adds execution with scale units in the cloud to run mission-critical processes without interruption.
• Dynamics 365 Project Operations delivers rich new experiences with the ability to forecast, use, and invoice non-stocked materials on projects. Also included is the ability to set up contractual commitments like billing methods and chargeability rules by task or a work breakdown schedule. Customers using Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation will be able to upgrade to Project Operations.
• Dynamics 365 Guides is focusing on intelligent workflows. By taking further advantage of data captured with HoloLens as well as AI innovations, users can get to work and confirm their results faster and simpler than ever. In addition, new entities for completion time enable customers to build Power Automate flows that support their unique enterprise needs.

Human Resources

• Dynamics 365 Human Resources continues to broaden the human capital management (HCM) ecosystem through integration APIs and strategic partnerships. The employee experience expands to support benefit notifications and a summary statement providing a consolidated view of benefits for employees.

Commerce

• Dynamics 365 Commerce brings to market an integrated B2B and B2C e-commerce offering in a single Commerce solution with unified merchandising and site management capabilities that enable a wide range of business models across industries and verticals. Commerce also expands the native integrations with Bing for Commerce search for product search, as well as Customer Service and Power Virtual Agents, to unify business processes across prepurchase and post-purchase scenarios.

Fraud Protection

Ms Dynamics 365 Api

• Dynamics 365 Fraud Protection adds behavioral and mobile fingerprinting, improving the accuracy of fraud management rules.

SMB

• Dynamics 365 Business Central delivers a set of new features designed to simplify and improve the way our partners administer tenants, and the way administrators manage licensing and permissions. Application enhancements expand the integration with Microsoft Teams, add country and regional expansions, and include moves to Visual Studio Code to provide modern development tools, further enhancing the productivity for developers.

Dynamics 365 Customer Insights

• Audience insights capabilities enable every organization to unify and understand their customer data to harness it for intelligent insights and actions. Audience insights is adding customization and extensibility capabilities of the customer view, additional connectors for data ingestion, better controls for AI-based unification, and capabilities to enable marketing, sales, and service professionals to drive personalized engagements across channels.
• Engagement insights capabilities enable individual and holistic interactive analytics over web, mobile, and connected products customer journey touchpoints.

Customer Voice

• Dynamics 365 Customer Voice expands the capabilities to collect feedback with prefilled answers, file upload support, drill-down question type, and customized survey headers. Additional capabilities designed to improve survey response rate include pause and resume survey to enable users to complete a survey on a different device, automated survey reminders for recipients who have not filled out the survey, and over-survey management. Creating a follow-up action workflow is made easier with Power Automate survey response trigger.

Industry accelerators

Industry accelerators are foundational components within Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 that enable ISVs and other solution providers to quickly build industry vertical solutions. The accelerators extend Common Data Model to include new entities to support a data schema for concepts within specific industries.

Key dates for the 2021 release wave 1

This release plan describes functionality that may not have been released yet. Delivery timelines and projected functionality may change or may not ship (see Microsoft policy).

Here are the key dates for the 2021 release wave 1.

Milestone	Date	Description
Release plans available	January 27, 2021	Learn about the new capabilities coming in the 2021 release wave 1 (April 2021 – September 2021) across Dynamics 365 and Microsoft Power Platform.
Early access available	February 1, 2021	Test and validate new features and capabilities that will be a part of the 2021 release wave 1, coming in April, before they get enabled automatically for your users. You can view the Dynamics 365 2021 release wave 1 early access features now.
Release plans available in 11 additional languages	February 23, 2021	The Dynamics 365 and Power Platform release plans published in Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portuguese (Brazilian), Spanish, and Swedish.
General availability	April 1, 2021	Production deployment for the 2021 release wave 1 begins. Regional deployments will start on April 2, 2021.

Just like the previous release waves, we continue to call out how each feature will be enabled in your environment:

• Users, automatically – These features include changes to the user experience for users and are enabled automatically.
• Admins, makers, or analysts, automatically – These features are meant to be used by administrators, makers, or business analysts and are enabled automatically.
• Users by admins, makers, or analysts – These features must be enabled or configured by the administrators, makers, or business analysts to be available for their users.

You can get ready with confidence knowing which features will be enabled automatically.

We’ve done this work to help you—our partners, customers, and users—drive the digital transformation of your business on your terms. We’re looking forward to engaging with you as you put these new services and capabilities to work, and we’re eager to hear your feedback as you dig into the 2021 release wave 1.

Let us know your thoughts. Share your feedback in the Dynamics 365 community forums. We will use your feedback to make improvements.