There’s been a lot of discussion about the new functions in the next release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision) due out later this year. The release is scheduled earlier than many people thought (the fourth quarter of 2010), and one of the most interesting developments is the new built-in integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
As CRM and ERP specialists that provide both products, integrating Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics NAV is something we’re particularly interested in at Concentrix. What’s more we are often asked about it by our customers and potential clients. In fact the relationship between the two products has actually caused some confusion in some of our clients before, and to clarify the functions for sales and marketing in Microsoft Dynamics NAV are not the same thing as Microsoft Dynamics CRM (despite them being in the same product family). Basically Microsoft Dynamics CRM is a specific application designed for CRM from the ground up, with a wide range of powerful CRM features, while Microsoft Dynamics NAV is an ERP application which has some CRM functionality.
Currently if a client asks us to integrate Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics NAV we will deploy a third-party application. The one we choose will depend on the precise business requirements of the customer, but as an example we may use one of the products by Scribe Software (Scribe software Ltd provides cost-effective data integration solutions for Microsoft Dynamics and other business applications).
We haven’t seen the technical details of how the built-in integration will work yet, but we’re sure it will bring a whole host of advantages to users of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics CRM alike. It will provide many business process improvements, such as reducing duplicate data entry, increasing data accuracy and helping keep the information in both systems up to date. A significant benefit for sales staff is that they’ll be able to quickly access client and prospect information such as payment history, contracts, pricing, and product availability. What’s more, because it will no longer rely on a third party application, Microsoft will fully support the integration.
Another key feature of the built-in integration is that you’ll be able to integrate either on-premise Microsoft Dynamics CRM or hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM with Microsoft Dynamics NAV – (Concentrix offers both hosted and on-premise and the integration will work with both options). It will also allow you to migrate from hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM to on-premise (or the other way around) while keeping the integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV. This is also a valuable benefit because historically we have had many customers begin their CRM journey with hosted Microsoft Dynamics CRM and, once they’ve established that it works for them and decided they’ll make CRM a core part of their business strategy, will move to deploying Microsoft Dynamics CRM on-premise.
For more information about this topic, we recently posted a blog article which includes the original press release from Microsoft.
There’s also more information on the news about Microsoft Dynamics CRM integration with Microsoft Dynamics NAV over at the crmsoftwareblog (along with lots of other interesting CRM related stuff!).
And of course if you’re looking for a Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics CRM specialist in the UK, please contact Concentrix.
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