Microsoft is giving its Dynamics business applications a major cloud boost with Dynamics 365, an upcoming offering that bundles CRM, ERP and Office 365. The package will also feature "purpose-built" apps for financials, field service, sales, operations, marketing, project service automation and customer service. Here are more details from an official company blog post:
Dynamics 365 apps are designed so they can be easily and independently deployed. That means you can start small and pay only for what you need. Yet they work together seamlessly so, as your business demands, you can grow into additional capabilities with ease. They include built-in insights, predictive intelligence and workflow optimization, all of which will be delivered through simple, easy-to-use, mobile experiences with offline capabilities.
Power BI and Cortana Intelligence will be natively embedded to help customers achieve their business goals with predictive insights, prescriptive advice and actionable next steps.
For example, Cortana Intelligence will enable cross-sell recommendations to help sales reps predict which products and services a customer will need.
Deep integration between Dynamics 365 and Office 365 will connect the structured workflow of business apps with the unstructured work of collaboration and productivity.
For example, a sales person receives an email, and can respond directly in Office with a quote that is created based on information from both Finance and Sales apps, stored back to the right app, with right pricing, discounting, etc. All without the user having to leave Outlook.
A Shot At Salesforce
Microsoft is also rolling out AppSource, a portal where business users can try out line-of-business cloud apps from Microsoft and its partners. AppSource has more than 200 products available at launch.
Finally, Microsoft is also touting the notion of Dynamics 365 as a platform both "citizen" and professional developers can use to create and customize apps.
Given all that, Dynamics 365 is clearly a shot across the bow of Salesforce.com. Microsoft has a close partnership with Salesforce—indeed, the companies announced a new Outlook integration barely a week ago—but sees an advantage in offering customers a cloud suite that natively taps both CRM and ERP data.
And Microsoft has done more than just bundle some cloud products together here, as Dynamics 365 will feature a common data model across the apps, notes Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Alan Lepofsky. "That in theory should enable better application development and use of the data."
Dynamics 365 isn't due for release until later this year; pricing information wasn't immediately available.
"It is good to see that Microsoft seems to bring together more of its product as cloud based services, which ultimately should yield in better return of R&D dollars," says Constellation Research VP and principal analyst Holger Mueller. "But we will have to see that going forward. Announcements are one thing, delivery on product road maps another. Let's check in a few months where Dynamics 365 stands."
Microsoft is planning to discuss the service in more detail at next week's Worldwide Partner Conference. This ample sense, as Dynamics still depends heavily on the partner channel for sales, hosting (including via Azure) and maintaining front-line relationships with customers. Partners in turn will want to know what role they can play as Dynamics 365 heads to market.
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