Today, business moves at the speed of the cloud. That means companies that don’t have a handle on the big picture will quickly fall behind. If the productivity tools you use to run your business are separate silos, it’s likely that you will not have an efficient way to analyze information like sales or inventory trends and respond appropriately to improve the bottom line.

When you think of office productivity tools for business, it’s accepted that Microsoft continues to corner the market. Tools like Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint have become some of the most commonly used software programs in the entire world. In fact, you may have a hard time thinking of an office that doesn’t use Microsoft products regularly.

Microsoft just announced they’re making big changes to their Dynamics 365 offerings for next year. What this illustrates is that technology giant Microsoft is listening closely to what consumers are clamoring for. This latest effort to repackage and streamline their services and software shows that Microsoft hasn’t lost sight of what’s important to their business -- you.

There has been a head-to-head competition between Microsoft Dynamics vs. Salesforce CRM for years. That’s because the makers of both platforms continue to try to rule the market with their customer relationship management platform. 

Microsoft Dynamics puts the “customer” in CRM. That’s because this software can serve as the hub across all customer touch points, from sales and marketing to customer relationship management. One platform can do everything, and today’s competitive markets require these kinds of multifaceted tools that can unify an organization.

The “BI” in “Power BI” stands for business intelligence. It’s aptly named because using this software will help your organization gain insight into the underlying issues affecting business forecasts, profit and loss, sales, inventory, and more.

Like a lot of Microsoft products, Dynamics CRM is pretty intuitive. That’s because Microsoft cornered the market years ago with their office products and has used that time to hone their offering. So all of the tools in the Dynamics 365 universe have a similar look and feel that is comfortable to the average user.

Cloud computing has changed everything. It’s allowed smaller businesses access to the same tools enterprise organizations had been using for competitive advantage.

The latest news this summer from Microsoft is a new upgrade that allows you to recover files instantly from Azure VM backup. With a little cloud technology, Microsoft made the move to improve performance, security, and the customer experience, all in one swift upgrade. 

If you’re a small business, you understand exactly how cash flow is tied to financial reporting. If you don’t know how much is in the corporate bank account, you may not be able to make payroll or pay quarterly taxes.