While it is no secret that Dynamics 365 CRM comes with exceptional integration capabilities, and you can sync the CRM with any third-party apps to meet your business requirements.
The purpose of any Dynamics 365 CRM integration is to increase efficiency and productivity by expanding the capabilities of your software. Hence, it becomes crucial to ensure that the integration is done rightly to reap its benefits for B2B companies and enterprises.
In this blog post, we’ll walk you through some important tips and tricks to integrate third-party apps with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM.
So, let’s begin!
Why Integrate with Dynamics 365 CRM
- Streamlined Management
With Dynamics 365 CRM integration, you can ensure streamlined management by reducing the need for manual data entries. It connects different departments and gives you access to real-time inventory data. As a result, you save labor costs, get better insights, and make smarter business decisions.
- Enhanced Customer Engagement
The integration provides you access to comprehensive customer information. Through centralized data, you can analyze market trends and the buying patterns of customers to provide them with a better customer experience and improve overall communication. You can also effectively implement targeted marketing strategies.
- Access to Microsoft Resources
Dynamics 365 CRM allows companies to connect and share information with Microsoft resources such as Windows Server, Outlook, Office 365, PowerApps, Skype for Business, SharePoint, and more. This facilitates automatic data sharing through seamless Microsoft ecosystem integration.
- Extended API Options
With Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM integration, the API pools broaden. You get an array of APIs to implement into your system and enhance its capabilities. These APIs facilitate better interaction between Dynamics 365 CRM and independent software vendors (ISV).
How to Integrate with Dynamics 365 CRM
1. Dynamics Web API
It is one of the most sought-after ways to integrate Dynamics 365 CRM. The Web API processes HTTP requests to enable integration across different platforms and languages. The API connects systems that are not directly compatible with Dynamics 365 CRM, facilitating better team collaboration and system interoperability.
The API uses Open Data Protocol, which you can use with various programming languages, devices, and operating platforms. It allows businesses to get information from third-party libraries. Not only this, developers can also integrate silo systems with Dynamics 365 CRM using the Web API.
2. Online Management API
Online Management API focuses on ensuring top-notch customer engagement within the Office 365 ecosystem. It works to strengthen the synchronization between Dynamics apps such as Sales, Field Service, Customer Service, Project Service Automation, and more. As a result, it creates a comprehensive and more unified operational environment.
3. SOAP-based APIs
Using XML, SOAP-based APIs focus on improving business processes. They are popularly used for their strong connectivity capability with external partners and systems. These APIs are touted as considered as the oldest and the most used by businesses.
4. REST-based APIs
REST-based are the modern APIs as compared to SOAP-based APIs. They are more flexible and provide a default implementation. However, you still need to work on the architecture and code to integrate the required business applications into the API. The default format is both JSON and XML. They are not just APIs but are also applications and tools that are used in custom integrations.
5. Custom Tools
In many cases, businesses have fixed and unique requirements that make it a little difficult to fit an available tool. Such integrations require a custom approach with the help of an expert integration team. Since this integration aims to build custom functionalities for businesses, it takes relatively longer to implement.
6. Manual Integration
There are cases where businesses also require manual integration offered by ISV. For that, a business needs to set up its own integration team to export and import data from one system to another manually. However, it is cost-effective as compared to other integration types. Manual integration is also crucial for businesses that store data in spreadsheets, databases, and other systems, as they get all the data in one place.
7. Integration Tools
They are firms that offer tools and solutions that facilitate third-party app integration with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM. This is probably the best way to integrate as they handle the entire integration process by themselves. Their pre-built integration connectors don’t require any coding to integrate Dynamics 365 CRM with third-party software. Besides, these tools enhance the integration capabilities and make the entire process faster. However, they come at a price that is either paid one-time or on a subscription basis.
Best Practices for Integrating Dynamics 365 CRM and Third-Party Apps
Here’s a checklist of all the best practices that you must ensure while performing Dynamics 365 CRM data integration with a third-party app.
- Plan your data mapping strategy effectively
- Define your business goals upfront
- Get a clear understanding of your business processes across systems
- Understand data and assess data quality to ensure effective data management
- Establish an effective error-handling mechanism
- Safeguard data accuracy and integrity with data validation
- Do thorough testing and QA
- Prioritize data security and compliance
- Establish tools and practices to monitor integration’s performance
Conclusion
Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM is a robust application with all the capabilities to manage your operations effectively. With a professional CRM expert like Greytrix, you can leverage the CRM software to its full potential. As a trusted integration partner, we give you access to the best end-to-end integration services. Whether you want to integrate any third-party app or eCommerce software with Dynamics 365 CRM, we make it happen for you through our unique native cloud integrator, GUMU™. In addition, we also extend our integration support by helping businesses leverage our other integrations, where we integrate Acumatica and Sage ERP with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM.
Give us a call at +1 888 221 6661 or click here to learn more about our Dynamics 365 CRM integrations.