Websites are not as simple as an attractive front end. To deliver a world-class website your site will feed into many different systems. This gives your users a next-level experience while providing you with insightful data to fuel your business strategy.   

Collecting masses of data from various areas of your business and collating it across your platforms is no mean feat. What once involved huge team resources to keep on top of tracking and managing data can now be simplified through platforms such as Microsoft Dynamics 365. But finding a platform to fit your business is only one part of the puzzle. Ensuring you’re making the most of the solutions available to you and how they work with your website is another story.  

In this article, we discuss what Microsoft Dynamics 365 is, how it benefits your business and how our proprietary middleware can simplify your website’s integration with the platform.  

What is Microsoft Dynamics 365? 

First arriving on the scene in 2016, Microsoft combined their Dynamics AX platform with their Dynamics CRM to create one of the first integrated ERP and CRM solutions.  

As a cloud-based platform with impressive ERP capabilities, Microsoft Dynamics 365 allows brands to seamlessly integrate multiple parts of their business into one manageable entity and process customer data through its CRM.  

Microsoft Dynamics 365 ties into several key areas of your business, helping to create a unified solution. With the platform, you can manage data across: 

1. Sales and Marketing 
2. Services  
3. Finance  
4. Supply Chain 

As well as working across several areas of your business, Microsoft Dynamics 365 can be easily connected to many other Microsoft platforms or products. Rather than relying on integrating with third-party systems, those who use Microsoft products like Azure can easily link their platforms for a fully united solution.  

How does middleware come into play? 

Websites lean on a number of third-party platforms and services to create exceptional user experiences, but how do these all communicate with each other? Middleware is software that acts as a ‘middleman’ between different systems. 

Our Dynamics middleware software 

Usually, applications are integrated with Dynamics 365 through Microsoft’s Dynamics 365 API or by using a custom API provided by a specialist partner. A custom API is often preferable as it simplifies the integration process by abstracting away the complexities of Microsoft’s API, but this is not always available if your business doesn’t work with a Dynamics partner who can provide this. 

Working with our development team, we’ve created a solution for this common problem. Our proprietary Dynamics middleware facilitates the integration with the platform, allowing for a simplified and standardised approach to data management and communication. Alongside this, the middleware has many beneficial uses: 

1. The software provides a simple framework for mapping website data to Dynamics 365 entities. It can then be used to read and write that data to and from Dynamics, making it a seamless process for development teams. 
2. Querying and interacting with data in Dynamics is easier using a simple and fluent API. 
3. It provides a framework to set up web entities that map directly to Dynamics entities. 
4. It helps to streamline integration with Dynamics, speeding up development time.  
5. Implementations are standardised across different projects allowing the team to maintain Dynamics integrations more easily.  

Who benefits from our Dynamics middleware? 

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is a platform that works across any sector or business. If the need is there, Dynamics can support you. However, numerous industries can particularly benefit from the platform and our Dynamics middleware.  

As an integrated CRM and ERP, Dynamics 365 lends itself to brands with a wealth of customer data that needs to communicate harmoniously across their site, CRM and ERP. Sectors that typically benefit from this approach can include: 

1. Membership organisations 
2. Housing organisations 
3. eCommerce organisations 

Huge banks of data mean operational complexity and the need for additional resources, time and money to manage this vast quantity of information. Through Dynamics, these businesses can improve their operational efficiencies, and with our middleware, can benefit from having this data available to use on their website without the need for a specialist team to provide a custom API. 

How we can help you manage your online data effectively  

Whether you’re looking to move to a new CRM with better capabilities and want to know more about Microsoft Dynamics 365 or you’re set up with the platform and struggling to integrate with it correctly, we can help. We understand the complexities faced by different sectors and, as a recognised MemberWise supplier, you can trust that we know what it takes to help organisations excel in the digital space. 

Our team of experts can work with you to create a tailor-made approach using Dynamics and our middleware to kick your data management up a notch. Looking at your specific business needs, we’ll integrate with a selection of Dynamics features to support your goals and use our middleware to ensure a cohesive relationship between the two.  

With a plan in place, our Dynamics middleware will run silently in the background, without your team needing to step in. Now armed with a website and systems that communicate efficiently with each other, banks of organised data and freed up time and resources, you can continue to focus on the big picture – business growth.  

To discover more about Dynamics 365, our Dynamics middleware, and how they can improve your digital offering, get in touch with our team of experts.