Maximizing Success After Deploying Dynamics 365 Sales | Velosio

You can breathe a sigh of relief, you’ve got Dynamics 365 Sales up and running. So, now what?

It’s a question many organizations face after the initial rush from deployment fades. And it’s often accompanied by the worry that the new system won’t take off like you’d hoped.

Unfortunately, that’s a well-founded concern. Forrester Research found that the majority of businesses implementing a CRM fail in some way to get the value they expected. And the reason is a lack of organization post-deployment.

Simply launching a powerful system isn’t enough. True success lies in continuous improvement, in recognizing that Dynamics 365 is a powerful, adaptable, and, well, dynamic, platform. This article will guide you through post-deployment best practices that will help ensure your long-term success and maximum benefit from your investment in Dynamics 365.

Conduct a Post-Implementation Review (PIR)

The system is live, so the real work begins. It’s time to learn what’s working and what needs to be improved. A post-implementation review (PIR) is an important first step toward maximizing your Dynamics 365 Sales investment.

Ideally, a PIR should occur six to eight weeks post-deployment, after initial technical issues have been addressed and users are familiar with the basics. However, even if you’re past that point, a review during upgrade planning can still yield valuable insights.

The goal of a PIR is to identify opportunities for future growth. You’re looking to pinpoint:

Underutilized Features: You’re still in the early stages, but are there functionalities your sales team is not fully leveraging?
Skill or Training Gaps: Are features underutilized because your team doesn’t know how to use them?
Persistent Pain Points: Are there lingering technical or training issues from deployment that are hindering efficiency? Has the cutover introduced new bottlenecks in your sales pipeline?
Future Roadmap Refinements: How can you optimize your long-term strategy? Are emerging business or market developments requiring you to adjust your Dynamics 365 deployment near- or mid-term?

Look for Some “Small Wins” to Generate Incremental Value

Despite their jobs focusing on long-term strategy, executives still want to see immediate value from big projects like a Dynamics 365 implementation. So, while you should look to get long-term ROI, for now, prioritize finding some visible “small wins” to drive adoption.

Here are suggestions you could dig up that often happen after implementing Dynamics 365:

Highlight a team that significantly reduced data entry time through a specific feature. Share a success story of how you cut data entry time by a certain percentage using a Copilot-powered data import.
Highlight how your CSRs have improved customer response times with automated workflows.
Celebrate a user who mastered a new reporting tool and gained valuable insights you wouldn’t have found before. Use custom dashboards to recognize a sales rep who identified a new market opportunity.

Schedule Regular Performance Checks

While Dynamics 365 is a stable and reliable platform, it can still be quite intricate. Some of your planned customizations might accidentally generate errors due to incompatibilities among different modules. Consider scheduling regular performance or stress testing as you iterate on your setup.

Address the ‘human element’: Look beyond training to improve user adoption

Technical training alone can’t guarantee user adoption. You can’t treat users as just another component of a business system. Consider the human element in a major project like this. User resistance, fear of change, and the comfort of old habits can all hinder adoption and stop you from getting full value from a new Dynamics 365 implementation.

Beyond online courses and simply deploying knowledge bases, focus on building user confidence and proficiency. Leverage other Microsoft tools, like Microsoft Learn, to help you create personalized learning paths for everyone. Remember, training and fostering adoption are ongoing activities, not one-time tasks you check off after deployment.

Be proactive by anticipating future needs

Don’t wait for something to force your hand. Reacting to changes in the market or the release of new Dynamics 365 features is simply too slow in modern business. You can use the Copilot-powered predictive analytics tools in Dynamics 365 for forecasting. You can identify impending resource bottlenecks before they affect your business or identify new opportunities before the competition.

Guide to Moving from Salesforce to Dynamics 365 Sales

Develop contingency plans using Dynamics 365 for potential problems that impact your business. Are you projecting a downturn in your market? Could you potentially lose a tentpole client? Model how those could impact your budget. Or treat it as an opportunity—what resources would be suddenly freed up so that you could relocate elsewhere?

Leverage the Microsoft Ecosystem

Dynamics 365 Sales is powerful on its own, but the real potential lies in its integration with the wider Microsoft ecosystem of applications. In slow, steady steps, you can build a whole strategic network of interconnected systems unified by AI to help run your business.
Here are a few components to consider in your continuous improvement plan.

Microsoft 365: The collaborative and operational backbone
Teams: Move beyond basic team chat and create a dynamic collaboration hub. Facilitate real-time project work, cross-departmental discussions, and easier knowledge sharing.
Excel and Outlook: Transform these familiar tools into powerful data conduits by integrating Copilot and Dynamics 365 Sales. Seamlessly transfer and analyze sales data, analyze trends, and manage customer communications in one unified interface.

PowerBI: Accessible data-driven intelligence

Power Automate: Automate repetitive tasks from lead nurturing follow-ups to contract approvals. It gives you full visibility on workflows but can streamline complex activities so your representatives can focus on facetime.
Advanced Analytics: Uncover hidden patterns and trends within your sales data and quickly generate compelling visualizations to help make your case to leadership and your customers.
Self-Service Reporting: Empower your sales team to access and analyze data independently. Break down information silos and foster a culture of data-driven decision-making. Build Dynamics 365 as a single source of truth for your sales organization.

Azure: Scalability and futureproofing

Scalability: Plan for success and ensure your infrastructure can grow with your business. Azure provides flexibility and scalability to adapt to changing market demands, unexpected new contracts, or opportunities in previously untapped markets.
Custom Extensions: Tailor Dynamics 365 Sales to meet your unique business requirements. Develop custom applications and integrations that extend the functionality of your system and run them through the Azure cloud.

Data Democratization: Empower Frontline Workers

Dynamics 365 data delivers its greatest value when accessible beyond management and analytics teams. By providing your sales teams and frontline workers with real-time, actionable insights, organizations foster more nimble decision-making where it matters most—at the customer interface.

Mobile applications, role-specific dashboards, and scheduled reports transform how teams operate, breaking down information silos that traditionally separate departments. When a sales representative can instantly access a customer’s support history before a call or field teams can view inventory status without contacting multiple departments, operational efficiency naturally follows.

This democratization requires thoughtful investment in data literacy. Organizations must equip non-technical personnel with the skills to interpret information meaningfully through targeted training programs and mentorship opportunities. Remember that access without understanding creates little value. Balance this openness with appropriate governance, implementing role-based controls and data masking to protect sensitive information while maintaining accessibility.

Watch: How to Boost Sales & Marketing Success with Dynamics 365

Continuous Improvement Helps Maximize the Value of Dynamics 365 Sales

If you want Dynamics 365 Sales to be a strategic resource and not just another business application, you must continuously improve. By embracing a continuous improvement mindset, you can transform D365 Sales from a static tool into a powerful sales platform that adapts to customer needs and wider market conditions.

Beyond Go-Live: Continuous Improvement with Dynamics 365 Sales