RapidStart Apps Business Central Addon Launched

Customer Management Features

Dynamics 365 Business Central has been a trusted source of finance solutions for companies worldwide over the last twenty years; however, its CRM capabilities have lagged far behind more modern providers. Companies struggling to use it may be comforted in knowing they’re not alone — even popular financial software such as QuickBooks and Xero haven’t successfully incorporated comprehensive CRM into their systems either.

With no signs indicating when Business Central will join the “Low-Code” revolution, users need to look outside its traditional offerings for quality customer relationship management functionality.

So we built it

We took the plunge and dove into discovering how our Simple-to-use RapidStart Apps customer engagement app, built on Dataverse, could integrate with Business Central. To our delight, Microsoft had already taken care of most of it! All we needed was two steps: First, to link up Business Central & Dataverse, then surface that connection in RapidStart Apps — both seamless processes resulting in a real CRM for Business Central.

With RapidStart Apps, you get the key capabilities of Dynamics 365 Sales and Dynamics 365 Customer Service without the complexity. We offer just enough customer engagement features for small and medium-sized businesses that don’t need a 20-pound bag of bells & whistles. Our 2 pounds are all most companies will ever require… saving time AND money!

Although they couldn’t be more different, Dynamics 365 Business Central and RapidStart Apps have made it possible to succeed together. With the help of Microsoft and Dataverse, a bridge has been established that allows both programs to work seamlessly — enabling users to capitalize on their unique abilities.

How the Integration Works

Dynamics Business Central can now be integrated with RapidStart Apps in a few ways:

• Synchronization keeps certain tables — like RapidStart Apps Contacts and Accounts to Business Central Customers — up-to-date between the two systems so any changes on one will show automatically in the other.
• Virtual Tables allow users to see data from Business Central within RapidStart Apps that is not actually stored there — for example, Business Central Sales Quotes — without needing extra storage capacity or duplicating information.
• Case Management connects streamlined case processes and dashboards to additional context from Business Central, giving users a more holistic experience that ties everything together.

Sales and Service teams can now easily access their customers’ financial data in RapidStart Apps, with new Contacts or Accounts created in Business Central automatically pushed into the system. By integrating Quotes, Orders, Invoices, and Business Central’s Inventory availability right alongside other customer records, an Opportunity can be turned into a Quote which then is sent back out as a Sales quote linked directly to its Customer — allowing for a faster turnaround on important deals!

Why Read-Only?

To avoid any complications within Business Central records and minimize licensing costs, we have taken steps to ensure thorough security by designing a special RapidStart Apps Security role. This ensures that Sales and Service teams can view financial data without inadvertently modifying Business Central records.

Advantages of Integrating RapidStart Apps and Dynamics 365 Business Central

1. Improved data accuracy and consistency: Automatic sharing of data between the two systems helps ensure information is accurate and up-to-date across the organization.
2. Enhanced efficiency: By eliminating the need to manually enter or transfer data between systems, integration streamlines business processes and increases efficiency.
3. Better decision-making: A single, comprehensive view of customer and business data helps managers make informed decisions based on real-time data.
4. Improved customer experience: Employees gain access to a complete view of the customer’s interactions and history, leading to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty.
5. Increased profitability: By improving efficiency, decision-making, and the customer experience, integration helps businesses drive sales growth and reduce operating costs.
6. Enhanced collaboration: Employees can access and share customer and business data in real-time, improving communication and coordination across departments.
7. Scalability: Both systems can grow and adapt with the organization, particularly useful for businesses experiencing rapid growth or planning to expand.

What is Low-Code?

Low-code is a software development approach that allows users to build and deploy applications using graphical user interfaces and pre-built components, rather than writing code from scratch. Key advantages include:

1. Increased efficiency: Streamlines the software development process, reducing time and cost required to build and deploy applications.
2. Improved accessibility: Makes it easier for non-technical users to develop applications without programming skills.
3. Enhanced agility: Enables organizations to quickly develop and deploy new applications to meet changing business needs.
4. Scalability: Easily accommodates the needs of organizations as they grow and evolve.