Microsoft has brought mainstream support for Dynamics CRM 2013 to an end on the 8th January 2019. All end of support announcements are met with a level of uncertainty about the impact and affects they might have on your business.

What should you do?

Knowing how to deal with this change is critical but it comes down to a few factors that are worth considering:

  • How closely is the current system meeting your needs at the moment?
  • How quickly can you adapt to change? For example was GDPR a major headache for you?
  • How much manual effort is required when using the core parts of your CRM?
  • Are you getting all of the reports, insights and information you need?

There are several different options available to you. You can: do nothing and continue using the system in its current form, engage a Microsoft partner to help you keep the system in shape or you can upgrade to the latest and greatest version.

Do Nothing

If you are lightly using the system or you have kept your system and processes up to date, then this may be an option. The risk here is that it becomes harder to secure and update your system over time, Microsoft will stop issuing bug fixes and change will build up over time. This is very much a short-term solution depending on external factors.

Engage a Proactive Partner

Having a Microsoft Partner with strong expertise in CRM will provide you with the comfort you need to continue using the legacy system. They will be able to fix any bugs but they will also be able to help with so much more than that. They will be able to keep your system up-to-date, adjusting and configuring it to keep it in touch with your business.

Upgrade to Dynamics 365

Microsoft’s flagship offering is Dynamics 365 for Customer Engagement. This is a package that includes access to a number of different solutions that all share the same technology and platform. This is effectively 3 modules of the same CRM tool designed for different roles and a number of supporting solutions. All of the solutions sit on the customer engagement platform, using the same database and they share much of the same functionality.

You can also simply purchase the solution you need, instead of the full package. However, for larger organisations, with more complex needs, the package is usually the better idea as it’s not much more expensive.

To find out how our CRM team can help, contact us today.