Should I customize my CRM or use it out-of-the-box? Why customization is the right investment

Microsoft markets their Dynamics 365 CRM software as usable out of the box, and it is. The features and functionalities Microsoft advertises are no joke to businesses implementing CRMs.

But the true star power is the customizability of Dynamics 365.

Each business is its own ecosystem, with specialized needs for the customers they serve, the distinct services they provide, and their individualized business processes. You wouldn’t buy a suit without tailoring it to fit you perfectly; the same expectation should apply to CRMs.

Companies are not cookie cutter and generic, and neither are the customizable abilities possible with solutions such as Dynamics 365 Marketing or Sales.

Microsoft CRM solutions

Customer relationship management (CRM) solutions help manage and maintain customer relationships, track sales leads and marketing, and provides actionable data-based insights. They increase profitability by streamlining administrative processes in service, sales, and marketing pursuits. Everything that is important to establishing, nurturing, and maintaining strong, proactive relationships with your customers is stored within CRM platforms in one centralized location.  

Dynamics 365, Microsoft’s suite of native-cloud solutions, include Dynamics 365 Sales, Dynamics 365 Marketing, and Dynamics 365 Customer Service. These CRMs can be used individually or integrated to work seamlessly together to track and nurture a lead in Sales, start a contact on a customer journey in Marketing, and troubleshoot issues in Customer Service—all with the same customer details, all visible to the sales, marketing, and service teams. These solutions also integrate well with other Microsoft applications, such as Dynamics 365 Business Central, Outlook, SharePoint, and Teams.

Microsoft CRMs can be used out-of-the-box or customized for specific business needs. It is this consideration we will dig into further in this blog; namely, when and why would a company want to customize their CRM instead of use it straight out-of-the-box.

Out-of-the-box functionalities vs. customizations

No two companies perform business operations or processes in the same way, and so it is not the goal of Dynamics 365 CRMs to be a one-size-fits all solution.

Consider a fully furnished home. As beautiful and functional as that home will be, any given family moving in will need to add their own special touches to make that space and the already-present features work for them. Add a stand mixer and your favorite cast iron skillet to the kitchen. Maybe take out a wall for a more open floorplan. Likewise, a family will come to know and love the space they move into, using some of the furnishings they wouldn’t have otherwise opted for themselves.

The same is true of a CRM system. CRM’s out-of-the-box functionalities can serve a company well, but to leverage the full benefits of a solution, organizations should focus on the importance of their unique business needs and how the functionalities can work or be adapted to work for them.

The goal of utilizing a CRM solution that is functional out-of-the-box and also customizable is options and flexibility. Your CRM should match your strategy, your workflow, your processes, yet recognizing when your processes can be enhanced by what the CRM solution already provides.

Customize CRM for specific business needs

Though they incur additional initial costs, customizing CRM functionalities pay off right from the start and in the long run. Not only are a company’s unique and current business processes and needs taken into account when customizing a solution, but the long-term goals and growth of the company can be planned for. Microsoft CRM customizations can be altered or added as a business grows and requires different features, removing steep overhead costs of migrating yet again to new solutions if they outgrow their current one.  

CRMs can be customized in many ways based on the needs of the business. Here are a few examples of highly effective customizations businesses can implement within their CRM solutions:

• Alter the interface, navigation, or organization of the solution. CRMs are used by so many types of businesses and by so many individuals within each business. Inevitably, a user will encounter fields, entities, and functionality that they could benefit from but don’t have or that they have and don’t need. Altering CRM for the specific needs of any given employee role will help simplify the solution, cutting through the minutia an employee doesn’t need (and which could add confusion) and making each element they see meaningful to them. Changing the interface, navigation, and/or organization of CRM for specialized job roles – called role-based custom applications—is a widely useful and popular method of customization. The benefits of role-based custom apps are compounded by the united interface (UI) within Dynamics 365. UI is the unique capability of these applications to adapt to various screen sizes on phones and tablets, therefore creating the same user experience across devices. (If you’ve ever opened a website on your smartphone and found it to be poorly proportioned and designed, near-impossible to navigate, and clearly designed for viewing on a desktop as opposed to a mobile device, you know the value of UI.)  For a deeper dive into the United Interface and role-based custom apps, check out our blog on the topic.
• Automate tasks or processes. Automation will save your business time and energy. There’s no need for a seasoned employee to pull info forms from a website and place that information in the contact entity of your CRM. That’s time spent doing an easy, manual task that could have otherwise been spent connecting with the customer, strategizing, or any number of other important business tasks. Automation can be customized in CRM to identify prospects to engage with at strategic moments, whether they are ready to close a sale or are at risk of being lost.
• Because Dynamics 365 CRMs are native cloud-based applications, they integrate with other Microsoft cloud applications, including each other, Business Central, Office 365, and Outlook. This allows many useful tools, such as working within and exporting to other applications, viewing client data across applications, scheduling meetings, tracking emails to cases, leads, or contacts, and more. What’s more: Microsoft CRMs also integrate with third-party applications for even further functionality.
• Tracking meaningful metrics to your business. A CRM cannot anticipate which metrics will be most meaningful to a given business; field, specialty, location, and sales and marketing strategies all dictate what your company wants to track. What does your company prioritize and emphasize? What is most important for your customer to know and uses regularly? CRMs can be customized to pull data in from a variety of sources (social media, surveys, emails, forms, and more). Some businesses won’t need certain data sources and vice versa. Make sure to customize your CRM to pull data that is pertinent to your business processes.

Certainly, some of these customizations can be completed by the business themselves, while others require a developer’s skill to correctly implement. We recommend consulting a Microsoft certified partner when considering customizations. A partner can help a business determine if a customization can be done by the business or a partner, and they can even help you decide the most efficient and effective customizations for your specific business needs.

It’s easy to see the out-of-the-box functionality of Dynamics 365 CRM solutions and think of the adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” It’s true there’s no fixing needed, but the adage simply doesn’t apply here. You buy a suit and get it tailored. You fill your home with the tools and comforts that your family needs. Each comes ready to use, but if one considers a suit or a home functional as-is, there’s lost opportunity for adding nuance all your own—to make it fit better, feel more perfectly attuned to what you need. That’s what customizing CRM does. Don’t just use the system. Make it your own. Make it work perfectly for you.

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Syvantis consultants listen closely to your needs and help you design customizations to optimize your CRM implementation. Click the button below and connect with our CRM team for a consultation.