Connect Outlook and Dynamics 365 CRM
Most employees spend a significant part of their day working in Outlook. With the Dynamics 365 Add-in, you can perform CRM-related tasks directly from Outlook instead of constantly switching between applications or entering the same information in multiple places. The integration also helps your organization keep client communications and activities in one central location. Rather than asking coworkers to forward email conversations or explain what happened during their latest customer meeting, team members with access to the CRM record can review tracked interactions themselves.
Create a more complete customer history
Keeping client interactions in CRM gives your team a more complete picture of its relationship with leads and customers. When conversations and activities are centrally available, employees can see what's happened previously instead of asking customers to repeat information they've already provided to another member of your organization. This can help your team deliver a more connected customer experience.
Track an Outlook email in Dynamics 365
The Dynamics 365 Add-in must be deployed by your administrator. Once it is available in Outlook, you can use it to connect an email to a CRM record. The process works from the Outlook Web App as well as the desktop app. Open the email you want to track and launch the Dynamics 365 Add-in from the ribbon. Then use Set Regarding to select the CRM record where you want the email to appear. Depending on how your organization has configured the integration, you can track activities to records such as:
- Accounts
- Contacts
- Leads
- Opportunities
- Cases
- Custom tables
Your administrator can determine which record types are available for tracking. After setting Regarding, the activity will initially show as pending and then confirm when it has been tracked.
Manage tracked activities from Outlook
After tracking an activity, the Dynamics 365 Add-in gives you additional options for managing it. For example, you can:
- Change Regarding if you selected the wrong CRM record
- Untrack the activity to reverse the synchronization
- View and update information through the Dynamics 365 side panel
- Select View in Dynamics 365 to open the corresponding information directly in CRM
This gives you access to Dynamics 365 information without requiring you to leave Outlook for every task.
Track appointments from your Outlook calendar
Appointments use a similar process. Open the appointment in your Outlook calendar, launch Dynamics 365 from the ribbon, and use Set Regarding to connect the appointment to the appropriate CRM record. For example, an appointment related to a customer service issue could be tracked to its corresponding Case. Once the appointment has been tracked, you can also open its associated CRM record from Outlook.
See tracked activities in the CRM timeline
After synchronization, tracked emails and appointments appear on the timeline of their corresponding Dynamics 365 records. For example, an email tracked to a Contact can appear on that Contact's timeline. Other team members who have access to the record can also see the tracked activity, helping everyone understand previous interactions with that customer. Similarly, an appointment tracked to a Case appears on the Case record. This means you don't need to manually create the appointment in both Outlook and Dynamics 365, while other users viewing the Case can see that the meeting occurred in connection with it.
Turn tracked emails into sales records
Tracked email records provide another useful option for sales teams: an email can be converted into a Lead or Opportunity in Dynamics 365. This can help you move relevant conversations into your sales process while keeping the original customer communication connected to CRM.
Control how information synchronizes
Synchronization can work in both directions between Dynamics 365 and Outlook, or it can be configured to work in only one direction. Personal synchronization filters can also help determine which information is synchronized. Organizations can make choices about which information should and shouldn't synchronize. For example, attachments can be excluded from email synchronization to help keep the CRM database cleaner while allowing other email information to synchronize.
Keep customer interactions connected
Connecting Outlook and Dynamics 365 CRM helps reduce duplicate work while creating a shared history of customer communications and activities. By tracking emails and appointments with the Dynamics 365 Add-in, you can continue working from the familiar Outlook interface while making important interactions available to colleagues through CRM. The result is a more complete record of customer relationships and better visibility for everyone working with those customers.
