Today most firms in the market are transitioning into becoming project-based organizations, also known as PBOs. These companies began using project management long back, to enhance efficiencies & maintain cost control.
Now taking note of the requirement for a Project-focused solution, Microsoft recently introduced Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation (Dynamics PSA). This end-to-end solution developed on the Microsoft Dynamics 365, provides functionality from quote to delivery to invoice.
In this article, we will be discussing how this solution brings together sales and delivery team in the service organizations. Through Dynamics PSA effective teamwork and coordination between sales & delivery team are realized. Thus, both the teams are able to seamlessly transition projects through each of the phases –beginning from initial prospect inquiry, to closed sale, then to the project kick-off, all through to the project completion. All of this is attained using collaboration tools that are helpful in better understanding of the client and work that needs to be completed.
Here we have mentioned the five crucial tools by Dynamics PSA that offer in-depth insight to both the team into the customer as well as the work needed to attain deliverables timely, on-budget and also in line with the customer expectations. So, let’s explore them all:
Group Calendar
Insight into the schedules of sales & delivery team, help team members to prepare well for deadlines, planned activities, important internal & client meetings. Microsoft 365 Group help the team member to easily share their calendar with others and s/he can also add the calendars of other team members to their own calendar view. This will help team members to quickly see what others are working on, so that quick assistance can be offered whenever needed.
Group Document Library
Apart from providing the team members a channel to make conversation, Microsoft 365 Groups also enable the team members to easily share & store files, meeting notes and documents within Group document library. With the help of this document library, the team can stay on track with the information related to project and it also ensures that teams work off the latest version of the right document and can reference the project materials. It leaves no scope for any confusions about who is having what document as all of the project document share at one place so that team members can access them at any given moment. Besides, documents can be easily shared externally as well.
Social Collaboration with Dynamics 365
Social collaboration tools offered by Dynamics 365 provide additional ways for the proactive sales-to-service information exchange. Like, in the case of Microsoft Yammer it enables the enterprises to organize a private, Facebook-like social network, where the employees could view newsfeeds and post conversations to share and receive the latest updates. With Yammer, team members are able to access & post Yammer content regardless of their location. The app is useful in breaking down information siloes by making the interaction open across various departments.
Email Tracking
Email holds huge importance in everyday business communication as it allows to easily share crucial information and ideas with the team through email exchanges. However, it can hamper the team performance in case a team member is missed accidentally or in case a critical conversation cannot be referenced in future.
In this case, Dynamics 365 can be a savior as it allows the team members to track Outlook email correspondence pretty easily. It creates a central repository for the emails that are to be stored & viewed, so whenever an email is tracked in the Outlook, it will be saved as an activity record in Microsoft Dynamics 365.
The activity record efficiently loops people into conversations instead of forwarding the email threads, because any person who is having an access to activity record will be able to view the message at any time, along with the additional customer activities (if any) related to that activity record.
Microsoft Tools
Since long, Microsoft applications have worked as staple productivity tools for average workers. Now Dynamics 365 has brought together these conventional tools this robust business management platform. No more the employees need to spend time finding out how to use available business apps, rather they can navigate quickly to the everyday tools they require and get the work done easily.
Final Note: Having the entire team on the same page, makes transitioning from closing a sale to closing a project pretty smooth and seamless affair. With sales & delivery team members presenting a cohesive, unique front to customers, it puts customers at ease and corroborates their trust – this certainly is crucial for any of the project-centered organization. With ProjectService Automation from Microsoft Dynamics 365, the organization is offered collaboration tools that are helpful in creating valuable partnerships with the clients and support success at every step of the project.
