At Cargas, we’ve seen companies significantly cut costs and boost profits by minimizing manual effort and putting relevant data at employees’ fingertips with Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM. However, implementing any new software into your established business processes can be tricky. We want you to know what to expect from a Dynamics 365 CRM implementation and understand how collaboration can make the implementation a success.

How long does a Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM implementation take?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM gives companies a robust cloud-based platform for managing leads and opportunities, tracking sales team activity, managing the sales pipeline, and forecasting. With its intuitive user interface, automation, interoperability with other Microsoft tools, and customization capabilities, it’s built to help your business operate more efficiently and grow revenue. On average, implementation of this CRM software takes 2–3 months.

What factors impact the length and cost of the implementation?

Implementing a CRM demands a collaborative methodology. To fully tap into the advantages of Microsoft Dynamics 365 CRM, you must actively engage in the implementation process from start to finish. The speed and success of the implementation hinge on the collaborative availability of your business and your implementation partner.

Remember that the functionality you want and the customizations you require will impact your implementation. Are you simply implementing the sales module out of the box? Are you customizing the lead to opportunity workflow or building extra modules? Are you fully integrating the new CRM solution with your existing email and marketing automation? The more unique your implementation, the more time and labor it will require.

Thankfully, as part of the Microsoft platform, Dynamics 365 CRM easily integrates with other Microsoft solutions. So, if your business already uses software like Microsoft 365 or Power BI, data synchronization will be a breeze.

The implementation process

As the first Microsoft Dynamics CRM partner in the world, Cargas specializes in helping businesses like yours implement and optimize the solution for maximum benefit. We work closely with you to ensure we understand your needs, using a six-step process to help things run smoothly.

Step 1: Planning

Once you sign an implementation agreement, we will schedule a session to discuss the proposal’s details and review our project processes.

Step 2: Define

After chatting about your business needs, we’re able to design your CRM forms, plan customizations, and establish a process to train your core team members.

Step 3: Build

Once the designs are finalized, we can build out and configure your CRM according to your organizational needs. These configurations often include business units, security, users, and multi-currency requirements.

Step 4: Model

You’ll have a chance to test-drive the software before it’s fully implemented. If you’d like to swap or update features, this is the time to make those suggestions! 

Step 5: Deploy

Welcome to your go-live date! As your organization begins to use the software, we’ll help train admins and end-users so that everyone has a chance to grow comfortable with Dynamics 365 CRM.

Step 6: Evolve

We’ll always stick by your side, even after your go-live date! You can offer status updates, and we can compare your progress to your project milestone schedule and issues list. Internally, the Cargas team will meet to discuss your project as we continue to analyze, design, develop, and deploy your CRM solution. We don’t just want you to enjoy the software—we want you to succeed with it.

The big picture

It takes plenty of time and resources to make software implementation go smoothly. Using our six-step process and remaining collaborative are the best ways to streamline the implementation and ensure the software will benefit your business as much as possible.