Why Improvements in Microsoft Dynamics CRM Make Enterprise Architecture More Important Than Ever

There was a time not so long ago when a Microsoft Dynamics CRM implementation was largely about whether or not the software had the capabilities to support business requirements. CRM has historically had general boundaries of scope that were fairly well understood by business and technical resources alike. Because of this containment, organizations could often get away with a successful CRM implementation while giving minimal consideration to their enterprise architecture (EA); CRM did this, it fit here and integrated with some other systems in this way.

Over time the limitations of Dynamics CRM and the traditional boundaries of the software have become less and less significant. This trend has been reflected in what Microsoft has been doing with the product, beginning with the notion of XRM, continuing with the acquisition of Parature, and, more significantly, with the recent acquisitions of FieldOne and Adxstudio.

A Dynamics CRM solution today can be extended to your field staff, customers and partners via web and mobile with broad flexibility. FieldOne and Adxstudio have been around for a while, of course, but now that they are officially part of the core product suite it is becoming increasingly clear that the role of Dynamics CRM in your organization's technology stack has the potential to grow larger than ever before.

Consider that today a single Microsoft product can support remote staff, customers and partners with content management, inventory management and business intelligence baked in. In theory, all those capabilities can be used without directly accessing a single Dynamics CRM form.

This is usually about that time when ...