Appointment scheduling, daily activity planning, and meeting reminders are all mandatory requirements of every business.
Mostly any business would go for a standalone app to do all these activities.
But using one more app is not a good call.
You would be using a CRM to manage customer information and relationships. Out of all the CRMs, we have a better choice than a standalone app for Dynamics 365 CRM users.
Calendar 365 plugin!
The plugin integrates with the Dynamics 365 CRM, and you will have all the calendar functionalities within the CRM.
Here are some points that show why choosing a Dynamics 365 calendar plugin is a better choice.
Eliminates Usage of Third-Party Extensions
Any company/individual/small business with Dynamics 365 CRM that uses software for task management, appointment scheduling, etc., faces many challenges.
The major challenge is to integrate Dynamics 365 CRM with any calendar software. Most of the appointment scheduling platforms support CRM integrations but via third-party extensions.
So, you have to find a third-party extension that supports the application. Sometimes, the integration process is not smooth as expected.
Even with popular appointment scheduling platforms like Calendly, you will require a third-party extension.
To avoid this extra effort of finding a third-party extension to integrate CRM, why not invest in a Calendar plugin that integrates with your CRM directly?
Dynamics 365 users can invest in a Calendar plugin, and they would not need to invest in any other extension for appointment scheduling and activity management.
Rather than finding two tools that fit your requirement and match the workflow, you just need to find one right plugin.
Affordable
If you use any scheduling software, you have to purchase their paid plans to use all its advanced features. Calendly has a free plan but with limited features. To make it compatible according to your work requirements, you have to go for the paid plan.
Adding to that, you will have to pay for third-party extensions for CRM integration. This will add up to your cost.
But if you purchase a calendar plugin, you will only pay once. Mostly these plugins are at much more affordable rates than popular software like Calendly.
Hence, you save a lot if you invest in a calendar plugin instead of appointment scheduling software.
Advanced Features
One more reason to choose a calendar plugin over standalone appointment scheduling software is its features. Calendar plugin is loaded with advanced features like easy appointment scheduling, resource management, activity management, and whatnot. Let’s have a look at some of its features:
Appointment Scheduling
Most important feature that any business would use the most is appointment scheduling. Businesses have clients all over the globe and receive a lot of queries daily.
Scheduling calls via email is outdated and time-consuming. You need a feature that allows your clients or prospects to book appointments.
This is exactly what the calendar plugin offers. Calendar generates a shareable link that you can share on all your online platforms. Using this link, any CRM or non-CRM prospects can book an appointment with you.
You can customize types of events to differentiate the type of call you will be expecting. You can create as many events as you want, and the calendar will create a time slot according to the prospect’s response.
Calendar plugin is built to make the best use of your time and maintain productivity.
Resource Management
Managing tasks assigned to resources, leaves, and any other activity related to resources, is doable within the Calendar plugin.
You don’t need to manage any other tools or make handwritten notes on what is going on. With the resource calendar, you will be able to see all the activities and associated resources.
Application, approval, and/or rejection of leaves is possible within the calendar plugin. This is an added advantage that you don’t get in other appointment scheduling software.
To improve visualization, there are different views like Gantt, Top-down, Agenda, and Timeline views. So you can choose what works best for you.
Customer Management
Calendar plugin shows customers’ complete sales lifecycle. All the activities carried out for them, resources associated with those activities, current status, everything.
Managers would have a complete view of all that is going on. They can share their inputs to better serve customers.
This helps best when handling difficult customers. You would want to be extra careful while designing and executing any activities for them.
All these small things impact your output. Different views and filters of the customer calendar are a blessing for sales teams. It can surely boost their productivity.
Multiple Calendars with Different Entities
Different teams will have different requirements. Similarly, different businesses have different requirements. To fulfill all those demands, the calendar plugin gives the option to customize entities.
You can choose any CRM entity with different filters and save it. There is a facility to create multiple calendars and save them.
To make it visually easy, color code entities. Thus, assigning different colors to different entities makes it easier to identify them.
Takeaway
Purpose of using a calendar is to simplify communications with client as well as daily activities. Using a standalone app will not simplify your tasks but will add a few more. Why invest time and money in looking for a third-party extension that integrates completely with the CRM when you can simply integrate a calendar plugin? You get a lot of other features that other software doesn’t provide because, with a calendar plugin, you can use CRM data more wisely. Moreover, any changes in the CRM data instantly reflect in the calendar as well. Thus, the conclusion of all this discussion is that Dynamics 365 CRM users should prefer an extension for daily planning rather than compromising with fewer features and a high amount.