The best Salesforce – Microsoft Dynamics NAV integration

By Henning Lund - July 02, 2021

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Salesforce is the CRM solution that has helped thousands of companies improve and streamline their CRM operations. Likewise, Microsoft Dynamics ERP is the solution of choice for companies that want to streamline their business operations. 

Microsoft Dynamics NAV (formerly Navision) has been for years the most popular ERP solution in the Microsoft Dynamics product suite. Its popularity originally came from its simplicity and its well-spread network of supporting partners. 

Today, Microsoft sells what we used to know as Microsoft Dynamics NAV as “Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.” Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance & Operations is what we used to know as Microsoft Dynamics AX, or Axapta. 

Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Salesforce have very complementary capabilities - as any ERP and CRM software have. As a Consequence, integrating them is often on the agenda of IT leaders. 

The prerequisite for a robust data integration between Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics NAV is to have the right setup. Integrations can be made in many different ways. Not all of them are equally well-suited to provide a robust data integration platform.

This article will show you how and why you should avoid building your own costly interface. You can benefit from data integration as a service that is kept up-to-date with the rest of your applications.

 

Why integrate Salesforce with Microsoft Dynamics NAV?

Many companies that are using Microsoft Dynamics NAV also benefit from utilizing a CRM system like Salesforce. Salesforce and other CRM solutions are built to improve a company’s customer relationships.

Such solutions allow companies to offer better customer service thanks to improved customer insight and customer engagement. As a consequence, organizations worldwide can expect to increase their revenue. Sales Cloud and Marketing Cloud are powerful Salesforce tools. They empower companies to collect, analyze and take best advantage of their customer data. 

Customer information also lies in parts of Microsoft Dynamics NAV. As a result, sales teams end up having to search for customer data in both solutions. They do not have a chance to know where the most recent and accurate data is stored. 

Also, the double data entries are an open door to inevitable manual mistakes. It is a substantial problem for sales executives that need to deliver relevant and timely information to their clients.

The need for a Salesforce Dynamics integration is strong. When developing our data integration solution, RapidiOnline, we have had a strong focus on simplifying. We have made significant efforts to deliver an integration of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Salesforce that is simple, reliable and robust. 

Our Microsoft Dynamics NAV data integration solution for Salesforce gives Salesforce users instant access to data. They can use this ubiquitous visibility into their CRM data to make smarter decisions.

Is Salesforce integration complex?

Although Salesforce is a comprehensive CRM solution, it often requires integration with the other third party applications used by an organization. There are many ways to integrate with Salesforce. You can integrate at three different levels: the user interface, the business logic or directly the data. 

User interface integration provides a single point of entry into multiple applications. Business logic integration is good for more complex integrations. It uses Apex Web Services. Finally, data integration uses REST APIs and SOAP APIs. 

Data integration typically helps synchronize data between Salesforce and other applications. 

Depending on the size and complexity of your organization, Salesforce integration could become a complex task. However, many data integration providers today offer intuitive data integration tools that are easy to implement, use and maintain.

How to perform MS Dynamics integration?

It is possible to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics 365 using Microsoft Dataverse. Microsoft Dataverse is a cloud-based storage for your data if you are using Microsoft Dynamics 365.

If you are using MIcrosoft Dynamics NAV, however, there are other (better) solutions. Solution providers such as Rapidi have specialized in delivering data integration solutions for companies using Microsoft Dynamics NAV. 

Some companies have chosen to integrate with Microsoft Dynamics via a self-made custom code. This can sound like the best solution at first. However, it could prevent your company from growing and scale as the solution does not support future changes. 

The best way to do Salesforce - Dynamics  NAV Integration

Always prefer a data integration solution with pre-defined integration templates and connection points. It can be real time or not. It will make you save time and money. 

With RapidiOnline, we have specialized in developing a data integration that is simple to implement thanks to pre configured templates. 

Data Integration Handbook

5 reasons why we do Salesforce Dynamics NAV integration better

When developing RapidiOnline, we focused on 5 central principles. These ensure fast, smooth and robust data integration between Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

#1 -  Use of data integration templates: 

RapidiOnline comes out-of-the-box with pre-built integration templates that contain the most common integration points. This gets you started quickly and enables you to make further changes to your systems to match your requirements.

#2 - Fast and secure connection: 

The RapidiOnline Services run with a unique technology called the Rapidi Connector. This connector ensures compressed and secure data transfer between RapidiOnline and the different on premise systems. This makes sure that your data is compressed and encrypted to increase efficiency and security.

#3 - Straight-forward deployment:

The Rapidi Connector is kept in your on premise network. It connects outbound to the central RapidiOnline Service and allows for two-way communication between RapidiOnline and your other systems.

This saves you from having to change anything in your network or firewalls in order to deploy RapidiOnline integration.

#4 - Optimized and efficient data transfers: 

The communication between RapidiOnline and the Rapidi Connector is using a proprietary protocol. This gives maximum reduction of the total amount of data and the number of packages sent and received.

Furthermore the package is compressed before sending. 

RapidiOnline offers the most efficient data transfers. With this method you can reduce the amount of data needed to be sent by a factor of up to 50.

#5 - Secure encrypted communications: 

With the use of the proprietary protocol and the compression, it is practically impossible to decipher the data transmitted. Security is increased and, should you need extra security, your data can also be encrypted.


About the author

Henning Lund

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With over 25 years’ experience in strategically propelling businesses forward, Henning is considered a business development entrepreneur with a passion for transforming businesses, sales and marketing operations through out-of-the-box thinking, concepts building and process automation to improve overall performance and scalability.
INTEGRATE Salesforce And Microsoft Dynamics NAV, SIMPLY AND EASILY. Read more now
   CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY: Movella  Keep data FLOWING between Microsoft Dynamics 365 (Business Central or NAV) and  Salesforce with Rapidi Data Integration Solutions, the FLEXIBLE and POWERFUL  data integration solution from Rapidi. Read the full story
WHY CHOOSE RAPIDI?  We’ve been helping businesses integrate their data, perform better and grow  faster since the 1990s.  Our solutions work:   * No programming needed.   * 97% customer support satsifaction reported   * Completely elimminate double data entries   * Salesforce AppExchange top satisfaction rate 4.9/5.0   * Securely managed in the cloud   * Salesforce and Microsoft certified

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