Discover what you can automate and streamline in your business. Understand what types of software are available and see why we like Microsoft Dynamics

What can software automate in my business?

These are the main areas of your business that business software covers

Sales and Marketing

Lead management
Reporting
Collaboration between teams
Consistent communications
Email marketing campaigns
Customer journeys

Customer Service

Case management
Knowledge management
Self service portals
Multi channel management

Finance

Finance
Reporting
Planning and budgeting
Automated and simplified financial processing
Compliance

Supply Chain

Demand planning
Production planning
Inventory management
Fulfilment
Warehouse management

HR

Payroll
Attendance tracking
Performance management
Onboarding

Operations / Manufacturing

Warehouse management
Stock management
Assembly management
Order management

Commerce

Web shop
Inventory management
Order management
Offline POS management
Security
Customer relationship management

Field Service

Customer relationship management
Optimise your field agents’ bookings
Store and retrieve information to help fix problems
Keep customers informed with automated follow ups
Inventory management
Proactive maintenance

The Main Types of Business Software

1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A CRM helps you track leads, manage contacts, follow up consistently, and see your entire sales pipeline in one place.
Useful for: service businesses, sales teams, account-based businesses, or anyone who wants better customer visibility.

2. Accounting & Finance Software

Includes invoicing, expenses, bookkeeping, financial reporting, and bank feeds.
Useful for: any business – it’s often the first system companies adopt.

3. Project / Task / Workflow Management

Helps teams deliver work on time, collaborate, track deadlines, and reduce chaos.
Useful for: consultancies, agencies, trades, professional services, or remote teams.

4. ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning)

An ERP brings everything together: finance, stock, HR, operations, supply chain, projects in one single source of truth.
Useful for: product businesses, manufacturing, distribution, retail, or any SME with complex operations.

5. Inventory, Manufacturing & Operations Systems

Designed to manage stock, orders, production, replenishment, and fulfilment.
Useful for: e-commerce, wholesale, manufacturers, logistics businesses.

6. HR & People Management

Payroll, time off, onboarding, performance, training – all in one place.
Useful for: growing teams that need structure around HR.

7. Customer Service / Support Tools

Ticketing, email support, live chat, knowledge bases, and customer portals.
Useful for: companies offering ongoing support or managing high volumes of queries.

8. E-commerce & POS Tools

Combine product listings, checkout, payment, fulfilment, and stock.
Useful for: online retailers, hybrid online/offline businesses, B2C product companies.

Which software packages are available?

Off the shelf

There are specialist systems and general systems which cover a range of business areas

Specialist

Mailchimp – The most popular email marketing tool, now growing to include CRM also
Pipedrive – Sales pipeline management in a visual, easy to use way
Shopify – An ecommerce website builder plus POS features
Zendesk – Customer service, ticketing system, live chat, phone support, knowledge base
Docusign – Electronic signatures and document tracking
Xero – Invoicing, payments, bank reconciliation
Atlassian / Jira – Project management, software development, collaboration
Asana – Project management, task management, team collaboration

General systems

Sage –Accounts and HR
Oracle NetSuite – an ERP system which includes: Financial Management, Order Management, Production Management, Supply Chain Management and Warehouse and fulfilment.
Monday.com – a suite of apps including Sales, project management, HR and operations
Business Central – covers financial management, inventory management, sales and receivables, purchasing and payables, project management and CRM features
Zoho – another popular suite of apps including Marketing, customer support, finance, email, HR and project management
Hubspot – Sales marketing and customer service
Salesforce – Sales, marketing, customer service, commerce

And you’ll often find that specific systems have add-ons to cover other areas to give them a broader use

Bespoke Systems

If you have very specific requirements, you might find that a fully bespoke system is best for you.

In this case you’d approach a software company and you begin an exploration of your processes, so that the company could begin to design software around your needs.

Pros of bespoke software

You (usually) get exactly what you asked for
Licencing may be less than off the shelf equivalents

Cons

Likely to be more expensive
You are tied in to the supplier. A new supplier would most likely take a long time to fully understand the system.

Is there a compromise between bespoke and off-the-shelf?

Many off-the-shelf business software solutions allow customisations and 3^rd party solutions (often called extensions, add-ons or plugins)

We install and customise Microsoft Dynamics – we think it’s the most flexible family of business software available.

Dynamics, off-the-shelf can be used in a very simplistic way without customisations. However the real power comes when a software company analyses a businesses’ needs and tailor-makes the software to fit your requirements.

This gives you the best flexibility. You’re not tied in to one supplier, but you have a system tailored for exactly how you do business.

What software do I need for my business?

Microsoft Dynamics 365 comes in many flavours

All these systems can be customised, they work together and integrate with Microsoft 365 (Office 365)

Dynamics 365 Sales: Includes lead management, opportunity management, and customer relationship management.
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Dynamics 365 Customer Service: Case management, multichannel communication, knowledge management, and social media integration.
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Dynamics 365 Customer Insights: Marketing automation, it offers features such as email marketing, customer journey automation, social media marketing, and lead generation.
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Dynamics 365 Business Central: Accounting, inventory management, and customer relationship management.
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Dynamics 365 Field Service: Scheduling, dispatching, and asset management.
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Dynamics 365 Project Service Automation: Project planning, resource management, and time tracking.
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Other Dynamics 365 Software

Dynamics 365 Finance: Accounting, budgeting, and forecasting
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management: Inventory management, order management, and transportation management.
Dynamics 365 Human Resources: Recruiting, onboarding, and performance management.
Dynamics 365 Commerce: E-commerce, point of sale, and order management.

Please get in touch to chat with an expert (not a salesperson) about implementing Dynamics in your company