One of the clearest signs that a customer relationship management (CRM) platform isn’t delivering its full value is surprisingly simple: spreadsheets. When teams continue tracking activities, managing follow‑ups, or reporting performance outside of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE), it’s rarely because they prefer spreadsheets. More often, it indicates that the CRM hasn’t been fully aligned to real workflows or that users don’t trust the data enough to rely on dashboards. Both scenarios point to opportunity (not failure).
CRM Health Checks
CRM health checks frequently reveal the same challenges across organizations: sales, marketing, and service data living in silos; redundant manual steps that could be automated; and reporting that exists but isn’t consistently used or trusted.
Many teams don’t realize that Dynamics 365 CE (also known as D365 CE) already includes dashboards and core reporting capabilities, or that Power BI can be embedded to pull insights from enterprise resource planning (ERP), CRM, and other systems. While advanced analytics may require additional Power BI licensing, a significant amount of insight is often available without purchasing new tools if teams know where to look.
Little Changes, Big CRM Impact
Small, targeted improvements can deliver immediate impact. Automating activity tracking can reduce administrative burden, standardizing data entry can improve reporting accuracy, and aligning dashboards across teams creates a single, consistent view of performance.
When these changes are multiplied across departments, the time savings can add up quickly and free teams to focus on engaging customers instead of managing data. If spreadsheets are still filling gaps in your CRM processes, then Dynamics 365 CE likely has more to give. The challenge with this scenario is using what you already own more effectively: no new technology necessary.
How Forvis Mazars Can Help
Forvis Mazars can assist organizations in uncovering the value already built into Dynamics 365 CE by reducing manual work, breaking down data silos, and strengthening trust in reporting. Through a CRM health check or system assessment, we can help clients identify practical opportunities for automation, dashboard alignment, and better cross‑team visibility.
The result is a CRM platform that’s actually utilized, turning Dynamics 365 CE from a system supported by spreadsheets into a system that teams can rely on.
Engage with us to turn Dynamics 365 CE from a reporting repository into a platform that drives daily decisions.