Dynamics 365 is a powerful CRM. It stores customer data, tracks sales activity, and gives teams a clear view of pipeline health. But when marketing tries to run campaigns directly from CRM, limitations show up quickly. Building segments takes effort. Running nurture journeys requires workarounds. Reporting engagement often means exporting data into another tool. Dynamics organizes information well, but it isn’t built to activate it the way modern marketing teams need. That’s where marketing automation comes in. The right platform can turn CRM data into personalized journeys, behavior-based scoring, and campaign reporting you can act […]
For Microsoft partners, marketing automation decisions are rarely about features alone. They are about architectural intent, long-term account health, and avoiding cost or complexity surprises after go-live. Customer Insights and marketing execution platforms like emfluence solve overlapping problems, but they are designed for different architectural goals. Understanding that distinction is essential. Customer Insights as a CDP Microsoft Customer Insights is well suited for organizations intentionally building a centralized customer data platform. Its Dataverse-native architecture supports identity resolution, unified analytics, and cross-system intelligence. In this model, retaining large volumes of behavioral and interaction […]
Marketing automation platforms promise efficiency, personalization, and scale. For teams evaluating or using Microsoft Customer Insights, those promises are real. But there is a cost that often emerges only after implementation, once the platform is live and data begins to accumulate. It is not the license fee. It is the data. More specifically, it is how much data you store, where that data lives, and whether your organization has intentionally planned for the long-term implications of those decisions. The Promise vs. the Reality Marketing automation is sold on outcomes: smarter targeting, automated journeys, actionable […]
If your marketing automation costs keep climbing but performance doesn’t, there’s a good chance your contact data is the culprit. Many organizations using Microsoft Dynamics 365 accumulate thousands of contacts that should never be marketed to again: former employees, inactive leads, outdated records. When those contacts flow into marketing automation or data platforms priced by volume, bad data turns into a recurring expense. Why Contact Counts Get Out of Control in Dynamics 365 Contact sprawl in Microsoft Dynamics 365 is rarely the result of carelessness. In most cases, it’s the byproduct of good intentions layered on top […]
Q4 is the reset button most teams ignore. You’re wrapping campaigns, closing out reporting, and planning for next year. It’s also when your CRM is carrying the most baggage: outdated contacts, duplicated records, stale fields, and integrations that quietly broke months ago. All of it slows down segmentation, personalization, and automation. If you want a strong Q1, you can’t skip year-end data hygiene. Clean data gives you more accurate targeting, healthier deliverability, and better visibility into what actually worked this year. This is the moment to tighten up your CRM and marketing platform sync, fix what’s broken, and remove what doesn’t belong. A clean starting point […]
