Microsoft Dynamics CRM was first introduced in 2003 as Microsoft CRM 1.0. It had far fewer functionalities, which focused on the Sales and Service modules. Organizations faced some difficulties as the customization capabilities were limited and the business process were harder to map with the processes in the system. This product targeted the organizations working with relationship management.
After this version, Microsoft launched Dynamics 3.0 in 2005 instead of 2.0. The UI was enhanced and the Marketing module was introduced with this version. The customization capabilities were also increased. The XRM platform was used to create and enhance applications on Dynamics CRM. Due to this, some more features, such as integration with Outlook 2007, integration with Microsoft SQL, and reporting services were possible.
In December 2007, Microsoft introduced Dynamics 4.0, also called Titan. There were no major changes made with the GUI, but many platform changes were made. CRM Online was introduced in North America, which provided customers with the option of hosting the CRM on cloud. It also had improved security features, data importing functionalities, mail merge, and support for operating systems such as Windows 2008 and SQL 2008. This version provided options for selecting multiple currencies and choice of base languages. Plugins and workflows were introduced with this version, which increased the capabilities of the platform.
Microsoft released a beta version, Microsoft Dynamics 2011, in February 2010. The full release was released in February 2011. Features such as charts and dashboards were introduced with this version, which allowed the users to visualize the data in a pictorial format. It provided a 360-degree view of customer profile, which enhanced productivity. Solutions were also introduced in this version.
With the release of Microsoft Dynamics 2013, it was possible to run Microsoft Dynamics CRM on any browser from a tablet device powered by Windows 8 or iOS and any smartphones running Windows Phone 8, Android, or IOS. The popups were also reduced, which was a significant change. Business rules and real-time workflows were introduced in Microsoft Dynamics 2013. This reduced the need to embed code in plugins, thus reducing the customization effort required on the platform.
With the release of Microsoft Dynamics by Microsoft in September 2014, more features, such as Rollup and Calculated fields, one-note integration, themes, pause and resume SLAs, and so on, were introduced. Business rules were enhanced more, and it was now possible to embed more complex logic in the conditions. Business Process Flows didn't have in-built features, which prevented the movement of stage if some of the mandatory steps were not completed.
In November 2015, Microsoft Dynamics 2016 was released with features such as Word and Excel templates. With this version, it was possible to integrate CRM with other products such as SharePoint, Azure, and Power BI, which provided better cross-selling.
