Dynamics 365 and Salesforce, side by side
Dynamics 365 turns up in two quite different conversations: as the finance and operations system behind Salesforce, or as a second CRM alongside it. Both are common and both are workable. They need different designs.
This page covers both. Running Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations puts you in the first half below. Running Dynamics 365 Sales puts you in the second.
Talk to us about Dynamics 365All ERP and finance integrations
What syncs between Dynamics 365 and Salesforce
What connects depends which Dynamics you mean.
- Finance and Operations: customers, sales orders, invoices, products and pricing, with D365 as the operational and financial master.
- Dynamics 365 Sales: accounts, contacts, leads and opportunities, running alongside Salesforce where different teams or regions use different CRMs.
- Shared customer master in both cases, which is nearly always the first thing to settle.
- Activity and history, where two teams need visibility of the same relationship.
- Custom entities mapped to Salesforce custom objects where the process demands it.
There is no first-party connector in either direction. This is middleware or a direct API integration, with KingswaySoft and Azure Data Factory common for bulk work.
Which way the data flows between Dynamics 365 and Salesforce
Configurable per field, which is the strength and the risk. Decide it rather than accept it.
⇆ Two way→ Out of Salesforce← Into Salesforce
Where both systems run as CRMs, the trap is two sales teams editing the same opportunity. The cleanest answer is usually territory: each system owns its own accounts outright, with read-only visibility of the other.
What a Dynamics 365 integration gives you
Two capable systems that stop contradicting each other.
- Finance and sales agree on the customer. One definition, maintained once.
- Orders flow without rekeying. The closed deal becomes the order, without a transcription step.
- Sales sees the financial position before the next conversation rather than after the invoice bounces.
- Neither team has to move. The people who know Dynamics keep Dynamics; the people who know Salesforce keep Salesforce.
- Reporting reconciles. One set of numbers rather than two that nearly agree.
How we connect Dynamics 365 to Salesforce
The question to settle before you build the Dynamics 365 integration
Are these two systems, or one system and its finance back end?
Where Dynamics is the finance and operations platform, the design is straightforward. D365 owns the money and the catalogue, Salesforce owns the relationship, and orders flow one way.
Dynamics 365 Sales running as a second CRM is a different question. Two CRMs both editing opportunities will fight. The workable versions divide by something unambiguous, usually territory or business unit, so each system owns its own records outright and sees the other read-only.
What does not work is an undefined overlap where both teams believe they own the same account.
One company, two CRMs, one angry account manager
After an acquisition, the acquired team stays on Dynamics 365 and the parent runs Salesforce. Six months later two account managers are working the same client from two systems. Both believe they own it.
That is an undefined boundary rather than an integration failure. Two CRMs both allowed to edit the same opportunity will always end here. The versions that work divide on something unambiguous, usually territory or business unit, so each system owns its own accounts outright and sees the other read-only.
The finance and operations case is different and simpler. Where D365 is the back office rather than a second CRM, it owns the money and the catalogue, Salesforce owns the relationship, and orders flow one way. That is a well-worn pattern with no ownership dispute in it.
Both are delivered through middleware or a direct API build, with sync direction set per field rather than per system. KingswaySoft and Azure Data Factory handle bulk and migration-scale work.
Tell us which Dynamics you run. Finance and Operations and Dynamics 365 Sales are different products with different integration patterns, and treating them as one thing is how scopes go wrong.
Connect Dynamics 365 to Salesforce
Whether Dynamics is your back office or your other CRM, the integration is well understood. The design work is deciding the boundary.
Whatever you run alongside it, if it has an API it can be connected, so get in touch and we will tell you what is realistic.
Dynamics 365 Salesforce integration: frequently asked questions
Yes, and plenty of businesses do it deliberately. The common patterns are Dynamics as the finance and operations back end with Salesforce as the CRM, or two CRMs split by territory or business unit after an acquisition. Both work, provided the boundary is defined rather than assumed.
No. Integration is delivered through middleware or a direct API build. KingswaySoft and Azure Data Factory are common for bulk and migration-scale work, with lighter integration platforms suitable where volumes are modest.
Where Dynamics is the finance system, it usually owns the billing entity and Salesforce owns the relationship. Where both run as CRMs, the cleanest split is territory or business unit, with each system owning its own accounts outright and seeing the other read-only.
Yes, and it should be. Setting direction per field rather than per system is what lets finance own the terms while sales owns the contact detail on the same record. Accepting defaults across hundreds of fields is how you get quiet overwrites.
Yes. They are different products with different integration patterns, and we treat them separately. Tell us which you run and we can be specific rather than general.