What costs more: unexpected CRM support issues or regular, proactive upkeep?
Before you answer, consider the following plausible (and painful) situation: You just spent hours meticulously preparing for a meeting with a promising client. As you’re getting started, you realize key data in your Dynamics CRM is outdated or missing, leaving you without the critical information you need. As your blood pressure soars, your chances of closing the deal plummet.
Now, picture a different scenario and novel offering–one in which your CRM has been meticulously maintained, enhanced, and optimized through a comprehensive, proactive Dynamics CRM Maintenance Services Contract.
There are no last-minute surprises, and your pitch goes off without a hitch.
This stark contrast highlights the importance of proactive services over-reactive support. Instead of waiting for problems to pop up at the worst possible time (reactive support), proactive services help you avoid issues like missing data, slow performance, or outdated systems.
In this blog, we’ll explore the pros and cons of both approaches and why proactive services are the smarter way to keep your CRM running smoothly while supporting your business’s growth.
Understanding Reactive Dynamics 365 Support Services
If you've ever had a pipe burst in your home or business, you’re painfully familiar with how reactive support works: you wait for a problem to occur, and by the time you act, the damage is already done.
Reactive support addresses issues after they happen, which usually leads to more expensive and disruptive consequences in the long run.
Without regularly updating and optimizing your CRM with a proactive CRM support contract, you risk being left behind, dealing with figurative pipe bursts while technology - and your competitors - move ahead.
System downtime brings unexpected costs, user frustration, lost productivity, and a lousy customer experience.
The point here is that reactive support won’t protect your software investment.
If you don’t keep your CRM current and optimized, YOU will become obsolete while your competition glides past on an expertly built raft of up-to-date technology.
Understanding Proactive Dynamics 365 Support Services
Imagine if your CRM software did more than just "work"—what if it could actively help your business grow, adapt, and thrive?
That’s no longer a far-fetched idea.
Proactive services include and go beyond routine updates and fixes, encompassing advisory services, optimization, and ongoing development.
The result is an efficient and smoothly running CRM aligned with your business goals.
If you’re into cars, you may be familiar with Tesla’s proactive maintenance program. Tesla engineers continuously review and update maintenance recommendations, with diagnostics appearing on the vehicle’s touchscreen for immediate action or later scheduling.
This ensures optimal performance, reliability, durability, and safety, preventing issues before they occur.
The advantages of proactive services for businesses include:
Flagging potential issues before they escalate.
Ensuring consistent performance and reliability.
Improving user experience by minimizing disruptions.
Increasing user adoption through training and meaningful enhancements
So, with proactive services, you’re not just preventing issues—you’re simultaneously enhancing the system’s performance, improving user adoption, and ensuring your CRM evolves along with your business.
Drawbacks of Reactive Dynamics 365 Support
Relying on reactive support can be tempting, but it comes with significant and disruptive drawbacks, including:
Prolonged System Downtime - Waiting for issues to surface leads to extended periods of CRM unavailability, causing disruptions and delays in operations. Every minute your system is down, productivity grinds to a halt, customer inquiries go unanswered, and deadlines slip—leaving your team scrambling to play catch-up once everything's back online.
Higher Costs from Emergency Fixes - Emergency fixes are often MUCH more expensive than regular maintenance. Maybe you didn’t know that waiting too long before changing your oil can cause your engine to seize up - until suddenly you’re being towed and freaking out over how to pay for a whole new engine. In hindsight, wouldn’t that routine oil change have been a lot cheaper?
Increased Stress and Unpredictability - Reacting to unexpected CRM issues is stressful for you and your team, making it harder to plan and operate smoothly. Nobody likes working for that manager who’s always putting out fires instead of preparing for the unexpected.
Benefits of Proactive Dynamics 365 Support Services
Proactive services are like having a specialist constantly monitoring your CRM system, ensuring everything runs smoothly and proactively preventing issues.
Some of the benefits include:
Improved System Performance and Reliability
Regular updates and optimizations keep your Dynamics 365 Sales or other CRM running at peak performance. No one wants to go through the panic of something crashing and burning, and the time and effort to fix the resulting mess.
Instead of reacting to problems after they’ve already disrupted your operations, proactive maintenance ensures a smoother, more reliable experience.
Just like regular brushing and flossing protect you from root canals, proactively keeping your CRM in top shape spares you from the “emergency” tech visits no one looks forward to.
Reduced Downtime and Increased Productivity
Unexpected breakdowns can derail your business. Continuous monitoring and maintenance prevent these disruptions so your team can focus on what truly matters: serving customers and growing the business.
Long-Term Cost Savings
If proactive maintenance sounds like just another added expense, think again. The truth is that it will save you money in the long run. Preventing major issues saves you from the high costs of emergency fixes and lost productivity that come with downtime.
Like those preventive dental visits, regular system checkups keep you from dealing with costly emergencies later.
The Optrua Care Plan
Since you’re still reading, you may sense there’s a better way to manage your CRM – and there is!
Designed to go beyond traditional CRM support, Optrua Care Plans offers a comprehensive and proactive solution that includes everything your business needs to keep its CRM running smoothly—and evolving as you grow.
With an Optrua Care Plan, fixing problems as they happen is a thing of the past.
Your new reality includes preventing them from occurring in the first place while continuously improving your system to reflect the evolving needs of your business.
What our clients find so novel and exciting about Optrua Care Plans is that strategic advisory services and ongoing development are included in addition to regular CRM maintenance and support.
As a result, your CRM is maintained and continually optimized for performance, growth, and long-term success.
Let’s break it down. Here are the key benefits of Optrua Care Plans:
Comprehensive CRM Support: Access expert support when needed, without the unexpected costs and downtime of reactive fixes.
Proactive Maintenance and Optimization: Regular system checks, updates, and optimizations. Your CRM performs at its best, minimizing disruptions and downtime.
Strategic Advisory Services: The Optrua team provides ongoing strategic guidance to ensure your CRM always aligns with your business goals and supports your growth.
Ongoing Development: Optrua provides ongoing enhancements to your CRM, adding features and improvements to keep you ahead of the competition.
Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “Things which matter most must never be at the mercy of things which matter least.”
An Optrua Care Plan ensures that your CRM system, which is critical to your business's success, is never at the mercy of glitches, unexpected failures, or being out of date.
By providing proactive, all-encompassing CRM management, Optrua Care Plans allow you to focus on what truly matters—growing your business—while we handle the rest.
Reach out to learn more about an Optrua Care Plan for your company’s CRM needs and achieve increased productivity and long-term cost savings for your business.
About the Author:
Optrua specializes in optimizing Dynamics 365 CRM and Microsoft Power Platform to enhance customer experience and employee engagement.
Using agile methods and continuous improvement, we're your partner in thriving amidst change.
We offer tailored solutions, including CRM, AI, system integration, analytics, and more, to help our clients grow and stay ahead of the competition.
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