Microsoft Dynamics 365
“Can Microsoft turn Dynamics 365 into the default financial and operational OS for enterprises by embedding third-party fintech capabilities—payments, tax, FX, lending—directly into its ERP/CRM platform via AppSource and native connectors?”
Dynamics 365 originated from Microsoft's 2001 acquisition of Great Plains Software and subsequent acquisitions of Navision, Solomon, and Axapta. In 2016 Microsoft unified these disparate ERP and CRM products under the Dynamics 365 brand as a cloud SaaS suite. The embedded-finance angle materialised gradually through a marketplace (AppSource) strategy: rather than building native payment, tax, FX, and lending modules, Microsoft opened a connector ecosystem that allows ISVs like Adyen, Avalara, Vertex, BILL, Corpay, and GoCardless to embed financial capabilities directly within Dynamics workflows. The 2023 Copilot launch signals a further shift toward AI-augmented finance operations.