Microsoft Dynamics and Salesforce Integration: How to Connect the Platforms

Microsoft Dynamics–Salesforce integration is more than just a technical setup; it is your fastest solution to building unified customer data that improves your customers' experience and enhances business performance. Picture a scenario where every sales conversation, marketing campaign, and customer interaction flows seamlessly between systems, with zero duplication, no blind spots, and no manual updates. This is the power of integrating Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics.

For long, Salesforce has been the industry leader in sales and marketing automation, while Microsoft Dynamics continues to dominate customer relationship management. Connecting these two systems provides a unified 360° view of your customer interactions, improves business decisions, and keeps every member of your team aligned.

But here's the issue: many CRM systems' integration methods are slow and prone to breaking under real-world business demands. The question now is, what's the most reliable way to make this integration effective?

One of the most flexible, secure, and high-performance methods is the ODBC driver.

In this guide, we'll explore why integrating Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics matters and how to connect these two systems using Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce.

Let's get started.

Why connect Salesforce to Microsoft Dynamics 365?

At their core, Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 serve different vital purposes in the customer's journey. Salesforce is widely used for front-end customer-related tasks like sales or lead generation activities and customer engagement, while Microsoft Dynamics excels at managing back-end tasks such as finance and billing, supply chain, and customer services.

Using these two systems in isolation can result in the following:

• Duplicated data: Sales and service teams enter the same customer information in two places, leading to inconsistencies.
• Lack of real-time updates: A change in Salesforce doesn't instantly reflect in Dynamics 365 (and vice versa), causing delays in decision-making.
• Siloed systems: Marketing, sales, finance, and support teams can't access the same customer view, which affects collaboration.
• Inefficient customer service: Without unified data, support agents may lack key details about customer history, slowing down response times.

However, when you connect Salesforce to Dynamics 365, not only do you eliminate these roadblocks, but you also get a unified view of your customers. The result is more efficient processes, better insights, and a stronger foundation for growth.

What is the Devart ODBC Driver?

When you think of a high-performance ODBC driver, think Devart ODBC.

The Devart ODBC Driver is a highly efficient data connector for integrating cloud platforms such as Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 with SQL-based applications and tools. It is remarkable for its easy connection; no middleware, external client, or complex APIs are required. With Devart ODBC Drivers, you can integrate your systems using just SQL and the Driver's easy-to-use GUI.

Also, with Devart ODBC Drivers, you can instantly connect customer data across BI platforms, ETL pipelines, reporting dashboards, and even custom applications without losing accuracy, speed, or security. Most importantly, the Driver provides bi-directional access, ensuring that updates made in one system are reflected across the other.

Key features of Devart ODBC Drivers

• Real-time access to Salesforce and Dynamics 365 data.
• SQL-92 support plus platform-specific extensions (e.g., SOQL for Salesforce).
• Enterprise-grade security with built-in OAuth 2.0, SSL encryption, and token-based authentication.
• Cross-platform availability on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
• Broad compatibility with 200+ tools, including Power BI, Excel, Python, SSMS, Tableau, Alteryx, and more.
• Advanced functionality such as metadata discovery, connection pooling, and full Unicode support.

With these features, Devart ODBC Drivers make Salesforce–Dynamics 365 integration not just possible but also fast, secure, and scalable across any tech stack.

How to integrate Salesforce and Dynamics 365 via Devart ODBC—step-by-step

Integrating Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 through Devart ODBC Drivers essentially means creating a direct SQL-based pipeline between the two platforms. This link reveals both Salesforce and Dynamics 365 data as ODBC data sources, then connects them through SQL Server (SSMS) or other SQL-compatible environments. From there, you can unify the data and make it available to BI, ETL, or analytics tools.

Below is a straightforward, step-by-step process for performing this integration.

Install Devart ODBC Drivers for Salesforce and Dynamics 365

To begin integration, you need to download and install Devart ODBC Drivers for Salesforce and Dynamics 365. Click the link below to download both drivers and follow the installer wizard instructions to complete the process:

• Devart ODBC Driver for Salesforce
• Devart ODBC Driver for Dynamics 365

Supported operating systems:

• Windows
• macOS
• Linux

Configure DSNs, authenticate, and test the connection

After you have downloaded and installed the drivers, the next step is to configure the data source name for both drivers, then authenticate and test the connection. Below are the steps to complete this process.

Configuration

To configure the DSN on your operating system, follow the instruction that applies to your OS:

• Windows: Open ODBC Data Source Administrator, select Add, then select Devart Salesforce/Dynamics Driver, and click Configure.
• Linux: Edit the odbc.ini file and add entries for each data source.
• macOS: Use iODBC Administrator to configure the DSNs.

Recommended naming conventions:

• Salesforce_ODBC
• Dynamics365_ODBC

Authentication

After configuration, the next step is to authenticate the drivers. Here is how you can do these for both platforms.

• Salesforce
  • OAuth 2.0 (recommended for security and compliance).
  • Username + Password + Security Token (legacy option).
• Dynamics 365
  • OAuth 2.0 (via Microsoft Identity Platform)
  • Requires: Tenant ID, Client ID, and Client Secret (from Azure Active Directory app registration).

Connection testing

Devart ODBC Drivers for Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 provide a Test Connection button in their setup dialog. Run this to verify that your credentials and network settings are correct.

Create linked servers in SQL Server (SSMS)

The next step after authenticating and testing the connection is to link both ODBC DSNs to SQL Server for unified querying. Here is how to do this:

• Open SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS).
• Navigate to Server Objects, select Linked Servers, then select New Linked Server.
• Create two linked servers:
  • LINKED_SALESFORCE, which points to Salesforce_ODBC DSN
  • LINKED_DYNAMICS, which points to Dynamics365_ODBC DSN

Configuration notes

• Provider: Use MSDASQL (Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC).
• Security tab: Map SQL Server logins to Salesforce/Dynamics credentials in the Security tab (using “Be made using this security context”).
• Server options: Enable RPC Out and Data Access in the linked server options.

After you have linked the servers, you can query both systems side by side in SQL, for example:

SELECT s.Name, d.InvoiceNumber, d.Amount 
FROM LINKED_SALESFORCE.SalesforceDB.dbo.Accounts AS s 
INNER JOIN LINKED_DYNAMICS.DynamicsDB.dbo.Invoices AS d 
ON s.AccountId = d.CustomerId;

Send unified data from SQL Server to BI/ETL tools

Once Salesforce and Dynamics are available as linked servers in SQL Server, you can use this single SQL interface to power analytics, reporting, or automation. From here, you can use any of the following:

• BI tools: Connect Power BI, Tableau, and Excel to SQL Server and build unified dashboards.
• ETL tools: Use SSIS, Azure Data Factory, dbForge Studio, and Alteryx to extract, transform, and load data into applications.
• Automation: Schedule refresh jobs in SQL Server Agent to run hourly, daily, or based on business needs.

This setup ensures a real-time, bi-directional flow of data between Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and your wider analytics ecosystem, without the need for complex middleware.

Benefits of using Devart ODBC for Salesforce–Dynamics 365 integration

Using Devart ODBC Drivers for your Salesforce Microsoft Dynamics integration goes far beyond simple data transfer. It delivers a powerful, enterprise-grade connection that makes your data more accessible, secure, and actionable across the entire organization.

Here are some of the benefits of using Devart ODBC for the Salesforce–Microsoft Dynamics integration.

Unified real-time access

One of the downsides of having your Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics systems operate in isolation is disjointed customer data. The data in one system might be different from that in the other, especially because they are entered differently. However, when you unify these two systems using Devart ODBC Drivers, you are guaranteed real-time synchronization; no need for manual exports, flat files, or delayed batch updates. Your sales and finance data are perfectly aligned across CRM and ERP systems, and your team will always have the latest information at their fingertips.

SQL-based querying across platforms

When you use Devart ODBC Drivers for your integration, you can query Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics data as if they were native SQL databases. Run INNER JOINs, aggregations, filtering, and reporting queries across both systems, even when the platforms don't natively support this level of complexity. Easy, straightforward, and efficient.

Secure and compliant connectivity

Worried about security and compliance?

Devart ODBC Drivers are built with enterprise security in mind. Connections use SSL/TLS encryption, OAuth 2.0, and token-based authentication to safeguard sensitive customer data while remaining fully compliant with IT and regulatory policies.

No-code/low-code support

Not every integration requires developers, and Devart ODBC Drivers are an example of this. To use the drivers, you don't need any complex middleware or APIs. From installation to integration, the process is simple and straightforward.

The GUI-based explanation makes it easy for database professionals at all levels, whether beginners or experts, to work with. Integrate and work with the Salesforce and Microsoft Dynamics 365 data without writing a single line of code.

Devart ODBC vs other integration methods

The table below provides a side-by-side comparison to help you understand how Devart ODBC Drivers stack up against other common integration approaches for connecting Salesforce with Dynamics 365.