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Archive for the ‘Microsoft Dynamics GP’ Category

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Published on April 24, 2010 by R "Ray" Wang

Latest Release Provides Existing Customers Good Reasons To Upgrade Order cheap capecitabine online, Redmond, WA based Microsoft Corporation announced its Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 (a.k.a. GP 11) product on April 20th, Cheapest gleevec online, 2010. Available May 1st 2010 in Australia, Canada, the Caribbean, cytoxan no prescription, the Middle East, Ordering capecitabine online cheap, New Zealand, South Africa, the United Kingdom, order epogen online, and the United States, Buy arimidex, the announcement perfectly coincides with Convergence 2010 in Atlanta, GA. The latest release delivers on five compelling themes:

Improvements in the role tailored user experience. Microsoft enhances and adds action panes, cytoxan pill, business portals, Kjøp Discount casodex, notifications and work flows by role to keep the experience relevant to how people work. Unlike legacy ERP systems, the design mantra does not force fit a set of best practices on generic users. Point of view (POV): Users get started right away with familiar Microsoft user experiences (i.e. Windows 7 and Office 2010). The 33+ pre-defined roles (e.g April, comprare arimidex sconto, Charlie, Order iressa from canada, Connie, and Vince) will help users in all sizes of organizations improve productivity from the get-go.

Additional investment in analytics and insight. Tighter integration with SQL Server 2008 BI Tools allows users additional control on how they share information. Pre-built KPI's, zometa no prescription, SQL Server reporting (i.e. SSAS cubes), and Microsoft Office forms can be served up with role relevancy. Reports can then be shared with other users via Sharepoint's document library. POV: Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 makes it easy to access key information and insights without expensive configuration and customization. With over 400 SQL Server reporting services, 200 Excel reports, 80 SRS reports, and pre-populated smart lists, users gain an integrated and embedded BI solution that should meet most requirements. Refreshable Excel reports take advantage of Power Pivot to save users time and keep information up to date. Drill back views provide a great way to get insights into GP 2010, Office Excel, and SQL Reporting Services (see Figure 1).

Deeper ERP and SCM product set features, order cheap capecitabine online. Buy epogen overnight delivery, Significant enhancements cut across financials, payroll, supply chain management (SCM), Rabatt kaufen gleevec, and service management. Financials gain key features such as encumbrance management, Order epogen, project accounting, and lockbox capabilities. Payroll includes needed updates such as overtime rate calculations and multiple W2 box mappings. SCM enhancements include automated lot numbering, vendor portals, cheap evista online, customer portals, Zometa pedido en línea, multi-site MRP, and sales forecasting windows. Service management features add preventative maintenance and labor-payroll integration. POV: This release sets the stage for expansion into the public sector and additional project based industries. Encumbrance management provides key public sector requirements in fund accounting. Project accounting enables services based business revenue recognition. Preventative maintenance features add to service based requirements.

CRM Integration and choice of deployment options. The new GP CRM adapter allows GP users native integration back to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. More importantly, customers can choose between hosted or on-premise Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the option to migrate to either option over time. POV: Microsoft smartly offers both the on-premise and on-demand versions. SMB customers still express a preference for on-premise over on-demand. Customers can also choose to host with partners or directly with Microsoft, Køb discount capecitabine.

Extension features for Microsoft Dynamics Partners. Partners gain more control with the Extender Product. Partners can add more purpose built functionality into the product with less effort. POV: In conversations with over 17 partners, Cheap casodex, they expressed excitement about being able to not only attach to existing GP forms, but also extend forms. Other areas of interest include adding to smart lists and automatically attach to a role while managing user security parameters.

Figure 1. Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Showcases Improved User Experiences

The Bottom Line For Users - Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 Continues To Improve

Microsoft shows its seriousness and commitment to GP 2010 with this eleventh release. The latest investments highlight the priority in winning the small to mid-market and taking market share from Epicor, arimidex sale, Exact, Rhode Island RI R.I., and Sage. Strong user experiences, tighter integration with Microsoft tools and technologies such as SQL Server, Sharepoint, goedkope casodex apotheek, and Microsoft Office should provide comfort to existing customers and new prospects. More importantly, Ordering capecitabine overnight delivery, the integration with Microsoft Dynamics CRM now provides users a full suite of critical end to end business processes required to managing a small to mid-market organization. Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 should remain on short lists for on-premise SMB ERP products for manufacturers, distributors, public sector, acquistare a buon mercato capecitabine, retailers, αγοράσετε evista έκπτωση, and service based industries.

Your POV

Does this announcement change your view of Microsoft Dynamics as your go -forward solution? Are you considering GP 2010 as part of your core strategy or a two-tier ERP approach? If you are a customer, how have your experiences been to date? Add your comments to the discussion or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwaresinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity, Vermont VT Vt..

Please let us know if you need help with your overall apps strategy. Here’s how we can help:

Assisting with SMB ERP shortlists

Developing ERP and CRM apps strategies

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Performing vendor selection

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Related resources and links

Microsoft Press Pass on Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010

20100420 IDG News Service - Chris Kanaracus "Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 features integrations BI"

20100420 eWeek - Nicholas Kolakowski "Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 to Arrive May 1"

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Published on March 8, 2010 by R "Ray" Wang

Who Says Support Has To Be Bundled With Maintenance? Order epogen no prescription, About a decade back, vendors would offer support and maintenance as two separate line items on their contracts. Support would run about 5 to 10% the license fee and so would maintenance. Keep in mind, average support and maintenance fees were under 15% back then. Here's a quick primer on what was covered:

Maintenance. Traditional areas include basic bug fixes, functional and performance enhancements, upgrades, backward compatibility, and legislative and regulatory updates.

Support. Most requests fall in the technical support category. Support cases typically include installation issues, integration questions, third product compatibility, and complex scenario resolutions.

Today, almost every vendor in the enterprise apps world (i.e. Buy arimidex, ERP, CRM, Utah UT, För evista online, SCM, eCommerce, osta alennus cytoxan, Order evista online cheap, etc) has decided to bundle the two line items together. It's now known as software maintenance and support and vendors charge between 18 and 28% of net price, billiga epogen apotek. Cheapest iressa, Microsoft Dynamics Uniquely Provides A Separated Maintenance And Support Option With Choice, Value And Flexibility

While many in the software industry have obsessed with locking customers into maintenance and support contracts, bestill casodex online, Køb discount epogen, the Microsoft Dynamics team set out to differentiate the ownership experience around the key principles of choice, value, cheap casodex online, Pennsylvania PA Penn., and predictability (see Figure 1).

Choice. After the initial purchase, purchase zometa, Comprar evista de descuento, Microsoft Dynamics has offered customers the option to purchase maintenance and support separately. This is unique to the industry for three reasons because customers:
1. Choose whether or not to buy maintenance.
2. Determine who they go to for support.
3. Separate the technical support from the maintenance decision.

Value. Microsoft's maintenance plan bundles a series of customer friendly services that deliver value. The include
1. Unlimited acccess to eLearning. Customers can get to any course at any time with their maintenance dollar. There's no requirement for expensive week long training academies.
2. 24 hour self-service support. Microsoft's invested in its self support community and has 1000 new users a month with 30,000 self-help posts to date. Most questions can be addressed in the discussion forum or directly by an expert.
3. 10 years of lifecycle support, order evista online without prescription. Most vendors provide a 5 year plan with escalating costs in the 6th and 7th years. 10 years represents a reasonable life cycle for ERP.

Predictability. Along with the 10 years of lifecycle support, Microsoft Dynamics will use the original purchase price as the basis of calculating future maintenance fees. Users must stay current on enhancements to qualify.

Figure 1: Microsoft Dynamics' Delivers Choice and Value In Its Support And Maintenance Offerings

.

The Bottom Line - Users Should Demand A Split In Maintenance And Support

Now's the time to seek options in maintenance. Shelfware reduction, third party maintenance (3PM), and contract re negotiations should provide some relief at the business level. However, decoupled maintenance from support options opens up the customer base to internal and third party options. Sticking with maintenance and not support may prove to be the best value (i.e, order epogen no prescription. Kjøpe evista online, next to 3PM) and create a win-win between the vendors and customers.

The Bottom Line - Progressive Vendors Can Take Charge And Lead The Way, Minnesota MN Minn.. New Jersey NJ N.J.,

Software vendors must reexamine their offerings to understand what customers need. Should economic conditions worsen, more third party maintenance (3PM) options will emerge and force pricing pressures against today's tired models. Vendors must take action by phasing in or offering tiered maintenance offerings and minimal support

Your POV

Are you a Microsoft Dynamics customer? Did you unbundle support from maintenance? Are you looking at options to compare the vendors? We'd love to hear your point of view. Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwaresinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity, Idaho ID. Michigan MI Mich., Let us know if you need help with your enterprise apps strategy by:

Conducting an ROI on 3rd party maintenance options

Identifying cost reduction opportunities

Renegotiating your software contracts

Improving innovation via SaaS and other deployment options

Take the new and improved survey on 3rd party maintenance and

Related resources and links

20091008 Deal Architect - Vinnie Mirchandani "Third Party Maintenance Is Really 4 Decades Old"

20071120 News Analysis: Too Early to Call the Death of Third Party Maintenance

20090210 Tuesday's Tip: Software Licensing and Pricing - Do Not Give Away Your Third Party Maintenance And Access Rights

20090709 Tuesday's Tip: Do Not Bundle Your Support and Maintenance Contracts.

20090622 News Analysis: Infor Flex Reflects Proactive Maintenance Policy

20090516 News Analysis: Rimini Street Launches Third Party Maintenance for SAP

20080909 Trends: What Customers Want From Maintenance And Support

20080215 Software Licensing and Pricing: Stop the Anti-Competitive Maintenance Fee Madness

20090428 News Analysis: SAP and SUGEN Make Progress on Enterprise Support

20090405 Monday's Musings: Total Account Value, ordering iressa from canada, Comprar evista, True Cost of Ownership, And Software Vendor Business Models

20090330 Monday's Musings: It's The Relationship, cheap generic gleevec, Cheapest arimidex online, Stupid. (Part 2) - Stop Slashing The Quality Of Support And Maintenance

20090324 Tuesday's Tips: Five Simple Steps To Reduce Your Software Maintenance Costs

20090223 Monday's Musings: Five Programs Some Vendors Have Implemented To Help Clients In An Economic Recession

20081012 Monday's Musings: 5 Steps to Restoring Trust in the Vendor - Customer Relationship

20091012 Research Report: Customer Bill of Rights - Software-as-a Service

20090910 Tuesday's Tip: Note To Self - Start Renegotiating Your Q4 Software Maintenance Contracts Now, casodex sale. Order iressa online without prescription,

20090602 Tuesday’s Tip: Now’s The Time To Consider SaaS Software Escrows

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Published on March 2, 2010 by R "Ray" Wang

Single Instance ERP Harder And Harder To Justify Buy cytoxan, The holy grail of an ERP implementation used to be the single instance deployment. However, market forces, a move to adopt new disruptive technologies, slow pace of innovation from incumbent vendors, and high maintenance fees have changed many organization's perspectives. Add a slew of rapidly changing business requirements battling rigid legacy infrastructures and next gen CIO's have been forced to depart from the standard apps strategies. In fact, improved integration, web services, and SaaS deployments have now improved the success rates and ROI for Two-Tier ERP apps strategies.

Purpose Built Capabilities And Cost Savings Drive Push For Two-Tier Apps Strategies

Recent Software Insider data surveys of next gen IT leaders in Q3 2009 and Q1 2010 show a 10% increase among organizations considering a Two-Tier ERP apps strategy (see Figure 1). Key drivers behind moving to a Two-Tier ERP approach stem from:

Purpose built or industry requirements (89.61%), evista online. Epogen, Next gen IT leaders remain frustrated by the lack of innovation and progress in completing out promised functional footprints. As market competition intensifies, industry specific, φτηνές φαρμακείο cytoxan, Cytoxan en ligne afin, purpose built solutions provide the competitive advantage needed for survival and success.

Existing systems too expensive (70.13%). ROI calculations on existing ERP systems often show high cost factors. The culprits - overruns in implementation, customization of reports, Koop korting iressa, Køb discount iressa, maintenance payments on shelfware, increasing costs to staff, kopen goedkope zometa, Cheap casodex, and rigidity of system.

Upgrade too expensive (45.45%). Many customers face upgrade costs equivalent to reimplementation. Cost factors could equal up to 85% of the original implementation cost.

Need to innovate (35.06%). Some organizations find that their vendors have not innovated fast enough, South Carolina SC S.C.. Cheapest gleevec online, Social channels have not been accounted for. User experiences seem dated. Reporting and analytics require experts to deliver. Paucity in mobile solutions hinder productivity.

Regulatory compliance (24.68%). The need to meet industry specific regulatory compliance drive organizations to choose purpose built solutions. Many choose SaaS to mitigate the costs of legislative and regulatory updates.

Geographic requirements (19.48%), buy cytoxan. Country or region specific requirements may require two-tier strategies based on geography. Some ERP systems lack the language or tax requirements and a separate instance will prove cheaper to run than customizing a monolithic large ERP solution.

Existing systems too rigid (15.58%), Osta gleevec online. Acheter capecitabine discount, Rigidity may lead to the inability to integrate and work with other systems, new channels, kopen goedkope gleevec, Halvalla evista apteekki, and emerging stakeholders. Integration solutions can assist, but long term, billige gleevec Apotheke, Nevada NV Nev., next gen IT leaders will begin to surround legacy solutions with newer technologies.

Figure 1. Two Tier ERP Strategies Gain Favor In Next Gen IT Leader Apps Strategies

Figure 2. Industry Requirements And Cost Drive Push To Two-Tier Apps Strategies

The Bottom Line - Users Should Consider Scenarios Based On Business Models And Geographic Needs

Detailed apps strategy conversations highlight 3 scenarios where Two-Tier ERP strategies make sense. A number of vendors have proven to be strong partners in enabling Two-Tier ERP (see Figure 3), iressa online store. Gleevec farmacia a buon mercato,

Different business models. Organizations with very different lines of businesses often consider hub and spoke implementations. The drive to standardize on a single ERP system makes little sense when one subsidiary delivers services and the other manufactures goods. Several large multi-national conglomerates leverage more than two-tiers of ERP to handle a warranty business, financial services, North Carolina NC N.C., Evista no prescription, and power generation manufacturing.

Country specific deployments. Deploying a full scale ERP solution makes little sense for new subsidiaries when options exist at lower operating costs and higher ROI. One large Japanese manufacturer found cost savings with local based systems in North America and EMEA.

Phased modernization efforts. Organizations looking to upgrade and modernize their systems may keep some legacy systems in place as they upgrade to more modern systems. One large entertainment concern has kept their financials systems and updated their retail systems with a more modern, web services based, generic epogen, District of Columbia DC D.C., SOA architected product.

Figure 3. Vendors To Watch In Two-Tier ERP Apps Strategies

Your POV. Buy cytoxan, Have you deployed a Two-Tier ERP strategy. How has it gone? What's worked, comprar en línea cytoxan. Order cytoxan without prescription, What's not? You can post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com or r at softwaresinsider dot org and we’ll keep your anonymity.

Please let us know if you need help with your enterprise apps strategy by:

Developing your enterprise apps strategy?

Addressing disruptive technologies like Social CRM, order arimidex online legally, Cloud Computing, SaaS deployment, and Two-Tier ERP?

Assessing the ROI of a Two-Tier ERP strategy?

* Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions. However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt.

Related Resources

20091203 Strategy: 5 Lessons Learned From A Decade Of Naught

20091222 Tuesday's Tip: 10 Cloud And SaaS Apps Strategies For 2010

20091208 Tuesday's Tip: 2010 Apps Strategies Should Start With Business Value

20091102 Best Practices: Lessons Learned In What SMB's Want From Their ERP Provider

20091006 Tuesday's Tip: Why Free Software Ain't Really Free

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Wednesday’s Whispers: People Whispers – August/September 2009

Published on September 16, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

PEOPLE WHISPERS: MOVES, PROMOTIONS, AND MILESTONES*

Congratulations to all! Good to see that the job scenarios have improved as a number of individuals made organizational changes and promotions. As always, thanks for your emails and alerts. If you've got a change or know of a promotion, keep dropping me a line! If you need a referral, and we've worked together in the past, don't hesitate to reach out to me via Linked In.

Jim Anderson is now Sr VP Client Services Operations at Analysts International. Recent executive roles include serving as a Partner at Element Consulting Group, EVP at Lawson Software, Group VP - Services at PeopleSoft, and Group VP at J.D. Edwards

Kamal Ajitsaria is now Chief Consultant - Manufacturing Solutions at Cognizant Technology Solutions. Other professional service roles include business head - manufacturing solutions at Geometric Ltd., Head of SAP Adaptive Manufacturing Practice at TCS.

Martha Bennett became Business Development Director at eBenchmarkers in May 2009. Martha's a Star Analyst in the financial services industry with roles including FS Research Director at Datamonitor, VP, Research Director at Forrester, VP at Giga Information Group, and Head of Advanced Technology at Prudential. René Bonvanie is now Vice-President of Worldwide Marketing at Palo Alto Networks. Renee has served various senior marketing roles at Serena Software, Inc., Salesforce.com, SAP, Business Objects, Veritas Software, Oracle, Ingres Corporation, and Relational Technology Shankar Borkar became Head - IT Management Consulting at L&T Infotech in July 2009. Previous roles over the past 5 years include other senior management positions as the GM and Center Head for the Manufacturing business unit and JGM. Samuel Bright is now Associate - Tech M&A at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Sam served as a research analyst at Forrester prior to graduating at Harvard Business School. Paul Ellis became Director, Marketing at CA in June 2009. Paul's served various roles at CA. Other industry positions include senior marketing manager at Selectica and Director of Marketing at IBM. Lindsay Euller is now Manager, Product Strategy at Ultimate Software. Prior roles include Sr. Account Manager and Team Leader at Forrester Research and Account Manager at WGBH. Killian Evers became Principal User Experience Architect at PayPal in April 2009. Other roles include senior manager at eBay/Paypal, Director of Program Management and Group Manager of Program Management at Oracle. John Ferguson became Operations Director at SynCom Electronics in June 2009. John previously served as the CIO at Optical Cable Corporation, President and Foudner of IntegriSoft LLC, and Director of Channel Systems and Strategy and Microsoft Business Solutions - Great Plains. Mette Søs Gottlieb is now Partner at Herman & Company. Sos has served as Nordic Director at Forrester Research, Senior Consultant at Telenor, Client Sales Executive at EDS, Customer Account Manager at Baan Company. and Senior Consultant at Maconomy. Lenley Hensarling is now Vice President for Business Development at stealthy startup C3. Lenley brings deep technology experiences with roles such as Group Vice President at Oracle, VP of Product Strategy at JD Edwards/PeopleSoft, Senior Vice President at Enterworks, and Vice President of Engineering at Novell. Kip Heuertz became Principal Consultant at Market Progress International in July 2009. Tuyen Ho became VP Sales & Marketing at Sakhr Software in June 2009. She served as the Vice-President for Dial Directions for the past 2 years prior to the acquisition by Sakhr Software. Other senior positions include VP of channel sales at Voxify and VP for client services at Personify. Chi Hoang is now Data Architect at Cisco. Chi's a software development pro with experience at Netflix as the Business Intelligence Lead at Netflix, Senior Principal Consultant at Oracle, and Software Development Manager at Oracle. Daniel Hong is now Lead Analyst at Ovum. Daniel now heads up Ovum's Customer Interaction (CI) practice. Prior to the acquisition by Ovum, he served as a lead analyst at Datamoniotor and prior to that he served as a Research Associate at Columbia Institute for Tele-Information. Kunal Kant became Consultant at Capgemini in June 2009. Kunal served Business Development APJ and Project Manager roles with Wipro Technologies. Marshall Lager became Managing Principal at Third Idea Consulting LLC in June 2009. Marshall's been an active voice and thought leader in the CRM and press community with roles including a 4 year run as a Senior Editor at CRM Magazine and contributing editor at Vault.com. Anne Lapointe became Media Consultant at Yellow Pages Group in April 2009. Ms Lapointe's served many roles including Director of Industry Analyst Relations at Bell Canada, Director of Industry Analyst Relations at Equant, Director of Marketing Communications at Global One, and Director of Marketing Communications at France Telecom North America. David Levine became General Counsel at Japan America Society of Washington, DC in June 2009. Mr. Levine currently is a Principal at Groom Law Group and the Director at DC Arts and Humanities Education Collaborative. Warren Lewis is now Legislative Director for for NJ Assemblyman Wayne DeAngelo. Previous influencer relations roles include associate director at Capgemini and account executive at Mindstorm Communications. Sean Loiselle is now Sales Executive at Salesforce.com. Previously, he served as the General Manager for Oracle's Financial Services Industry business unit. Other roles include Senior Director, Human Capital Management Solutions at Oracle. Pete Marston is now Web Strategy Consultant at Verndale. Prior to Verndale, Pete served as senior analyst covering CRM at Forrester Research. Other roles include Partner at Horstman Builders, Program Manager at Molecular, and Senior Consultant at KPMG Consulting / Peat Marwick. Phil Morris is now Business Technical Analyst, Web Portal Team at McDonald's. Phil's served other roles in IT at McDonald's including Business Technical Analyst -- Enterprise Architecture and IT Research Analyst -- Global IT Strategy over the past decade. Nancie Norman is now Client Development Director at AnswerLab. Nancie's served senior sales roles as an Account Manager at Forrester Research, Account Executive at OneSource Information Services , and Account Executive at Giga Information Group Michael O'Kelly is now Owner at SysTechPlus. Prior to starting out his own consulting, Michael spent almost 11 years with International Aid as their IT director. In July 1, 2009, the non-profit ceased operations. Dominic Pannell is now an independent Consultant. Former roles include heading up UK Analyst Relations at Hill and Knowlton, serving as a Principal Consultant at Serendipp Ltd, and consulting for Sunesis Analyst Relations. Jyoti Kharb Phogat became ES - Sales Effectiveness Manager at Infosys in May 2009. Prior roles include AM- Marketing at Infosys, marketing manager at Pronto Networks, and marketing at Indscape Softech Pvt Ltd. Udayraj Prabhu became Head of Supply Chain Development & CNO Planning at Marico in June 2009. Mr Prabhu has built a 9 year career at Marico with roles as Head of Business Applications, Head of Buying (Edible Oils), Manager of ERP, and Manager of buying Sarah Reed joined BMC Software as the Lead Analyst Relations Manager in August 2009. She most recently served at Eloqua as the Director of Corporate Communications. She brings a wealth of experience from similar roles at Vignette and IONA Technologies. Jaci Robbins is now PR/AR/Marketing consultant at JR Communications. Previous marketing roles include work with companies such as UST Global, Entropia, and Telogic. J Rollins became Vice President, Retail Sales at RedPrairie in July 2009. J's 25 year tech company management experiences include tours of duty as the CEO at Ascend Software Inc, VP of netASPx Inc, and President and CEO at SalesTactics, Inc. Subhojit Roye is now North America - Alliances Management at Infosys BPO. Mr. Roye brings significant professional services expertise with roles as a Director at Trianz, Practice Manager - North American Enterprise Apps at Wipro Technologies, Director at iGATE Global Solutions, Director of Oracle Business at Solix Systems, Inc. and Business Manager at Oracle Corporation. Jeremy Suratt is now Product Design Manager at Aspen Technology. Jeremy brings a wealth of tech marketing experience serving as a Director for Technology Marketing at Infor, Solution Marketing Manager of Technology at SSA Global, Software Engineer at Marcam, and Technical Presales Consultant at Wonderware Solutions. Katherine Teitler is now VP of Strategic Accounts at IANS. Ms. Teitler has served senior sales role including Senior Account Executive at izmocars, Forrester, Headhunter.net, and The Employment Guide.

David Anthony Wilkins is now a Managing Director at ICI in Dubai, UAE. Previously roles include Senior Consultant at indigo - pure ICT recruitment solutions and Senior Contract Recruiter at Computer People

Lisa Whelan is now Business Development Consultant at Offbeat Guides. Lisa provides business development, strategy, and marketing services in technology and consumer products with a focus on mobile and Social Media.

Alex Wong is now CIO at Endeca Technologies, Inc.. Previously, he served as the Vice President, Project Management Group, Information Technology at Eaton Vance G. Oliver Young is now Senior Product Manager at Jive Software. Oliver served various research roles at Forrester looking at the technology industry including Web 2.0 and tech industry economics.

Your POV

Got a scoop or something to share? Please post or send on to rwang0 at gmail dot com and we’ll keep your anonymity. * Not responsible for any factual errors or omissions. However, happy to correct any errors upon email receipt. Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.

Event Report: Reflections On Microsoft’s Convergence 2009

Published on March 21, 2009 by R "Ray" Wang

Over 7000 customers, partners, Microsoft staff, and paparazzi made the pilgrimage to New Orleans to hear the latest and greatest from the Microsoft Dynamics team. The great band, surface computing demo, and festivities in New Orleans wiped out most of the gloom and doom of the economic recession and negativity towards continued reckless US government spending. Attendees were upbeat, optimistic, and energetic. One explanation for this sense of "can-do" attitude among attendees can be based on how Microsoft has successfully transformed itself into a value and innovation alternative to the large ERP vendors moving into the small-medium enterprise/business (SME/SMB) space.* Customers such as National Air Cargo state a 25% increase in employee productivity, GFK talks about is 50% less time spent on financial reporting, and Champion posts 60% faster order processing times using Microsoft Dynamics products. Conversations with Rick Harkins and Robert Dills of the Cleveland Red Cross highlight the ease of use and rapid implementation time. Customers of Hitachi consulting expressed both Microsoft and Hitatchi's commitment to getting the job done right and the close relationships with the Microsoft Dynamics product teams. In fact, in more than a dozen customer conversations at this year's event, these born again ERP evangelists exclaimed, this is the "kinder and gentler" ERP company. One other attendee professed, "I know, I know, its Microsoft but they aren't the big bad wolf in the enterprise applications space". Another demonstration of care for customer and corporate responsibility includes the generous volunteerism with Habitat For Humanity in bringing over 400 employees, attendees, and partners to rebuild homes in New Orleans as part of the pre-conference activities. Users And Partners Express High Levels Of Satisfaction In a quick two question survey of 71 ERP users at this year's Microsoft Convergence event, respondents from all industries and Microsoft Dynamics ERP product lines praised Microsoft Dynamics for the following when asked " What features or qualities do you find positive about Microsoft Dynamics ERP"

Office integration (n=66 or 92.9%)
Usability (n=64 or 90.1%)
Product quality (n=60 or 84.5%)
Implementation time (n=59 or 83.l%)
Total cost of ownership (n=57 or 80.2%)
ROI or overall value (n= 55 or 77.4%)
Extensibility (n=53 or 74.6%)
Easy to learn (n=52 or 73.2%)

And of course, a few found opportunities for improvement in Microsoft Dynamics for the following when asked the converse question, "What features or qualities do you find negative about Microsoft Dynamics ERP":

HR/payroll capabilities (n=61 or 85.9%)
Finding the right Microsoft Partner (n=56 or 78.8%)
Upgrade path or ability to easily upgrade from older releases (n=51 or 71.8%)
Mobile options (n=45 or 63.3%)
Deployment options such as SaaS and Hosting (n=38 or 53.5%)

2009 Convergence Highlights Progress In Delivery Of The Promised Road Map Key design elements across all product families include a people centric approach with a strong foundation on user experience research, the Microsoft Dynamics Customer Model (61 user profiles), and a Role Tailored Design. With the death of Project Green (the convergent product lines project), Microsoft moves forward from the lessons learned and upholds its promises across the 5 major product families:

Microsoft Dynamics CRM pushes forward to cover the large enterprise and small business. One can say that Dynamics CRM was the star of this year's event from demos to product announcements. Over 16,000 customers, 800,000 users, from small to enterprise organizations in over 80 countries now use the product in over 25 languages. As the product progresses towards CRM '5", the CRM 4.0 March 2009 update includes accelerators for analytics, eService, Event Management, Enterprise Search, Business Productivity, Extended Sales Forecasting, CRM Notifications, and Sales Methodology Support. Other capabilities include Up-time SLA, Internet Lead Capture, Cloud Integration Services, and Quick Start Tools.
Launched in April 2008 for the US and Canadian markets, CRM Online continues to build closer alignment with Microsoft Online via integrated services, shared billing, and provisioning. Release 2 delivered in September 2008 adds Internet marketing and supports up to 2000 users per organization. Deployment options include on-premise, hosting via Microsoft's data center, or subscription to CRM as as Service from Microsoft's data center. Release 3 will focus on improved business analytics. As proof of its ongoing value, Microsoft announced a 75% savings on Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online for $9.99/user for 6 months if users signed up and activate by May 1st 2009
Microsoft Dynamics AX delivers key mid market, industry specific, and globalization requirements. Released in June 2008, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 represents the latest release built on top of two important .NET libraries: Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). Usability enhancements bring Enterprise 2.0 capabilities. Further, Dynamics AX represents logical organizational models through improved data structure modeling. Some examples include Multi-Sites that model advanced internal supply chains, trading partners which model stakeholders such as customers and suppliers, and Shared Services that model inter company relationships. Microsoft Dynamics AX continues an industry strategy focused on discrete manufacturing, process manufacturing, wholesale/distribution, retail, and professional services. Public Sector will be revealed in Dynamics AX '6'. Though Microsoft Dynamics does not provide multi-tenant SaaS options, the Software plus Services approach delivers new retail customer deployment options for services such as online payment processing and payment services that work on the Service Provider License Agreement (SPLA) price list, (a.k.a. subscription pricing models).
The latest service pack, SP1, provides over 330 fixes, 5-DCR's, and supports over 42 languages and language variants. New features include project time management, intelligent data management, Microsoft Dynamics Mobile, Lean Manufacturing, and the Environmental Sustainability Dashboard. Key enhancements in SP1 include electronic signatures, left right date support, time zone patching, and enterprise portal deployment. Technology support includes Microsoft Dynamics Mobile, Windows Essential Business Server 2008, and Microsoft SQL Server 2008. In Q2, the product will be available in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Russia. Brazil will have availability in Q3.
Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 adopts key enabling technologies. Launched November 2008, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 moves from a two-tier to a three tier architecture. As part of the new release, the product adopts the role tailored client, new reporting capabilities, and more web services enablement. The product currently is in an ISV Beta Access Program with more than 70 ISV's and 15 Technology Adoption Program (TAP) participants representing 7 countries and 8 verticals. Initial usability results cite 22% more success in performing tasks and 23 point higher satisfaction rate with the new product when compared to the NAV 5.0. Over time users can expect mobility updates and support for additional countries. For a more detailed perspective on Microsoft Dynamics NAV, check out a fellow industry star analyst of SMB ERP, PJ. Jakovljevic at Technology Evaluation Centers.
Microsoft Dynamics GP 10.0 expands access and reach. Major themes include usability and productivity, access to information, and communication and collaboration. GP 10 delivered UI improvements including Action Panes and Lists. Other enhancements included Excel and SRS reports, and work flow and search. GP 10 FP adds Rapid Install, Configuration, Migration; Excel Report Builder; Project and Field Service. New for 2009 will be SP4 which adds Microsoft CRM capabilities.
Microsoft Dynamics SL 7.0 extends collaboration and role-tailored productivity. Microsoft Dynamics SL offers a project based solution in the North American market. Key investments include SL 7 FP and SL SP 2 delivered in Q4 2008, improved project manager productivity, and performance enhancements. SL 7 FP enhances collaboration with access to project, customer, and vendor related documents. The system adds work spaces and document repositories when new projects are created or when vendors or customers are added. Project managers gain improvements with new flexible period time reporting and integration with Office Project 2007. Usability enhancements reduce the time to create service tasks and financial tasks.

Microsoft Dynamics Offers Stability And Business Assistance In Today's Market As one of the Big 4 (i.e. IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP), Microsoft's investments in its Microsoft Dynamics product line remains extensive and steadfast. As companies begin to worry about the financial viability of their software vendors, Microsoft continues to:

Invest in R&D and innovation. As other vendors begin to cut R&D in the face of global contraction, expect Microsoft to buck the trend and honor its commitments to deliver on its road map as promised. With more and more consumption of .NET components, Microsoft can take advantage of its technology stack to deliver future innovations in search, data management, content management, and other productivity tools. Key innovations such as XRM for property management, complaint management, citizen management, dealer management and contractor management also highlight the other advancements to come.
Prove value to the customer. Various programs to help deliver value were announced at Convergence including new financing options and the "Unleash Your Potential" program. With SME/SMB customers facing liquidity issues, Microsoft Financing delivered a 0% Financing Offer that ended March 20th, 2009 on top of its Business Ready Licensing simplification programs. The new Smart Pay offer allows customers to buy now and pay 6 months later with 24 or 36 month terms so long they take action by June 30, 2009. Unleash Your Potential provides customers with a best practice business solutions road map to accelerate design time and improve implementation outcomes.

The bottom line - Microsoft Dynamics should be considered in short lists Whether it be usability, functionality, integration with other services, or global availability, Microsoft Dynamics family of enterprise applications continue to improve with each release. Large enterprises looking at costly upgrades of legacy ERP and CRM systems should consider the option of Microsoft Dynamics as an alternative in their divisions or subsidiaries. Small and mid market customers will immediately benefit from usability and integrating with Microsoft Outlook and should leave Microsoft Dynamics in their short lists. Your POV How was your Microsoft Convergence experience? How do you feel about your Microsoft Dynamics products. Post your comments here or send me a private email to rwang0 at gmail dot com. Thanks and looking forward to your POV!

Other useful coverage links on Microsoft Convergence 2009

March 18, 2009, Technology Evaluation Centers - P.J. Jakovljevic "The (NA)Vision of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 – Part 2

March 11, 2009, IDG News - Chris Kanaracus "'Dynamic' Businesses Will Survive Recession"

March 10, 2009, Tech Target- Barney Beal "Microsoft commits to customers as it updates Dynamics CRM Online"

March 10, 2009, Beagle Research Group - Denis Pombriant "Microsoft Convergence Starts In NOLA"

March 8, 2009, IDG News - Chris Kanaracus "Dynamics users ready to network, solve problems"

*Other purpose built ERP options include Microsoft "Rainbow Stack" competitors Agresso, Epicor, Exact, Sage, and Syspro, SME vendors such as Lawson, IFS, Infor, and SaaS options such as NetSuite and Workday. Copyright © 2009 R Wang. All rights reserved.