Dynamics AX: Insights from Top Partners on the Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Launch on Sept. 8th

Sunrise Technologies and Edgewater Fullscope will jointly host seven events across the US to demonstrate the new Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution. The official worldwide virtual launch of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is September 8, 2011. Sunrise and Fullscope will host five live events in Dallas, TX; Irvine, CA; Portland, OR; Charlotte, NC; and Minneapolis, MN on the launch date, plus events in Atlanta, GA on September 29 and Boston, MA on October 4.

With the launch event for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 around the corner, I thought it would be great to gain insight from the two Microsoft partners, Sunrise Technologies and Edgewater Fullscope on this big event.

I virtually, sat down with John Pence, President of Sunrise Technologies (www.sunriseconsult.com). [JP/Sun]

(John Pence)

As well as John Scandar, EVP Edgewater Fullscope. [JS/EFS]

(John Scandar)

I wanted to pick their brains a little, and get their thoughts on Dynamics AX 2012, the launch event, and why Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is the new Safe bet in the ERP landscape.

Without further ado, here is the result of the interview:

Microsoft presents Dynamics AX 2012 as the Powerfully Simple ERP solution. What does that mean for prospective Microsoft Dynamics AX customers? How does that message translate to what Sunrise Technologies and Fullscope offer their Microsoft Dynamics AX clients?

[JP/Sun]: The core value that Dynamics AX 2012 begins is a powerful, robust ERP system that is also elegant, easy to learn, and adaptable. Making something complex simple to use is the pinnacle of great software engineering. Sunrise and Fullscope will present a series of dynamic examples that will illustrate the power of Dynamics AX 2012, while demonstrating the ease of use and intuitive nature of the system.

[JS/EFS]: In a nutshell, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is simple to learn and use so you can deliver value faster, take advantage of business opportunities, and drive user involvement and innovation across the organization.

The word SAFE is used by Sunrise and Fullscope to describe Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. What do you mean by Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is the SAFE choice? What should prospective clients expect from an ERP solution that is Safe, Powerful, Agile, and Simple?

[JP/Sun]: Safety is at the very core of every ERP decision. Will this vendor still be here in 15 years? Will the software keep up with the rush of technological innovation over that time span? Will I be able to adapt and grow my business without the software holding me back? Without a doubt, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 represents the safe and powerful choice for business. Is any vendor better positioned to adopt their ERP solution to future changes in technology? I think the answer is very clear. Microsoft will be leading the technology charge and Dynamics AX 2012 will be integrated seamlessly into that future.

Can a company feel safe in their software investment with Dynamics AX 2012? Absolutely! With a single, low cost server license a company has access to any module, language, and capability within Dynamics AX 2012. Adding a new sales division internationally? Dynamics AX 2012 protects your business by including multi-company, multi-language, and multi-currency in the same license and instance. No need to deploy a new system because of the new geography.

Expanding into new lines of business? Dynamics AX 2012 protects you by including all the functionality you need to diversify your business. As your business grows you simply add new users to the existing system. The user types are tailored by the actual job preformed, so you never over pay for a new user. The system can scale to meet the most demanding needs of large, multi-national organizations, but is simple enough for a start-up to implement quickly.

Safety in business means managing for the long term. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 insures that your software can keep you safe as your business grows, expands, and diversifies.

[JS/EFS]: “Safe” means a lot of things, including free from danger or risk; healthy; and even extends to phrases like a “safe bet.” Safe was once used in reference with a career, and selecting an ERP system was easy when money was no object – just make the system work. Times have changed, and the definition of safe has changed.

Every week you can read about a failed ERP system or hear about such a failure via the grapevine or from another colleague. Manufacturers and distributors spend millions of dollars over the lifespan of an ERP system. The decision to buy a new system or upgrade to a new one is a serious financial commitment and can mean the difference in building or breaking a career for the teams involved with the project. And then there are shareholders — if you are a publicly traded company, your shareholders expect results from technology investments, not excuses.

When planning our launch events, we liked the connotations of “safe” when applied to a business context and specifically an ERP environment. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, backed by the corporate strength of Microsoft and leading Dynamics AX implementations partners Fullscope and Sunrise, is a safe bet for your business.

How?

• Global companies can enable entities across a multisite, global organization to share the same systems and business rules in order to streamline business processes, business intelligence (BI), and reporting at lower costs and with faster deployment.

• Large enterprises can execute a two-tier ERP strategy so they can standardize on a single solution to manage operations across multiple sites and connect to the headquarters’ ERP system—while lowering costs and increasing agility.

• Organizations with legacy systems can standardize multiple disparate systems requiring different IT skill sets and lacking consistent interface and reporting capabilities on a common solution that can be rapidly adopted and easily supported.

• Growing companies can create, adapt, extend, and streamline business processes quickly and easily to gain competitive advantage and accommodate aggressive growth—for example, adding new sites or acquisitions—in an uncertain economic environment.

• Midsize businesses can benefit from an enterprise-class solution and rapidly implement industry-specific and core ERP capabilities to meet their specialized needs.

These things can translate into a safe, healthy, sound, less risk ERP solution — and we thought that sounded like a good idea for our customers.

In a paragraph or two, explain why Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is a generational shift in ERP?

[JP/Sun]: Dynamics AX 2012 is a completely new way to think about an ERP system. Prior to Dynamics AX 2012, ERP systems have been large, separate applications designed to run “on” the surrounding technology of the servers, databases, email systems, etc. They were one more bolted on app that was just larger and more complex than the others.

Dynamics AX 2012 has truly been designed to live “within” the computing ecosystem of Microsoft technologies. The application takes full advantage of all the other aspects of Microsoft’s solutions such as databases, office communications, information worker tools, etc. to create a simpler, more powerful solution for a business.

This allows the ERP system to move beyond just providing an integrated data model of the business, but really powering the real work flows of how the business operates, and doing it in a way that will stay current as all the technologies evolve in the future. In short, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is a powerful, but safe and low risk approach to a company’s technology needs.

[JS/EFS]: The combination of scale, functionality and role-tailored access are big game changers in the ERP world. Given Dynamics AX 2012’s integration to other Microsoft products, it allows customers to really be more productive in an unprecedented way.

How can Manufacturing / Distribution companies specifically benefit from what comes with this next major release of Microsoft Dynamics AX? (What are some specific business value additions that exist only in Dynamics AX 2012 that apply?)

[JP/Sun]: Manufacturing and distribution have become global work flows for all companies, large or small. Dynamics AX 2012 is uniquely designed to handle that global operation in a single instance for all the global processes of a business. The application supports multiple languages, currencies, and companies in a single instance, with just the base license of the software.

The application has “global intelligence” built-in to the application and security model. Employees, vendors, and customers are automatically presented information in the language and currency that makes sense to them, while still maintaining corporate control of the entire enterprise. This is a game changer for companies that today must use different systems around the globe to manage their supply chains.

[JS/EFS]: Manufacturers in particular should be very excited about this release because it supports true mixed mode operations. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 allows a customer to use one ERP system to manage operations across all of their product lines.

For example, a manufacturer could produce a variety of products with different manufacturing modes (lean, kanban, process, discrete, etc.). Unlike other solutions that force you to choose one primary way to run your business, Dynamics AX 2012 is very flexible and lets a customer choose the best operational mode based on the product line. No more driving a square “process” peg into a round “discrete” hole.

What makes Sunrise Technologies, and Edgewater Fullscope stand out as premier partners?

[JP/Sun]: At Sunrise we only focus on Dynamics AX. We have become a leading reseller by focusing on making our customer’s great ideas actually work in the real world. We are experts at turning the powerful tools provided by Microsoft into great implementations for our customers. Our focus will always be on turning the best ERP system in the market, into the best solution for our customers.

[JS/EFS]: Fullscope focuses primarily on Microsoft Dynamics AX. We’ve sold it to over 200 customers, and 90% are process and discrete manufacturers. Our consultants are seasoned experts who know manufacturing, which leads to smoother implementations that provide measurable value for our customers.

We also use our deep manufacturing experience to develop additional solutions that run on top of Dynamics AX to solve specific industry challenges, as well as general needs like data collection or FDA validation of manufacturing software and the manufacturing process. Fullscope has won the Dynamics AX partner of the year award twice and the worldwide manufacturing partner of the year award twice.

The company is a Microsoft Gold Certified Enterprise Resource Planning Partner, and is certified by AMR in process and discrete manufacturing.

I would personally like to thank both John Pence and John Scandar in this effort, and taking the time to give us some insights around the launch event that will be taking place on Thursday, September 8, 2011 as well as later dates for other cities.

As this event gets closer, I will dive into more specific content, on what will be covered, and help give some insight into what you can expect.

That’s all for now, but check back soon; a lot more to come! Till next time!

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