Dynamics AX In a Recession: Government Bailouts Raise ERP Compliance Challenges

Alright, so here we are way deep into government bailouts, and these seem to be setup to continue instead of slow down.

So over at MSDynamicsWorld.com, a nice new article has been posted that brings up something that we might should start thinking about, for specific verticals at first and then as the bailouts spread so shall the requirements.

I am talking about this: Government Bailouts Raise ERP Compliance Challenges: Why Users of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 May Be Well Positioned

From the article:
"The assorted U.S. government bailouts will likely have a wider impact on manufacturers of all types than anyone can yet imagine, beginning with the necessity to adjust ERP systems to take account of important emerging compliance requirements."

And it goes on...:
"Bailouts of the automobile, mortgage, insurance, and banking industries mean the government will "have tentacles in virtually every industry in the country," says Ward, a former director of ERP and supply chain management at Microsoft."

Happy day that the gonvernment will have such long reaching impact into the economy. That can easily lead us into a Soap Box issue, so lets just continue on, as we have to deal with it now...
"Which ERP users will have the easiest times adjusting their systems? According to Ward, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009, a favorite of globally-oriented companies, "stacks up really well." She points out that its Compliance Workbench enables users to easily set up business processes and workflows. "As Congress issues regulations today, you can make sure you are following whatever rules, and can create workflows to track in the Compliance Workbench.""

So what's important that I think should be taking from this article is how the recession has caused a recation, and that is going to cause itself actions and reactions throughout supply chains and companies spreading throughout many, many sectors and verticals.

In order to help facilitate this, Dynamics AX 2009 is very well suited for this kind of need, with it's 'Compliance Workbench' which is mentioned in this article. That compliance workbench was something I wrote about this past Feb. as being one of the hot new things that was developed and coming with the release of Dynamics AX 2009.

That article lives over at MSDynamicsWorld.com as well and can be found here: GRC: The Next Big Thing in Dynamics AX 2009

The GRC stands for: ‘Governance, Risk and Compliance Platform'

Something I wanted to really stress from that article that was wrote over 10 months ago, before we were offically in a recession:
"For both public and private companies, this new offering is going to significantly open the door for obtaining valuable insights into underlying business processes. This could in turn lead to more processes being tracked and adapted to urgent business issues at hand via Dynamics.

I will leave you with this:, if GRC is not something you find interesting right now...you will soon. GRC will become as important for many companies as AR and AP, helping take them to the next level in their Dynamics AX implementation."

So here we are, a mere 10 months later and we have are 'soon' in front of us for finding the GRC as something of interest.

Check back soon... and sooner than 10 months! :-)




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Interview with Microsoft Executive: Allison L. Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group

Recently I took the time to email Allison Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Patner Group for Microsoft.

The focus of these questions, was to pick the brain of the Microsoft executive, to a certain degree, relating to Dynamics ERP, Dynamics AX and the current worldwide recession we are in.

The following are the questions and answers:

1.) Currently the U.S., and most of the world is in a Recession. Why would customers what to choose Dynamics ERP, specifically Dynamics AX, during this down turn?

"Right now can be one of the best times for a company to invest in its infrastructure because they have the time and resources to commit to the implementation, and once the economy picks back up they will be ready to hit the ground running.

Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 offers customers strong total cost of ownership by applying Microsoft application platform technology, delivering improved user productivity through RoleTailored design and a familiar user interface, self-service business intelligence and reporting tools, and manages the complexities of a global organization by consolidating and standardizing processes and providing visibility across the organization.

Additionally, Microsoft Dynamics is currently offering 0 percent financing for 36 months for new, qualifying customers of Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM solutions. The limited time offer is available to Microsoft Dynamics customers who receive Microsoft Financing credit approval on all purchases of $20,000 (U.S.) up to $1 million (U.S.)."

2.) Since we are in a downturn, budgets are cutting back in order to save on cost. What new technologies released this year, can actually help customers cut cost, even though it would mean deploying a new system or upgrading?

"At Microsoft, we have several options to help customers use the power of technology in their cost-cutting efforts to reduce travel and communications costs, leverage virtualization to optimize their infrastructure, and reduce PC energy consumption.

Reduce travel and communications costs
Cutting back on plane trips and hotel stays is one of the most obvious ways to save money, but that must be balanced against the value of person-to-person interaction. Today, video conferencing and new collaboration tools are making virtual meetings much more like face-to-face interaction and companies are finding that in many cases, information sharing and collaboration can be accomplished more efficiently and for much less cost when done virtually.

Microsoft provides a suite of Unified Communications technology that uses software to bring voice, e-mail, instant messaging, and video conferencing together is enabling companies to replace traditional phone and voice mail systems with solutions that integrate telephony with corporate messaging, calendaring, and directories. At Microsoft, for example, unified messaging is enabling us to save $5 million each year through reduced hardware and maintenance costs. Equally important, combining phone and e-mail communications into a single solution is increasing employee productivity and decreasing the administrative workload for IT professionals.

Microsoft also provides a Deskless Workers Suite. We estimate that approximately half of employees worldwide are deskless workers. To that end, Microsoft is rolling out solutions designed to meet the needs of deskless workers, those people who typically spend a small portion of their workday using a computer but still need to communicate and collaborate with colleagues and partners.

Virtualization
Virtualization is another incredible opportunity to cut cost and optimize your infrastructure. Windows Server Hyper-V makes it possible to run more than one operating system on a single machine, which can help companies reduce costs by enabling them to use more of the computing power that they already own. Virtualization also presents opportunities to consolidate the number of server companies own and use. But saving money is just the beginning of the value that this important technology offers. In a virtualized IT environment, new resources can be deployed more quickly and processes are easier to automate. The result is tremendous flexibility for employees and greater efficiency and agility for IT departments.

Reduce energy costs
There are incredible power management tools in software today that help companies more effectively manage energy consumption. Companies should make sure they are taking advantage of all power management tools in today’s software. Also use central IT administrator features for controlling all your desktops. Like so many companies across the globe, Microsoft strives to save our customers money while reducing carbon emissions. By upgrading to Windows Vista operating system, our customers with 1,000 PCs or more can save more than $70,000 a year and reduce carbon emission by more than 1 million pounds."

3.) Can you explain how Microsoft Partners could better align themselves with Microsoft’s discounts during this downturn, in order to help reach a bigger customer base and truly offer the customer value while still saving on cost at the same time?

"We announced a 0% Financing offer for Microsoft Dynamics recently, which has been very important to partners. But there are several other incentives here in the U.S. specifically to help partners save customers money. For example, the popular Big Easy 2.0 promotion is available, and it lets customers use their cost savings on Microsoft products for services and support from a Microsoft partner. MicrosoftIncentives.com is a great place for partners to stay up-to-date on the latest and greatest incentives.

Partners should also leverage Microsoft Financing as a strategic way to make IT purchases affordable. Microsoft Financing enables partners to offer their customers quick, easy and affordable financing as an integrated offering with their IT solution, helping customers of all sizes to purchase Microsoft products and services, such as partner implementation and training. This allows customers to purchase the complete, best-fit solution up front, have it professionally deployed, and manage all of their IT as one investment that they pay for over an extended term.

To help partners effectively integrate financing into their regular business practices, we’re offering a Partner Training Roadmap, which is a mixture of on-demand training, from brief podcasts to full-length training courses. Subjects covered include an introduction to financing, how to use financing tools, how financing can help partners enable sales and how to manage and optimize the financial footprint of customers. Microsoft also offers partners sales and marketing tools to help them easily incorporate Microsoft Financing in their next proposal."

4.) And to make this more personal, what’s your favorite food?

"That’s easy -- Jamoca Almond Fudge ice cream."

I want to thank Allison for working with me on getting this interview in place, and ready for posting here. I think is some good information for all of us, Customer, Possible customers and Partners alike. To find out more about Allison, please go to the following link for her online public bio: Allison L. Watson, Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Partner Group - Public Bio Link

I also want to thank Anige and Katie from Waggener Edstrom Worldwide. Without them none of this would have been possible!

Well that's it's for now, check back soon, and Allison I hope santa brings you lots and lots of 'Jamoca Almond Fudge Ice Cream'!




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

MSDW: Microsoft Moves Aggressively to Ease Recession's Effects on Dynamics Products, Via 0 Percent Financing

Well this write up over at MSDynamicsWorld.com, fits exactly into what I have been posting about for the past several post. That's Microsoft Dynamics AX in a recession.

Well this week Microsoft launched a new financing option, 0% financing! This, I think speaks very loudly to the tone in which the market is echoing. Times are tough for companies, but they still need the ability to grow, lower cost, offer value, and do all that from one platform.

Check out the full write up from MSDynamicsWorld.com: Microsoft Moves Aggressively to Ease Recession's Effects on Dynamics Products, Via 0 Percent Financing

From the write up:
"We are working closely with our customers and partners to proactively enable them to preserve their capital resources to ride out the current economic situation, while making an important strategic investment in their future," said Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions. "Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM solutions are business assets that pay off in the near term and over the long haul by helping companies drive productivity, maximize efficiency, and adapt and grow their business in today's fast-changing market."

Notice what I bolded. It exactly what I was pointing out in my previous post, and plan to contiue to dive deeper and deeper of into. Dynamics AX is the business platform that customers need to grow their business, while lower cost and bringing tons and tons of value to their company and their customers.

Check back soon for more!





"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Dynamics AX - Why is it good in a recession?

Alright,

So you heard me state on my last post that Dynamics AX looks good to possible new customers, even during a recession. But what makes Dynamics AX look good?

Well as I mentioned in my last post, the value that Microsoft Dynamics AX brings to customers just can't be touched by other companies like SAP or Orcale. What does this mean though? Value?

Value in Dynamics AX, obviously different for different implementations and customers, comes in several general area's of offerings. Like I stated here, specific value ranges depending on the need of the customer, which leads us to our first point of value that Dynamics AX brings:

Dynamics AX is for a lack of a better word, Dynamic
Truly the name itself is a very correct statement, a word that really describes the solution / platform that is Dynamics AX. This value point really touches with all implementations, no matter need or even size of implementation.

This Dynamic is the fact that DAX offers the ability for a customer to grow and have it's business platform change and grow with it. This is a most wonderful aspect of the platform, and means that a company is not forced to change it's processes to fit into some dreamed up template that only fits a certain slice of a given vertical, and barely at that. (*cough* SAP *cough*).

This of course can be a a bad thing, if not managed right. Having a good partner is where that comes in, to help setup, install, train and manage the solution for you or to help you with doing so.

So today's value point for Dynamics AX is: Being Dynamic.

Just think if you had a very high price business platform, *like the other guys*, that was inflexible and your faced with downturn. You need a Dynamic platform that can offer you the ability to have quick access to data, and quickly adapt your business processes to help you to continually effect your bottom line in a positive way.

Check back soon as we continue other points of value Dynamics AX brings. Also feel free to leave comments as well! See you then!




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Dynamics AX in a Recession

Alright,

So we are in the R-word (Recession) in the U.S. Even though the big wigs, mostly will not say it, we are. Proof's in the pudding. And it may be that the world is in a Recession, or most major world economies.

So what does this mean for Dynamics AX. Well Let's say, what does this mean for a company looking for a new ERP / Business Platform? It means that Dynamics AX is better positioned that any other ERP platform on the market for bringing your company Value for the money spent, along with a deep functional paltform to boot.

I mean you can get a price list from Dynamics AX and compare it to SAP and see huge price differences. You ask businesses what they are looking for in a new ERP / Business Platform, and they will tell you:

- Something that will save the company money.
- Something that will help bring value to the company.

These two major points, are what Microsoft Dynamics platform was already offering, well before a recession was declared. This is why Dynamics AX, even in a recession, looks to be a great deal.

Lets be honest with ourselves here, in that Dynmaics AX was already one of the top choices for an ERP / Business Platform. The key word is 'Platform'. SAP does not have it, and Orcale pretends to have one. Salesforce.com is for very small, hard to customize implementations of CRM, and the rest of the names are just packages.

We are talking about a true platform. One in which ERP, CRM, Supply Chain management, BI, all are functional area's of this given platform. They are not hodge-podge, ad-hoc packages, web sites or applications. They are interconnected, and run on top of, connect into and are customized with this same platform.

So Dynamics AX in a Recession, is the same great platform, it just happens to already bring the two major things that companies are looking for right now: Lower cost & Value at the same time.

Just keep in mind for those that shake their head at you and tell you what I am saying is not true. 'Proof is in the pudding' Microsoft's pudding is it's platform and the price to implement it. (Price includes full implementation cost)

Alright, this starts the down turn / recession posts. I want to take and really look into the details of how Microsoft Dynamics AX can bring value to you. How it can be used to lower cost, change processes, can valuable BI insight into sales for positioning products, etc. etc.

Check back soon!




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"