CRM, (Customer Relationship Management), xRM, and xyM may sound like alphabet soup to you now, however, the changes Microsoft is bringing to MS Dynamics CRM are more than just changes in letters. Microsoft Dynamics CRM is truly transforming the way we do business in extraordinary ways. As I mentioned in my previous article “CRM, xRM, MS Financing and more”, the business tool Microsoft Dynamics CRM is not restricted to just the Sales, Marketing and Customer Service departments anymore. And by the way, we are already using it for more than just customers. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has already expanded its reach to include all departments, as well as vendors, partners, suppliers, and anyone else you communicate with. This expansion replaced the C (customer) in CRM to an X (for anything) and brought us xRM, Microsoft’s new Anything Management System.

What is next for this powerful business management tool? You may have already guessed (I gave you a hint in the first paragraph). Microsoft’s seamless integration of Microsoft Dynamics CRM with the other MS Office products you already use allows us to move from mere “relationship” management, to all around “business” management. With simple one-click integration you can tie any conversation, document, spreadsheet, quote, bid, invoice, etc. to the appropriate contact/company. And since you are all connected via Outlook and CRM, it is immediately visible to the rest of your organization – if you want it to be. This allows you to track much more than just “relationship” in CRM. Now you can track any type of business process or entity. No more asking Joe to update you on how many of the vendor bids have come in for the pending contract, or asking Judy about how far along we are for the engineering change request. Now you have the business tool to get the information you need, when you need it.

From either MS Outlook, or MS Dynamics CRM, simply click the link on your supplier’s name and view all the documents, bids, quotes, invoices in one place without having to interrupt Joe to do it. Same goes for Judy – let her keep working, and in the meantime go into the system and bring up the engineering change process, and see how much of the project workflow has been completed. Going from Relationship to Business management or xRM to xyM streamlines all the information in your organization, allows visibility to information throughout the organization, and improves productivity.

If you are as intrigued as I am with the changes in just the first two letters from CRM to xyM I know you will want to find out what is in store for the “M” in CRM and xyM. You may have already guessed, it is not just for management, but what does that mean to you, your business, and your bottom line? I will be writing about the third transformation soon, I know you will not want to miss it.

It’s fun when I can find a real-life example to illustrate how important an effective enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is to a company’s bottom line. Here’s a great real-world example of a company in need of a new ERP solution.

Six months ago a colleague Tom and his wife Emily ordered three lamps from a local retailer. Because the items were out of stock the retailer placed them on back order from their drop shipper. Not willing to wait, Emily promptly canceled the order, was refunded, and bought the lamps elsewhere. Yesterday, six months later, an unmarked box arrived with three lamps. It’s the canceled order.

Here are the questions this order and shipment mix-up raised. Mind you, they are also some of the issues a good ERP system will help you solve.

• Where did these lamps come from?
• Why didn’t the retailer know the drop shipper was out of stock when they placed the order?
• Did the drop shipper get notified when the order was canceled?
• Does the retailer know the drop shipper fulfilled a canceled order?
• Will the retailer ever learn what happened to these lamps, or has this order disappeared into a black hole?
• Who will bear the costs created by this error, the retailer or the drop shipper?
• How much profit and inventory is lost to mistakes like this each month and year?
• How much money is wasted on unnecessary shipping and handling costs each month and year?
• Why wasn’t the retailer identified somewhere on the package or packing slip instead of only the name and address of the drop shipper?
• Why is there no contact information for the drop shipper or retailer on either the package or packing slip?
• How and to whom does my friend return the lamps?

This example illustrates the issues caused when the systems we order and fulfill from are not connected. Sometimes we call this ‘silos of information’, other times we just call it frustrating and costly.

Here are a few questions to help you determine if you need a new ERP system.

• Do your sales and customer service teams struggle to find up-to-date information on which products you have in stock?
• Do your sales and customer service teams lack visibility to the back order and fulfillment systems?
• How many times does an order (or canceled order) need to be entered for the order to be fulfilled?
  Hint: if the answer is more than one, you may need a new ERP system.
• Your business is growing and your system can’t keep up
• A lot of time is wasted hunting for information
• You’re losing clients and losing money

If you answered yes to the questions above it may be time to find a qualified ERP Consultant to help. Find out more about what to expect during an ERP Implementation.

An effective ERP Systems can help improve your bottom line by

• Eliminating the need for duplicate entries into multiple systems
• Reducing the opportunity for operator error
• Providing instant access to orders and inventory
• Improving supply chain management
• Improving efficiency
• Improving inventory management

Do you have a story to share? We’d love to hear your company or personal experience illustrating the ramifications of inadequate supply chain management or enterprise resource planning systems either from the customer or company perspective.

I recently read an article by H. Mackay titled Quality Is Not a Thing, It’s a Way where he illustrated the importance of quality and quality control (QC) systems. Mackay reminds us that the only goal worth attaining in your quality control system is 100%. The following research from Insight Syncrude Canada Ltd. shows us why trying to achieve 99.9% quality can mean failure. At 99.9% quality these things could happen:

• Two flights per day at O’Hare would be unsafe
• 12 babies would be given to the wrong parents each day
• 107 incorrect medical procedures would be performed each day
• 18,322 pieces of mail would be mishandled in the next hour
• 20,000 incorrect drug prescriptions would be written in the next year
• 880,000 credit cards in circulation would have incorrect cardholder information in their magnetic strips

In the food & beverage industry quality is not only one of the important factor to success, I’d say it is the most important factor. In the age of increasing food recall incidents, growing government regulation, and difficult economic times it is critical to have the right quality system in place. Food Processors need to ensure they can effectively track each ingredient from the moment it enters the facility, at each processing step, during storage and transportation, all the way through to the final product sale and delivery. The quality management and regulatory compliance program needs to enable companies in the food industry to perform a mock recall within four hours. It’s not to say we won’t have food recalls. As a food industry executive reminded me,

“when you run food, you’ll have recalls, it’s just a fact of the business.”

The important focus here is that we aim for 100% quality and we install the systems we need to quickly and effectively respond n the event it happens. The companies who are nimble enough to survive food recalls, economic downturns, and other business challenges will be those with fail-safe quality systems and comprehensive enterprise resource planning solutions in place. These systems shorten the time between problem identification and solution. Effective QC Systems and ERP Solutions enable companies to track product, make critical decisions, and implement solutions all in minutes – not days.

I’ll leave you with one final quote from H. Mackay, Mackay’s Moral on quality:

The difference between failure and success is the difference between doing a thing nearly right and doing it exactly right.

I recently attended the Microsoft Dynamics West Region FY11 Sales Planning Retreat. This year’s event was filled with great new technology and opportunities. I’ve outlined the top three things you need to know about Microsoft Dynamics in 2011 below.

1. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has become xRM.
2. Microsoft Financing is available for any IT project that includes at least 10% Microsoft Technology.
3. Microsoft “stacked integration” approach will continue to set them apart from the competition.

1. Microsoft Dynamics CRM has become xRM and it’s not just for customers anymore

Microsoft Dynamics CRM has changed the way we view and use our relationship management systems. Did you catch the missing word in the previous sentence? If you did, you might ask why I left out one of the most important words in a sales professional’s vocabulary: the “customer”? The answer is xRM the new “Anything Relationship Management system”.

Microsoft launched xRM with the release of Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4 and will continue it in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011. It uses the structure of CRM and explodes it throughout your organization. With Dynamics CRM 2011 you can track communications and workflows with any contact. Yes, that’s a big – ANY. Both internal and external as well as customer facing and supplier facing and any contact in between will now be part of your business relationship management system. xRM will change the way we share information, track communications and handle our day-to-day operations. It will expand the important CRM type communications tools from Sales, Marketing and Customer Service focused to a holistic business approach. Now we will have the tools at our fingertips to improve our knowledge and communication with traditional CRM contacts (customers, leads, customer service) and extend them to the external contacts (vendors, suppliers, partners to name just a few).

With four main components including the database, user interface, workflow engine, and reporting engine, the new Anything Relationship Management system (xRM), based on Microsoft Dynamics CRM is flexible and scalable solution that will fit any business. It’s customizable to your industry, business practices and unique needs. Did I forget to mention, it integrates seamlessly with the other Microsoft products including Outlook, Office, Windows, Dynamics, SharePoint, ERP, and CRM, of course. More about that below.

2. Microsoft Financing is available for any IT project that includes at least 10% Microsoft Technology.

It’s that simple. You can get financing from Microsoft for any of your IT projects – simply include Microsoft products as 10% or more of the overall project.

3. Microsoft “stacked integration” approach will continue to set them apart from the competition.

The strength of the Microsoft platform and products including Dynamics CRM 2011 is their unrelenting focus on product integration with their other product lines. This product integration approach allows companies to stack their Microsoft technology purchases and extend them throughout their organizations. With similar user interfaces and simplified integrations the results is faster user adoption and streamlined support.

It’s going to be an exciting year in the CRM world and I for one can’t wait to see how the move to xRM will change the way we work with our customer, partners and suppliers. Want to know more about xRM and Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011? Watch the blog for more about the launch or contact me for more details.

There is a lot of buzz around the benefits of cloud computing these days, but for most people their understanding of cloud computing in the ERP and CRM world is at best, well, cloudy.

Key factors to consider when making a choice between cloud computing and on-premise server solutions are initial cost, ongoing cost, IT staff, security, ramifications of downtime, and competitive advantage due to customizations.

Pros of Cloud Computing:

• A way to reduce initial costs and get in the game for large systems
• You don’t need your own server
• You don’t need your own IT staff

Cons of Cloud Computing:

• Dependent on internet connectivity – if internet is down, you are down
• Larger costs over the long term – similar to renting versus buying a car
• Harder or impossible to gain any advantage from customizations to the software because the customization model is generally not supported in cloud computing
• Bigger security risk as the data is stored with other companies’ data

Summary:

Cloud computing is great for smaller businesses with fewer resources that need out-of-the-box functionality and could still do things manually if the internet ever was down for a period of time. On-premise servers are great for larger businesses that use customized systems to gain market advantages beyond their competition, or for businesses with mission-critical applications that they cannot afford to be without for a period of time.

Ready to investigate more about how to solve your ERP challenges or customer relationship management requirements? Whether the solution is hosted on-premise or in the cloud, you can find more details to help you get a head start managing growth.

As ERP consultants, we often get asked about the difference between Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics GP. They’re both from the same family and share genetics, but they’re not twins. One might be better for your business than the other and it’s important that you know the different features, so you can pick the best one for your needs.

Dynamics Nav or Dynamics GP?

Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Let’s cut through the software jargon and compare Dynamics NAV and GP to something everyone understands: Toys. You want to make your own castle – you want a moat, you want a drawbridge, and you want a tower for the Princess. You want the King to have his own special entrance and you want to  expand your castle as your kingdom grows.

Instead of going up and down the aisle trying to find a castle that fits all of your special criteria, it’s easier to customize it yourself. Legos it is! All the different pieces fit together to make one unique castle – the one you need – the one that meets the needs of your kingdom. With all of your Lego pieces, you’ll be able to expand your fortress when the time is right. Presto, just add a few more pieces.

Microsoft Dynamics GP

While Microsoft Dynamics NAV has more pieces, Microsoft Dynamics GP is the right-out-of-the-box castle. It’s not customizable to your specific niche from the get-go, but you can use add-ons to extend your functionality.  Implementations are quick and streamlined, making it easier to get up and running.

How do you know which one is for you?

Microsoft Dynamics NAV works on a broader scale and provides customization for all your specific niches. Microsoft GP is fast to implement and includes a strong suite of business analysis tools –it’s the thing to get if your company has grown beyond QuickBooks and you’re having trouble managing all your financial data.

Contact our ERP consultants and we’ll be happy to tell you more about our custom solutions.

1. Focus on Outcomes – When organizations move beyond problem solving and into creating outcomes, great things are bound to happen. The implementation of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system is used as a tool to get you there.

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1. Outcome Focused – eSoftware Professionals helps organizations move beyond ‘problem solving’ into a more ‘outcome focused’ approach. We start with evaluating where you are currently in your business, and comparing that with where you want to be. This discrepancy then provides the basis for defining the appropriate roadmap to achieve the desired outcome. This sounds simple but it’s not. That’s why we are here, to help organizations go beyond problem solving and help them create improved business process using technology as a tool.

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1. Adaptability – Dynamics NAV is very robust, highly configurable, and 100% customizable. This application is designed to wrap around your business and evolve with you as business processes change.

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