These same respondents ranked “achieving operational efficiency”, “containing costs”, and “managing inventory” as their top priorities for improvement due to the effect these areas would have on the overall performance of the organization.

So if these organizations want to improve their business performance, why aren’t they analyzing their operational, financial, and inventory data to help them make business decisions?

It may be because 24% of them believe they don’t have a budget for a business intelligence project, 17% believe BI takes too long to implement and provide a ROI, 10% don’t have the right skills in house to take advantage of business intelligence, and 7% don’t understand the benefits it can bring to their organization.

If you are using a Microsoft Dynamics ERP or CRM solution and you are still relying on intuition rather than insight to make your business decisions because you fall into one of the categories above, then you are wasting some of the investment that you have already made in your software and putting your business at risk unnecessarily.

Every Microsoft Dynamics solution includes easy to implement, easy to learn, and easy to use data analysis and business intelligence tools “out-of-the-box.” To learn more about what analytics tools are included in your Microsoft Dynamics solution, contact us today.

I’m sharing this with you, not because we want to congratulate ourselves, but because it puts us in a unique position to offer our clients the power of choice of the best possible solution to meet their business needs. 

If your business is looking for a new ERP solution, selecting a partner before selecting a software system can benefit your organization in a number of ways.  By choosing a partner that will guide you through the selection process, you can identify a solution that will:

• Streamline your business processes, rather than trying to mold your processes to fit a software system, to maximize your business benefits
• Work with and like your existing business systems in order to reduce training costs, increase user buy-in, and the way data moves throughout your organization
• Support your business’ agility while being flexible enough to grow with your business
• Enable you to comply with regulations and meet industry requirements

Want proof that this is the best way to find the right solution for your business?

LPK, a leading design and branding company, sat down with an independent third-party and shared with them why they chose Socius and Microsoft Dynamics GP for their ERP needs.  They explained that, based on their objectives, they had narrowed down the search for a new accounting system to Sage MAS 500 ERP, Epicor, and Microsoft Dynamics GP:

“Any of the systems could have worked for us, so we turned our focus to the partner relationship and network of users that would be available for each of these finalists,” John Keller, Financial Services Manager for LPK says. “Socius impressed us from the very start. Their process-focused approach to the project assured us they were best able to deliver a long-term software solution and make the switch a successful one.”

Keller is confident that the company made the right choice—both in the software it selected and the business partner who implemented the software. “The LPK/Socius partnership is a winning proposition. Socius challenges us to examine every angle to maximize both its usefulness and necessity,” he concludes. “With the support of Socius, this solution provides us with unlimited abilities to measure, report, and act on accurate and timely data. It’s unlike anything we’ve experienced before.”

To begin working with Socius to find the right ERP solution to fit your business, request a complimentary Business Strategy Assessment today!

August 2011 – The much anticipated release of Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 will take place.  AX 2012 is designed to “empower people to anticipate and embrace change” through enhanced business agility and simplified decision making.   

May 1, 2011 – Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 R2 will become available, featuring significant business intelligence capabilities geared to make businesses more agile. 

April 11, 2011 – Today marks the official launch of Microsoft Dynamics SL 2011!  This new release promises a faster realization of the value of the software for users via a direct integration with Microsoft Project 2010.  Dynamics SL 2011 is currently available for purchase or upgrade. 

Ballmer and Tatarinov stressed that the enhancements made in these releases, as well as all of the Dynamics products now and going forward, are geared toward making businesses more dynamic through simplicity, value, and agility.

If you are currently using version 6.5 and have a current service plan, you can still take advantage of the following tools through CustomerSource:

• Previously released Upgrades, Updates, Service Packs, Fixes and Regulatory/Tax Updates
• Self-Help Support through KnowledgeBase articles and online content
• Unlimited Online Training
• CustomerSource Community and Tools

However, the only true way to ensure that you will have support available to you in the event of a major issue with your system is to upgrade to a currently supported version of Microsoft Dynamics SL.  Not sure what it would take to get your system current?  Discuss your Dynamics SL upgrade with a Socius consultant today!

If you choose to attend Convergence, you will get:

• Insights into Microsoft’s corporate direction from the executive who are making the future plans for your Microsoft Dynamics solution
• To peek into what’s new with your Microsoft Dynamics solution, including details about upcoming innovations and product launches
• To connect with your peers, partners, Microsoft team members, and industry experts to share ideas and knowledge
• Opportunities to learn how you can get the most out of your Microsoft Dynamics solution through concurrent sessions, interactive discussions, deep dive sessions, hands on labs, and user groups

Even with all of these things you can gain by attending Convergence, one of the most unique aspects of the event is that you also GET the opportunity to GIVE. 

On Sunday, April 10^th, you have the opportunity to participate in projects that benefit inner city children and families with landscaping and building playgrounds at a low-income apartment complex, as well as painting at a nearby community center.

Throughout the rest of the event, attendees are encouraged to stop by the Community and Learning Center to help create colorful paintings for a local hospital in the Atlanta area.

Leaders in this area demonstrate a clear vision and the ability to execute against this vision.  Midmarket ERP leaders must:

• Have deep and robust functionality that address a range of core user requirements
• Be straightforward and simple to use
• Be designed or streamlined for low total cost of ownership
• Be prepared to evolve their products with tools for embedded analytics
• Have user interfaces that allow for easy adoption by different types of users
• Have compelling strategies for addressing the ongoing market changes related to emerging technologies and extending their systems with industry-specific solutions.
• Cultivate a broad and generally overwhelming level of customer satisfaction in a number of geographies and industries

According to Gartner researchers, Microsoft Dynamics AX has proven its unique ability to execute through its long track record and above-average growth rates in the midmarket, its Microsoft Office-like user interface making it both easy to learn and intuitive to use, and its joint innovation model which provides both strong out-of-the-box functionality for select industries along with partner-built industry specific functionality.

Microsoft Dynamics AX boasts an equally high completeness of vision by developing six industry functionality layers that are being built into the core solution and continuing to develop integration with other components of the Microsoft technology stack.

Microsoft Dynamics AX is joined in the Leader’s Quadrant by SAP Business All-in-One.  To see how the two solutions stack up side-by-side, read our comparison of Dynamics AX vs. SAP Business All-in-One.

These new features include tools to help you, as an IT Manager, manage Security, system Administration, Web Services, Integration and Personalization, and Rapid Data Migration. 

Security Management

• Copy user security from one user to another
• Sort security windows by access rights
• Business Portal Administration Pages have moved from SharePoint site settings into application administration pages, enabling more robust, easier monitoring of security controls
• Automate the log-on process with the system’s ability to “remember” user and password combination and/or company
• Help users get started quickly after security-enabled activation with automatic display of navigation panes

Administration

• Business Portal can now be upgraded from version to version, saving valuable time for future upgrades
• SharePoint version tracking now identifies when sites have changed, including Web parts and customizations
• Optimize development processes with right-click support for common actions
• Utilize 64-bit compatibility for Dexterity-based applications in emulation mode. Work with full 64-bit mode for external applications such as Business Portal.
• Strengthen Field Service administration and table stability with new Checklinks maintenance

Web Services

• Increase flexibility of Web services with options to work with IIS or Windows® hosting
• Enable faster, easier deployment with multiple contracts in Web services, organized by series rather than by the entire group
• Choose from more than 350 Web services, all designed to work with a streamlined architecture that helps improve performance and simplify integrations

Integration and Personalization

• Populate multiple 1099 form amount fields with data.
• Integration Manager now uses Windows Reporting; dependency on Crystal Reports has been removed.
• Automated updates for error logging drive efficiency for key development and administrative tasks in Integration Manager
• Quickly create, read, update, and delete applicant information using a new eConnect node
• Disable or hide Extender fields on forms and windows
• Add multiple identification key fields on Extender forms and windows—for example, customer ID key and address ID key— with Integration Manager
• Connect applications to and from Microsoft Dynamics GP through Web services technology, including the ability to create independent integration adapters

Rapid Data Migration

• Migrate data from Peachtree or QuickBooks to Microsoft Dynamics GP
• Automatically assign General Ledger account numbers in QuickBooks for users who do not have account numbers
• Edit the chart of accounts from Peachtree or QuickBooks with the Rapid Migration Tool

Request a Pre-Upgrade Meeting and Quote from Socius

Checks

• View and reprint payroll checks or remittance forms
• Streamline payroll check processes by starting multiple payroll check runs simultaneously

Benefits /Deductions

• Sequence garnishment deductions with a single maximum limit for federal and/or state limits for the garnishment amount
• Map deductions and benefits to multiple W-2 form boxes in Payroll
• Track deduction/benefit limits in Payroll by fiscal year amounts in addition to calendar year

Administration

• Efficiently classify employees’ statuses with a secondary employee status code that designates why a person is inactive within a specific company
• Post labor and indirect labor hours to Payroll from Field Service
• Set up Payroll to use Analytical Accounting transaction dimensions and codes
• Quickly select how posting reports will print within the Posting Setup window. In addition, new report options are available when choosing Payroll Edit Report preferences.
• Simplify PTO Manager tasks with a new user interface and streamlined processing

If you are interested in learning more about the enhanced payroll functionality in GP 2010, Request a Pre-Upgrade Meeting and Quote from Socius.

Check out our previous posts in this series focused on Finance Managers, HR Managers, and Knowledge Workers, and stay tuned to our blog for more features specifically designed to help Operations Managers, Service Managers, and IT Managers.

Human Resources Managers can leverage GP 2010 to…

• Monitor Position Control for Human Resources (HR) with additional budgeting controls and reporting, including 14 additional reports.
• Provide Benefit Enrollment Summaries for individuals and teams through Benefits Self Service.
• Streamline HR management with new Payroll and HR reports, including employee attendance, hours, and primary pay.
• Enable better reporting with Excel-based reports for Certification, Licensing, and Training in Advanced Human Resources, including six new reports.
• Give employees access to Benefit Confirmation Statements through Benefits Self Service.

If you manage both HR and Payroll for your organization, watch for our next post in this series where we will feature a number of benefits that Payroll Managers can gain from GP 2010 in the areas of Checks, Benefits/Deductions, and Payroll Administration.

For more reasons why you should consider upgrading to Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, download our “Top 10 Reasons to Upgrade” guide. 

Excel Report Building enables Knowledge Workers to…

• Drill down on Excel Reports generated through the Excel Report Builder directly into Microsoft Dynamics GP.
• Simplify re-publishing reports with default settings.
• Create Excel Report PivotTable views and Report Totals using the Excel Report Builder.
• Create SmartLists that include Extender Data using the SmartList Builder.
• Help ensure easier access, administration, and sharing for Excel reports by expanding viewing and publishing rights to users.

To learn more about SmartList Builder and Extender for Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010, attend a complimentary webinar on December 8^th.

Queries help Knowledge Workers to…

• Quickly gauge workload associated with specific activities; tasks are now presented visually as document cues.
• Quickly find and select records with filtered lookups for inactive/ discontinued records.
• Access self-help support and services, join role-based communities, and get training directly from home pages and dashboards with Microsoft Dynamics Online Connect.
• Ensure tasks are completed on time with automated, customizable task reminders.

Learn how GP 2010 helps Finance Managers and stay tuned to our blog for more features and functions specifically designed to help Human Resource Managers, Payroll Managers, Operations Managers, Service Managers, and IT Managers.