Microsoft Dynamics NAV Case Studies. Canari Cyclewear

Cycling-Gear Manufacturer Improves Operations and Planning with New Business Software

Canari Cyclewear is a fast-growing manufacturer of cycling gear based in San Diego, California. The company needed a flexible and full-featured enterprise resource planning system to efficiently handle double-digit annual growth, especially in the area of inventory management and forecasting. After consultation with Microsoft Certified Partner OfficeOps, Canari Cyclewear chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV because of the solution's ability to streamline processes within the company and with supply chain partners. Canari Cyclewear can now more reliably plan future inventory requirements and has cut lead times for customer orders by as much as 60 percent.

“Whereas our planning process previously involved a lot of guesswork, we now have instant insight into what is available and can investigate historical trends to better gauge demand.“

Chris Robinson, Chief Operating Officer, Canari Cyclewear

Business Needs Canari Cyclewear manufactures top-of-the-line cycling gear that is resold by independent bike shops and large sporting-goods retailers around the world. The company also sells custom gear to professional and semiprofessional cycling teams. From 2005 to 2008, the company saw sustained double-digit growth in sales, which put pressure on the company to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its inventory management and reporting systems.

“We were using a DOS-based system and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets to keep track of orders and roughly $5 million worth of inventory and to try and forecast demand,” explains Chris Robinson, Chief Operating Officer at Canari Cyclewear. “This method required us to manually collect and enter data. Overall, the process was tedious and prone to error, especially because some part numbers exceeded 50 characters.”

As Canari Cyclewear grew its sales, the company struggled to stay responsive to customer demands. “Our larger competitors can ask customers to prebook their orders, which gives them greater visibility into future production requirements,” explains Robinson. “We don’t have that luxury, and it puts pressure on us to manage our inventory well. We need to know what our demand is, what we have on hand, and what is forecasted on a SKU level.”

To find a solution, Canari Cyclewear began interviewing local business technology companies. “Many of the companies we talked to seemed more interested in selling us software than getting to know our business and helping us solve our problems,” says Robinson.

Solution

After evaluating more than 10 software solutions, Canari Cyclewear chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Certified Partner OfficeOps. “We chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV because it addressed our inventory management needs and is flexible and full-featured enough to meet our needs in the future,” says Robinson.

Canari Cyclewear appreciated the consultative approach that OfficeOps used during their initial discussions, which indicated the partner was willing to take the time to understand Canari Cyclewear’s unique business challenges and recommend the best solution. For example, OfficeOps offered pragmatic advice on how to handle Canari Cyclewear’s custom-order business, which can involve up to 20 documents for one order.

“Our custom-order business is very complex and today makes up only about 10 percent of our sales,” says Robinson. “However, we would like to see this segment grow to 30 percent of sales and wanted to streamline processes to accommodate that increase. OfficeOps suggested that we implement Microsoft Dynamics NAV for our core business and then tackle the custom-order side. We followed that advice and can see in retrospect that it saved us from a lot of potential difficulties.” After Canari Cyclewear finished implementing the solution for its core business, the company tapped OfficeOps to extend the solution for its custom-order business.

The solution that Canari Cyclewear and OfficeOps implemented makes inventory information instantly available to employees so that they can view stock levels by style, color, and size. Each employee has a unique view of functionality and information based on their role in the company. The solution links to other business software to eliminate duplicate data entry and automatically pull in information from supply chain partners.

Now, employees no longer need to enter information from invoices into the system by hand, for instance. Canari Cyclewear uses Microsoft Dynamics NAV to make manual processes, such as documentation and warehouse management tasks, easier. For example, instead of filling out packing labels by hand, employees can print import/export documentation and shipping labels that conform to customer requirements.

Managers at Canari Cyclewear use Microsoft Dynamics NAV to identify sales trends by style, gender, selling region, product type, and other attributes that the company decides to track. And, because Microsoft Dynamics NAV works well with Excel, managers can view and analyze data in spreadsheets with only a few clicks of a mouse.

Benefits

Canari Cyclewear enjoys greater insight into available inventory and future demand and no longer relies on time-consuming and error-prone manual processes for common tasks like entering sales orders and producing reports.

More Efficient Demand Planning

With detailed reporting available through Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Canari Cyclewear can more accurately predict future demand. “Whereas our planning process previously involved a lot of guesswork, we now have instant insight into what is available and can investigate historical trends to better gauge demand,” says Robinson. “We can better align our inventory with demand, which lets us reduce our stock levels for some categories by as much as 30 percent and reinvest those resources in products that are selling well.”

Lead Times Cut by 60 Percent

Canari Cyclewear’s warehouse operations are much more efficient with Microsoft Dynamics NAV. “If a large order comes in on Monday, we can usually ship it on Thursday,” says Robinson. “Before, it would have taken another week. This not only improves our image with customers but also gives our product more time on retail shelves.”

Reliable Technology and Partner

Robinson and other leaders at Canari Cyclewear feel confident that Microsoft Dynamics NAV will support future growth and are happy with OfficeOps as their partner. “We chose Microsoft Dynamics NAV, in part, because of the people at OfficeOps,” says Robinson. “They were interested in more than just the initial sale and were genuinely concerned about solving our problems. And, they’ve done a good job of providing us with the training and insight we need to be self-sufficient in using the solution.”

Organization Profile

Based in San Diego, California, with 80 employees, Canari Cyclewear makes premium clothes and accessories for cyclists around the world.

Partner(s)
OfficeOps

Software and Services
Microsoft Dynamics NAV

Vertical Industries
apparel retailing

Country/Region
United States

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics AX, NAV Global Partner

Microsoft Dynamics AX - Fresh Produce Videos

Microsoft Dynamics for operations professionals

Streamline processes, control costs, and accelerate delivery to market

From engineering and production to quality assurance and customer service—the role of Operations is to increase profit by getting quality product ready for market on time and to provide the best possible customer service.

Operations encompasses different departments, including research and development, engineering, materials, production, plant management, purchasing, warehousing, and shipping and receiving. To facilitate collaboration among departments, the Operations team needs a business management solution to provide a single source of data and platform for shared processes.

Using a single system for different department helps to ensure that all orders are complete and filled in a timely and accurate manner. And an integrated system allows your company to manage exceptions as smoothly as possible. Managers have access to the same source of information, so everyone is kept up to date on customer demand, materials shipments, and production schedules.

People

Vince, an Operations Manager

My job is to bring people together to execute on our business strategy. I make sure the departments under my supervision have what they need, when they need it. I'm a problem-solver, and my motto is "There's no time like the present to address problems." Every day, I meet with warehouse, production, purchasing, materials, and shipping and receiving managers to review sales order reports and address any concerns. It's up to me to discover potential issues—such as exceptions and unusually large orders—and coordinate a cohesive response through discussion, prioritization, and planning. I also try to spend some time on the factory floor, checking in with the machine operators and the shop floor manager.

It's extremely important that people have the information they need to do their job. That's why I appreciate our company's Microsoft Dynamics business management solution—it works like familiar Microsoft software so people can quickly drill down for contextual information or take action on the spot.

Susan, an Order Processor

I do a lot of different things, but processing orders is my first priority. I ensure that workers in the shop have adequate time to prepare and ship the orders. I help expedite "rush" orders and address issues with problem orders.

In addition, I assist other departments with purchase orders and invoicing. I talk with the Purchasing Manager all the time. I check inventory levels every day using Microsoft Dynamics to see what we need to order. I also work with Accounting to help ensure that orders aren't automatically shipped to clients who are behind in their bills.

Sammy, a Shipping Manager

My responsibility is to help keep the company profitable by ensuring that orders are shipped on time, are accurate, and arrive intact. Sometimes, not having sufficient product is a problem, so I work to ensure we can meet demand as much as possible. Our Receiving process is also important to my role. An incoming shipment might include something that we need to complete an outgoing shipment. We will unpack something immediately if we know it will let us send out a shipment that would otherwise be delayed. I watch for opportunities to make shipping cost-effective—for example, we might unpack two incoming shipments and repack then into one outgoing order rather than sending it out two separate shipments.

At the end of the day, I like to know that as much has been shipped as possible—as accurately as possible—and that the warehouse is in order.

Processes

Microsoft Dynamics serves as a shared source of data and processes for engineering, materials, production, and shipping and receiving, helping those departments work together to achieve business success. Some of the challenges faced by Operations teams include:

Efficient order entry and distribution. To effectively meet customer needs, Operations groups need to maintain tight control over order processing, transmit orders quickly to the appropriate departments, and keep sufficient stock on hand to complete the orders. But many variables may complicate these tasks. Microsoft Dynamics gives order processors the tools they need to effectively communicate with customer service, sales, purchasing, and warehouse departments in a well-designed order-entry system that looks and feels like familiar Microsoft Office system software.

Integrated demand planning. For manufacturing and distribution, demand planning determines whether production is efficient and whether delivery is comfortably and economically on-time. Microsoft Dynamics helps Operations managers create accurate demand forecasts based on historical sales and customer data. Reports and access to ongoing key performance indicators help provide insight into emerging trends. Materials, production, and logistics departments use this information as a foundation for their own planning. And Microsoft Dynamics Microsoft Dynamics simplifies demand planning by integrating with Microsoft Office Excel.

Capably manage exceptions. For manufacturing operations, the key to customer satisfaction is the ability to produce and deliver what customers want, when they want it. So manufacturers need to be effective in managing orders that call for customized products and that require special materials or process adjustments. Throughout your operations, Microsoft Dynamics supports exceptions management with flexible planning and production options and the ability to account for non-inventory parts or add items to the inventory. And because Microsoft Dynamics sales and manufacturing functionality is integrated with financial management, employees can easily make required accounting adjustments.

 

www.pargesoft.com Microsoft Dynamics AX NAV CRM Global Partner

Microsoft Business Intelligence – About BI

Microsoft leads the industry in business intelligence solutions.

Microsoft business intelligence solutions are scalable and designed to evolve with your business. With continuous innovation since initial release, Microsoft business intelligence solutions are built on open, industry-wide standards – making integration with your other systems easier and less costly than the alternatives.

BI Benefits
Improve organizational effectiveness

Microsoft business intelligence enables you to create and manage information through an integrated system that includes core business productivity features, such as collaboration tools, search capabilities, and content management. The workplace becomes highly efficient, resulting in cost savings and low total cost of ownership (TCO).

BI In Action
Accurate, integrated data empowers success at Northumbria University

Stakeholders at Northumbria University use Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions to gain access to near real-time, streaming reports to support effective decision-making.

"Within one year the team was able to launch the full decision support system, a user friendly web-based portal, called Northumbria World. It includes dashboards, scorecards, KPIs and advanced drill-down capabilities. We almost surprised ourselves with the rather quick and smooth implementation process -- it really exceeded expectations every step of the way." Eugene McCrossan, Financial Planning Director for Northumbria

Enable IT efficiency while reducing costs
With Microsoft business intelligence, you can cut costs and reduce complexity by leveraging existing IT investments to extend the reach of technology you already own.

Because Microsoft Excel, SQL Server and SharePoint are integrated and inter-operable, you can rely on your existing IT resources and skill sets for faster implementation and lower total cost of ownership.

Conceptus Achieves Effective, Integrated Solution at Half the Cost

Conceptus deployed Microsoft business intelligence solutions to achieve increased visibility into key data and trends at half the cost of a competitor.

"By choosing Microsoft, we gained an effective BI solution at half the cost of an alternative. We were able to use our existing CRM and ERP systems and our existing data warehouse for building the OLAP cubes." Jeff Letasse, Vice President of Information Technology and Business Systems

www.pargesoft.com Microsoft Business Intelligence Partner

Be a world-class contender with Microsoft Dynamics AX

Today, business opportunity can mean enlarging your customer base to include a worldwide audience or expanding across borders into new sites or branch offices. Microsoft Dynamics AX is designed to manage the complexities of a global organization by consolidating and standardizing processes and providing visibility across your organization.

- Expand easily across international borders with country- and region-specific functionality, including capabilities for multiple languages and currencies and compliance with local financial requirements for more than 36 countries/regions.

- Consolidate financial, operational, and customer data while preserving local information to build your strategic edge and personalized customer, partner, and supplier relationships.

- Unify standards and help ensure quality by centralizing processes, sharing best practices, and extending supply chain management across multiple sites and divisions.

- Manage and monitor global and local performance with sophisticated yet straightforward reporting and analysis tools. Combine your solution with Microsoft Business Intelligence applications to enhance the analytic capabilities critical to managing a complex business environment.

- Give people access to real-time KPIs, scorecards, and data through Enterprise Portal in Microsoft Dynamics AX. And with Microsoft Office PerformancePoint Server or Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, key decision-makers can work with critical information without logging in to Microsoft Dynamics AX.

- Help ensure efficient, consistent deployments with Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step, a standardized, global methodology and suite of tools that simplifies implementation and upgrade processes.

Learn how other companies use Microsoft Dynamics AX to compete globally and standardize processes across their organizations.

Ridley
Animal feed and nutrition provider, Ridley, estimates 1 million dollars in savings by using Microsoft Dynamics AX supply chain solution.

Network Equipment Technology (NET)
Global provider of network technologies, NET, sees positive impact on user productivity by using Microsoft Dynamics AX.

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics AX Global Partner

Manage organizational growth with Microsoft Dynamics AX

Scale your business systems rapidly and efficiently to support new users, new locations, and new lines of business

As your organization expands, the ability to rapidly scale your ERP systems to support new users, new locations, and new lines of business—as well as to improve the efficiency of core business processes—is critical. Systems that keep pace with your growing business can minimize growing pains and ensure your company is poised for future success.

Whether you’re supporting the organic growth of your existing business, expanding by adding new locations, or transforming your organization through merger or acquisition, Microsoft Dynamics AX can help you manage a smooth transition as you take your business to the next level. Here’s how:

Ensure smooth integration of merged or newly acquired companies

Rapidly gain visibility into the new or combined entity and/or subsidiaries by integrating all business systems and capturing manual business processes. Aggregating and analyzing data from disparate systems can help deliver operational insight, enabling better sales and production forecasting, materials scheduling, inventory management, and other critical processes.

A familiar, comfortable user interface and intuitive Role Centers help employees quickly become proficient in ERP functionality, reducing downtime and training time, and eliminating resistance to adoption of the new systems.

Quickly add new locations or international offices

Track multiple business units within a single organization as separate profit/loss centers. Scale to support an unlimited number of books for asset management and support different depreciation methods depending on tax authority and financial reporting purposes.

Rapidly add international capabilities and new functionality. Support for multiple languages and currencies, country-specific functionality, and a rich set of multi-site shared services and intercompany functionality make it straightforward to extend Microsoft Dynamics AX with the exact capabilities you need—when and where you need them.

Scale your systems along with your business

Improve the speed of transaction processing and scale your transactional volume by automating business workflows, freeing people for other, more productive work, and reducing overhead costs as you grow.

Respond quickly to new opportunities by integrating discrete budgeting and planning processes into the daily rhythm of the business. High performance systems enable you to run production and planning processes more frequently, so you can react to changes and increase company performance and schedule efficiencies.

Support your growing organization

Maintain appropriate staffing levels and manage future organizational changes, including planned reorganizations and hiring campaigns by automating internal and external recruitment processes such as sourcing jobs, managing recruitment, and hiring new workers—including hiring en masse.

Enable employees to spot trends and respond proactively. More easily perform complex analyses on data involving numerous aspects of the business, so people across the organization can make more confident decisions about high-risk business situations based on data from multiple sources.

www.pargesoft.com Microsoft Dynamics AX NAV CRM Global Partner

Explore Microsoft Dynamics ERP

Drive business performance, measure financial effectiveness, and make better business decisions that deliver real results.


Successful organizations today need the right enterprise resource planning (ERP) software to help their people work more productively, make smarter and faster decisions, and ensure they make the most of their assets and resources. Microsoft Dynamics ERP provides these capabilities in organizations as small as a few employees to businesses with locations across the globe.

Our mission is simple: to provide the best ERP solution that fits the needs of your organization and helps you deliver superior results.

Why choose Microsoft Dynamics ERP?

Tens of thousands of customers of all sizes from countries around the world employ Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions to help run their key business operations. Why? Because our solutions are:

- Easy to use. Our ERP solutions work in the familiar Microsoft environment which helps you spend less time training, reduce IT staff administration and maintenance, and give people access to information faster so they can make better business decisions.

- Designed to fit smoothly with your existing IT systems. Use an ERP solution that inherently integrates and extends the value of products and technologies in which you’ve already invested, such as Windows, Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Office, and even Microsoft SharePoint Server.

- Built to meet your needs now and in the future. We have an ERP solution that fits your industry, company size, and budget—and that can grow with your organization. No other ERP software has the flexibility, breadth, or depth of functionality that Microsoft Dynamics ERP does today.

- Backed by the Microsoft name. With the power of the Microsoft research and development organization, and thousands of developers, partners, and support staff dedicated to your application, you can feel confident in your investment.

Broad capabilities across applications
Microsoft Dynamics ERP delivers the following capabilities across our entire portfolio of applications.

Financial managementThe financial management capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics software solutions give you a way to raise the visibility of financial metrics and the effectiveness of financial management and accounting throughout your organization—all using familiar tools and existing skills. Strong financial management, made possible by Microsoft Dynamics ERP, helps you establish a firm foundation for realizing the potential of your business through strong, manageable growth.

Human resource management

Human resource management capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics ERP software can help you fulfill the potential and increase the loyalty of your workforce while minimizing the cost and complexity of administering salaries, benefits, recruiting, and performance management. Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions will help you empower your employees, boost administrative productivity, and design the best workforce for your business.

Project management

With a wide spectrum of tools and technologies, Microsoft solutions for project management give your people the tools they need to accomplish project goals and achieve outstanding results. Project management capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions help you control costs and improve profitability, streamline project management, and achieve optimal productivity from your resources.

Supply chain management

Microsoft Dynamics ERP offers extensible, familiar software for supply chain management (SCM) that can help reduce barriers to productivity and efficiency and help your organization deliver what customers need, when they need it. Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions provide your people with tools to enhance individual and team productivity, streamline operations, and collaborate effectively.

Executive management

The executive management capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions help you access all the information you need, including tasks, reports, and key performance indicators (KPIs), through a single intuitive dashboard. These executive dashboards provide a quick and effective way to gain business insight, helping you to monitor growth, compliance, and even environmental impact.

IT management

Microsoft Dynamics ERP is designed with easy IT management, configuration, and development in mind, so the technology supports your business and empowers your people to perform even better. And as your business grows, you can adapt Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions to meet your business and technology needs.

Collaboration

Collaboration capabilities available in Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions can make your company's offerings and key business functionality readily available to customers, employees, and business partners. Because both the portal and collaborative technology are activated in a smooth setup, you can offer site users a wealth of information and efficient, collaborative processes very quickly after implementing Microsoft Dynamics ERP.

Business intelligence

Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions offer effective business intelligence and reporting solutions that you can put to work immediately. They can let you look deeper into key performance factors to help pinpoint your most profitable customers, most efficient vendors, and potential issues within your organization that require swift action.

Financial planning and budgeting

Microsoft Dynamics ERP offers financial planning, budgeting, and reporting applications to help you measure business results, align performance to goals, and improve profitability.

Software-plus-services

Software-plus-services, the Microsoft approach for the next generation of computing, is an industry shift that combines Internet services with client and server software to deliver more compelling opportunities and solutions.

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customers

Evaluate Microsoft Dynamics

Integrated business management solutions for financial, supply chain and customer relationship management The success of your company is directly related to the success of the people who work for you. Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that enable your people to make important business decisions with greater confidence. Microsoft Dynamics works like and with familiar Microsoft software -easing adoption and reducing the risks inherent with implementing a new solution. These solutions automate and streamline financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes in a way that can help you drive business success. Microsoft Dynamics comprises several unique software products to meet almost any business need.

Read on for more information about who these solutions are for, what they do, and how to get them. Or watch videos and demos to see why Microsoft Dynamics is the right choice for your people.

Who is Microsoft Dynamics for?

Microsoft Dynamics solutions include applications and services for retailers, manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and service companies, doing business domestically or in multiple countries. With these tools in hand, people in every key position in your organization can contribute to the success of your company. Microsoft Dynamics enhances all lines of business in your organization and delivers exceptional benefits in three critical areas:

• Financial management: Microsoft Dynamics solutions help you maintain control of your finances and manage them with a high level of efficiency. You can make complete, current financial information and reports available to anybody who needs it to perform business planning. Simplify and automate routine and repetitious functions, so your employees can focus on more critical tasks. Use Microsoft Dynamics to create the required financial and other reporting needed to realize flawless regulatory compliance.

• Customer relationship management (CRM): Microsoft Dynamics CRM and other customer relationship management tools help you maintain close contact with your customers and prospects, and manage sales and marketing initiatives and track their results. Microsoft Dynamics can also assist you in identifying emerging customer needs early and respond to them before the competitors do.

• Supply chain management: With Microsoft Dynamics, you can connect your entire supply chain in a productive, fast-moving flow. Assess the business value of your vendor and business partner relationships to make sure they suit your objectives. Offer sophisticated communicative, collaborative, and self-service capabilities to make it easy and compelling for other companies to do business with you. Increase efficiencies in distribution to improve customer satisfaction and reduce the cost of doing business.

To get an idea of how Microsoft Dynamics solutions support other business needs, you may want to review the following:

How do I know Microsoft Dynamics might benefit my business?

Gather all evidence to determine that you indeed could benefit from a business management solution. Once you know you want to use technology to advance your business, you still need to make several important decisions. We provide guidance to help you assess your business needs and get ready to review vendors and their products.

• Learn more about business management software systems and implementation strategies.

• See if any of the 10 signs you’ve outgrown your business software apply to you.

• Review this step-by-step guide to help you structure and shorten your software selection process.

• Use a blueprint to start developing an assessment (Word file download) to help you determine whether you need a new business management solution.

Can Microsoft Dynamics address the specific needs of my business?

Thousands of Microsoft Certified Solution Developers around the world have developed add-in products that extend Microsoft Dynamics to meet industry-specific and company-specific needs. They have experience working with Microsoft Dynamics solutions, and offer a range of services to help make your business successful.

In addition, you can customize Microsoft Dynamics software and services to your unique requirements. Customization may involve configuration of the entire solution or just for individual users, to enable them to more easily manage their workspaces for maximum productivity. In addition, to boost the value of key business relationships, you can make Microsoft Dynamics functionality available securely on the Web to employees, customers, vendors, and partners.

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics Global Partner

Industry software for Microsoft Dynamics AX

Drive innovation faster with a standard solution that fits your industry needs

Microsoft Dynamics AX delivers a rich industry foundation on which partners build packaged vertical applications to help you improve your ability to cope with individual market dynamics. These strong industry capabilities deliver breakthrough innovation for organizations in key industries—manufacturing, distribution, retail, services, and the public sector.

News!
To accelerate this road map, Microsoft has acquired deep industry functionality for manufacturing, retail, and services, so these industry capabilities are now at the core of a single, standard solution.

This single, standard platform makes it easier to implement, maintain, and upgrade Microsoft Dynamics AX industry software, resulting in significantly lower total cost of ownership. For example, vertical templates, part of the Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step implementation methodology, simplify and speed up implementation while helping to ensure you can meet the demands of your specialized business.

Mark Holt, IT Manager for Cayman Chemical says this about his company’s decision to run a Microsoft Dynamics AX industry solution:

“We choose Microsoft Dynamics AX with the process manufacturing solution from Fullscope over Oracle and SAP because Microsoft’s industry solution enabled a better fit with our business processes instead of dictating a fixed set of industry practices. Microsoft’s move to add industry solutions directly in to Microsoft Dynamics AX provides a predictable industry road map allowing partners to focus on the vertical solutions that can keep pace with the rate of innovation.”

Manufacturing

Support discrete and process manufacturing environments with a single solution for greater flexibility and growth.

Apparel and textile
Process industries

Distribution

Identify market trends for effective demand planning and peak performance.

Advanced Demand Management

Retail

Manage retail products, processes, and relationships for greater profitability.

Retail Chain Manager

Services

Increased profitability and unmatched client service for firms providing services such as accounting, legal and management consulting firms.

Professional Services 

www.pargesoft.com Microsoft Dynamics AX Global Partner

Technorati Etiketleri: Microsoft Dynamics AX, Dynamics AX 2009, AX 2009, Retail Chain Manager ERP, Professional Services ERP, Distribution ERP, Manufacturing ERP, ERP, MRP, Microsoft ERP, ENG, Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009

Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Professional Services

Get tools to boost your success, whether your firm is in IT, advertising, legal, accounting, engineering, real estate, or another professional service.

- Improve your operations with a 360-degree view of your customers.
- Optimize the client management life cycle to drive more business.
- Gain deeper insights into your business to attract and retain more customers.
- Use the application development platform components to quickly develop custom solutions, such as asset management.
- Use the xRM framework to develop and deploy easy-to-use applications that improve knowledge management, service delivery, and the client experience.

Project Management

Manage projects more efficiently with the ability to track, monitor, and get highly detailed information about each project, activity, and task. With a comprehensive view of your customers and streamlined processes, it’s easier to complete projects on time and within budget.

- Deliver real-time views of client information across the enterprise, so everyone is working from the same data.
- Track activities, tasks, and expenditures and associate them with specific projects.
- Create personal, workgroup, departmental, or federated workflows with a handy wizard.
- Automatically assign activities to specific individuals or groups and use rules-based escalation to address issues in a timely way.
- Provide project administrators with dashboards to view project status at a glance.

Resource Management

Maintain up-to-date information about resources and their availability and provide that information to your staff. With the ability to integrate your CRM data with existing systems, you get the data you need to quickly address changes and stay within time and budget requirements.

- Get a centralized view of staff calendars and resources to make scheduling easier.
- Save time with simplified visual scheduling of both people and resources.
- Gain increased visibility into how well current scheduling and resource allocation are meeting your company goals.
- Set up a catalog of your services to track sales, incidents, and contracts and proactively identify issues.

Customer Management

Create strong customer relationships that help build repeat business and loyalty. With each new project, you can add to a knowledge base that you will be able to tap for future projects. As you become more customer-centric, you can improve profitability and customer service to gain a competitive edge.

- Manage and track all customer-facing activities.
- Identify trends and provide personalized service with access to real-time, actionable data.
- Use shared document repositories to improve the quality and efficiency of organizing teams, meetings, and deliverables.
- Take advantage of document version controls to accelerate approval workflows and deliver better service.
- Benefit from advanced security that helps protect client and firm data.

www.pargesoft.com Microsoft Dynamics CRM Partner

Microsoft Business Solutions-Axapta Product Builder

Microsoft^® Business Solutions–Axapta^® Product Builder simplifies and streamlines the process of ordering, planning and producing customized products, helping you to win more orders and increase customer loyalty.

Key Benefits:

- Your customers, vendors and employees can easily configure customized products

- Deliver customized products faster and more cost effectively by reducing the manual work involved in designing, planning and producing them

- An easy to use system that adapts to the needs of your customers and employees

Microsoft Axapta Product Builder enables your employees, as well as your customers, to configure complex products via a Microsoft Windows^® client or over the Web.

Microsoft Axapta is an all-in-one solution that gives you real-time connectivity across your business. The Product Builder is designed to work with other key functional areas in Microsoft Axapta, including the Enterprise Portal, Master Planning, Production, Sales and Purchasing to shorten delivery cycles and optimize product design and production planning.

Efficient configuration of customized products

Both your customers and your employees can use the Product Builder to configure customized products and quickly obtain accurate pricing and delivery dates. Your employees can configure products using the Product Builder within the Microsoft Axapta client. In combination with Microsoft Axapta Enterprise Portal, your customers can configure products through your company Web site to match their unique needs. With Microsoft Axapta Product Builder, your business is open to your customers 24/7.

The Product Builder enables you to create flexible product models which define each product’s configurable options according to variables such as color, size and materials. Products can then be configured which match your customers’ individual requirements based on the options provided in the product models.

When the product has been configured, your customers receive up-to-date pricing and delivery information based on their choices. Because Product Builder links to other modules within Microsoft Axapta, updates to products, prices and lead times are automatically reflected throughout the solution and on your company Web site. Your customers will always be kept up-to-date on the status of the products they want.

The Product Builder provides information on the price and delivery date for configured products

Deliver customized products faster and more cost effectively

Setting up the product models in Microsoft Axapta Product Builder is fast and efficient and reduces the potential for error. Through a series of menus and options, you define the criteria for the product models that are then used to configure products for individual orders.

When products are configured, the bills of material (BOM) and production routes are automatically generated for each sales order line. This results in less manual work required in production planning and scheduling and faster delivery of customized products to your customers. Pricing is also automatically calculated for each item on the configured BOM. And, as the Product Builder is connected in real time to the Master Planning module, delivery dates are calculated immediately with consideration of on-hand inventory and capacity availability.

Changes to product specifications are easily managed within the Product Builder. As BOMs are not pre-defined but are defined as products are configured, changes made to product models are reflected in BOMs created from that point on. This avoids the need to manually change hundreds of BOMs when changes to a product specification are made; you make the change once in the product model and that is all.

Microsoft Business Solutions–Axapta

Microsoft Axapta Product Builder is part of Microsoft Business Solutions–Axapta, a customizable, scalable and global Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution that supports connectivity with your business community and provides you with a fast and powerful way to gain competitive advantage.

	Product Builder I
Product configuration	a. Integrated with Microsoft Axapta sales orders, purchase orders and production b. User dialog automatically generated from variable setup on product model c. Immediate item configuration based on customer input d. Generates production of specific bills of material for each configured item e. Can model all complex products f. Default values for variables depending on customers and/or inventory items g. User profiles on variables to only allow specific users to specify this variable h. Reuse of data from previous configurations if needed i. Generation of item numbers based on the model variables j. Configuration details can be printed on order documents using the standard Axapta document handling feature k. Price calculations based on customers’ choice of variables from product models l. Price calculations can be fixed amount, percentage or even programmed per variable m. Language texts offering user dialogs in preferred languages n. Export/import of product models Possibility of using sub models with inheritance of variables from top to bottom and visa versa
	Product Builder II
Validation Rules	a.Create validation rules for variables, groups of variables and a complete configuration b.Create rules that govern the allowed content of variables c.Add or remove values from enumerated text variables d. Assign values to specific variables based on the content of other variables e.Validate values and display an error message build from the condition f. Add or remove variables from the user interface based on customer choices g.Enable product models to deal with divergent national standards h. Validation rules can be made in X++ code i. Create rules that govern the allowed content of variables (each variable, for a group of variables, or for all variables in a complete product model) j. Assign values to specific variables based on the content of other variables k. Add or remove variables from the user interface based on customer choices
	Product Builder III
Routing integration	a.Allows the creation of production specific routes and job cards for each configured item b.Default routes, as templates for the routes created in the product model c. Inserts complete default route in product model
	Product Builder IV
Advanced Configurations	a.Provides access to all of the tables and classes in your Microsoft Axapta installation b.Makes it possible to create complex formulas for tasks such as the calculation of raw material consumption c.Incorporates facts from any Microsoft Axapta table into your product models d. Enables product models to deal with divergent national standards e.Allows you to create advanced calculations using X++ programming language. Variables can be declared as any table, class or data type in Microsoft Axapta. f. Unlimited calculations
	Product Builder for Enterprise Portal
Product Builder for Enterprise Portal	a.Enables configuration of products via the Internet using existing product models b.Available as an add-on to the Microsoft Business Solutions–Axapta Enterprise Portal – Customer Role. c. Same user-dialog as when configuring the item via the sales order line from the Windows version of Microsoft Axapta

www.pargesoft.com Microsoft Dynamics AX Global Partner

Microsoft Dynamics CRM for Government

 CRM for Government

State and local government and federal agencies can serve citizens and businesses more effectively with Microsoft Dynamics CRM services for government. Your organization can:

- Deliver timely, high-quality service that focuses on citizens’ needs. - Automate processes to improve efficiency and reduce costs. - Use technology to support collaboration and decision making across departments and agencies. - Rapidly deliver e-government, citizen service, and other government applications with the xRM framework

Business Intelligence

With access to real-time information and analysis, government agencies or organizations can use CRM tools to identify trends, evaluate citizen interactions with departments and agencies, and create strategies to enhance service and—at the same time—reduce costs.

- Capture and track data to respond quickly to changing constituent needs and legislative requirements. - Perform critical trend analysis based on real-time information. - Give administrators a real-time graphical view of organizational performance—from their desktops or mobile devices—with the ability to drill deeply into details.

Case Management

Social service agencies and related organizations are faced with growing caseloads and shrinking budgets. Microsoft Dynamics CRM case management tools help your agency increase its efficiency and reduce costs with streamlined processes and greater access to your critical data—all in one place.

- Centralized client records to remove the barriers to cross-agency collaboration. - Use automatic workflows to increase employee effectiveness. - Easily schedule follow-up appointments and use alerts for proactive notification. - Provide mobile access to constituent and case information, so workers in the field can be more productive.

Contact Center/311

Improve citizens’ ability to contact your agency—and your agency’s response time—with the Microsoft Dynamics CRM Contact Center/311 solution for call center, routing, and CRM integration. The faster your response, the greater value your agency can deliver to the communities you serve.

-Use electronic tools, such as interactive voice response (IVR) in combination with contact-center agents to speed issue resolution of phone inquiries. - Give knowledge workers the ability to work within Microsoft Office Outlook to review prior contacts and update records when responding to e-mail requests. -  Take advantage of a reporting dashboard to sort and report incidents by contact type (Web, phone, or e-mail) or by case type, case severity, or other key data to help ensure timely service.

Constituent Management

Managing your constituents’ interactions with your organization is critical to your effectiveness. Because Microsoft Dynamics CRM looks and acts like an extension of Microsoft Office Outlook, your employees will find it easy to use, so they can respond quickly to citizen needs.

- Provide highly secure, role-based access to constituent data. - Give employees relevant constituent information from one, centralized location. - Track constituent inquiries and requests, regardless of channel. - Target key messages to specific audiences and within specific geographic areas. - Automate workflows to improve service. - Get powerful analysis and reporting tools to simplify the identification of needs and problems and proactively address them.

Field Inspection

Microsoft Dynamics CRM helps personnel work from almost anywhere with highly secure access to constituent data and case management capabilities. They can gather site information, including photography, and resolve issues quickly with a history of an individual’s agency interactions.

- Give field personnel the ability to track applications, licensing, permits, and other relevant data from remote sites. - Collect, compile, and organize data from the field or remote offices and then synchronize it with other organizational software. - Automate code enforcement at various levels of government. - Integrate with geographic information systems such as Microsoft Virtual Earth and ESRI to display case information on maps.

Funds Management

Federal, state, and local agencies and educational institutions can simplify funds management—from acquisition to expenditure—with the Microsoft Stimulus360 solution. By manipulating data from various sources in a highly secure environment, it’s easier to analyze the results of funded programs.

- Track key performance indicators (KPIs)—such as job creation by city, county, and state—as well as related metrics, to determine the effects of funding. - Visualize data in rich KPI dashboards and interactive maps. - Use pre-populated content including legislative and regulatory links, report templates, and newsfeeds. - Improve governance and transparency through automatic capture of actions in a workflow history.

Grants Management

Today, many government agencies find it challenging to manage the approval, distribution, and tracking of grants with fewer personnel and limited resources. With Microsoft Dynamics CRM, however, you can streamline your grant management tasks to stay on time and within budget.

- Set up a standardized, electronic system that simplifies grant processing and helps ensure compliance with legislative directives. - Easily process and track payments through transparent integration with your back-end financial systems. - Automatically send notifications for grant-application status changes to replace time-consuming manual processes. - Generate task lists automatically for each stage of the grant process. - Evaluate and track solicitations so that distributions are awarded to the most-deserving applicants. - Work from within Microsoft Office Outlook for ease of use and productivity.

Personnel Management

Because your employees put your organization’s mission into action, effective personnel management is vital to your success. Microsoft Dynamics CRM helps ensure that your staff have the training and support they need, and that your organization’s human resources are efficiently deployed.

- Manage personnel, mission, budgeting, acquisition, inventory, training, public affairs, cases, and multiple business applications. - Provide offline data access and mobility options that help employees stay up-to-date and keep projects moving even when they are away from the office. - Get powerful reporting and analysis tools that make it easy to manage cases and identify problems at a glance. - Create automated workflows for personnel processes to reduce administrative tasks. - Help secure your data with by defining levels of access to applications and data, based on job roles.

Task Management

Microsoft Dynamics CRM offers both a powerful and flexible way to manage tasks and processes. At a time when managing government operations is more complex than ever, Microsoft Dynamics CRM gives you the ability to manage diverse tasks with fewer resources in less time.

- Automate manual processes for such areas as logistics, personnel evaluations, information requests, and awards and decorations. - Give authorized personnel visibility into all data appropriate to their roles. - Maintain an easy-to-follow audit trail that demonstrates accountability from beginning to end. - Create consistent processes and quality standards to improve workflows. - Get advanced reporting metrics for deeper data analysis.

Correspondence Management

New economic stimulus programs are placing added pressures on government agencies to be more accountable and transparent in their actions. At the same time, these agencies are expected to be more efficient with smaller budgets and less resources. Customizable solutions built on Microsoft Dynamics CRM that address some of your most pressing needs will get you on the road to improved accountability, transparency, and efficiency in a hurry. Allowing your agency or department to get a 360 degree view of all the organizations and individuals with whom you connect is critical for governmental organizations.

- Keep track of addresses, activities and correspondence around contacts. - Use powerful search tools to quickly find the information you want. - Build Ad-hoc reports around your organizational activities. - Everything you need to manage relationships with those both inside and outside of your organization available in one secure place

Composite Case Study: CRM in Local Governments

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics ERP Global Partner

Microsoft Dynamics CRM Customer Videos

Dixon Hughes Accounting Firm

Dixon Hughes is an accounting firm that uses Microsoft Dynamics CRM to track its customers and prospects.
 



http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics AX / NAV / CRM Global Partner

Microsoft Dynamics NAV - RFI Global Services

See how British firm RFI Global Services uses Microsoft Dynamics NAV to cover operations all over the globe and become more efficient.



http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics ERP Global Partner

Microsoft Business Intelligence

Business Intelligence for Your Role

Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions build on your existing technology investments to help employees gain access to accurate, up-to-date information for better, more relevant decisionmaking.

Through role-based dashboards that work within the familiar, easy-to-use Microsoft Office environment, people get the information they need, when they need it – reducing training time, increasing productivity, and improving profitability across the enterprise.

Improve Performance Management

Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions allow you to leverage your existing technology investments to enable your IT staff to gain insight beyond the event logs and performance counters – helping staff identify root causes behind events and make course corrections that improve performance.

Microsoft Business Intelligence empowers IT staff to:

- Go beyond canned operational reports with integrated, interactive performance dashboards, comprehensive scorecards, and powerful analytics all built on Microsoft platform components.

- Aggregate seemingly disparate metrics into a single overall performance scorecard.

- With Managed self-service Business Intelligence, empower users to create their own ad-hoc reports using familiar, easy-to-use tools they already know.

- Identify patterns and exceptions with data trending.

- Understand performance issues such as capacity spikes or downtime with greater event detail.

- Rely on a robust security model that provides data security starting at web sites and dashboards, all the way down to cell-level detail.

- Deploy IT staff more efficiently.

Stay in Control of Profitability

Today’s financial professional needs integrated, accurate information to go beyond producing monthly reports and quarterly financial statements.

Microsoft Business Intelligence empowers Financial staff to:

- Gain visibility into the entire organization’s performance through familiar, easy-to-use dashboards that monitor key financial metrics.

- With an integrated, unified, trusted data platform, ensure data quality and create reports with numbers people can count on.

- Get up to speed quickly and spend less time on training by relying on tools you already know and use every day, such as Microsoft Excel.

- Minimize manual financial processes and reduce errors in spreadsheets.

- Enable organizational transparency to meet compliance requirements.

Empower process improvements

Operations managers need unified, accurate, up-to-date information to track inventory, analyze shipping costs, and resolve production problems quickly and efficiently.

With Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions, Operations managers are empowered to:

- Monitor and improve operational performance by consolidating data across multiple information sources.

- Gain visibility up and down the supply chain, across multiple locations and time zones.

- Support quality initiatives such as Lean Manufacturing and Six Sigma.

- Accurately forecast demand and spot trends to align resources more effectively.

- Measure and manage vendor performance.

- Analyze returns, exchanges, new orders, cancellations, raw materials and distribution costs.

- Optimize transportation methods by analyzing packing data and weights.

- Identify inefficient processes in production, customer service, and order processing. Get up to speed quickly and spend less time on training by relying on tools you already know and use every day, such as Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Outlook.

Capitalize on Sales Opportunities

Today’s sales team needs unified, accurate, up-to-date information to analyze sales forecasts, targets, quotas and customer buying patterns, and promotions—to drive sales growth.

Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions empower sales professionals to:

- Gain visibility into the sales pipeline sooner through familiar, easy-to-use dashboards and scorecards that track performance and monitor key performance indicators (KPIs).

- Analyze sales data and trends to identify issues and implement solutions that help meet sales quotas by target dates.

- Make accurate forecasts about future sales and get ahead of the next sales cycle.

- Understand and predict customer buying patterns to boost profitability.

- Analyze purchasing history to identify the best qualified sales prospects to increase effectiveness and productivity.

- Identify and capitalize on new sales opportunities in a fast-moving competitive environment.

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics ERP Global Partner

Microsoft Business Intelligence - Video

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Business Intelligence Solutions

Microsoft Business Intelligence - BI

Microsoft leads the industry in business intelligence solutions Microsoft business intelligence solutions are scalable and designed to evolve with your business. With continuous innovation since initial release, Microsoft business intelligence solutions are built on open, industry-wide standards – making integration with your other systems easier and less costly than the alternatives.

BI Benefits Improve organizational effectiveness Microsoft business intelligence enables you to create and manage information through an integrated system that includes core business productivity features, such as collaboration tools, search capabilities, and content management.

The workplace becomes highly efficient, resulting in cost savings and low total cost of ownership (TCO).

Enable IT efficiency while reducing costs With Microsoft business intelligence, you can cut costs and reduce complexity by leveraging existing IT investments to extend the reach of technology you already own.

Because Microsoft Excel, SQL Server and SharePoint are integrated and inter-operable, you can rely on your existing IT resources and skill sets for faster implementation and lower total cost of ownership.

BI In Action Accurate, integrated data empowers success at Northumbria University

Stakeholders at Northumbria University use Microsoft Business Intelligence solutions to gain access to near real-time, streaming reports to support effective decision-making.

"Within one year the team was able to launch the full decision support system, a user friendly web-based portal, called Northumbria World. It includes dashboards, scorecards, KPIs and advanced drill-down capabilities. We almost surprised ourselves with the rather quick and smooth implementation process -- it really exceeded expectations every step of the way."
Eugene McCrossan, Financial Planning Director for Northumbria

Conceptus Achieves Effective, Integrated Solution at Half the Cost Conceptus deployed Microsoft business intelligence solutions to achieve increased visibility into key data and trends at half the cost of a competitor.

"By choosing Microsoft, we gained an effective BI solution at half the cost of an alternative. We were able to use our existing CRM and ERP systems and our existing data warehouse for building the OLAP cubes."

Jeff Letasse, Vice President of Information Technology and Business Systems for Conceptus

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics ERP and Business Intelligence

Microsoft Dynamics CRM

CH2M Hill president and EVP Mark Lasswell talks about CH2M Hill's selection of Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This video illustrates CH2M Hill's business drivers and highlights the cost-effectiveness of Microsoft Dynamics CRM vs. Salesforce.com. Join and see why CH2M Hill projected that Microsoft Dynamics CRM would cost CH2M Hill a fraction - only 25% - of Salesforce.com.

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics CRM Global Partner

Microsoft Dynamics CRM – Social Networking

Social Networking for Sales Social networking also promises significant benefits for sales organizations by providing them with new ways to find, connect with, and understand their customers. Despite the opportunities, some uncertainty remains towards social networking in many sales organizations. Cautious or more established salespeople may view social networking as an unproven channel that takes them away from “core sales activities.” But for every hesitant salesperson there is a hungry and resourceful one that is looking for the next competitive advantage. Increasingly, sales organizations are realizing the benefits of incorporating social networking into their traditional sales processes.

Find and connect with new prospects In sales the hunt is always on for the next deal, and social networks provide a rich prospecting resource. Unlike traditional channels, social networks provide the added benefit of allowing a salesperson to gauge a prospect’s interest through their online profile before communication is initiated. For example, if done respectfully and in accordance with the terms of service for each social networking site used, prospects will often be more receptive when approached informally or through a common contact on a relevant subject than they would to a cold call. The Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM provides key capabilities to help sales organizations gauge interest and find prospects by:

- Tapping into social networking contacts to jumpstart “warm” lead generation efforts.

- Identifying prospects by focusing on conversations and topics relevant to the product or service.

- Better measuring the online influence of each contact based on follower counts and postings.

- Leveraging online career information to better understand the contact or decision maker.

Engage in more meaningful conversations While they will not replace traditional relationship-building activities, social networks do provide sales organizations with a new tool to build and enhance relationships with prospects or customers. With the ability to quickly identify and integrate key online data points with the main customer data repository, salespeople can engage prospects and customers with all the relevant information at their fingertips. The Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help sales organizations engage in more relevant conversations by:

- Engaging in online discussions with prospects and customers right within the core sales force automation solution.

- Viewing social networking conversation history within the customer system of record.

- Instantly seeing a social networking profile for each contact for a more holistic customer view.

- Effortlessly creating new contacts in Microsoft Dynamics CRM from social networking contacts.

- Easily creating an opportunity in Microsoft Dynamics CRM directly from social networking sites.

Better understand your customers Social networking sites can also provide a wealth of information about customers and their interests, lifestyles, and attitudes–data that might otherwise be difficult or impossible to acquire. Paired with the right analysis capabilities, publicly available customer data from social networking sites can provide an additional layer of insight into customer preferences, behaviors, and sentiment, which can lead to more successful sales interactions.

The Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help sales organizations better understand customer attitudes and interests by:

- Leveraging interests and discussion threads for more relevant conversations.

- Sorting incoming messages by account, status, and other criteria for greater relevancy.

- Analyzing interests and discussion threads to hone in on key trends.

- Better tracking relevant professional events such as job changes and promotions.

- Leveraging out-of-box reports to identify chief online champions and influencers.

Social Networking for Customer Service Increasingly, customers are using social networks as an important channel to find, receive, and communicate information about the products and services they use. This change in customer behavior creates both opportunities and challenges for customer service organizations. Social customers expect service delivered through their channel of choice, often with a personal touch. And they are certainly not afraid to express their views or displeasure. Social networks provide a rich source of unfiltered feedback and a dialogue that can be invaluable in identifying service issues and spotting opportunities for product improvement. Thus, used correctly, social networking channels can help customer service organizations be more effective and create value for the business. In addition, social networks provide an interaction channel that not only helps remove perceived barriers between customers and companies, but may also reduce the cost of service. However, when all is said and done, social networking is another communication channel and something that should not be done in a vacuum. It needs to be embedded in the everyday processes of customer service organizations and delivered in a consistent manner for the true benefits to be realized.

Create an early warning system for product issues

One often mentioned observation about social customers is that they aren’t shy about sharing their experiences online. Tracked and harnessed, these opinions and views can provide a valuable early warning system for organizations and help them identify emerging problems or zero in on the top issues for a particular product. The Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help customer service organizations better monitor and identify customer issues within Microsoft Dynamics CRM by:

- Proactively monitoring social networks for key words, complaints, and issues relating to a brand.

- Monitoring chronic complainers to identify top potential service issues.

- Seeing social networking conversation history right within the customer system of record.

- Tracking the number of influencers and followers of a given topic or issue.

Provide efficient multi-channel service By the very nature of its opt-in and shared interest structure, social networking can help customer service organizations address customer issues in a highly efficient manner. As these customers turn to social networking sites for help, organizations have the opportunity to help them en masse, for example, by posting information in relevant communities or providing self-help capabilities through the Web. This in turn can reduce call volumes and has the additional benefit of increasing satisfaction among the growing mass of customers who expect this kind of service. A report by DMG Consulting, a leading call center consultancy, shows new and emerging channels can help service organizations increase service coverage and reduce call volumes at a relatively moderate cost (Fluss, 2009).

The Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help service organizations better address customer needs by:

- Making knowledge base articles publicly searchable so savvy customers can find information themselves without burdening the contact center.

- Addressing new issues by posting a response online quickly and automatically tracking responses.

- Leveraging the power of community-driven support as an additional channel.

- Instantly creating a case in Microsoft Dynamics CRM from online conversations and addressing the case through an established problem resolution process.

Tap into new feedback channels Social networking sites enable organizations to track service issues in more places, thereby gathering more intelligence on their products and on customer experiences with them. With social networking, customer service organizations have an opportunity to leverage unfiltered feedback to drive business improvement. For example, user communities may provide the first public feedback on a new product release, or usability hiccups may appear as an increase in user questions posted online. This kind of information can help customer service organizations create a valuable feedback loop, helping them improve the business while at the same time improving customer satisfaction. The Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM can help service organization analyze and better leverage customer feedback right within Microsoft Dynamics CRM by:

- Tracking feedback by monitoring and participating in customer communities.

- Identifying the most talked-about issues and using them for improvement in products and services.

- Creating a mechanism to elicit feedback from customers and creating an idea repository.

- Conducting aggregate analysis and identifying key customer service trends and patterns.

Technology Requirements Social networking, in combination with customer relationship management, can enhance an organization’s marketing, sales, and service efforts. But to take advantage of social networks in a way that is consistent, sustainable, and open to analysis, organizations need customer management solutions that provide the right capabilities. By investing in Microsoft Dynamics CRM, companies receive:

- A holistic CRM suite with robust marketing, sales, and customer service capabilities for easy sharing of information and a 360-degree customer view.

- A familiar and easy-to-use interface through the native Microsoft Office Outlook® client for Microsoft Dynamics CRM.

- Seamless integration to key social networking sites, allowing Microsoft Dynamics CRM users to directly track and leverage data and relationships from them.

- Insightful analysis capabilities that enable organizations to capture and make sense of customer data.

- Robust workflow capabilities that can be used to capture and automate business processes.

- A CRM application built on a flexible service-oriented-architecture (SOA), providing a scalable and highly flexible infrastructure for innovation.

- An extensible data model that supports traditional CRM, but also provides the flexibility to address changing customer paradigms and new business models.

- Ease of customization that enables organizations to tailor the solution to their unique business needs.

Conclusion The surging popularity of social networking sites is indisputable. Yet many organizations still struggle to translate it into real business benefits. By acquiring tools that let them manage their social networking initiatives alongside traditional marketing, sales, and service activities, organizations can take advantage of social networking without losing focus on their core business. Ultimately, success will lie with those businesses that can integrate social networking’s wealth of customer data, unfiltered feedback, and informal conversations into existing customer management initiatives and processes. Microsoft helps our customers achieve this goal through the Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM. This solution equips organizations with the capabilities to better listen, respond, and analyze social network activities. By applying that insight, Microsoft Dynamics CRM allows organizations to better integrate this emerging channel into existing business processes for a more holistic and effective customer management approach—something that will continue to be paramount for success.

For More Information For more information about the Social Networking Accelerator for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, see http://crm.dynamics.com/

http://www.pargesoft.com/ Microsoft Dynamics AX CRM NAV Global Partner

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