The Microsoft Dynamics portfolio first started with Microsoft’s acquisition of Great Plains Software in 2001. During the acquisition, Microsoft also gained Solomon, which was previously acquired by Great Plains Software. In 2002, Microsoft acquired the Danish software company Navision and at the same time picked up the Axapta product. Combined, these four products made up Microsoft’s Business Solutions Group, which was later renamed Microsoft Dynamics. To further unify the brand, the four products were renamed to Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Dynamics NAV

A powerful mid-market ERP system that can also be customized to handle industry-specific functions and requirements. Dynamics NAV boasts the RoleTailored interface, which gives each person the data they need right on their desktop. Everyone in your company will become more efficient in their roles.

• Proven Microsoft technology backed by decades of success
• Completely customizable to meet specific needs
• Familiar, intuitive interface integrates with other MS products

Dynamics GP

• See the big financial picture at a glance
• Lightning-fast implementation
• Hundreds of industry-specific add-ons available

Dynamics CRM

A flexible Customer Relationship Management system that offers several options for hosting and deployment. It also interacts with the other Microsoft products such as Excel, Word, and Outlook.

• Everything your sales force needs to turn leads into accounts
• Marketers can track campaigns and see results right away
• Less time digging through data and more time closing deals

SharePoint

A solid infrastructure that allows you to organize and control your collaboration both internally and externally with vendors, customers, and partners.

• Keeps documents and data organized and centralized
• Improves your process, productivity, and overall performance

Business Intelligence / Reporting

Jet Reports put the power of business reporting at your fingertips. Inside a familiar Excel environment you can easily access all of your Microsoft Dynamics data and use Excel’s capabilities to create high impact reports. You get accurate, up-to-date information for better, more relevant decision making. It’s Business Intelligence – simplified.

• Business intelligence and reporting in one easy to use tool
• Little or no training required.
• Immediate return on investment. Install Jet Reports within minutes and gain valuable insights into your business today.

Determine your business drivers

The unprecedented flexibility of software delivery that is available to customers today represents a tremendous opportunity to reduce costs, strengthen core capabilities, and speed business agility. When considering which delivery model to use for a particular business process, make sure to examine the various business drivers.

• Cost. Requirements for the application can help you to determine which approach is most cost-effective. Unlike conventional onsite ERP solutions, a hosted ERP solution does not require a substantial upfront investment. When the solution is purchased as a service, hosting replaces upfront expenditures with predictable, regular monthly pricing for the customer—usually calculated on a per-user, per-month basis, and often based on consumption.
• Differentiation. Business processes that are core to your business and take advantage of in-house expertise typically remain on-premise. But commodity processes can be outsourced.
• Time-to-market. Hosted applications often can be deployed much faster than on-premise solutions, so you can implement new or changed processes more quickly.
• Resource availability. On-premise deployments often require more time and money than deployment of a hosted application. If budgets are tight or your IT department does not have free resources, you can still meet your business’ needs through hosted applications.
• Process affinity. Some processes are inherently more suited to either hosted or on-premise deployment. E-commerce and supply chain operations often rely on hosted applications, whereas material requirements planning are normally deployed on-premise.

Microsoft Dynamics Software

There are six separate products that make up the Microsoft Dynamics family: Microsoft Dynamics AX, GP, NAV and SL are enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions; Microsoft Dynamics CRM is Microsoft’s customer relationship management offering; Microsoft Dynamics RMS - short for retail management system - is Microsoft’s retail business software offering. In general, Microsoft Dynamics GP, NAV and SL are intended for small and medium enterprises, and Microsoft Dynamics AX is best suited for larger enterprises. This is not to say, however, that a small organization should not use Microsoft Dynamics AX or a large organization should not use one of the other three. All four have been implemented in all sizes - and types - of organizations.

Microsoft Dynamics AX is a good option for companies with multi-site and/or multi-country operations. It is known for having strong functional support for manufacturers and distributors. Microsoft Dynamics NAV also offers strong functional support for manufacturing and distributing, though it’s highly configurable and has many vertical partners that offer market solutions. Microsoft Dynamics GP, meanwhile, offers strong financial management and human resources capabilities. It is popular in professional services, finance and the public sector. Finally, Microsoft Dynamics SL is good for project-based businesses such as construction. Click on any of the links below to learn more about a specific product.

Microsoft Dynamics takes advantage of a software-plus-services approach to :

• Enable growth. Choose the deployment option that best suits your needs (whether traditional on-premise or on-demand) and effectively support local languages, business practices, and legal requirements.
• Help reduce IT spending. Flexible deployment options—on-premise, on-demand, or a hybrid approach—help accelerate return on investment, scale to meet increased demand, and let you align your deployment model with your business focus and current IT capabilities.
• Boost employee productivity. Streamline access to systems and information and rework business processes. For example, Internet services make it easier to deliver access to information in the most suitable form and presentation factor, such as on a desktop, in a Web browser, or on a mobile device.