Businesses are learning that operations are best run by top-notch technology, and cloud computing is driving the move toward efficiency in companies of all sizes. For small and mid-size businesses, tapping into the power of the cloud is their secret weapon for success.

 Until cloud computing, small and mid-size companies simply did not have access to Fortune 500 network infrastructure, enterprise class ERP systems and other software applications. The internet has helped smaller companies close the gap in services, but the evolution of cloud computing has been a business game changer. Through its ease of access, low cost and plethora of services, cloud computing is enabling Mom-and-Pop businesses to compete with the upper echelon of Corporate America.

 “Cloud computing is to small business what cutting the coiled telephone cord was to cell phone users,” says Walt Lane, president of Myappsanywhere. Lane’s U.S.-based business is a leading Microsoft Dynamics cloud service provider focused on delivering business solutions via cloud technology.  “Now, businesses are free to stay connected, share and access critical information from anywhere, and employ applications that make business life easier.”

 At the root of this phenomenon is the transformation from the traditional model, wherein businesses purchased hardware and software, to a leaner model, where computing power is delivered as a service. In this model, receiving computing power from the cloud is like receiving electricity from the power grid. Just as electric companies have eliminated the need for generating personal electricity via water pumps or drills, cloud computing eliminates the need for managing your company’s business technology. Development and maintenance of your computing power becomes the responsibility of your service provider.

 Cloud computing is providing businesses with advantages that can help them outpace competitors and streamline their operations, often with big savings—Myappsanywhere customers regularly record nearly $100,000 in IT savings over three years with the cloud. The cloud enables businesses to cut costs by eliminating capital expenditures for hardware and software, decrease time spent on IT, customize the scale of their IT, and ensure that critical data is protected.

 Cloud computing also provides on-demand network access to shared resources via any internet connection. Laptops and desktop computers no longer have to do the “heavy lifting” of running applications, storing information, and maintaining secure connections. Employees can retrieve valuable information from anywhere on any device—including their tablets, phones, or home computer.

The prospect of cutting costs by eliminating hardware purchases, software licenses, and ongoing maintenance fees is appealing, but cloud computing offers more than sticker-price savings. In a study examining cloud computing’s appeal, the London School of Economics found that many believed the best benefit of cloud computing was that it allowed them to focus on transforming business operations rather than on IT. With the cloud, service providers take care of all ongoing maintenance, repairs, software upgrades, and problem resolution.  Because the service provider is investing more money and expertise in their solutions than the business could replicate on-site, the cloud typically offers a more secure and reliable delivery of computing capability. Plus, with the cloud, critical business data is securely stored in a remote location and automatically backed up, thus virtually eliminating the risk of losing important data due to disasters like fire, theft, employee error, or fatal equipment failure.

The Cloud Will Transform Business as We Know It:  The Secret’s In the Source

To What Extent Do the Following Aspects of the Cloud Value Proposition Appeal, as it Pertains to Your Job? Answer Selected:  Appeals to a Great Extent:

  What’s Your Cloud?

Another major benefit of cloud computing is that services can be easily customized. The joy of cloud computing is that you don’t have to understand all elements of the process—your Microsoft Dynamics Channel Partner can help determine what you need for operations and how to access everything via a simple icon link. Businesses with aging equipment, seasonal variations, rapid growth, new locations or a need for remote access reap great rewards from the cloud. Young companies are also good candidates, as the cloud eliminates a large portion of a company’s initial investments.

 Myappsanywhere’s Lane offers several yardsticks for measuring a potential cloud service provider. First, Lane recommends providers that are established enough to have worked out system bugs. Find out if the provider is prepared to make the necessary investments to their infrastructure as their business grows. Lane also recommends going with a provider that has a robust, multifaceted system in place to monitor, manage, and maintain the network and applications, as this will help remediate problems before they become unmanageable. Check, too, to see what sort of outage history the provider has and whether or not you can count on the network to be up and running at critical times. Don’t forget to look at Service Level Agreements, HIPAA, FFIEC, and other regulatory requirements. Ask about data: do you own the data or do they? Do you care if your data is stored overseas?

 Cloud computing works best when it works for you. When you’re ready, select a provider that offers a fair price and applications that will keep your business humming along. Visit www.myappsanywhere.com or contact your Microsoft Dynamics Partner to learn more about working in the cloud.

 About Myappsanywhere:

Myappsanywhere is the preferred cloud computing solution for most Microsoft Dynamics users who want reliable enterprise class infrastructure without the cost or the maintenance hassle.  With Myappsanywhere cloud computing, you pay month-to-month on a per user basis.  There are no user minimums or contract periods so you can scale up or down as needed based upon business growth or seasonality.  You can incorporate a variety of the familiar Microsoft solutions such as Exchange, SharePoint, Outlook and Office along with Microsoft Dynamics ERP and Microsoft Dynamics CRM.  Myappsanywhere is celebrating its 5^th year as a cloud service provider with no planned outages, offers a 99.999% uptime guarantee backed by financial SLA’s and stores your data securely in its privately owned, US based, SSAE 16 compliant secure data center facilities.

by Myappsanywhere

Cloud Computing – The Small Business Revolution is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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 If it looks like a two-tiered ERP solution may be the best solution for your organization, what benefits do you stand to gain?

1) Significant cost savings – While adding multiple systems sounds like a cost increase, the whole solution needs to be considered. When implementation, ongoing maintenance fees, upgrades, and modifications are taken into account, a two-tiered system can offer quantifiable financial savings. Often a Tier 2 system will be purchased for a specific purpose so minimal modifications will be needed. Modifying a legacy system can be very time and cost intensive. Often a Tier 2 system has a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) because there is a reduced time to implement. Gartner Research has found that companies are seeing a 33% reduction in implementation costs and a 50% decrease in total time to full implementation¹ when a two-tiered system is executed.

2) Increased flexibility=increased effectiveness – With the right tools to do the job, the business unit with the Tier 2 system has more flexibility to make changes to run the business better. Employees will have the information they need to make better decisions and make changes when necessary.

3) Compliance made easy– Compliance for a specific product or for a different country can be better addressed with a system that is put into place to meet that need.

 Finally, some cautionary notes.  Whether this is new to you are or you are actively considering a two-tiered ERP approach, there are some pitfalls you will want to avoid.

• Less is still more. You don’t want several Tier 2 vendors because you’ll lose many of the efficiencies you were hoping to gain. Efficiencies are lost through continual upgrade, integration, and training challenges as well as complexities related to ongoing vendor management requirements.

• Integration still has to happen. You also need to keep in mind that it is very important that the data from the Tier 2 system can seamlessly and continuously roll up into your legacy or main Tier 1 system. Be sure you are working with a vendor that can do this type of work and ask to speak with reference clients.

 1. ERP Strategies: Choosing Between Single Instance or a Two-Tier Approach. Retrieved December 28, 2011 from CompareERPsoftware.com: http://www.compareerpsoftware.com/offer/erp-strategies-choosing-between-single-instance-or-a-two-tier-approach/

 By Encore Business Solutions, a Microsoft Dynamics GP and AX reseller servicing Western Canada.

Benefits of a Two-Tier ERP Solution is a post from: ERP Software Blog

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We will now take a look at the best practices we have gleaned over the years from work with our customers as they implement accounting automation technology (like MetaViewer) that integrates with Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions:

• Encourage vendors to move away from paper and toward an electronic format by creating purchasing documents in a digital form from the start. Electronic invoices can be saved in PDF format so that they can’t be altered, and then emailed to the company.
• Review the company’s processes to ensure that they are truly efficient. Automating a bad process simply makes a bad process faster.
• Centralize accounts payable processes. All vendors should send their invoices to a central office so that individual branches don’t need to manage the documents.
• Standardize the company’s review and approval process so that everyone can follow the same procedures and new employees will have workable guidelines.
• Automate what can be automated and streamline the rest. In cases where purchasing or receiving does not have strict rules on a process, such as three-way matching, automating may be difficult and the process should instead be simplified and standardized to the extent possible.
• Don’t try to make the initial implementation too large. Consider streamlining certain processes in phase 1, automating in phase 2, and streamlining and automating another area in phase 3. Once staff members have seen what the technology can do in its early stages, they will envision other areas where it can be used, and future phases likely will be easier to implement.
• Plan to expand the Paperless ERP solution to other parts of the organization that currently maintain paper-based processes. This will help to more easily gain management approval and will maximize the company’s investment in its state-of-the-art document management system.

Last and most importantly, get executive leadership involved and show them how they can gain visibility and business intelligence with the solution. They should be able to see ways that processes have improved, discounts gained, and productivity increased for invoice processing and other data.

-Nick Sprau, Metafile Information Systems

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1. Compliancy: It’s not a great feeling having the IRS look over your shoulder, threatening the life of your business. No body wants to cut corners or fudge numbers when it comes to your finances, but sometimes you just don’t have access to the information you need. Microsoft Dynamics ERP software ensures you have tracking capabilities and audit trails so you’re never put in a bad situation. You can trust the numbers and have confidence that the IRS won’t find discrepancies.
2. Accurate Financial Positioning: Not knowing where you stand financially can put numerous halts on business. This makes it difficult to make informed business decisions that affect the sustainability of your company. Microsoft Dynamics ERP software helps you see where you stand with easy-to-read and easy-to-analyze dashboards and Key Performance Indicator (KPI) reports. You’ll no longer be making “Best Guesses” about your business, thus putting you ahead of the competition.
3. Reducing Accounting Overhead: Most companies don’t realize the overhead they acquire within their accounting department because of manual procedures. They figure that’s how it’s always been done and it seems to be working. Many companies are realizing that Microsoft Dynamics ERP cuts down unnecessary overhead because it automates daily accounting tasks and integrates with third party software. It would be wise to run a “what if” scenario of how ERP software can actually save you money, just by cutting back resources.

Every business needs a tool to help manage their finances. This can vary from Excel Spreadsheets to an advanced ERP system such as Microsoft Dynamics ERP, but whatever your situation, make sure you have your financial management in check. If you have questions on how Microsoft Dynamics ERP can help you, contact us at Sikich.

By Sikich, Microsoft Dynamics ERP Partner based out of Missouri

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 There are a wide variety of different types of Microsoft Partners that exist in order to meet the different types of needs and requirements for different End-Users. I have put together a list of some questions to ask yourself to ensure you have a Partner that best fits your organization:

 1.       Do the competencies of your Partner align with your business requirements?

Microsoft has a wide range of competencies that a Partner must attain, look at which certifications your Partner has in order to have a better idea of their strengths and fit to your organization’s specific requirements. Be aware of which vertical industries the Partner specializes in, in order to have a clear comprehension of their experience in your industry and if they are considered experts in your field. With your Partner’s expertise, you will be able to work together to align your solution in order to incorporate your industry’s best practices by understanding your needs and offering solutions tailored to your specific industry.

 2.       Does your Partner have the breadth of services that your organization is looking for?

Do your homework and check their customer references. When you speak to references, don’t only ask about the implementation process; ask how proactive they were during and after go-live with your system. Also discuss the frequency of communications, number of training sessions, frequency of User Group activities and informational updates as these are the long term activities that create a mature stable solution.

 3.       Can your Partner suggest different solutions to meet your different organizational challenges?

With the flexibility of the Dynamics product line and integration to Dynamics ISV solutions, there is usually more than one solution that could meet your organization’s requirements. Your partner must take into account the software and services you require and ensure that the proposed solution is fully integrated in line with your goals. The solution should enable you to streamline business processes and increase performance to make the most of your investment.

 4.       What level of involvement are you expecting from your Partner?

Some companies will try to delegate projects in their entirety to the firm implementing the solution. Others will do the exact opposite and actively participate and learn the product in order to try and reduce costs. You need to ask yourself: What type of customer am I? Do I really have the resources to do all the work myself or am I better off to have a Partner involved, helping with training and researching new solutions and updates?

 5.       Why choose one type of Microsoft Certified partner over another?

With a Certified Partner you are guaranteed that they have made a commitment to have several employees that are trained on the Microsoft solutions. These Partners have been tested and validated on their level of professionalism, the quality of their work, and their knowledge as well as implementation of Microsoft Dynamics or the development of add-on solutions.

Once you have decided on a solution that best meets your needs, you also need to be assured that you have found a Partner who will meet your expectations moving forward with regard to your needs for training and providing information on new technologies and product updates. These are all key success factors to protect your investment. By effectively using your system to its full potential and by asking yourself these questions you will be better able to guage your expectations and requirements.

 I strongly suggest that you be open with your Partner from the beginning and ask these questions so that the Partner is aware of your expectations so they will be well informed and able to meet them. This will reduce your chance of being disappointed with the level of service later on. Also, don’t be afraid to make your concerns heard if you feel that your expectations  are not being met. It could happen that your organization’s original needs have changed and so you should make your Partner aware of these changes in order for you to remain informed and up-to-date on your Microsoft solution and to continue to take full advantage of your system.

By JOVACO Solutions, your Quebec-based Microsoft Gold Certified Partner

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Mobile commerce takes e-commerce to a new level of convenience and allows shoppers the ability to browse and buy through their phones or tablets. In a study by Forrester Research in 2011, U.S. mobile commerce is expected to reach $31 billion by 2016. Here are a couple ways in which mobile commerce can help your businesses:

Processing Mobile Online Sales Transactions from Your E-Commerce Site Directly Into Your ERP System

Combined with the right e-commerce software and ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics GP, mobile commerce can work seamlessly with your e-commerce website to process online sales transactions. In addition, any changes to price or inventory made in Microsoft Dynamics GP will automatically be changed on your mobile site simplifying maintenance and saving time. This can also empower your salespeople allowing them to make sales at anytime from anywhere and process the orders directly into Microsoft Dynamics GP.

Capturing the Mobile Audience and Optimizing the Browsing Experience for Shoppers

Making sure your website is “mobile-friendly” with easy navigation is key to building a positive mobile shopping experience and increasing mobile browsing viewer traffic. Sites that are not optimized properly for mobile phone environments will ultimately capture fewer sales because it will more difficult to checkout. Mobile sites that are properly set up to display on a browser are typically scaled down in comparison so the site can load faster and information is easier to navigate.

A comparison of a regular e-commerce site vs. a mobile version.

For more information on mobile e-commerce for Microsoft Dynamics GP view our PDF.

By Azox Inc., – E-Commerce for Microsoft Dynamics GP

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Watkins relies on the Microsoft Dynamics ERP system to provide a solid foundation for efficient operations. “Automation is one of the biggest things Microsoft Dynamics GP provides for us,” says Watkins. “If we were on a paper-based system, we literally couldn’t keep up with the people we have.”

Watkins and his staff of 13 enjoy the time-saving benefits of Microsoft Dynamics GP’s role-based interface. “We have everybody set up on the roles-based system and we all use our customized home pages to help save time and streamline processes.”

Another critical process for Community Mental Health is managing their cash flow. “We use the Cash Flow Management module to understand where we are from a cash-flow standpoint on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis,” says Watkins. “I appreciate the solid framework Microsoft Dynamics GP provides for internal controls. Obviously, you can choose not to take advantage of those, but we certainly do.”

Ensuring the financial health of his organization is a top priority for Watkins. “I’m most proud of the good we do for the community,” says Watkins, “especially the underprivileged people we reach out to who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford our services.”

Being driven to provide excellent service is a quality Watkins appreciates in business partners. “Arctic Information Technology is truly a partner to us,” says Watkins. “I’ve worked with many IT consultancies around the country throughout my career. I find Arctic IT to be one of the most responsive I’ve ever worked with.”

Anchorage Community Mental Health Services (http://www.acmhs.com/) has helped people in Anchorage, Alaska, and surrounding communities discover new beginnings in their lives for over 30 years. A client of Arctic Information Technology, they have used Microsoft Dynamics GP for several years.

 By: Arctic Information Technology, Inc., Alaska Microsoft Dynamics Partner

Anchorage, Alaska  - Your Microsoft Dynamics GP Partner

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This FREE virtual launch event takes place on Wednesday, February 1st, 2012 at 9 a.m. Pacific Time. Register here

Sandeep Walia is the CEO of Ignify. Ignify is a global leader in retail and ecommerce solutions for retailers and has been ranked Microsoft Partner of the Year in 2011. Ignify has been ranked in the 100 most innovative companies globally by Red Herring in 2010 and 2011. For more information, email retail@ignify.com , call Ignify at (866) IGNIFY5, or visit www.Ignify.com.

by Ignify

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 Microsoft offers four ERP solutions:  AX, GP, NAV and SL.  Microsoft Dynamics GP is an option for the small to midsize company whose functionality requirements  may include: Financial Management, Business Intelligence, Supply Chain Management, Human Resources & Payroll Management, Manufacturing, Project Managemen,t and Service Management.     Microsoft Dynamics GP offers this out of the box functionality and allows the user to be up and running quickly so you can improve your financials and streamline operations.   

 If you would like to see how Microsoft Dynamics GP can work for your company,  DFC Consultants provides a free Business Analysis Meeting to understand your business’s need and requirements in order determine if the solution is a fit and if so, we can prepare a demo specifically for you.   And for a limited time, receive up to an 85% discount on 5-users of qualifying Microsoft Dynamics ERP Products!  Contact DFC Consultants at 800-277-5561 or email sales@dfcconsultants.com  to learn more about the Give Me 5 offer. 

 Since 1989, DFC has been providing accounting software solutions such as Microsoft Dynamics GP, training, and support in our offices in Fargo, Bismarck and Dickinson, North Dakota. Our passion is to assist clients in meeting their goals with professional services and powerful business solutions. 

 By Vanessa Veflin, North Dakota ERP Solution Provider

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