Capability without complexity boosts productivity and reduces time to value

Does powerful business software have to be complicated? If you’re planning to update your current business solution, the answer to this question is crucial. As we noted in part one of this five-part blog series, challenges facing small and midsize businesses (SMBs) like yours make it more important than ever that your people can work efficiently and productively. And a powerful business solution—one that delivers analytics, collaboration, business intelligence, and other capabilities—can help make this happen.

But if simplicity is achieved at the expense of capability, is the result worth it? Solutions that achieve ease of use by over-simplifying your business processes and operational methods aren’t likely to deliver genuine value, either. Business solutions shouldn’t require your people to spend excessive time sifting through mountains of data or generic reports to assemble the information they need to do their jobs. This could keep them from spending enough time on activities that really optimize daily business operations, increase profitability, and stimulate growth. However, there’s a solution to this dilemma—in fact, several— for SMBs.

Microsoft Dynamics ERP for SMBs

The ability to deliver simplicity is one of four key dimensions that characterize a business solution from Microsoft. Here are just three examples of how built-in simplicity can boost productivity throughout your company and reduce time to value.

  • RapidStart. Initialize and set up base data with a structured, automated approach to deploying a new Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution. Using RapidStart, one of our global ecosystem of partners can typically get the solution up and running in a matter of days instead of weeks. Simplifying the process in this way helps minimize interruptions to your business, reduce implementation costs, and shorten time to value.
  • Familiar look and feel. Reduce barriers to adoption and foster efficiency with Microsoft Dynamics ERP  solutions that look like and work with familiar Microsoft Office productivity tools such as Word and Excel. You can replace time-consuming training and worker downtime with an intuitive experience that helps people work better, faster, and smarter from the start. Standardizing on Microsoft also simplifies the job of maintaining and managing your overall business solution and takes advantage of your existing IT investments.
  • RoleTailored user interface. Delivers specific information, task lists, workflows, and analytical tools that each of your people needs to do his or her specific job. With a RoleTailored experience, users can view data from multiple sources without leaving the specific task they’re working on, multitask, visualize information in useful new ways, and more—helping them get more done faster.

Take the next step now

Opting for simplicity in your business solutions doesn’t mean settling for complexity, or for limited analytical capabilities and generic views of the company. Quite the contrary, simplicity opens the door for your people to concentrate on the really important aspects of their jobs—the analyses, decisions, and actions that help you gain greater control, improve margins, and stimulate growth in the company. As Leonardo da Vinci observed, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Later this year, Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 will become available. These releases are two more examples of how Microsoft Dynamics ERP solutions for SMBs combine simplicity with a powerful set of capabilities to help your people make sense of the business and get more done faster—to work more productively.

Now is a great time to learn more about all four dimensions of a business solution from Microsoft, as well as Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 and Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013. Find more information and be sure to follow the rest of our five-part blog series.

Please join us again next week. We’ll look at how agility, the second of four dimensions that define a business solution from Microsoft, builds on simplicity to deliver SMB solutions that can be adapted easily to the way your company works.

Ross Thorpe

Microsoft Dynamics ERP