Small to medium-sized enterprises must reduce costs, improve the quality of products and services and find new development opportunities in order to grow. Undergoing digital transformation is one way to achieve these goals, as choosing the right Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can significantly improve an organisation's efficiency and productivity.
However, choosing and setting up a new cloud-based ERP system can be where the real challenge begins! It is often overwhelming and time-consuming. With numerous options to choose from, each claiming a different benefit for your processes and employees, it can take time to make a confident decision and take the right approach.
To help, we have provided our team’s top ten tips for choosing the right Microsoft ERP software to streamline your decision-making process and empower you to choose technology that aligns with business goals and requirements. Keep reading to find out more!
While almost all businesses use some form of technology, not all see ROI from their current systems. The first step to any digital transformation project is assessing how your business uses its current technology platforms and identifying any recurring issues and business risks.
Determining everyday technological pain points from your team is crucial, but in large companies, stakeholders may not have the time to speak to each employee individually. If this is the case, we’d recommend sending a survey or form to gather information about each level’s technology struggles.
Pain points could include anything from unorganised data, clunky dashboards and a lack of communication between departments.
You may have a new process lacking technological support or outdated manual processes that could be optimised with technology or automation. For example, logistics businesses could streamline their delivery route planning using the route optimisation feature in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. (More about ERP applications for specific businesses in point five).
Assessing where your business could improve cyber security measures is another critical way to evaluate the success of your current technology. Organisations lacking strong data protection measures put themselves at risk of data breaches, potential fines and loss of trust amongst customers or clients.
Microsoft Dynamics 365, our chosen Enterprise Resource Planning software, offers many security controls for users. From automated threat detection to built-in firewall protection and HTTPS encryption, the Dynamics 365 suite works hard to keep your data secure.
Let the challenges with your current business technology inform your goals and identify specific features and functionalities you could benefit from.
For example, are you looking to streamline operations following evidence and feedback from your organisation that day-to-day tasks (such as data input and analysis) take valuable time away from more profitable tasks (such as new business pipelines or new product development)? Iimplementing ERP software with built-in time tracking, like Dynamics 365 Project Operations or the option to automate key tasks and provide cost analysis, such as Dynamics 365 Finance would help streamline business operations.
Alternatively, you could enhance customer service processes following repeated complaints about delays in resolving issues or frequent product mistakes. In this case, you may require an ERP system that provides fast updates for product quality issues, like Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, or a dashboard that can integrate with customer service emails, such as Dynamics 365 Project Operations.
You should also consider other general business challenges, such as:
Another important step when considering your technology objectives is to set a rough budget for how much you plan to spend on the total purchase. This will help you manage your expectations and weigh up more expensive applications, features or modules from your final ERP software choice. Having the support and guidance of a trusted technology partner can help in preparing your budgets. (More information on step six.)
We recommend that you formulate three distinct goals that are informed by your current technology challenges and use these as a cornerstone to guide your research moving forward. Having a clear vision of your desired business technology plays an important role in the digital transformation process. Your end-goals will be the cornerstone to direct and inspire action from the project team.
As our chosen product offerings, we recommend exploring Microsoft's Dynamics 365 product offerings such as Dynamics 365 Finance, Dynamics 365 Operations and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.
Within each of the three platforms, make sure to explore all of the available features, industry-specific functionalities, scalability, and compatibility with your business requirements to see if they would be helpful in reaching your set goals. You can find a concise breakdown of ERP solutions and their applications for various industries here.
When considering the affordability of each technology solution, it is helpful to consider the current size and turnover of your business and which features are absolutely necessary to achieve your vision.
As you work through each of Microsoft’s ERP systems, our A-Z page may help you understand unfamiliar cloud-based terms.
For specific industry goals, your business could be better suited to alternative Microsoft products, such as Dynamics 365 Commerce or Dynamics 365 Sales. While we don’t currently offer these at Essenkay, we are looking to increase our service offerings and working partnerships within specialised areas in the near future.
Microsoft ERP products are designed with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to integrate with other Microsoft software or third-party applications. This allows organisations to seamlessly connect other business software, such as Customer Relationship Management systems or productivity tools.
The integration options are different for each Microsoft product. Dynamics 365 Finance has useful data integration capabilities via its Data Management Framework (DMF) to allow organisations to import or export data from and into Excel formats, SQL databases or Azure Data Lake. Dynamics 365 Finance can also integrate with Microsoft Power Platform, allowing users to analyse data and automate key processes, saving time in discovering powerful insights about the organisations.
Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management can integrate with Azure services such as Azure IoT Hub, Azure Machine Learning, and Azure Data Lake. This is great for organisations that already use these services, as they will benefit from a more seamless transition period.
Dynamics 365 Project Operations can integrate with the Microsoft Project Service Automation (PSA) module which enhances collaboration between project management, sales, and finance employees. The system can also be linked to a Power BI account, where users can create interactive dashboards using operational data to clearly see the impact of various initiatives, as well as areas of improvement.
In addition, Microsoft ERP systems can work together for more complex workflows, for example, if a manufacturing or engineering business requires both Dynamics 365 Project Operations and Dynamics 365 Finance to optimise all day-to-day operational tasks.
You should explore how the system could integrate with your existing infrastructre. For example, at a basic level, Microsoft Dynamics 365 is compatible with Microsoft Edge on Windows 11, Windows 10, Google Chrome or Apple Safari.
For any integration queries, please get in touch with our team who we will be happy to provide impartial advice.
As your business grows, it is essential that your technology system can develop with you. Your cloud solution should integrate with other software services and support you to scale locally and globally as new growth opportunities arise. The software should also give you the opportunity to purchase more features for your current system in the long term, add more storage or obtain more user seats.
To help with this, Microsoft Dynamics 365 systems are built on modular architecture, meaning you can easily customise your chosen ERP system with additional features later on based on your changing needs.
Construction businesses could benefit from:
Manufacturing businesses could benefit from:
Logistics businesses could benefit from:
Professional services businesses could benefit from:
Cost will always be a key consideration for any digital transformation project; always work with your chosen partner to ensure you have a realistic budget in place.
To work out the TCO for a Microsoft ERP system, add up the initial purchase price and all of the related costs and then assess this against your initial budget. Beyond the initial purchase cost, consider training, maintenance, and ongoing licencing expenses to fully understand the long-term financial implications. These less obvious implementation costs are often overlooked, leading to budget issues further down the line.
Larger companies may have a flexible budget to purchase a more extensive Microsoft system or a combination of additional modules up front, but smaller companies may need to weigh up the benefits of the features found in your research stage.
Even if you don’t have the budget for the most suitable modules right now, making a wishlist of potential features and integrations will save on research time as your business grows and allows more budget for digital transformation. Remaining realistic with your current budget may be difficult at first but will save barriers further down the implementation track.
Microsoft offers a demo of each cloud-based ERP system to allow you to explore each system and get to grips with how well this could fit with your team’s everyday tasks.
Make sure to test the functionalities, workflows, and scenarios specific to your business to validate how well the system meets your needs. It may also be helpful to engage your stakeholders and team members in this exploratory step and gather a range of opinions to help you make an informed decision.
New ERP-based technology solutions can bring great benefits to an organisation, but there are also risks such as challenges with employee adoption. Recent studies show that 93% of British businesses believe they have an IT skills gap, and 42% believe this is due to the fast pace of technological advancements.
While your chosen ERP system does not need to completely your current software, it will make the transition more seamless if your team have access to similar workflows and key digital tools for their role. With any digital transformation project, investing in additional training resources and choosing a vendor who will become a critical partner in providing support for all abilities will help your employees more quickly adopt to the new software.
Your people are your best asset – that is why we aim to work very closely with them at Essenkay. When considering a major digital transformation project your team should feel involved in the decision making process; this helps them to feel valued within the organisation and ensure their opinions are heard. By clearly communicating the long-term benefits of your cloud solution for your staff at all levels, you can ensure they are onboard despite some teething issues that may come along.
To summarise; during your research, ask yourself:
Choosing a vendor can make or break the success of your enterprise resource planning implementation! As there are many vendors out there offering both remote and in-person support from all around the world, be sure to deeply investigate the reputation and reliability of the provider.
Check reviews, seek references, and assess the vendor's track record in supporting, updating, and addressing issues. To help vet your chosen vendor, you can ask for examples of their previous work, including client testimonials and examples of how they overcame initial challenges. Ideally, you are looking for a technology vendor with extensive knowledge about the specific pain points that cloud-based ERP solutions can bring for your industry and have a range of solutions to help your business.
Remember what we said earlier about getting your best people on the project - this applies to your vendor too. Make sure to do due diligence on their past projects and enquire about skills and experience of the team they will send to your business. Maybe they have won an award for their customer service, or for their innovation within your secor?
After your research, you should feel satisfied that their team can fit in with your business and values and confident that they have the right perspective to help you reach your unique technology goals.
Once you have completed all the above steps, it is time to collect feedback from your team, discuss your preferred ERP software, refer back to your budget and then collectively decide on the Microsoft ERP solution that best aligns with the organisation's needs and goals.
While it may seem daunting to make the first step towards ERP implementation, it is crucial to remember the long-term benefits that cloud-based systems can bring to your business.
At Essenkay, we can talk through any queries you have regarding cloud-based ERP systems, along with any enquiries about specific products we offer and how these can benefit your organisation and employees.
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