Pieces of the puzzle

Microsoft Business Solutions builds a strong a case for mid-market ERP users

Microsoft Business Solutions is a new name for some well established, experienced companies with more than 20 years in the business of enterprise resources planning (ERP) solutions for small, mid-market, and corporate businesses. In combination with the resources of Microsoft, this Fargo, N.Dbased vendor has almost instantly become a market leader, particularly when it comes to meeting the needs of small- and medium-size manufacturers.

“They’ve pulled together a set of strong applications,” says Jim Shepherd, a senior vice president with Boston-based analyst firm AMR Research. “When you combine that with the underlying Microsoft technology, and the company’s financial muscle, that’s a compelling story for the midrange market.”

To a large extent, Microsoft Business Solutions is a product of the ongoing vendor consolidation within the midrange enterprisewide software market. The building of this portfolio began when Microsoft Corp., Redmond, Wash., acquired Great Plains, Fargo, N.D., and its broad set of manufacturing applications designed for small and medium single-site manufacturing, or divisions of larger organizations.

Just before it was acquired by Microsoft, Great Plains had bolstered its own solution set by purchasing a company called Solomon Software that had a well-regarded package of financial, manufacturing, and distribution applications for small- and medium-size manufacturers.

Having gained a feel for the enterprisewide software space with the Great Plains purchase, Microsoft next bought a Danish enterprisewide software vendor called Navision, which had previously purchased another Scandinavian software supplier called Damgaard. This purchase gave Microsoft two additional software packages that expand the breadth and depth of functionality, scalability, and industry applicability of manufacturing solutions from Microsoft Business Solutions. The acquisition of these packages - called Navision and Axapta - also prompted the formation of a separate business unit called Microsoft Business Solutions.

“We have four great manufacturing solutions for a wide variety of industry and customer requirements,” says Mike Frichol, general manager for manufacturing at Microsoft Business Solutions. “That gives our customers the ability to choose thesolution that is the best fit for their business.”

But the story doesn’t end there.

Microsoft Business Solutions is working to put these packages on the same technology platform, which will be Microsoft’s next-generation .NET framework. It also is building functional extensions encompassing areas such as customer relationship management and retail management - along with a platform for Internet-based customer and supplier collaboration - that will work seamlessly with both the current and future generations of these applications.

Frichol says that will give small- and medium-size manufacturers more flexibility in creating business processes that meet their customers’ individual needs.

Meanwhile, AMR’s Shepherd says this is just one of the many reasons that small- and medium-size manufacturers considering new enterprisewide solutions “would do well to look at Microsoft Business Solutions.”

For more information on innovation from Microsoft Business Solutions,
go to www.microsoft.com/businesssolutions or call 1-888-477-7989 option 1

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