| Abstract: | At its annual Dynamics user conference, Redmond reveals details of the latest release of its AX ERP product, due out in the first half of this year. |
| Keywords: | Microsoft ERP, Dynamics ERP |
With its annual Convergence conference as the backdrop, Microsoft Corp.'s ERP-focused Dynamics business unit this week unveiled Dynamics AX 2009, the latest version of its enterprise software for globally diverse businesses.
Key to the new release, which will be available in the second quarter of 2008, are enhancements to the application's capabilities for cross-border transactions, users' ability to easily reconfigure the product to suit evolving business processes, a stronger focus on compliance initiatives, and prefab templates for a number of common business roles.
Microsoft's Dynamics ERP suite includes four applications, each with its own functionality and market targets: GP, for smaller, typically U.S.-based businesses; SL, which mainly serves service- or project-based businesses; NAV, for mid-market organizations; and AX, with its focus on globally dispersed, complex organizations.
The new functionality in the latest iteration of Dynamics AX takes its cue from two interrelated developments in the business community, according to Chris Caren, general manager for Dynamics' product management and marketing. The growing tendency of companies to operate on a global basis, with all of the attendant complexity, led to additions such as multi-language, multi-currency, and multi-time zone capabilities in AX 2009.
Additionally, the call from customers for more flexible ERP systems that can manage operations within the organization and outside the firewall drove Microsoft's development of a Web service framework that allows AX users greater ease in altering business processes.
"We find that a lot of times companies just want to change their business practices as their organization evolves," Caren told Managing Automation. "As the organization gets more complex, they might want to change how they enter into and sign off on contracts and purchase orders," he noted as an example.
Increased global complexity can also create a tangle of compliance issues that a company must monitor closely, Caren said. In AX 2009, Microsoft introduces its Compliance Center, billed as a repository for an organization's regulatory-related information that can be accessed by business and finance executives.
To relieve organizations of some of the time and resources needed to configure the AX applications, Microsoft will introduce 30 "role centers" in the 2009 version. Essentially preconfigured templates that define the typical functionality and information views for common roles, the centers include two executive-focused role templates that deliver KPIs and the ability to take corrective action.
As for the product's functionality, Caren said, "A lot of it is horizontal, but we have partners that then take these roles and drive them more to industry-specific scenarios."
Officials did not disclose pricing for the forthcoming AX 2009 release.
The overall driving force behind Dynamics' product strategy, Caren said, is the "belief we have about business applications — that [they're] incredibly valuable to organizations, but way too hard to use by end users," a reality that he said hinders the ERP applications' ability to create value and garner a broader user base within an organization.
To redress that shortfall, Microsoft has increasingly relied on integrating its ERP offerings with its Office applications, such as Word and Excel. Other enterprise applications vendors have embraced the same strategy, with the most obvious example being SAP's Duet partnership with Microsoft, which enables SAP business users to access SAP through an Office front end.
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