360 Visibility Software » Microsoft Dynamics GP

Of Postal Strikes and Progress

Lynn Cooke — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 23:02:30 +0000

So Canada Post employees have gone on strike. Having failed to reach a deal with the crown corporation, the postal union workers have elected to walk off the job in a revolving series of walkouts that began midnight Thursday in Winnipeg.

Big fat, hairy deal.

Without meaning to sound cavalier, the fact of the matter is that the reality of a postal strike in 2011 is a far cry from the reality of a postal strike in, say, 1991. Back then, such an event would have been cause for genuine concern, as a whole host of integral business functions would grind to an unavoidable halt.

Business Impact of Postal Strike Minimal at Best

Today, the net impact of such an event is considerably less worrisome. Indeed, the loudest buzz around this development might just be a sense of relief with the break from junk mail Canadians will enjoy for the next week or two.

In the information age, the participation of Canada Post in a company’s various fiduciary responsibilities is negligible. Sophisticated, on-the-ball corporate players long ago instituted systems whereby their invoices and statements are delivered by e-mail, their bills are paid electronically, their payroll is deposited directly. These business folks’ interactions with the antiquated likes of stamps, envelopes and post offices are minimal, at best.

Granted, the Canadian corporate landscape is not so advanced on this front as is Europe’s. European corporations have been treading more progressive paths for some time.

Indeed, they laugh at the very notion of a chequebook overseas, and express sincere confusion about the need to have cheque-printing as a core function in an ERP system. Everything is performed via electronic funds transfer (EFT) across the pond, and the B2B environment that has long propagated this reality is better for it.

Payment Means Continue to Progress

Here in Canada, we’re getting there. At 360, a handful of our customers pay us via EFT. For the rest, who continue to wrestle with the old-fashioned burden of having to print, sign, stuff and mail cheques, progress is theirs for the taking. Because the fact is that a better, more efficient way to do things perches on their doorsteps, awaiting the corporate epiphanies that will eventually lead an entire population of managers to reach for them.

And the simple truth is that, if your ERP system doesn’t have the ability to e-mail invoices and statements? Then, well, it’s time to get yourself a new ERP system, like Microsoft Dynamics GP or Microsoft Dynamics NAV. (And if you’re currently running GP or NAV and are not e-mailing your invoices, give us a call and we’ll get you straightened away.)

At 360, we’re in the business of automating every last function of the corporate existence that we can. And if it takes a nationwide postal strike to alert our fellow citizens to the alternatives available to them, so be it. Certainly its appearance on the scene has prompted my own attention to this subject internally: I’d better instruct our accounting department to modify the company’s “electronic” invoices so that they advise customers that they can still pay via credit card or EFT.

Cloud Cover Thickens with Microsoft Announcement

Lynn Cooke — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 14:00:52 +0000

After much terrestrial dithering, Microsoft has at last elected to put its head in the clouds.

Such was the announcement delivered last week at Convergence 2011, a big-ass annual event in Atlanta where the Microsoft Dynamics customer and partner business communities share the rarified air of a common convention centre.

Dynamics ERP Programs Coming to Azure in 2012

There, the host company gave voice to its plans to offer its Dynamics ERP solution in a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) format. Accordingly, the next major releases of its Dynamics AX, GP, NAV and SL ERP products will be available on Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud-development platform that’s been available for a year.

It will debut its on-demand ERP application delivery program with its next version of Dynamics NAV 7, slated for release in 2012. The balance of the Dynamics lineup will presumably follow, and it could be several years before the lot has made its way to Azure.

Microsoft says it will deliver its ERP application via this method more cheaply than its competitors (NetSuite most prominent among them), thanks in part to a multi-tenancy architecture that will enable multiple users to share the same instance of an application. This approach is also attractive for the ease with which it can be upgraded.

About-Face About Choice

Microsoft already offers Dynamics CRM as a cloud-carried product (it’s been available in the States since 2008; it went global in February). This latest move is actually a delayed response, on the company’s part, to a prevailing trend in the ERP market. Namely, solution providers to mid-market and SMB customers are increasingly reaching for the clouds.

Until this about-face, the company sold only on-premise versions of its flagship ERP products, and made no apology for the absence of a SaaS alternative. Indeed, it had sought to cover all bases with a so-called “software + services” ERP option. Through this, its channel partners invoked their service-provider license-agreement programs to independently deliver hosted versions of Dynamics ERP products to their customers.

With this announcement comes choice. Now, said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer in his keynote address at Convergence, customers will have the option of shifting their ERP application online, continuing to run it onsite or going with a hybrid deployment.

Microsoft Announcement Meets Skepticism & Optimism

Microsoft’s cloud ERP announcement, however, as posted through the IDG news service last week, has received mixed reviews. Users question the level of savings this switch actually represents to them and the degree to which they’ll lose flexibility by adopting this delivery mode.

They also express concerns about the potential for downtime if the cloud experiences a system failure. And certainly there will always be heel-diggers who reject the notion of releasing responsibilities they’ve always adequately overseen in house to a third party.

But this new option, say its most vocal proponents, is a serious step in the right direction for Microsoft, late in the game though it may be. And it’s a particularly attractive one they point out, for those Dynamics customers already using a hosting service. Adding an ERP product to the mix should be seamless, they enthuse, and the payback fairly immediate.

The Great Debate: ERP vs. Accounting Packages

Lynn Cooke — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 16:46:07 +0000

Aspirations of greatness notwithstanding, you’re still a fairly small organization at this point in your development. Your employee count is modest, your daily operations straightforward, your technical requirements few.

Only the big guys, surely, stand to benefit from the complex computerized infrastructures that come by way of installing sophisticated ERP systems. Or so you tell yourself as you start yet another day with the technical support of nothing grander than a basic accounting program.

SMEs Benefit From ERP

In fact, many small companies are surprisingly complex entities that may, in fact, stand to benefit greatly from an investment in ERP software. Increasingly, business leaders acknowledge the fallacy of the longstanding assumption that ERP systems are the province of larger organizations alone. Indeed, a company’s personnel tally is no more an indication of its technical requirements than the size of its lunchroom or the age of its chief executive.

Given that ERP software can be among the single largest IT investment a company makes, it behooves clever managers to determine their operation’s suitability for such a technological outlay (or to accept that a solid accounting package actually does the trick just fine, thank you very much).

Some considerations to undertake:

Bear in mind the inherent strengths of each system. An accounting package exists to sort through a company’s accounting and financial data. It tracks the financial activities of the firm, focusing particularly on accounts payable, accounts receivable and cashflow management.

An ERP system expands upon these functionalities, promising oversight of an organization’s entire oeuvre of business processes. In its rich database resides the great bulk of a company’s story — including its finance, manufacturing, supply-chain and HR activities — with different functions drawing from different elements thereof.

Does your organization regularly exchange large parcels of data with clients, or import in great volumes from overseas? You may find the sophisticated offerings of an ERP system more in line with its daily needs.

Consider your patronage of spreadsheets. If you use them sparingly and specifically, an accounting system will probably suffice. If, however, they genuinely dominate the ongoing operation of your business and provoke in-house contention about which spreadsheet version is the best, consider moving up to the more accommodating embrace of an ERP system.

Think carefully on the total cost of ownership associated with an ERP purchase. More than just up-front pricing and ongoing support fees, consider the fallout such a fundamental addition to your operation would have on the rest of your legacy systems, and its attendant costs. Critical here is the engagement of a vendor partner that can help an organization, new to the ERP space, to manage its purchase.

Look to the future with clear eyes. An organization with enough confidence in future expansion may well find that the installation of such enabling scaffold from which to grow — at a point, maybe, when it is yet to specifically require it — simply makes sense.

By contemplating plans for tomorrow seriously, managers of smaller businesses can position their technology to be a fundamental part of future growth, and sophisticated ERP software can play a big part in this.

Omni Facility Services Canada Crop. Signs with 360 Visibility Inc.

360 Visibility — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 16:28:00 +0000

Omni Facility Services Canada Corp. signs up with 360 Visibility Inc. to help with their Microsoft Dynamics System.

Infrastructure Ontario signs with 360 Visibility for Microsoft Dynamics GP Support

360 Visibility — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 18:20:03 +0000

Infrastructure Ontario signs with 360 Visibility to take over support of their Microsoft Dynamics GP system.

360 Visibility Presents Jet Reports for Dynamics GP

360 Visibility — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 20:36:55 +0000

Presents:

“There is so much functionality in a simple command. As soon as we bought it, we started asking ourselves ‘What else can we do with Jet Reports?’”

-Vivian Pilot, Director of Finance and Administration, ScooterBug

Jet Reports takes you beyond the data trees and manual manipulation of FRx and Smartlist. Drilling down to the transactional level of your data allows you quick and easy access to Microsoft Dynamics GP and other add on modules for deeper analysis.

Jet Reports pulls data directly from your database into Excel so you can create reports when you want, the way you want. It lets you get answers, do analysis, format business information and automate delivery.

Take some time back before it’s too late! 360 Visibility and Jet Reports Canada have teamed up to bring you this summer promotion ending September 30, 2010. Find out more: visit jetreports.com/ca/360 today!

Next Steps:

Request a Live Demo

Have Someone Call Me

Learn More about Jet Reports

360 offers Convenient Microsoft Financing Plans

admin — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 23:37:26 +0000

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