Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012: Real Simple – Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 Makes Collaboration Easier
It’s time to continue the Inside Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 blog and video series. Last week we took a look at the investments that we have made in security to provide our customers with greater peace of mind by enhancing control over both authentication (who has access Microsoft Dynamics AX) and authorization (what people are allowed to do after they have access). This time around the area of focus is simplicity – something not necessarily associated with ERP solutions I know! Anyway, by now, you’ve certainly heard the phrase “Powerfully Simple” used to describe Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. Well, it’s not just a tag line. We’ve expended a lot of effort to simplify Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 for all of the people who interact with the system: developers, implementation partners, systems administrators, and end users. We address some of the technical topics here and talk about usability here, so in this post, we want to share some of the ways the integrated collaboration capabilities in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 make it simpler for you to collaborate and share information with employees, customers, suppliers, and partners.
Information Sharing
Business velocity often depends on how fast information flows across the organization, so we’ve introduced a few features that make it easier for people to communicate and collaborate around ERP data. To facilitate information sharing among teams, we’ve added the capability to create SharePoint sites from within Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012. You can quickly create collaboration sites where you can share reports, business documents, or lists with your team members, directly from the ERP application. And when you need an answer right away, the real-time collaboration capabilities of Microsoft let you see who’s online and available, and connect with users immediately, through IM, voice, or even video conferencing-without ever leaving the ERP software.
Supply Chain Collaboration
We’ve also simplified collaboration across the supply chain, making it easy to extend the reach of your ERP system to external users, such as vendors, suppliers, and customers. Enterprise Portal in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 lets you quickly roll out secure, SharePoint-based portal sites at a fraction of the cost typically associated with developing and maintaining web-based applications that integrate with ERP. If your organization relies on (or could benefit from) Web-based interaction with customers or vendors, we encourage you to look at the ways Enterprise Portal can deliver powerful features with a rapid development/deployment model and very low cost of ownership.
We’ve also made it possible to build processes and workflows that cross organizational boundaries, so you can achieve true business process integration with your partners and customers. With Sites Services, a cloud-based service for Microsoft Dynamics ERP, you can extend business processes such as payment processing, channel management, and training over the web quickly and securely-with minimal IT investment. Finally, don’t forget to check out the following video feat. Rajesh Dadhia, Principal Group Program Manager as he talks about simplicity in AX 2012 some more on YouTube.
Share Your Thoughts
Which processes in your organization could be sped up by streamlined communication and collaboration among employees? With vendors or customers?
Next week we will be back with another post and video on Processes and Workflow. Until then you can learn more about Microsoft Dynamics ERP at www.microsoft.com/erp.
Regards,
Luke Shave
Sr. Industry Marketing Manager
