Take Your Business to the Cloud—On Your Terms

A business solution from Microsoft delivers flexibility and choice

Evaluating enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions or business management software can be challenging, and deciding how to take advantage of the cloud adds another layer of complexity. Your decisions will have important consequences for your organization’s long-term growth and profitability, so it’s essential to choose wisely. To help you navigate the decision making process, we've created a 7-point checklist to identify some of the top factors to weigh when evaluating options for your business.

This week we’re looking at the importance of choosing a business solution that lets you take advantage of the cloud in the way that best fits your specific situation. Running some or all of your IT operation in the cloud—a form of “outsourcing”—gets plenty of attention these days because of its significant potential advantages:

Low start-up costs and short time to benefit.
Low initial hardware requirements, particularly interesting when capital is tight.
Simple software management and system administration, which can help trim the IT budget.
The ability to quickly scale IT capacity to fit sales swings or rapid growth, so that fixed expenses move to the variable column.

Any new business solution you consider should help you take advantage of cloud computing, but in a way that supports the needs of your business. In your individual case, it may be appropriate to run some mission-critical applications on-premises, possibly for security or compliance reasons, while other applications are well-suited for the cloud. Even if you want to take your entire IT operation to the cloud, you may want to phase this in over time. So focus on a business solution that can accommodate your unique deployment requirements: on-premises, in the cloud, or a hybrid approach.

Let the Cloud Help Transform Your Business

With a business solution from Microsoft you have the flexibility to choose between on-premises deployment, a variety of cloud deployment offerings including Microsoft Azure or a private cloud delivered through the Microsoft Dynamics partner channel, or a blend of both. Our commitment to supporting cloud on your terms enables you to choose the deployment strategy that's right for your business today, and then move between those options as the future unfolds. Microsoft believes that the combined strength of our proven product capabilities and flexible deployment models deliver the capabilities you need to take your business forward.

Customer Success Story

SMBs around the world count on Microsoft Dynamics to help them achieve profitable growth through greater operational control, improved employee productivity, and deeper insight. Learn how a growing law firm benefited from moving their business management solution to the cloud.

Effekt

“By selecting a cloud-based solution, we have a complete, ready-to-run IT environment from day one. This ensures that we are up and running fast, without us having to think about anything related to IT. A cloud-based solution fits like a glove with our desire to simplify and streamline.”

Challenges	Benefits
Disparate systems led to data inaccuracies and inefficiency IT burden took away from billable hours and profits Administrative challenges were slowing growth Wanted to leverage cloud infrastructure to reduce dependencies on IT and administrative staff	Gets a better picture of profitability Improved liquidity with shorter billing cycles Simplified IT with Azure deployment of Dynamics NAV and O365 Can easily adjust for users and capacity Eliminate the need to hire an administrative assistant even as business grows

Learn more about a business solution from Microsoft, take a product test drive, register for an upcoming webcast, or just read more about our solutions.

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