Microsoft ERP products and services, like those provided by SAP and Oracle, are under the influence of a general marketplace shift that is bringing them steadily within reach for smaller and mid-sized firms. These firms typically operate with more restrictive technology budgets and lower risk tolerance than the fortune five hundred firms and government offices that have traditionally been the audience for integrated business solution infrastructures. But this shift has been underway for several years and shows no signs of slowing. New interest in claiming market share at the small business level has steered development for Microsoft ERP products and continues to do so as the business landscape shifts. Product modules and infrastructures tailored to appeal to smaller clients have led Oracle and Microsoft ERP products to a broad expansion in capability and reliability even as they drop in cost.

ERP Products

Microsoft ERP Products

If you own or manage technology for a growing firm in any of the sectors best supported by system integration, now may be an excellent time to investigate what Oracle, SAP and Microsoft ERP products can do to help you move your business forward. These sectors include a wide variety of firms in the manufacturing, distribution and service fields, and any firm with complex back office operations and a heavy reliance on customer and supply chain relationships. Microsoft ERP products and modules can be used to facilitate operations like supply chain management, inventory control including bi-directional lot tracking and warehousing, accounting, customer relationship management, human capital management, and payroll.  Depending on your specific customization and functionality requirements, these modules can be run on an-house architecture or they can be accessed remotely using a system supported and maintained by a hosting solution or software service provider.

Before you begin your detailed investigation of Microsoft ERP products to identify the right solution for your firm, you’ll want to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of your existing software system capabilities. Gather reports from your employees to gain a full understanding of your workflows and your current system strengths and weaknesses. Then you can move forward with a needs assessment, which can direct the focus of your product reviews and conversations with company representatives. Meanwhile, it may also help to gain a basic understanding of the changes that are currently taking place across the enterprise resource planning market landscape.

The earliest integrated business solutions that were introduced to the manufacturing sector revolutionized productivity and efficiency by streamlining the diverse operations of multiple departments onto a single software platform. But these systems required complicated implementations that could months or even years. They also involved in-house hardware systems that needed maintenance, typically provided by a full time IT staff, which increased both upfront and long term ownership costs.

Demand for these systems rose throughout the 1990s, but during that time they remained within reach only to large firms with flexible technology budgets. It was not until after the arrival of the new millennium that the market began a steady downstream shift, and developers began scaling and customizing their products to complete for available market share at the smaller business level.

Written by :

Amy Cruz