IT Strategy for Midsize Business: Microsoft vs. Java, Great Plains & CRM

Midsize business or non-profit organization should decide if one-vendor solution would be appropriate and the associated risk acceptable. In our opinion, balancing the risk of one-vendor-approach is not economically feasible and should be avoided. This means that you need to decide if you plan to be Microsoft-oriented or Java/Unix/Linux/Oracle oriented. In the case of Java direction ? you again have to further consider your options and if possible do not deploy too many systems from different vendors. Even if you host your systems with somebody else ? we think that in the future you might have a risk of complex data conversion from one system to another. In this small article we'll show you typical way if you follow Microsoft direction: Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains and Microsoft CRM

? Sales Automation. It was actual at all the times, however now it is becoming critical to have decent Client Relation Management (CRM) system implemented. You order takers or sales people should be working exclusively in CRM, where you should have sales workflow, approvals, pipeline of pending deals, reporting with future cash flow prediction. Use Microsoft CRM Sales module.

? Servicing. If you would like to avoid tame wasting when your service and sales people are talking to each other and have long meetings to fulfill customer order, you have to organize them around CRM Service module: Contract, Case, Activity, workflow and assignments to service technicians, plus email to/from your customers should be captured in MS CRM

? ERP. Currently, Microsoft Business Solutions has MS CRM integrated with Microsoft Great Plains. Great Plains is good ERP solution for majority midsize business and fits to variety of business niches. Great Plains is integrated with MS CRM on the level of Sales Order Processing module (SOP).

? Customization. Usually each midsize business has unique procedures which should be mapped into their CRM and ERP. So, be ready to have minor or major customization implemented. In the case of MS CRM ? majority of the customizations are done in C# or VB.Net ? so called Microsoft CRM SDK programming and development. It is open technology ? you can download MS CRM SDK and have anyone with C#/VB.Net skills do the job. In the case of Microsoft Great Plains he technology is not that open and you might need somebody with Great Plains Dexterity, VBA/Modifier, Integration Manager, eConnect, SQL coding ? this combination of skills is usually available from one of the Microsoft Business Solutions Customization Partners

? Integration. If you have something else, besides Microsoft CRM and Great Plains, then you might need the integration. Assuming that your major systems are on the Microsoft platform ? integrations should be done via heterogeneous queries from the side of Microsoft SQL server ? through linked servers

? Reporting. In our opinion ? the best tool for non-financial reports (financial ? use FRx) is Crystal Reports. Base your Crystal report on heterogeneous view or stored procedure to pull the data from multiple systems. You can deploy Crystal reports in your web application, if needed

Good luck with implementation, customization and integration and if you have issues or concerns ? we are here to help! If you want us to do the job - give us a call 866-528-0577 or 630-961-5918! help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew is Great Plains specialist in Alba Spectrum Technologies ( http://www.albaspectrum.com ) ? Microsoft Great Plains, Navision, Microsoft CRM Partner, serving clients in California, Minnesota, Illinois, Washington, Florida, Arizona, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Canada, UK, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Russia

---

RSS: Get Notified When Your Favorite Websites Are Updated

RSS (Really Simple Syndication) is a way for a site... Read More

Microsoft CRM Custom Design & Development: SDK, C#, SQL, Exchange, Integration, Crystal Reports

Microsoft CRM is new player on the CRM software... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Implementation in Russia ? Overview for Consultant

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is very popular ERP platform... Read More

Bridging the Gap between Paper and Data

The cornerstone of successful automated office systems is the ability... Read More

Who Is Minding Your Sensitive Data?

Stealing company information used to be the specialty of spies... Read More

Dont Choose Adobe When Working With PDF

While Adobe is the most known maker of PDF tools,... Read More

Healthcare Preventive Maintenance Software

Healthcare facilities such as clinics, hospitals, and biomedical laboratories can... Read More

Microsoft Business Solutions Partner ? How to Launch New IT Consulting Practice

In the new era of internet marketing the problem of... Read More

How to Backup Windows XP Home Edition

Your computer cost you from hundreds to thousands of dollars,... Read More

Top Questions to Ask Before Buying a Help Desk & Asset Management Software

#5 All your hardware components like Printers, PCs etc come... Read More

Four Desktop Tools To Drastically Increase Your Productivity

Sticky Noteshttp://www.deprice.com/stickynote.htmWith StickyNote 9.0, you can create beautiful 3D notes... Read More

Will Adobe Manage to Replace Industry Work Horse Quark Express by Giving Adobe InDesign for Free?

Heard about the Quark "killer"?Adobe InDesign CS2. Will it really... Read More

Fast Car Knoppix

Small can be beautiful! Working with Knoppix for the past... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Food Processing ? Implementation & Customization Highlights

Microsoft Great Plains might be considered as ERP platform to... Read More

Pros and Cons of Using FREE Software in Your Business

Itâ??s easy to understand why you might be drawn to... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains GL: General Ledger ? Overview For Consultant

Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies... Read More

IBM Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange?

IBM Lotus Domino or Microsoft Exchange?The severe competition continues for... Read More

Cisco Certification: Introduction To ISDN, Part V

The major reason I recommend getting your hands on real... Read More

Upgrading Great Plains Dexterity Customization ? switching to new technologies: SQL, Crystal, eConne

1. Replace Dexterity cursor with SQL Stored Procedure Dexterity... Read More

A Simple Computer Software Definition

What is Software?Software is a set of instruction written to... Read More

Free Preventive Maintenance Software

While several preventive maintenance software manufacturers offer free trials for... Read More

Basic Tips and tricks for Windows XP

Running Applications in Compatibility Mode With Windows XP, you can... Read More

New SQL Delta Version 3.1

COMMAND LINE FUNCTIONA powerful command line script processor has been... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains: exchange & brokerage ? implementation notes

If you company is small or mid-size special products or... Read More

Getting Technical Support Help Online

Sometimes your PC will start acting strange for no apparent... Read More

Save Your Resources - Combine Your IM Clients

There are so many different programs that clutter up your... Read More

Groupware: Answers the 5 Questions of Document Collaboration

Every organization which creates collaborative documents, whether they are budgets,... Read More

Microsoft Great Plains Furniture & Fixtures ? Implementation & Customization Highlights

Microsoft Great Plains, former Great Plains Software Dynamics / eEnterprise... Read More

How To Develop Software For Your Business

Software development is a risky business.Many software developers are barely... Read More

Microsoft and Webmasters

Does Microsoft care for WebmastersIt's always been a problem with... Read More

What is Software Piracy?

There are several kinds of software piracy. The bottom line... Read More

Software Tools To Help Your Business Sell More

Sales are all about leverage, because there is only so... Read More

Basic Steps To Optimize Your Internet Security

After seeing many people complain about their weak Internet security... Read More