Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Two-Tier: Deploying Microsoft Dynamics AX in entities of corporations

Gain agility and reduce costs by standardizing on one business application for your subsidiaries, divisions, and branches.

Make Microsoft Dynamics
® AX the preferred business solution for your entities. Use a proven solution that is agile, industry-enabled, easy to use, and integrates with the legacy solution at your company headquarters.

With Microsoft Dynamics AX, you can effectively manage the complexities of a global organization across locations and countries by consolidating and standardizing business processes, gaining visibility, and simplifying compliance requirements with a cost-effective, custom solution.

Some headquarters ERP solutions are too large and complex to adapt to the unique requirements of smaller, local entities. Using Microsoft Dynamics AX in a two-tier ERP approach, you can meet those specialized requirements with a custom solution and easily implement vertical functionality. Manage change with the ability to scale quickly, and help improve the quality of data and reporting while lowering operational costs.

FEATURES

Two-tier ERP deployment strategy

Use Microsoft Dynamics AX as your preferred solution to handle business processes for your subsidiaries, branches, departments and fully integrate with the financial solution at your headquarters. The solution can run in multiple IT governance models (decentralized, centralized, or federated) and integrate consolidated financial data across your multiple sites and international locations with the headquarters solution while maintaining local financial information relevant to each location.

Flexible integration

Meet a range of business requirements by deploying multiple integration scenarios—from simple financial consolidation to advanced scenarios in which Microsoft Dynamics AX communicates with your legacy system at the transaction level to expand your supply chain. The solution scales so that you can deploy the same core model across your organization regardless of project size.

Industry-specific capabilities

Leverage innovative, industry-specific functionality for manufacturing, distribution, retail, professional services, the public sector, and other key industries. Microsoft Dynamics AX delivers a rich industry foundation on which partners build packaged vertical applications to help you meet unique industry needs.

Simplified compliance

Help reduce the risk and liability associated with regulatory compliance, corporate compliance and policies, product compliance, and customer initiatives that vary widely across regions and countries by implementing internal controls and using built-in multisite, multilanguage, and multicurrency capabilities.

Global presence

Sustain your worldwide business strategy with a global solution that is available and localized for 37 countries in 40 languages, and gain support from the extended international partner ecosystem of Microsoft Dynamics AX.

Reduced costs

Reduce your total cost of ownership (TCO) by deploying a cost-effective, scalable solution that meets the unique needs of your smaller entities. You can also reduce costs and simplify deployment by taking advantage of the proven implementation methodology of Microsoft Dynamics Sure Step.

Improved productivity

Get people up and running quickly with minimal training and improve organizational efficiencies with the familiar user experience of Microsoft Dynamics AX. With easy-to-use tools, you can work quickly and make smart, proactive decisions.

Fits with existing systems

Maximize your existing technology investment and take advantage of tight technology integration across Microsoft products, including BizTalk Server, Microsoft SharePoint technologies, Microsoft SQL Server
®
, Windows Workflow Foundation, Microsoft Office Communications Server, and Microsoft Office Project Server.

Connect Your Local Entities to Headquarters with Microsoft Dynamics for Your Two-Tier ERP Solution

Last Modified 5/4/2010
Posted 4/5/2010

Large organizations find that some headquarter ERP solutions are too complex to adapt to the unique requirements of their smaller, local entities. Microsoft Dynamics ERP provides a viable alternative for these companies to easily customize their solution to meet specific requirements, implement vertical functionality, and to manage change easily and cost-effectively.

Companies using Microsoft Dynamics as their two-tier ERP solution gain transparency and deep insight into their organization's entities helping them manage their business more effectively enabling them to drive business success across the enterprise and enabling their entities to optimize their solutions to meet local needs and adhere to their headquarter requirements.

Use the resources on this page to learn about Microsoft Dynamics as a two-tier ERP solution

Customer Quote

"As the preferred desktop and laptop provider of enterprises across the U.S. and Europe, we needed a proven global business software solution that would help us respond to the changing market with increased speed and agility to meet our customers' requirements. Microsoft Dynamics AX met our ERP global business requirements allowing us to reduce our IT and manufacturing costs and overall total cost of ownership."

- John Biegel, Senior IT Strategist, Dell Corporation

Analysts

  • Microsoft Dynamics AX positioned as a leader in Magic Quadrant for Midmarket and Tier-2-oriented ERP for Product-Centric Companies
    Despite mergers and acquisitions, there are many ERP offerings for midmarket companies and firms deploying Tier 2 ERP systems*. This Magic Quadrant evaluates products that have a global presence and are specifically tailored for product-centric midmarket companies with roughly 100 to 1,000 employees.
    *Gartner Inc. "Magic Quadrant for Midmarket and Tier-2 Oriented ERP for Product-Centric Companies" by C. Hestermann, R. Anderson, and C. Pang, June 4, 2009
  • Microsoft Joins M&A Resurgence in Enterprise Applications Market
    Albert Pang, September 25, 2009
    IDC analyst Albert Pang reviews the Microsoft acquisitions of industry solutions from Fullscope Inc., Computer Generated Solutions Inc., LS Retail EHF and To-Increase Denmark A/S (wholly owned subsidiaries of Columbus IT Partner A/S) across manufacturing, professional services and retail industries. Pang states, "In addition to strengthening vertical industry expertise, the Microsoft buying spree is designed to help customers run their quasi-independent subsidiaries or divisions of large companies more effectively by creating a two-tier ERP structure."

"The Microsoft Dynamics ERP product lines, especially the highly scalable Microsoft Dynamics AX, have become the de facto ERP standard within certain subsidiaries and business units of large entities such as Boeing, Ingersoll Rand and Sara Lee, even though the headquarters may be using a different system."