With Microsoft’s theme of power, agility and simplicity around the release of AX 2012, doesn’t it make sense that Microsoft’s ISV partners follow suit in supporting upgrades to the upcoming GP ‘12’ and NAV ‘7’ releases as well? While these releases may offer new functionality and opportunities for user organizations, the need to meet EDI requirements will be nothing new, but how you meet them can be a new cost-saving opportunity for your business.

EDI has been around for some time, but it has grown dramatically in regards to its importance and breadth in business relationships. Today it is quite common for larger organizations to mandate EDI capability as a pre-requisite for new suppliers and business partner relationships. While a few years ago most companies traded only a few documents, such as purchase orders, invoices and ship notices, today there is a significant amount of documents that can drive labor efficiencies, ultimately leading to the more critical competitive advantage.

EDI enters the process a major player because these documents also require more flexible and comprehensive software applications. And with upgrades on the horizon for Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, GP ‘12’ and NAV ‘7’, the need for more flexible and comprehensive software applications doesn’t mean that you have to expect complicated ERP customizations…

Last week I attended Microsoft’s AX 2012 Industry Summit in Jacksonville, FL for sales and pre-sales. This event focused on the specific industries that Microsoft has targeted: Industrial Equipment Manufacturing (IEM), Chemical, Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG), Industrial Distribution, Services, Management & IT Consulting, Engineering and Construction and Public Sector. This was the second event of this type and Microsoft planned on 100 people to attend, but instead they ended up with approximately 170 which made for an even stronger event.

One of the things that I came away with was the amount of time and energy that Microsoft is putting into the industry specific solutions. Not just from a Dynamics AX development perspective, but also looking at the people that they’ve hired internally and the types of partners that they are onboarding.

On Day 1 and for the first half of Day 2, the event was focused on Dynamics AX pre-sales. Microsoft Technical Specialists, such as Chuck Juhnke, Jeff Einig, Shawna Mikes and others, presented and demonstrated how they are showcasing AX 2012 to prospects. Their mission was to make…

Here we are coming up on Convergence 2012, nearly a year since Steve Ballmer and Kiril Tatarinov delivered the message loud and clear that Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 is the ERP for everyone with its commitment to “simplicity”. From installation through deployment, implementation, customization, user experience, and upgrade, this release’s design bares the mark of simplicity. And with Microsoft’s theme of power, agility and simplicity around this release, doesn’t it make perfect sense that Microsoft’s ISV partners follow suit?

When considering an upgrade to Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012, it’s best practice to work with your VAR and ISVs to analyze all customizations and create a precise plan to manage your code and data upgrades. It’s a given that some customizations will still be required in AX 2012, but when it comes to accommodating EDI, you can forget about customizations…

Data Masons’ EDI experts are facilitating an in-depth conversation on EDI integration with Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 during today’s manufacturing-focused sessions at the AX 2012 Sales and Pre-sales Industry Summit. Dennis Bruce of Data Masons will discuss the huge opportunity partners have to leverage the power of Microsoft Dynamics AX and support customers’ lean manufacturing goals with an Microsoft Dynamics AX EDI solution that tightly integrates common business documents without ERP platform customization.

Data Masons will also join First Tech Direct today in discussing…

From ERP & EDI Expert, Glenn McPeak: When it comes to implementing Microsoft Dynamics ERP into the fashion apparel and footwear industry, most companies face the same critical operational issues – profit pressure from operational costs and managing complex global supply chain delivery systems. Companies are further challenged with a 24/7/365 business cycle, controlling inventory and unnecessary labor costs, such as data entry, that add no value to the goods being delivered.

One technology that can address these challenges is a strong integrated EDI solution. The right EDI solution will drive significant reductions in overhead costs, error reduction and simplification of tasks surround supply chain execution. Microsoft Dynamics ERP users can gain a competitive advantage by introducing…

From Dennis Bruce of Data Masons: Specialty pharmaceutical company and Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 customer, Acella Pharmaceuticals, traditionally relied on a third-party logistics (3PL) provider to support certain supply chain functions, including EDI. However, given the growth of the company, they decided the best thing for their long-term health was to pull all of their outsourced functions back in-house where they could more effectively manage costs and increase their visibility into everyday operations.

To successfully accomplish their goals, Acella understood from the beginning the critical role that their ERP and EDI technology would play in insuring that business continued uninterrupted. From a Dynamics NAV EDI perspective, Acella required an EDI solution provider that would not only handle 3PL EDI with their outside warehouse, but also manage all of the ins and outs of customer-based EDI…

From Dennis Bruce of Data Masons: For The Fechheimer Brothers Company, a manufacturer of quality uniforms, and Key Industries, the largest manufacturer of farming apparel in the Midwest, implementing Microsoft Dynamics AX meant the ability to effectively manage inventory and labor costs that are unique to the industry, as well as provide great service to their customers. A new ERP also meant a new opportunity to address their EDI needs.

Replacing their ERP platforms with Microsoft Dynamics AX, both companies had the perfect opportunity to analyze how they were handling EDI and evaluate other available solutions, ones that could help them overcome industry-specific challenges and gain a competitive advantage within the marketplace. Both companies realized that an integrated EDI solution would…

From Dennis Bruce of Data Masons: Serving parlors, C-stores, schools and colleges in 28 states at over 26,000 locations, this Microsoft Dynamics GP 9 customer depends on its large trading partner network to support its growing business. Supplying many of the top 5 leading food service providers, the customer found that to conduct business with these partners they would have to go through iTradeNetwork. Given iTrade’s key role in handling communications within the food services industry, the customer not only needed to implement an integrated EDI solution that met partner mandates, but also one that could get them up and running with iTrade starting day one.

Working with their Microsoft Dynamics reselling partner, the customer launched its search to find an EDI solution provider with a solution that would accommodate their EDI requirements, and do so with little to no customizations to the Dynamics GP 9 platform. Until now…

With much of what Microsoft has shared concerning the next release of Microsoft Dynamics NAV ’7′ still under non-disclosure, partners and end users alike are creating buzz-worthy discussions around the impact on their businesses. What are your opinions, questions or concerns around the highly-anticipated release later this year?

If you want to engage in conversation, or just stay tuned into the discussions, around the impact NAV 7 will have on you or your organization, or have questions or concerns around some of the unveiled features, join…

Want to join other Microsoft Dynamics GP professionals to share knowledge and discuss opinions on the upcoming release of Dynamics GP ’12′?

With some of the preliminary features of the upcoming release having gone public, GP community members are starting buzz-worthy conversations around what the release of Microsoft Dynamics GP, codenamed GP ‘12′, means for their businesses. In addition to the new web client, Microsoft is planning a laundry list of other features to support its stated “design pillars” of simplicity, productivity, innovation, and depth. So what’s the impact GP 12 will have on you and the GP-based organization? What are you looking forward to and hoping to see in the latest release? Do you have questions or concerns around some of the unveiled features…