Microsoft® recently researched the experience of nearly 200 companies with more than 250 PCs that have deployed one or more of the applications in the Microsoft Dynamics line of business management solutions. Among these companies, whose attitudes to technology tended to be more forward looking than usual, a common issue was growth via mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The pain points most often cited were non-integrated, overlapping systems, an inability to scale to support growth, the need for more functionality, and a lack of operational insight. This white paper explores the experience of these companies in more detail to help you understand how you can use Microsoft Dynamics to support your company’s growth via M&A and drive business success.
Welding Different Companies into a
Business Powerhouse
Overcome merger and acquisition obstacles and drive business success with Microsoft DynamicsT Microsoft® recently researched the experience of nearly 200 companies with more than 250 PCs that have deployed one or more of the applications in the Microsoft Dynamics line of business management solutions. Among these companies, whose attitudes to technology tended to be more forward looking than usual, a common issue was growth via mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The pain points most often cited were non-integrated, overlapping systems, an inability to scale to support growth, the need for more functionality, and a lack of operational insight. This white paper explores the experience of these companies in more detail to help you understand how you can use Microsoft Dynamics to support your company's growth via M&A and drive business success.
Introduction: Focusing on Growth via M&A Microsoft Dynamics is a line of integrated, adaptable business management solutions that help companies automate and streamline financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes to drive business success. The applications and services included are used by a wide variety of companies in many different industries, among them wholesale and retail, manufacturing, and services. To better understand what drives the selection of Microsoft Dynamics among companies in so many different industries, we recently interviewed 95 business and technology decision-makers in companies with more than 250 PCs that adopted Microsoft Dynamics within the last three years. The interviews used a combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions as the foundation for discussions that drilled down into specific needs, purchasing triggers, and pain points. From the results of those interviews we constructed an analytic framework that we applied to an additional 95 relevant case studies and deployment reports, giving us 190 data points about Microsoft Dynamics selection and deployment in a variety of industries. What emerged from this research were four primary high-level business drivers for implementing a Dynamics-based application or solution: . Business Transformation: the application is crucial for enabling a comprehensive and integrated platform to drive productivity, efficiency, and strategy . Work Load Optimization: the application is needed for functional, department or area support, e.g., supply chain . Divisions and Branches: the application is needed for consolidation of applications in branches, divisions and subsidiaries . Legacy Replacement: the application is needed to replace legacy software that lacks support, needs extensive customization, or imposes excessive IT costs for other reasons
P1 | Microsoft Dynamics White Paper - Growth via M&A
FIGURE 1 shows the actual breakdown of responses. (Legacy replacement was not a choice on the original survey question, but was written in by over 80% of those who initially chose "Other.")
FIGURE 1: BUSINESS NEEDS DRIVING DYNAMICS IMPLEMENTATION
Drilling down further, both in the interviews and in the analysis of case studies and deployment reports, revealed more than a dozen factors that led companies to consider, select, and implement a Microsoft Dynamics solution: . The need for modern systems . Rapid internal growth . Growth via mergers and acquisitions (M&A) . Better Financial Management . Better Business Analysis . Better CRM . TCO . Centralized Operations . Change in Business Models . Compliance-Government Regulations . Global functionality . Single functional need across multiple divisions/branches . Web as an integral part of the business This white paper focuses on the third of these, growth via mergers and acquisitions, and is intended to help you understand how Microsoft Dynamics enables companies like yours to upgrade their financial, customer relationship, and supply chain processes to meet the challenges they face. After a brief review of the interview demographics, this white paper reviews the top four pain points associated with growth via M&A, and how Microsoft Dynamics addressed them for the companies involved. The white paper concludes with a summary of the research findings.
P2 | Microsoft Dynamics White Paper - Growth via M&A
Demographics: Forward-Looking "Big IT" Companies As noted above, the data collected from the ... [download for more]
