Your business has taken off and you are now focused on profits as well as revenue. You may be feeling your business is not as agile as it used to be when you started up. Maybe you have to put more energy into keeping processes in place. Perhaps your infrastructure does not allow you to be as flexible on price as you used to be. You’re thinking of consolidations and cost savings, but you also need to keep up the quality of service to customers. You have invested in technology because you understand by now that it is an important asset. But you might not know that technology can also help you cope with the new challenges that you are facing. That’s where Microsoft Solutions and our partners come in.
How Microsoft can help
Given below are some solutions to help you not only ramp up your productivity, but also start building customer loyalty. However, if you are unsure about what technology solution would best meet your business requirements you can get expert advice from Microsoft Partners. They are familiar with the challenges you are facing and can help you find the solutions that are best for you.
Put processes in place
Create seamless, powerful connections between people, both inside and outside your organization, for greater productivity. The new Windows 8 Start screen has all of the information you care about in one place, such as your contacts, the weather, and the next appointment on your calendar. Windows 8 is truly yours: websites, news, people, contacts, and your favorite apps are front and center. Because you decide how to organize and group things on the screen, viewing and interacting with content is faster than ever. Windows 8 links your workforce with data, documents, apps and people, whether it's on your premises, on your business social network, or in the cloud.
Windows 8 also provides advanced security capabilities that keep you more secure against malware intrusion. Windows 8 Pro devices are better protected with easy-to-deploy data encryption with BitLocker, and more protected with strong access control to resources with domain join and Group Policy.
Enhanced productivity for the modern business
With its modernized, clean, and fluid user interface, the new Office works great across all devices, whether you're using touch, mouse and keyboard, or pen. Documents and settings are saved to the cloud by default so you can pick up where you left off, or share and collaborate just by sending a link. Staying up to date with the latest developments is easy too - schedule meetings, send emails, start IM or voice and video chats, or host multiparty HD video conferences in a few clicks.
The new Office suite of applications offers you tools that can provide timely and relevant insights, when you need them. You can set up processes to pull together financial, sales, customer and other information in a way that lets you visualize the data easily so you can analyse and spot trends quickly. Central reporting tools like dashboards and scorecards help present information from different systems in a simple, at-a-glance view, so everyone has better insight and a consistent view of the business.
Obtain real-time management information and comply with policies
Any supply chain or business process benefits from being made more efficient, but this is especially important if you are supplying services or goods to large corporations that require you to comply with their own policies and processes. A professional Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system can help you with this. ERP offers a single repository for information on all business functions – human resources, manufacturing, inventory, marketing, sales, accounting, and tax. It allows all levels of a business to obtain real-time management information for their area of responsibility. Microsoft Dynamics AX2012 is one such system that can optimise all aspects of your business, even across different locations. It is agile, so it can proactively adapt company policies to meet customer or policy maker requirements. What’s more, your training and adoption costs are low because it uses a common user interface concept with the familiar Microsoft Office “look-and-feel”.
Ensure quality of service to customers
Nurturing and retaining your loyal customers becomes increasingly important as your business matures, since acquiring new market shares became more difficult over the years. Giving your customers the best experience begins with a complete view of your sales pipeline, but does not end there. Putting in place strong after-sales service is key. A customer relationship management (CRM) system will integrate people and technology to maximise external relationships. It offers a range of benefits and features, including sales contact management, activity history, order entry, customer service and support, field service, lead generation and data mining. Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online can track and integrate forecasting, opportunity and financial data, so you are always prepared. It also organises customer information and lets you access it from anywhere. In addition, CRM Online integrates with Outlook and looks the same as other Microsoft Office programs so it’s easy to use for you and your staff.
Consolidate and save costs
As a maturing organization, your business has likely accumulated significant IT investments. Consider gaining significant cost savings by consolidating your old servers and virtualizing new ones. Windows Server 2012 incorporates the latest server technology innovations to simplify your IT, help drive efficiency, and reduce costs.
Still on Windows Server 2003?
Support for Windows Server 2003 ends in 2015. It’s time to upgrade. To maximize the life cycle of your next server, we strongly recommend you upgrade to Windows Server 2012.
