SAP Software and Microsoft: Comparison
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Why switch to Microsoft Dynamics? Four great reasons
Making the decision to change your company's financial management system is a process that requires research and foresight. Here are four reasons why businesses using SAP financial management products have decided to make the switch to Microsoft Dynamics.
| • | Microsoft Dynamics can improve employee productivity
In a 2007 analysis that compared the impact of enterprise software applications on people's productivity, Microsoft Dynamics users on average scored Microsoft Dyanamics 18 percent higher than SAP users scored SAP applications. This Microsoft-sponsored study was conducted by Keystone Strategy, an independent research firm, and was supervised by Dr. Marco Iansiti, the David Sarnoff Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Download the full study. (.pdf, 255 KB) |
| • | Microsoft Dynamics can scale with your business
Microsoft Dynamics provides affordable scalability for your growing businesses. With benchmarked performance up to 1,000 users and beyond and rich functionality across financials, supply chain management and customer relationship management, you can be confident in the ability of Microsoft Dynamics to meet the needs of your growing business. Integrate your Microsoft Dynamics business management solution with the Microsoft SQL Server 2005 database and analytics program. Enjoy enterprise-level reporting, flexible decision-making support and timely, relevant business insight at a low cost with significantly high usability and flexibility. |
| • | Microsoft Dynamics provides a low cost of ownership
Microsoft Dynamics is engineered to cost-effectively support the changing requirements that are frequently necessary for customers to adapt, grow, and maintain a competitive edge in their business. Independent research has demonstrated that, on the whole, Microsoft Dynamics offers a higher return on investment (ROI) and lower overall costs than other major competitive offerings. Microsoft Dynamics licensing is designed to be cost-effective. It is based on concurrent users versus named users and has no imposed user minimum or maximum so it evolves with you for the life of your business. |
| • | Microsoft offers an industry-leading vertical partner ecosystem
Microsoft is in a position to deliver vertical solutions to hundreds of different industries on a local basis; it can bring these solutions to market on a local level. Microsoft offers solutions designed to meet the needs of many specific industries. It can provide the functionality customers need without the overhead costs buried in solutions that try to serve all industries from the same code-base and use templates to hide some of this complexity. |
Customer evidence: See how switching to Microsoft benefited other companies
View the case studies in this section to see how companies using other products solved real business problems and benefited from switching to Microsoft Dynamics.
Energy Broker Increases Reporting and Decision-Making Abilities
Texas-based Choice Energy LP is a leading independent energy brokerage firm in the United States, offering customers, such as corporations and utilities, market liquidity and price discovery. The company quickly outgrew its mostly manual accounting system, so they teamed up with the NexTec Group, a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner, to implement Microsoft Dynamics SL. In just weeks, they had a customized solution that helped Choice Energy LP move from quarterly financial reporting to monthly financial reporting. Their customized solution includes monthly detail-rich reports that offer increased insight into broker activity and that allow agile decision-making by the company.
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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Runs Multiple Lines of Business on Integrated Business Solution
World-famous for the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a renowned race track in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Speedway depends heavily on technology to run its various business systems, from ticketing to concessions. The Speedway implemented Microsoft Dynamics™ GP along with Microsoft Dynamics™ CRM. Now, the Speedway has streamlined its accounting and reporting processes and can provide better customer service and accountability. The Speedway's parent organization has also standardized on Microsoft Dynamics™ GP, choosing the Microsoft solution over SAP.
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Manufacturer Cuts Costs and Gains Global Insight with Business Management Solution
People at office supplies manufacturer Esselte were struggling to track and report on stock in disparate IT systems to gain global insight on inventory. Esselte wanted to consolidate 12 global enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions (including one from SAP) and nine warehouse management systems used across 30 countries with one integrated, scalable solution. Esselte rolled out Microsoft Dynamics™ AX. By standardising on one solution and streamlining processes, the employees at Esselte have better access to critical data to monitor sales figures, manage orders, and predict stock needs quickly and efficiently. Esselte increased efficiency throughout the organisation, assisting the company to reduce inventory by 50 per cent in its transition to becoming a lean manufacturer.
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Healthcare Company Standardises and Harmonises Business Processes
Fresenius Medical Care (FME) is the world's largest integrated provider of products and services for people with chronic kidney failure. FME has continued to grow its operations in Europe, the Middle East, Africa (EMEA), and Latin America (LA) by acquiring sales offices and clinics throughout the region. As a result, FME EMEA inherited legacy IT systems and disparate enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions. FME selected Microsoft Dynamics™ AX because it offered lower maintenance costs, greater ease of use than the complex SAP system, and better integration with the current ERP environment.
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Aviation Agency Streamlines Business Processes with Human Resource Management Solution
An aircraft takes off or lands every other second every single day, and each year more than 20 million passengers travel to and from Danish airports. The Danish Civil Aviation Administration (CAA-DK) oversees the safety of these passengers. Along with a major restructuring of the organization, CAA-DK wanted to streamline business processes, save costs, and increase employee satisfaction. CAA-DK decided to implement Microsoft Dynamics™ AX for Human Resource Management and has reached its goals with flying colors.
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Questions to ask SAP before purchasing an SAP solution
If you are considering the mySAP Business Suite or mySAP All-in-One
| • | SAP may offer a fixed-price, fixed-scope implementation of mySAP All-in-One. What specifics actually govern this offer? |
| • | Do I have to license named users instead of concurrent users or user sessions? What is the difference and what do you see as the pros and cons of each? |
| • | Is NetWeaver middleware required for integration with SAP and non-SAP systems? |
| • | What does a typical All-in-One support team look like? How many administrators? How many developers? How many support personnel? |
If you are considering SAP Business One
| • | What is SAP's future solution roadmap for Business One? Can you provide documentation supporting that? |
| • | How does Business One fit into SAP's Enterprise Service Oriented Architecture? To what degree is Business One included in the development plans for SAP NetWeaver and Duet? |
| • | How many users can Business One reasonably scale to? How many references can you provide of existing SAP Business One users of this size? |
| • | What are my choices if I outgrow Business One? Can you provide details on the cost and steps to migrate to mySAP? |
| • | How much of the functionality being demonstrated is native, "out-of-the-box" functionality versus functionality developed by a partner or through a third-party developer? How will this add-on functionality affect upgrades? |
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