How the New Dynamics AX Redefines Leadership
ERP is changing the roles of business leaders. Gone are the days of CIOs solely pushing papers and overseeing maintenance—systems like Dynamics AX take care of the menial tasks, giving leaders from both the business and tech areas an opportunity to drive productivity, cross-department integration and thought leadership.
To learn more about how ERP is disrupting the way leaders think and act, we talked to analyst Joshua Greenbaum. Josh has covered the business applications space for more than 17 years and is a principal analyst and founder of Enterprise Applications Consulting (EAC). With early insight into the development of Dynamics AX, he provided his view on the big bets Microsoft made with the ERP solution. He also discussed some of the key capabilities the solution delivers, including its new user experience and use of Microsoft Azure and Dynamics Lifecycle services—and what it all means for business leaders. [Watch the video]
“Today, companies need to think of ERP software as a living, breathing system that changes with you as a company,” Josh said. “It evolves with business. This is a fundamental difference in thinking from even a few years ago.”
Several shifts are at play here, including the need for leaders to:
- Take a collaborative approach. ERP software is no longer just the CIO and IT department’s prerogative. Successful companies also encourage other business leaders to help strategically manage the technology. “We’ve talked about alignment between IT and business for years and it’s no longer theoretical,” Josh said. “It’s real and the stakes are extraordinarily high. You need to evolve your business with the times, otherwise you will become irrelevant.”
- Keep tabs on tech trends. The cloud is a good place to start. “If you haven’t figured out what’s going on with the cloud, go find someone between the ages of eight and fifteen and watch what they do – they’ll show you,” Josh said. Other trends to watch include mobile and IoT, which, through the power of the cloud, help businesses effectively integrate across departments. “We can’t have these silos of functionality that we had in the back office of 20 years ago—we have to have deep integration,” he said. “Look at the cloud as a new way of interoperating multiple functions and multiple people in ways that just weren’t possible before.”
- Rethink the CIO’s job description. The infiltration of technology in everyday business is also expanding the role of the CIO. According to Josh, with the help of Dynamics AX, CIOs have an opportunity to be an “ally and influencer of business change.” “[Dynamics AX] changes how CIOs and their business-level executives interact—suddenly the CIO is no longer the just the person who’s maintaining things and making them run, they’re part of the ultimate, full lifecycle solution, from order to cash, from customer engagement to customer success, and that’s a big shift.”
Watch the full video of Josh discussing the ERP market, the evolving role of CIO, and the new Dynamics AX in his breakout session at the Dynamics AX virtual launch event site. To view the video, register or enter your email address and click “Watch Now.”
For an in-depth view of Josh’s view on the new Dynamics AX, download the whitepaper he wrote earlier this year which takes a closer look at the key capabilities delivered by the new service.
This is the latest in a series of blogs about the new Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft’s flagship ERP solution in the cloud.
Past posts in the series:
The New Dynamics AX for Retail & Commerce Brings the Power and Intelligence of the Cloud to Retailers
It All Adds Up: New IDC Analyst Connection Discusses the Value of ERP
Is this the Future of Financial Data Visualization?
Dynamics AX Lends a Personal Touch to Hagler Systems
Microsoft Dynamics AX—Making People Love ERP
