Microsoft has unveiled the latest version of its enterprise resource planning (ERP) software, Dynamics AX 2009.
The software giant announced the product in Dunkeld yesterday. It says it is targeted at the upper business and enterprise markets.
While AX has been on the market since 2000, the 2009 version features new models and expense monitoring. It also allows employees, from the executive suite down to the warehouse, to have access to business intelligence.
Jumana Helal, head of Microsoft Dynamics SA, says AX gives users the ability to control costs, manage risk and increase employee productivity. "Our vision of ERP is that it will start to prompt its users to take certain actions, instead of merely being a reactive tool that people use to pull weekly reports from."
Helal adds that traditionally ERP has been transaction-oriented, but a shift in technological thinking shows a move to a proactive process and workflow system.
AX 2009 also has the ability to translate diverse languages and currency. "Growing businesses are facing increasing pressure to meet global and local regulatory compliance. AX 2009 delivers features to limit risks and lower total cost of compliance," she notes.
AX 2009 provides communication with remote employees, customers and partners with Microsoft Unified Communications. The ERP software is also integrated with Microsoft SQL Server 2008, which can compress database size by 60% to 80%.
Frank Sauerbach, technology specialist for Microsoft Dynamics, says its flexibility is what makes AX 2009 distinctive. "Users can now set up their own workflows. We are currently trying to get into the public sector market, such as municipalities and non-profit organisations. We are delivering a lot of out-of-the-box functionality."
According to World Wide Worx strategy MD Steven Ambrose, South Africans are becoming more technologically aware and mobile, and the demand for flexible ERP has become more relevant in business.
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