Middle East Business

Microsoft renamed its ERPs: Great Plains, Navision, Axapta, Solomon and MS CRM and now new names start with Microsoft Dynamics: Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Microsoft Dynamics AX, Microsoft Dynamics SL, Microsoft Dynamics CRM. In this small article we will give you highlights on Microsoft Dynamics family of products implementation, customization, user training in South East Asia: Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines as well as in China and Taiwan.

• English Language. Considering such country as Philippines, where English is commonly used in business documentation, Microsoft Dynamics GP, or former Microsoft Great Plains/eEnterprise is a good choice. At the same time Microsoft Dynamics NAV or former Microsoft Navision is also excellent option. The situation is similar to what we have on the US ERP market, when Navision vs. Great Plains selection is based on the functionality comparison between GP and NAV.

• Chinese Language. Microsoft Dynamics GP doesn’t support Unicode characters in its native interface – Microsoft Dexterity (former Great Plains Software Dexterity). If you are looking at the Microsoft Dynamics GP Business Portal – you are free to customize it and have it support Chinese. There is special utility, which allows you to intercept Chinese characters and enter them in Great Plains fat client/Dexterity forms. The functionality is very popular among Chinese food distributors in the USA – Chicago and Houston areas

• Taxes. Both Great Plains and Navision support both tax systems: Sale Tax based and VAT (Value Added Tax)

• Manufacturing. This is where you should compare two systems: Great Plains and Navision manufacturing module/granule. Great Plains Manufacturing is good choice for Discrete Manufacturing type, if you have process manufacturing – you should verify functionality and third party add-ons features.

• Localization. If the conditions of your local country require localization (tax and language specifics – very good example would be India), you should check with Microsoft Business Solutions in your country on the positioning of Microsoft ERPs. In general, when localization requires non-English/Spanish/French Canadian language – Navision is the recommended and usually localized. Axapta also is very adaptable and localizable and you will see Axapta as the option in the majority of cases.

• Non-Microsoft ERPs. In some cases and we know real life stories/examples international company, having Microsoft Great Plains implemented in the headquarters in the USA, decided to implement SAP Business One for its overseas manufacturing facility.

• Software Licenses Sale only. In South East Asia we see very strong IT departments and IT consulting market. When company is required to implement Microsoft Dynamics – it can do it in-house and all you need is software licenses sale.

• Local ERP Solutions. On the local markets, especially where government regulation takes place you can find local or regional ERP vendors. There are pluses and minuses of such systems: plus would be government reporting side. Minuses are from the control side – international company should have ERP reasonably controllable and the option to rely on local specialists only is risky.

You can always have us help you with the implementation & customization. Call us in US: 1-866-528-0577 , internationally: 1-630-961-5918, help@albaspectrum.com

Andrew Karasev is Chief Technology Officer at Alba Spectrum Technologies (http://www.albaspectrum.com) – Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains, Navision, Axapta MS CRM, Oracle Financials, SAP Business One and IBM Lotus Domino Partner, serving corporate customers in the following industries: Aerospace & Defense, Medical & Healthcare, Distribution & Logistics, Hospitality, Banking & Finance, Wholesale & Retail, Chemicals, Oil & Gas, Placement & Recruiting, Advertising & Publishing, Textile, Pharmaceutical, Non-Profit, Beverages, Conglomerates, Apparels, Durables, Manufacturing. We serve international clients Worldwide.