Microsoft stirring up ERP market

Market researcher Gartner this week named Microsoft’s Dynamics AX enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution as the best bet for companies with 100-1000 employees.

The finding, contained in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant report, suggests a significant shake-up in the ERP market, which was previously seen as large and mature.

“We see this market as undergoing a ‘changing of the guard,’ with older, established systems with deep functionality being displaced by more modern and agile systems,” said Christian Hestermann, research director at Gartner and co-author of the report.

“As this change continues, Gartner concludes that only one offering qualifies as a leader in the market at this time: Microsoft Dynamics AX. The product is robust, it delivers low total cost of ownership (TCO) through integration with other Microsoft products, and, most importantly for the midmarket, Microsoft is adept at managing its channel of resellers.”

Tracey Newman, who heads the Dynamics business at Microsoft South Africa, says that while the Gartner report doesn’t translate into direct sales, it does confirm that the company has the right long-term strategy and products for midsized businesses.

Dynamics AX helps mid-sized and larger businesses to control costs, manage risk and increase employee productivity. Newman cites the Belgium-based Picanol Group, which has cut operating costs by 15 percent, reduced its built-to-order MRP processes from 50 hours to three hours, and has increased transparency across the global organisation through standardisation of its business.