Technology deployment is essential to thrive and evolve in today’s business world. Companies willing to adopt cloud-based enterprise solutions are able to gain a competitive edge in the market and they have reported higher profit margins in recent years. A recent report from the Harvard Business Review points out that the deployment of cloud-based business apps has helped organizations to extend efficiency, increase innovation, and derive new insights into their processes.

Integrating an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to your e-commerce store will not only streamline the entire process but also lead to greater efficiency and higher profitability in business. However, choosing the right ERP for your business is a major challenge as each system comes with a set of advantages and complexities.

Designed for mid-sized and large organizations, Microsoft Dynamics AX has been one of the most powerful ERP solutions in the last few years. The latest offering from Microsoft, Dynamics 365, comes with more features and functionalities for streamlining business processes. Given its numerous benefits, most companies are contemplating migrating to the Dynamics 365 now. In addition, Microsoft has announced that it will end the support given to AX in the coming years. The numerous e-commerce business benefits arising from migrating to Dynamics 365 are expounded below.

Dynamics AX and Dynamics 365

Launched in 2002, Dynamics AX is a popular ERP solution from the Microsoft Dynamics product line. It is a feature-rich resource-planning tool that helps enterprises to organize, automate, and optimize their business processes. It is an adaptable business management tool that streamlines various processes like finance, HR, manufacturing, customer relationships, retail operations, etc. However, this ERP solution is officially retired now and is not available for new users.

Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations, previously known as Dynamics AX 7, is a completely cloud-based ERP solution with enhanced features for seamless user experience. Both Dynamics 365 and Dynamics AX are built with advanced business intelligence capabilities that help users to build user-friendly dashboards. Although the features look similar in both cases, many of the existing features and functionalities in Dynamics AX are available in its updated version in Dynamics 365.

The major difference between Dynamics 365 and Dynamics AX is that the former is available in the cloud, on-premises, or through hybrid deployment options. The latter, on the other hand, requires a server room and supporting infrastructure. In fact, Dynamics 365 Financials and Operations can be deployed and accessed anywhere, on any device, using an active internet connection. While CRM and ERP solutions are used separately in AX, Dynamics 365 offers a seamless transition between the two. In addition, Dynamics 365 can be seamlessly integrated with other Microsoft products such as Office365, PowerBI, etc.

Advanced Features in Dynamics 365

Besides enhanced functionalities and better security, there are various features that make Dynamics 365 a unique and superior ERP solution for enterprises. A few handpicked features available on Dynamics 365 include:

• Workspaces – This feature in Dynamics 365 allows users to personalize work centers with data, reports, and transactions, which lead to increased employee productivity.
• Relevant Search – Powerful and intelligent search engines help users find data anywhere from the global database instantly.
• Reporting – Dynamics 365 allows users to create highly intuitive business intelligence reports embedded in the interface.
• Powerful PowerBI – Powered by Microsoft Azure Cloud Platform for creating customized data charts and reports.

Advantages of using Dynamics 365 for E-commerce

Given its architecture and functionality, Dynamics 365 is one of the best-suited ERP solutions for e-commerce businesses. A few factors explaining why you should migrate include:

• Increased integration – Integrate CRM and ERP into a unified system.
• Operational Efficiency – Monitor operations and finances anytime, anywhere.
• Scalability – Azure-based SaaS automatically scales with business growth.
• Customization – Flexible modular architecture suitable for different business models.
• Cost-effective – Flexible licensing structure.
• Enhanced customer experience – Track and manage the entire customer lifecycle.
• Multimedia product catalog – Showcase products with multimedia and multilingual content.
• Better security – Enhanced tools to protect business and customer data.
• Budget management – Predict demand trends and optimize budgets.

Wrapping Up

Dynamics 365 is an excellent and highly adaptable ERP solution for enterprises, especially in the e-commerce sector. It integrates CRM, IoT, Business Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, and more. For forward-looking organizations, migrating to Dynamics 365 is an indispensable step as Dynamics AX support is ending.

Need assistance to migrate from Dynamics AX to 365? We can handle the Magento integration part of the migration! Get a personalized demo of our Magento Dynamics 365 integration platform.