DWRI Opts for Microsoft Dynamics

Design Within Reach Inc., a retailer of modern furnishings, has "extended its appreciation for cutting-edge, contemporary products to its business software," in company officials' words, to say that the San Francisco-based company is replacing its custom- built business management system with Microsoft (News - Alert) Dynamics AX.

DWRI chose Microsoft Corp.'s enterprise resource planning system over offerings from SAP (News - Alert) AG and other companies for "its easy implementation and system maintenance, overall features versus cost and ability to manage the rapid growth of the company's showroom, catalog and online sales," DWRI officials say.

Joe Martins, vice president of IT for Design Within Reach, repeats an often-heard comment made whenever companies decide further resistance is futile: By buying Microsoft products, "we don't have to be in the software development business."

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Find Solutions for Enterprises, SMBs & Service Providers at the INTERNET TELEPHONY Conference and EXPO West, September 1-3, 2009. Los Angeles, CA.

Microsoft Dynamics AX operates in three distinct tiers, each of which uses standard PC and network technology and standard Microsoft operating systems for both clients and servers. The way Microsofties explain it, the tiered design of Microsoft Dynamics AX "eliminates the need to replace or reconfigure the entire system when new components are added or changes made to specific tiers."

The ERP system developed and implemented by Microsoft Gold Certified Partner Tectura Corp. adds industry-specific features to the core Microsoft Dynamics AX system. These add-ons include functionality to support various order entry and other customer service-related business processes, along with Supply Chain Execution for Microsoft Dynamics AX, a Microsoft Industry Builder initiative product created by Manhattan Associates (News - Alert) Inc.

Last month Raymond James Financial, Inc., a U.S. financial services firm, selected Microsoft Dynamics CRM as its software of choice for customer relationship management, which means that the St. Petersburg, Florida-based company "now recommends that its nationwide network of more than 4,600 financial advisors adopt Microsoft Dynamics CRM as its primary customer relationship management tool," according to company officials.

Raymond James will initially offer 3,000 Microsoft Dynamics CRM licenses, but expects to increase the number to more than 5,000 in response to demand over the next two or three years.

Tim Eitel, chief information officer of Raymond James, said Raymond James advisors who took part in head-to-head testing to determine the company's preferred CRM product consistently chose Microsoft Dynamics CRM, "including advisors who had already personally purchased other products."

Features which helped to sell the brokerage of Microsoft CRM, according to company officials, included "greater efficiency and tight integration." Most of Raymond James' corporate technology systems run on Microsoft software, Microsoft SQL Server and the Microsoft Office system. Financial advisors can input and access customer data directly through Microsoft Office Outlook, a program they already use throughout the day.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMC (News - Alert) Net.  For more articles please visit David Sims' columnist page.

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