How does Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management Ensure Supply Chain Resiliency?

 Various organizations have to go through supply chain issues that can easily be addressed by technical advancements. However, due to certain industrial limitations and challenges, some businesses are unable to adopt technical advancements entirely.  

Some businesses might fail to get real-time end-to-end stock visibility in the supply chain. Whereas outdated technology can create a shortage of business continuity when there is a disruption or any other issue. There can be an inability to adapt to the rapidly changing dynamics without a suitable supply chain management system.  

Any latest technology that enables data-driven decision-making should center the strategy designing while coping with these challenges. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management is a modern and nimble, open platform that promotes businesses to do the exact thing.  

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management is a robust feature that comes with an incredible fulfillment optimization engine that seamlessly manages order complexities, while also ensuring end-to-end real-time visibility into each inventory and order stream.  

A survey has found out that the companies that ship products directly to the customers such as retailers, manufacturers, and distributors, face certain challenges in this area and believe in the need for digital transformation in their supply chain. An Intelligent Order Management ensures Supply Chain Resiliency, given below are some points delivering the same.  

Incredible Fulfillment Optimization 

There is a combination of factors causing these issues to arise such as e-commerce, marketplaces, call centers, and physical stores. Apart from this, there are a lot of fulfilling options such as distribution centers, supplier dropshipping, and logistics providers. And ultimately any location possessing inventory that allows them to pull from there to complete customer orders.   

The best part of this rule-oriented and event-driven infused technology is that it allows you to connect to any of these enterprise apps via straightforward API interfaces. As a result, the companies can seamlessly connect to their current order management system such as WMS and ERP hence allowing the client to experience a better flow while keeping up with their comfort.  

Robust Connectors  

One of the most interesting things about the Intelligent Order Management system is that it is a standalone SaaS solution without any other D365 application dependencies. It contains an open, interoperable and modular technical construction, so your business could benefit from an expansive ecosystem of order source management systems such as online mobile applications, online e-commerce, social platform as well as brick and mortar channels.  

One of the most significant uses of this program is that it allows its users to configure order intakes visually from one of the most common sources by influencing already built connectors in a no-code application while making quick integration and implementation a real thing.  

ShipStation Integration  

This ShipStation is a cloud-based e-commerce shipping platform specially designed to generate shipping labels. Users can automatically create labels with discounts, import e-commerce orders, send out shipping notifications, and resend shipping details to the order source. With the integration of ShipStation and Order Management, users can combine all of their orders and order sources within the same platform.  

When the user receives an order while selecting Shipstation for use, they can catch real-time delivery timeline and carrier service from the ShipStation with intelligent Order Management to provide users with visibility of shipment details.  

Tax Compliance 

Another great feature of Intelligent Order Management is its robust tax determination and compliance. This system enables you to connect to the third-party tax engines and automate tax calculation based on the product classifications, location’s regulations, files, and remit tax payments to jurisdictions. It can automatically omit tax from exempt sales while taking care of the exception documentation. You can pick from various pre-built partner connectors, Intelligent order Management allows your organization the medium to effortlessly scale tax order compliance globally for value-added tax, sales tax, lodging and occupancy tax, seller’s use tax and consumption tax, etc.  

Bottom Line  

Companies that ship direct-to-customer can heighten their supply chain resiliency with end-to-end visibility into their supply chain. In an order management solution, the digital transformation part comprises a fulfillment optimization engine. Microsoft Dynamics 365 Intelligent Order Management comes up with a robust Fulfillment system. Trident Information Systems is a Gold Microsoft Partner who has served multiple business ventures so far.

Contact us for further information

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The future of the Point of Sale: why retail is going mobile, contactless and more personalized

 Retail ERP Software / By Trident Information Systems

Despite the undeniable rise of online, physical retail and the experience that goes with it – going into a store and discovering new products, seeing, touching and testing them in person, trying them on, and asking a store associate for advice – remains critically important.  

Over the past decade, POS systems have evolved from a static cash register at the checkout point to a collection of valuable touchpoints that sit at the heart of the entire retail experience. Moving on, POS technology will move from a transactional role to one of consumer empowerment, bringing the shopping experience to wherever the customer wants it, however they want it.  

“What we’re seeing retailers deploy now is typically applications which run a little bit in the cloud, a little bit on a mobile device, perhaps on the associate’s device, perhaps on a fixed device, perhaps even on the consumer’s own device,” said George Lawrie, vice president and principal analyst at global research firm Forrester. “The technology is now in place to do that. But also to mine a terrific amount of information and to give people some contextual content depending on where they are, what time of day it is, what day it is – that’s making a terrific difference.”

Here are some ways in which the POS is evolving and how it is helping transform the customer experience for the better.

1. Moving the POS to the consumer’s device

Running a POS on a mobile device like a smartphone or tablet is already commonplace in the industry. And while retailers are still exploring the opportunities that this approach offers, they also recognize that more customers expect to be able to interact in the retail environment with their own mobile devices too.

UK retailer Marks & Spencer launched its Mobile Pay Go consumer app to beat long queues in its busy city stores and provide customers with a checkout-free payment option. Using the app, customers can purchase their lunch in under 40 seconds. 

“Making it as easy as possible for customers to come in, purchase our products and be on their way is hugely important to us,” said M&S Clapham Junction store manager Joe Erskine. 

Other retailers are taking a similar tact, introducing mobile POS in stores but also adding scan, pay and go functionality to consumer apps, putting the power of the transaction in their customers’ hands. Spar and Eurospar convenience stores in Northern Ireland introduced this type of mobile app so that customers can check whether items are in stock before they leave their homes, and build shopping lists ahead of planned store visits. But the convenience extends well beyond planning ahead. Using the app, they can be guided around the premises using aisle satnav, scan goods as they shop and check allergen, dietary and even sustainability information, such as the recyclability of each item’s packaging.

 

2. Cloud-based technology

Retail employees need to be able to access store transactions or sales data quickly from their devices wherever they are. Cloud technology is now widely adopted across the retail industry, also because it enables retailers to integrate customer, transaction and inventory data with omnichannel orders, and make all the data available in real time for store associates. This wealth of information also empowers retailers to deliver personalized brand experiences, offer endless aisle shopping, create offers that resonate with customers and optimize store fulfilment and inventory management. 

UK grocery retailer Waitrose is giving some of this functionality back to its customers: they can now build a basket in the cloud which can be accessed and added to on any device. It means the customer can begin the shopping journey on the mobile, adding the basics they know they need, then add more stuff on their laptop at home. Once they’re in store, they can scan more items in before they pay. At the same time, they know they’re getting the items for the best possible price as the same promotion engine runs across all channels. 

With consumer habits changing quickly, it’s important to have technology that keeps you ahead of the competition. A big advantage of cloud-based POS solution are the automated updates and upgrades. New features and functions are automatically added to the entire network as soon as they’re made available by the technology provider, enabling retailers to keep pace with change.

3. Personalizing the experience

A recent Epsilon survey of 1,000 US adults found that eight in ten want personalized offers and experiences from retailers. In another survey by Accenture, 91% of consumers said they tend to shop with businesses who know them and give offers and suggestions that are relevant to them.

Today, POS software can help you tailor the experience to the needs of each customer. For example, a POS with clienteling functionality allows you to identify customers who have a profile with you, enabling store associates to deliver highly personalized and relevant product advice.

Using machine learning (ML) you can take this a step further, and identify the products a customer will want to buy again in the future based on their past interactions. At the POS, then, an ML-powered recommendation engine can automatically generate a list of suggested products, which the store associate can use to make personalized recommendations. Intelligent retail will probably extend to more touchpoints in the future. Every time a customer shops in an Amazon Go store, for example, Amazon learns so much from their shopping behaviors to the point where it’s highly feasible in the not-too-distant future that they will be prompted to buy staples that they haven’t picked up recently or have recipes suggested to them based on items already in their shopping cart.

Hyper-personalized, dynamic promotions will likely become the norm. So when a customer scans a product, they could automatically be pointed to another item they usually buy which is on offer on the same aisle. Or if they input their dietary requirements and health goals, they could have alerts and guidance pop up on their device as they shop. 

4. Contactless tech

The Covid-19 crisis has accelerated adoption and development of contactless technology. Contactless payments have come of age: a recent survey by Rapyd found that the majority of consumers are concerned about handling notes and coins, and plan on using online and contactless payments only instead of physical currency. The contactless payment market is set to more than double in size in the next five years, according to estimates by Valuates Reports.

Contactless technology extends well beyond payments. US modern department store Showfields, which calls itself ‘the most interesting store in the world’, has developed the app Magic Wand to enable customers to interact with nearly every part of the store without touching anything. Customers can tap their phone on the ‘magic’ NFC tags throughout the store to learn more about the brands and products in front of them. Anything they want to buy goes into a virtual cart. Once paid for, products are packaged up and left at one of several pick-up points throughout the store. If the customer wants, the entire physical shopping experience can be digital and completely contactless, with their mobile device becoming the key touchpoint for both receiving information and finalizing the transaction.

Amazon’s Dash Cart incorporates a contactless POS within a smart cart. The Dash Cart delivers similar benefits to the cashierless Amazon Go stores, but doesn’t force businesses to commit the whole store to a ‘just walk out’ system. The Dash Cart uses a “combination of computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion” alongside support barcode scanning to identify items when they are placed in the cart. The cart beeps with approval when an item is successfully recognized and added to both the physical and virtual shopping basket. When they’re done, the customer simply takes their shopping and leaves, and their Amazon account is automatically billed. 

Retailers will need to get more creative than ever to succeed. Many are now waking up to the realization of how important it is to have digital options inside the store – both to attract people in and make their shopping experience as enjoyable, memorable and convenient as possible. Modern digital POS technology is increasingly intelligent and embedded into core business operations. It’s now up to retailers to embrace it and use it to ensure their in-store experience remains current, relevant and inviting.

 

Blog Reference: https://www.lsretail.com/blog/the-future-of-the-point-of-sale

 

 

Support & Implementation Plan for Business Central & D365

 Business Central Implementation / By Trident Information Systems

Introduction : Trident Help Desk

Enterprise Solutions – ERP, CRM, BI, and Business Portals – yield business benefits only when consumed efficiently by the uses As businesses grow and scale up, these systems require adaption, enhancements, occasional technical support and the users require access to consultant’s time and mindshare. 

This document provides the various standard support plans available to Trident customers.
Being on one of the support plan brings to a customer the following advantages:
Dedicated support & service delivery engineer.

• Dedicated Project Manager who’ll be working directly with your team
• Fast issue diagnosis and resolution recommendation
• Incident tracking in Jira
• Automatic response when a new incident is created
• Optimization of the existing processes
• Answering ‘How to’ ERP related questions
• Improving work practices through SOPs Automation of recurring tasks
• Release management & DevOps automation

Additional services charged separately

• System Health Check & report
• System Performance review & optimization
• On-site visit for support & training
• Enhancement and Customization
• New Report Development
• New Module Implementation 

Support Plans 

Trident offers various Support Plans to customers to choose from – based on the needs of the customer. Following are our standard plans for customers who are Indian organizations, for their Indian operations.

Plan A: Full Time Dedicated Resource

A dedicated resource is allocated for the customer who remains available 100% to provide the needed support. The scope of this plan includes addressing both Support needs as well as handling Change Requests. If a certain change request requires more resources (over and above the 1 dedicated resource), prior approval is taken from the customer for the additional effort and cost. The customer will be invoiced for the additional effort spent immediately. Under this model a named resource is available to the
customer.
Minimum tenure for this plan is 1 month.

Plan B: Shared Resource

Under this plan the customer commits to a minimum 5 days of support need per month. The need may come up at any time during the month, in one or more instances. In case the customer does not utilize all of 5 days during a particular month, the balance days are carried forward to the next month, but lapse at the end of every quarter (March, June, September and December). The scope of work in this case includes
both support and change requests. If the work identified requires more than the balance number of days for that month/ quarter, Trident informs the customer and takes prior approval for the additional effort and cost. This additional cost will be immediately invoiced. In this model the Trident consultant is shared with another Trident customer.
Minimum tenure for this plan is 3 months. 

Plan C: Time Package

In this model the Customer commits to 200 hrs of support need over a period of 12 months. Response time would be 1 business days after logging of the issue. The support resource will remain a shared resource. The contract period will fall due for renewal either at the end of 12 months period or utilization of hours budgeted.
Tenure for this plan is 12 months

Scope of Support

These Support Plans entitles the customer to avail support during normal business hours (Monday to Friday): 9.30 AM to 5.30 PM (excluding Trident/ public holidays). Support is predominantly from Trident offices and would be provided via e-mail/ Chat. Onsite support may be provided if the situation so demands – based on the merit of the issue – and on mutual agreement.

Methodology For Shared Support and Time Package

Support Activities for Level1, Level-2 and facilitation for Level-3

• Service Request (SR) Logging
• SR Request Diagnosis
• Resolution Conceptualization and Solution Build
• Review and Testing
• User Acceptance and SR Closure
• Reporting and Continuous Improvement

Trident Customer Support Portal

All support plan customers are required to use the Trident Customer Support portal for logging requests, and tracking progress. A single customer login is created and authorized users from the customer can log the issues directly on the site. Both the user and the support team will get informed through email about the issue logged. Tracking of the issue is done through the portal. User can specify the priority and severity of the issue and can also attach screen shots. We can generate periodic reports to monitor the status of
various issues.

Deliver faster, better service with self-checkout technology

Uncategorized / By Trident Information Systems

Self-checkout technology may be nothing new – but it’s hot news in retail. The global retail self-checkout market is expected to grow 10.3% year over year until 2024, Loss Prevention Media recently reported.

The ideal technology for busy consumers

This predicted growth isn’t surprising, if you consider some of the biggest consumer trends.

1. DIY

Do-it-yourself has become the norm for today’s consumers. From self-scanning one’s bags at the airport, to booking massages, treatments and medical appointments online, to self-management of personal finances on phone apps, the tendency to DIY has spread to most facets of life. Across ages, genders and geographies, there seems to be a shared preference for figuring things out on one’s own. Not only: many would rather interact with machines than with people. A recent consumer survey by SOTI found that as many as 66% of shoppers prefer using self-service technology over having to ask a salesperson.

McDonald’s recently decided to implement self-serve kiosks, machines where people can order their meal using a screen, in all its 14,000 U.S. locations. The QSR giant tested these machines in selected restaurants, and noticed that sales were consistently higher at the machines than at the manned tills. The reason? Apparently, people are more likely to supersize their portions when a (non-judgmental) machine, rather than a staff member, is taking the order.

2. Rushed lives

Today’s consumers lead busy lives, and have no time to waste. They are used to getting what they want (from information to communications to products) instantly, with a click. And when they shop in-store, they expect to do it at their own pace. They may wish to take their time picking out items – but once they are done, they want to speed through checkout, and be on their way. According to a survey by Box Technologies and Intel in the UK, 90% of shoppers actively avoid stores with long queues. 70% even said they might not go back to a store with long lines!

As self-checkout terminals tend to be more compact than traditional tills, shifting to this technology means retailers can replace one manned till with multiple self-checkouts. It’s a smart way to reduce lines without having to increase the retail space. “Even if shoppers can take longer to scan products than staff members, the retailers who have implemented this technology by LS Retail have been experiencing shorter lines, and seeing more transactions per hour per square meter,” says Hilmar Vilhjalmsson, Product Owner for the self-checkout systems at LS Retail.

3. Smaller hypermarket baskets

Remember the days of the big Saturday shopping trip with the family? Forget them. They are gone. Across the globe, consumers drop by at the supermarket multiple times per week, and buy just a few items at a time. According to global research done by Dunnhumby, today more than 60% of hypermarket baskets contain six or fewer items. The tendency is visible across the globe: small basket visits in hypermarkets are predicted to increase 3% year over year in Asia, 7.5% in Europe, and 11% in Latin America.

Smaller baskets are ideal for self-checkout machines, as these have been shown to deliver the highest time savings when baskets of 10 items or less.

4. Increasing cost of labor

According to Wells Fargo, the three industries that are most affected by rising labor costs are healthcare, finance, and retail. To maintain a healthy revenue without increasing prices – which is not advisable in the era of Amazon – alternative solutions are needed. That’s where self-checkout machines come in. In a traditional setup, you need one employee per till, but with self-serve machines, one staff member can monitor several tills at once. That’s not all. With manned checkouts, one staff member must be at or by the till even if there are no customers – waiting, in case someone shows up. With self-checkouts in place, there’s no need to waste your employees’ time. He or she can use the off-peak hours to receive products, restock the shelves, or advise customers. And if anyone needs to check out quickly, the machine is always active.

Overcoming misconceptions

If self-serve machines fit so well with today’s consumer and market trends, why has their uptake been so slow?

In the past few years, many retailers have expressed misgivings on self-service technology. Some of the most common concerns include:

1. High cost of hardware.
2. High cost and low usability of software.
3. Shrinkage control. Different factors, from scanning the wrong product, to missing an item, to intentional theft, can lead to lost inventory. It has been argued (although inconclusively) that shrinkage is more frequent in self-checkout lanes.
4. Concerns over user acceptance. Some retailers worry that their customers won’t want to use machines, because they are too complicated, or simply because they’d rather have an employee serve them and take care of their needs.

Although these have, indeed, been challenges in the past, those times are now behind us.

1. Slashed hardware costs

Until a few years ago, self-checkout required special hardware, which meant a high upfront investment. Today, this cost can easily be minimized. For example, one of the most expensive pieces of the hardware is the cash-handling part. The question is, do you need to implement self-checkout machines that also accept cash? Ten years ago, six out of ten transactions were cash. Today it’s three in ten, and the number is still decreasing, Forbes reports. A self-checkout till that only accepts card payments, paired with manned tills that take all sorts of payments, can be a cost-effective solution.
If you don’t sell grocery, and therefore don’t need scales at the till, you have even more options for saving on hardware. For example, some IKEA stores in the Nordic and Baltic countries set up effective, low-cost self-checkout registers using a standard computer screen, a barcode scanner and a receipt printer, and IKEA furniture. That’s all! No special hardware – and actually, no special software, which takes us to our next point.

2. No extra software expenses (if you select the right system)

The checkout system used in these IKEA stores doesn’t have a specific interface. As a matter of fact, it is not designed for self-service. The customers check out using the same POS system that cashiers use at the manned tills – LS Central. The best part? This option has proved very popular with shoppers. Which goes to show that if you select the right POS solution – one which is so easy to use, you don’t need any training at all – you can get more benefits out of it than you might expect.

3. Managing the risk of shrinkage

There is a lot of discussion on the risk of customers cheating or stealing at self-checkout machines. Despite all the talk, it’s not yet clear if, and how much, self-checkout affects rates of shrinkage. After all, employee theft is also a factor to consider. For concerned retailers, what matters is that you can take preemptive steps to minimize the risk of fraud.
Some of the best practices include:

• Having a staff member control the self-checkout stations
• Using a camera to monitor the area
• Using scales, which check the weight of the purchase against the expected weight, in combination with an intelligent camera system that can recognize the items being scanned. This kind of system will, for example, detect if a shopper is trying to pass an avocado for an onion, or a PlayStation 4 for a watermelon (this actually happened in France recently. The guy was caught.) If the scanner can’t match the image to the barcode or selected item, the system will alert a staff member.

This technology is great not only to prevent fraud: retailers can also use it to help shoppers find the right item quickly, as the software can for example suggest possible matches in case of non-barcoded items like fruits and vegetables.

4. Users are ready

Today’s customers are not simply ready. They are asking for these options. In the recent report “Store of the future” by electronics provider Phononic, 89% of respondents said that it was important for grocery stores to use technology to make checkout faster. A surprising 79% predicted that, within five years, supermarkets will be mainly self-checkout. And if you have customers who still like to be served, why not give them the option to choose? Self-checkout technology can easily be implemented alongside your existing one, as an extra service. That’s what Kronan, a supermarket chain in Iceland, has been doing – with great success, and high levels of satisfaction among both customers and staff members.

Giving control back to the consumer

Perhaps the most important feature of self-checkout is that it gives consumers a feeling of control.

Customers can check out their purchases at their own pace. And even if this doesn’t mean they will do it quicker than a cashier would, the feeling of saving time can be enough to make customers happier.

Ultimately, what really matters to modern consumers is having the option to shop, pay, queue, leave, how, when and as they prefer. According to research by RIS, today, the most successful stores are those that manage to strike a balance between full-service functions and self-service options. You may think this is not what your customers want – but why not let them choose?

If you would like to implement self-service technology in your store with LS Central, contact us. Our experts will be happy to discuss the multiple options for setup and architecture the system offers.

Manufacturer unifies data and gains agility in finance and supply chain with Dynamics 365

 Microsoft Dynamics 365 / By Trident Information Systems

Bel Fuse designs, manufactures, and markets electronic circuits products at 24 manufacturing locations across North America, Europe, and Asia. The company’s existing enterprise resource planning solution was highly customized and expensive to maintain, so it decided to deploy Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance and Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management. Bel Fuse unified data and can now more easily manage its supply chain operations and finance processes, gaining more agility to respond quickly to changes in the market or its suppliers.

“With Dynamics 365, we save nearly USD2 million per year in IT service and support fees compared to our previous, highly customized solution.” Mark Hodkinson: Vice President of Finance for the Bel Power Solutions Group

Essential step in the supply chain

A typical consumer might interact with Bel Fuse products and not even know it. The manufacturer makes the components that power, protect, and connect electronic circuits in products we use every day. Bel Fuse is usually in the middle of the supply chain, relying on smaller parts from its suppliers before passing components on to the manufacturers that create finished products.

Founded in 1949, the company has grown significantly in the last 20 years through acquisitions. It has seven business groups, including Bel Power Solutions, which it acquired in 2014. Bel Power Solutions makes the power conversion products for server and storage networks at large server farms and in industrial products like the power sources in hybrid electric vehicles and trains.

To manage its enterprise resource planning (ERP) processes, Bel Power Solutions used a legacy version of Oracle that was highly customized and difficult to update. The version was outdated and the month-to-month costs and support for the solution were expensive.

With different business units using different ERP systems, Bel Fuse wanted to find an affordable solution to unify the company’s finance and operations processes, starting with Bel Power Solutions. Bel Fuse also needed a solution that would support its material requirements planning (MRP) process, a production planning, scheduling, and inventory control system to manage its manufacturing processes.

“Our MRP processing goes in both directions—we require a full dataset and forecasting of what’s coming to us and what’s going out,” says Scott Hasterlik, Director Global IT at Bel Fuse. “We have power assets with 500 components and 65,000 SKUs, so we needed a robust solution to share nonstandard information quickly.”

An integrated solution for finance and operations

After careful evaluation, Bel Fuse found that Microsoft Dynamics 365 had the right capabilities at the right price for the company’s needs. With Dynamics 365, Bel Fuse had a single system for the first time, the ability to report globally, and a solution that was intuitive to use and easy to add users.

Bel Fuse uses Dynamics 365 Finance to automate its financial operations, monitor performance in real time, predict future outcomes, and make data-driven decisions. For operations, the company deployed Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management, which includes an MRP function and AI to improve visibility across its global supply chain and to improve manufacturing productivity.

To aid the quick, seamless deployment process, Bel Fuse worked with Flintfox, a Gold competency member of the Microsoft Partner Network. “Flintfox jumped in, understood what we wanted to accomplish, and helped us move forward on budget,” says Hasterlik. “Flintfox has been a fantastic partner and is still our partner of record.”

A wide range of Bel Power Solutions employees now rely on the Finance and Supply Chain Management business applications. Users include staff in customer service, quality assurance, demand and product returns, manufacturing and supply chain ordering, accounts payable, accounts receivable, and engineering. “From decision makers to factory floor managers, everyone is working in Dynamics 365, staying connected and accessing valuable data,” says Stefan Naude, General Manager, Slovakia, at Bel Fuse.

Reduced costs, disparate systems eliminated

Bel Fuse accomplished its central goal—to reduce the high costs of its previous ERP system while bringing data together in one solution. The company built the capacity it needed without a lot of customizations, helping ensure that the solution would stay flexible in the future. “With Dynamics 365, we save nearly USD2 million per year in IT service and support fees compared to our previous, highly customized solution,” says Mark Hodkinson, Vice President of Finance for the Bel Power Solutions Group at Bel Fuse.

Bel Fuse also reduced costs because it now has the tools to fulfill more of its own finance needs internally. For example, a Bel Fuse engineering and distribution site in Italy previously paid an outside firm to do its accounting. “It was easy to move the Italy site into Dynamics 365 and transfer all that work internally to our team in Slovakia,” says Hodkinson. “Now our own team manages the facility’s day-to-day finances even though they aren’t located in Italy. With a common system, we have better access to our own internal talent.”

Increased visibility and agility

With Dynamics 365, Bel Fuse gained a more global view of financial data and can perform more accurate forecasting. “I always view orders and revenue from a global perspective because the locations are all connected and have so many intercompany transactions,” says Hodkinson. “I rely on Dynamics 365 to help me make sense of complex financial histories to stay on top of complicated billing and payment processes at multiple sites.”

With ERP data now centralized and easy to access in the cloud, Bel Fuse can respond with more agility to complex, changing circumstances. When employees in Italy, China, and other countries needed to work from home during the COVID-19 crisis, the company was able to effectively run remote finance and supply chain operations. “We kept all our finance functions moving forward even though we don’t have anyone physically in the office,” says Hodkinson. “We were impressed that our team was able to get everything done while working from home for the first time, and I think that speaks to how intuitive Dynamics 365 Finance was for our team.”

As a mid-chain supplier, Bel Fuse is committed to continuing its operations on time and not becoming a bottleneck in the process. With the MRP functionality in Dynamics 365, the company has a deeper, more precise view into its supply chain and more flexibility when its suppliers face disruptions. Employees use self-generating reports to review sales orders and purchase orders and to track factory production.

Source : https://customers.microsoft.com/en-us/story/799549-bel-fuse-manufacturing-dynamics-365