Most modern businesses rely on an enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to support critical business services. If you’re in the market for a new ERP system or are looking to upgrade your current solution, it’s a good idea to have the help of a top Microsoft Dynamics 365 consultant. The Dynamics 365 ecosystem is vast and growing every day. Bringing in a Dynamics consultant who understands your business flows can be critical in ensuring you incorporate the right ERP technology into your business.
What Does a Dynamics ERP Consultant Do?
Planning the installation or revamp of an ERP platform is an enormous task. It takes a lot of time and resources, which you might not have to spare. Outsourcing the project to a company that specializes in helping businesses with Microsoft Dynamics planning and implementation can save you time and money.
Even if you’ve started the process, you can bring in a Microsoft Dynamics consultant at any point to help with your transition. They can pick up where you left off and find solutions that fit your business requirements. They can also be essential in ensuring that the needs of every department using the software are captured and incorporated into the process.
For example, your accounting department’s work process will require a different approach from your sales department. The last thing you want is to miss something critical during the initial phases, then have to spend extra money to make up for the oversight.
When executed correctly, a new ERP implementation can transform your business flows by improving efficiency and adding transparency to critical processes. In addition, having a Microsoft Dynamics 365 consultant guiding the project can help you avoid mistakes that lead to wasted resources and slow adoption rates across your organization.
What To Look for in a Microsoft Dynamics Consultant
The best way to evaluate potential Dynamics 365 partners is by assessing your reasons for turning to the software. For example, are you looking to improve how your customer service area functions or streamline financial operations? Do you find it difficult to know what’s happening within your warehouses or up and down the supply chain?
Knowing why you’re undertaking the project will go a long way in helping you identify which Dynamics 365 consultants are right for your business. Let’s look at other considerations to take into account when hiring a Dynamics consulting team.
1. Experience and Product Knowledge
There’s much more to the Dynamics 365 ecosystem than its ERP capabilities. Your consultant should understand how each of the components works. That way, they can help you decide which modules would fit your industry and help you streamline essential organizational functions.
It also helps to have a Microsoft Dynamics 365 consultant with experience in your industry. For example, what a healthcare organization requires will differ significantly from what a real estate firm needs. Make sure you’re getting a Dynamics expert who can expand upon your company knowledge and make decisions that fit your business model.
2. Ability to Leverage Existing Technology
Just because you may be purchasing a new platform or expanding an existing one doesn’t mean you need to throw out your previous technology investment. Instead, your CRM consultant should help you get the best investment return by showing you how to incorporate your existing platforms into your new system.
For example, if you already have a CRM that you’re happy with, your consultant should offer ideas on integrating it with your Microsoft Dynamics 365 platform. That’s where the experience of your consultant becomes extremely important. A knowledgeable Dynamics expert can determine the plugins available to facilitate information transfers between different solutions.
3. Supportive of Your Company’s Business Objectives
There’s nothing better than the feeling of getting your Microsoft Dynamics 365 installation or upgrade running as intended. However, your business needs will continue to expand, and you’ll need help ensuring that your Dynamics platform can support your growth.
Your Dynamics 365 partner should continue monitoring how well your company is progressing toward achieving organizational goals. In addition, they should continue offering support and advice on helping your platform scale to meet the changing dynamics of your company.
4. Good Communication Skills
Once you have your Dynamics 365 platform in place, you’ll need help encouraging the adoption of the solution among the workforce. Your consultant should step in and assist with training and support. The more you can increase a user’s comfort level with the new technology, the easier it will be to have them adapt to new work processes.
Another skill to look for is the ability of Dynamics 365 consultants to adapt their language based on the audience. For example, technical users might want more details about developing with the platform, while business users might want to know how to adapt the screens to fit their work processes. Consultants need to engage with users based on what’s required of their job role.
5. Problem-Solving Ability
It takes years of experience working on different Dynamics 365 projects to gain the knowledge needed to fit the platform into other business models. That’s why it’s essential to have Dynamics 365 experts on-hand who’ve encountered various real-world scenarios and understand what it takes to adapt the platform to fit each of them.
Your consultant should have a deep understanding of best practices that allows them to spot potential issues before they turn into problems that affect your implementation. In addition, knowing that you have experienced eyes watching each stage of the project can relieve stress for your internal project team.
An Experienced Approach to Business Transformation
Internet eBusiness Solutions (IES) knows what it takes to help organizations find the right platforms for their company culture. Learn how you can benefit from our experience and technical knowledge by speaking with one of our solutions experts.
