Toward the end of November, 2014, Gartner published the latest iteration of its Magic Quadrant for Single-Instance ERP for Product-Centric Midmarket Companies.
In the overview diagram, Microsoft Dynamics AX is in an exposed position in the field of visionaries, and it’s also the most evolved ERP system in terms of completeness of vision.
Because of its advanced ability to execute, Dynamics AX edges close to the field of leaders.
Gartner—which created the term “ERP” in 1990—explains that this magic quadrant was developed for product-centric companies: manufacturers and distributors. In recent years, the boundaries between these two types of businesses have eroded.
– These companies use what Gartner calls operational ERP, with functions such as :customer and order management, manufacturing, distribution, inventory management, procurement, and others.
– In addition, they have typical back-office processes, including finance and HR management.
For the purposes of this ERP review, Gartner is not including companies that don’t make or distribute products and that use ERP only in an administrative way, in the back office.
The Gartner analysts also point out that midmarket companies can be at least as complex as larger enterprises and their operating environments.
For the purposes of the Magic Quadrant, “single-instance” ERP refers to companies using their ERP systems to support multiple business entities in different countries or geographies.
They also may operate several business units for different offerings. At the same time, they maintain cross-entity processes and a level of coordination.
Increased adoption by large companies
In discussing Microsoft Dynamics AX and its position in the Magic Quadrant, Gartner points out that the solution has found increasing adoption by large companies with thousands of users. Partners support these customers by extending the product with industry-specific capabilities, as Synergy has done for example in Project Manufacture.
According to Gartner, customers rate the quality, usability, flexibility, and scalability of Microsoft Dynamics AX highly.
While Microsoft Dynamics has relied on partners to help execute on its innovation strategy, a challenge exists in Microsoft’s limited “ability to service new opportunities with experienced direct or partner resources, especially for larger customers that expect industry and process depth and comprise [sic] extensive and complex requirements.” In this regard, Synergy Software Systems and our long term collaborating partners System Advisors Global and AxPact around the world allows us to provide a centrally managed global rollout with common practices and processes through established partners and contractual agreements. This brings the benefit of local knowledge and same time frame and language support with rates that benefit for this collaboration.
While the Magic Quadrant focuses on single-instance ERP, the analysts also mention that some companies may want to give their regional entities greater independence and autonomy, and enjoy the agility that can come with that. The Dynamics Ax server licensing approach that includes all Dynamics Ax modules means this is now feasible without punitive additional licensing costs.
