Rapid and successful implementation of Dynamics 365 for Wholesale & Manufacturing

Dynamics consultant with practical experience 

Niels has been working with Microsoft Dynamics for fourteen years – and for the past ten of these, he’s been involved in implementations for the Wholesale and Manufacturing sectors. It’s a familiar world to him, given that he used to work in the sector himself. “Having first-hand, practical experience is extremely valuable if you’re a consultant,” explains Niels. “There’s no better way to understand companies’ business processes than to have actually experienced them yourself. You know exactly what the purchasing, production, and sales departments do. In my current role, I apply that knowledge in the projects I do for our clients. You also draw on your experiences various projects for future implementations.”

Accelerating ERP implementation with process decompositions

The MBS Wholesale and Manufacturing specialists don’t stop at just acquiring knowledge. “We’re great believers in converting that knowledge into concrete services,” says Niels. “For this sector, we did that by performing process ‘decompositions’, breaking problems down into smaller ones. We detailed the business processes of companies in the sector, then translated them into standard functionalities in Microsoft’s ERP package. After all, these processes are basically the same for most companies within the sector. And that means that we don’t have to start from scratch during an implementation, because we already know the generic business processes. So we can tweak the package to suit the client’s processes very quickly.”

Basic ingredients for success with Microsoft Dynamics 

As you’ve probably guessed, we don’t kick off our Microsoft Dynamics 365 implementations by requesting details of the client’s processes - but with a suitcase full of basic ingredients. “We offer a total package to companies who come to us. Our implementations are based on our business process decompositions combined with our standard configuration template. This is the starting point for discussions with the client. Together, we analyze whether we can automate the business processes based on the standard package. If that doesn’t quite hit the mark for their specific processes, we advise on how these processes can be automated – for example by adjusting the process slightly, or by implementing an extension (an ISV solution) to the standard package. We’ve often encountered the same challenges before, so we know how to solve them properly. That’s the great advantage of having many years of experience performing implementations for the same type of companies.”

Helping the client - and yourself - to grow 

Niels’ enthusiasm for his work as a consultant is palpable: “Every project is different, and that’s what makes this work so much fun. The business processes within the sector are very similar, yet every company is different. Processes run slightly differently, other problems crop up, or you have to deal with large volumes. That makes the work fun, varied, and challenging. Not only are you helping your clients, but you’re also growing in your role as a consultant.

“One project that has really stayed with me was the implementation at mateco; it was a huge roll-out across several countries. In my role as a solution architect, I was able to influence the entire solution, which was just incredibly cool.”