Technology & IT | Monday 20 April, 2015 4:00 pm |

The second Microsoft Dynamics Summit in Dubai has concluded with Microsoft and customers providing insights on how Dynamics tools that will enable organizations and its people to more effectively make sense of data, and make insights actionable at greater speed and accuracy. The summit took place at Jumeirah Beach Hotel and attracted hundreds of business leaders, investors, channel partners and end users from UAE and the Middle East to learn about the latest Dynamics programs, strategies, and cutting-edge technologies that can enable businesses to perform better.

The Microsoft Dynamics product line is designed to support business management and help companies make important business decisions with confidence. This includes products that encompass customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP). The Microsoft Dynamics portfolio includes: Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics AX and Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

Speaking at the Dynamics Summit, Karim Talhouk, Microsoft Business Solutions Lead Microsoft. Gulf said “The Dynamics Summit is a key opportunity for us to show companies in the Middle East and Africa region how our technology enables them to turn data into insights and to achieve true transformation in this exciting new era. Our efforts do not stop at inventing business tools and solutions but we go an extra mile to provide the necessary expertise geared towards delivering digital work experiences, transforming how people work and reinventing business productivity. We want all businesses to appreciate and take full advantage of Microsoft Dynamics to do more and achieve more by effectively engaging with and amazing their customers.”

Speakers at the summit included experts on Microsoft Dynamics who gave useful tips on effective implementation and how to select products best suited to the needs of the business.
Alya Harbi, Deputy Director Health Information Systems at the UAE Ministry of Health talked about the customer experience at the Ministry after the successful implementation of Microsoft Dynamics earlier this year. “Our strategic partnership with Microsoft in implementing Dynamics AX2012 at the UAE Ministry of Health is yielding positive results by way of enhanced coordination of services and collaboration among staff to help improve the quality of health services.  We have been able to streamline business process transformation and automation in areas of handling large data in hospitals for drug  and inventory management as well as piloting for billing system and biomedical management system  which all assisting us in boosting  service delivery to patient through increased employee efficiency,” said Harbi.

Ahmed Salama, CRM lead for Middle East & Africa gave a lecture on how to deliver an amazing customer experience by implementing Dynamics CRM online, while Karim Ramadan, Microsoft Business Solutions Lead for Middle East and Africa talked about how to run a dynamic business.
The summit also included presentations on Microsoft Dynamics for organizations from Public Sector, Real Estate, Financial Services, Manufacturing and distribution. Also Microsoft Gold Partners showcased solutions for Real Estate, Banking, Hospitality, Business Intelligence, ERP for Small/Mid-size organizations. Organizations such as the UAE Ministry of Health shared best practices around their use of Dynamics.

The CRM Spring ’15 release for Microsoft Dynamics CRM, expected by the end of the second quarter of 2015, will deliver significant performance enhancements, deepen interoperability with Office 365, and with new knowledge management enhancements, improve efficiency and collaboration between workers and businesses. The release also introduces Microsoft Social Engagement, the latest update to Microsoft’s social monitoring tool designed to enable people to monitor and engage in the context of their Dynamics CRM and/or Office application. The intelligence gained from this new solution will enable businesses to be better informed about what customers are saying across all social channels.

Microsoft has also recently delivered PowerBI Connectors for Microsoft Dynamics CRM and Microsoft Dynamics Marketing for out of the box integration. Sales, service and marketing professionals can analyze data with interactive dashboards and reports in Power BI, resulting in faster insights and decision-making for sales personnel.
Dynamics CRM tablet app can now be securely managed through Good Technology. Organizations will be able to enforce central policy management such as device wipe and password management as well as enable employees to access the rich capabilities of the Dynamics CRM tablet app while enforcing corporate policies for customer data.

Microsoft has also acquired IP from Fusion Software that is built on the Microsoft Dynamics CRM platform and adds “voice of the customer” capabilities to its CRM offerings. With new rule-based, multi-channel enterprise feedback management capabilities, companies will be able to include customer feedback into service, sales and marketing engagements including:
The Microsoft Dynamics Summit this year had three platinum sponsors that included Link Development – Linkdotnet LLC, Synergy Software Systems and Godrej Infotech Ltd.