I recently contributed to Nigel Frank’s new white paper, Overcoming Business Continuity Challenges with Microsoft Dynamics, which has over 65 pages of advice and best practices from Microsoft Dynamics experts and MVPs.
Nobody could have predicted how the world would radically change in 2020, and the many ways in which our lives and businesses have changed due to the impact of COVID-19.
For instance, one of the major logistical issues that have come to the forefront for businesses is how to better optimize their systems for remote working. Many businesses have found it difficult to adapt on-premises applications and systems to accommodate the new reality of employees working from home.
Even businesses running cloud-based business solutions have run into problems, such as difficulties accessing and integrating multiple, disparate systems, and the additional security burdens associated with employees using their personal devices to access business applications.
The swift and unprecedented scope of this crisis has caught many businesses off-guard—and in search of guidance to improve business continuity today, and be better prepared in the future.
Overcoming Unprecedented Business Challenges with Microsoft Dynamics
Nigel Frank, a specialist Microsoft recruiter, recently invited me and many business and technology experts to contribute insights and advice to a white paper it has produced to help organizations that find themselves directionless in the wake of this crisis.
Its new report, Overcoming Unprecedented Business Challenges with Microsoft Dynamics, is based around the concerns Nigel Frank has identified with its client base over the past few months. As well as my contributions, the white paper contains insights from over 15 Microsoft experts and MVPs, providing Microsoft Dynamics customers with actionable tips from those who know the technology best.
Securing Microsoft Dynamics in the ‘work-from-home’ era
This increase in working from home means companies need to restrict or safeguard their high-risk applications and data. Times like this make your business much more appetizing to both internal and external threats, and people may target these high-risk areas a way to perpetuate fraud.
As explained by Alex Meyer, a Microsoft MVP in Business Applications, businesses must now have security at the forefront of their cloud strategy.
“We’ve had a number of our customers reach out because of the current climate; maybe security wasn’t at the forefront of their mind before, but now they want to make sure they’re following industry best practice, so they’re going back into their systems and employing more security features.
“We’ve seen a spike in training too, as customers look to make sure that they’re getting the most out of the tools they have and are utilizing that functionality.”
Scaling and cost-savings
One of the major benefits of using cloud technology is the ability to scale your subscriptions up and down based on usage, but you need to know which services are essential and which can be replaced, so you can mitigate costs in the short-term.
The white paper opens by highlighting eight tools to help optimize spending, which is particularly helpful if you’re also utilizing Microsoft Azure technology.
Also, the paper details a collection of 21 Dynamics add-ons that could have an immediate impact on your business. While many businesses are holding out for product reconfigurations and upscaling, you might find that one of these add-ons plugs the gap in the short-term until you can revisit your infrastructure.
You can download the white paper ‘Overcoming Unprecedented Business Challenges with Microsoft Dynamics’ in full (and at no charge) from the Nigel Frank website.
Source: Laurie McCabe’s Blog