Analytics & The Internet of Things | HSO: Microsoft Gold Partner

Your data offers a wealth of opportunities with data visualisation letting you create dashboards for insight and prognoses and monitor your most important company processes in real time. With data integration you can combine and integrate data from many different sources harnessing the myriad of datapoints the Internet of Things brings. Analytics also lets you follow your machines in real time, predict product maintenance, analyse your customers’ purchase amounts and offer even better services.

This big data offers endless possibilities for retail, wholesale, technical services and industry sectors; everything can be connected. Gathering data is the first step, but your goal is of course to get actionable insights from that data. To do this, you need a new data infrastructure and the right analytics software. It’s relatively easy to view data after the fact using dashboards and reports, however proactively using your data, with predictive models or machine learning for instance, is the next step.

What Microsoft Dynamics can bring you

In the world of manufacturing, a matrix of product variants, versions, changing specifications and time-to-market can put a lot of pressure on your business. Manufacturers also have to deal with global competition.

Where manufacturers of machinery and equipment traditionally focused on complete customer-specific development, modern industrial companies offer complete lifecycle support with a full-service approach. In addition to design, configuration and installation and repair services, more and more productions companies add preventive maintenance and rental service too.

Today’s consumers shop when and where it’s most convenient. Using new devices like tablet computers and smartphones, they extend “store hours” to 24/7. They share their experiences via Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites, extensively browse product websites, and check online customer reviews when deciding what to buy.

Brand loyalty now comes with a much greater expectation… the complete shopping experience. Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Retail provides customer engagement capabilities that include store operations, channel management, order management, marketing and care, and business intelligence and more back office capabilities like procurement and financial support.

The wholesale distribution market is dynamic and challenging. Today’s wholesale organisations need to transform themselves from traditional trading companies into information and service-oriented distribution businesses.

Customers are demanding lower prices, shorter delivery times and tailored systems and services with accurate, real-time information. They want to collaborate and communicate efficiently with their partners in the value chain. But even as wholesalers and distributors work to meet these increasingly complex customer demands, they also face the challenges of rising transport costs and margin pressure in an increasingly international business world.

It is vital for project and service driven organisations to keep tight control over their costs. To achieve this, they need real-time insight into the progress of a project, its budget consumption and the resources it uses.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 integrates all relevant processes within the organisation, including finance, project control, purchasing, human resources and customer relationship management as well as billable hours and budget administration. All information is immediately available, enabling you to carry out the detailed analysis and adjustments that ensure business agility.