The Total Economic Impact of Dynamics 365 Finance

Experts in finance, operations, and production all agreed that the failure of an ERP
system would have catastrophic results for a business. Before starting digital activities, 
it was important to look at the company's financial, operational, and organisational structures.

A new era of computing has begun with the release of Microsoft's Dynamics 365 for Finance. 

It uses the power of the Microsoft Cloud to help companies of all sizes improve their 
global operations while keeping their current technology infrastructure safe.
Because of how important they are to digital business and how adaptable, 
AI-powered, and experience-driven they are, the term "ERP" has been replaced 
with the more futuristic "DOPs," or Digital Operational Platforms.

Why is the Research Important?

Forrester released the findings of a Total Economic Impact (TEI) study it had conducted 
for Windows to determine whether or not businesses might get a return on investment 
(ROI) by adopting Windows Dynamics 365. The study's findings are significant since 
many businesses are seriously considering making the transition from on-premises 
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions to cloud-based apps. This analysis will 
present the return on investment for a new ERP system. Finding the TEI is an important 
part of research that helps convince executives and other important people that the 
investment is worth it.

Objective 

The choice to invest in Windows Dynamics 365 Finance by organisations was made 
with consideration of elements such as cost, benefit, flexibility, and risk 
factor, the same elements that could affect the overall economic impact. 
The objective is to determine if the claim is reasonable. 

How it was done

Four companies with real-world experience using Dynamics 365 Finance were 
interviewed as the first step. Forrester then takes the information gleaned from 
the interviews and the firms' histories and creates a composite organisation 
and uses four fundamental elements of TEI in modelling the investment impact: 
benefits, costs, flexibility, and risks.
 
For the purposes of this analysis, the composite organisation is a retail and 
wholesale business with 50 retail locations, 100 wholesale customers, 2,000 workers, 
120 finance team members, and annual sales of $750,000. million.

Findings

Why do businesses choose Dynamics 365 Finance?

All of the companies that took part in the TEI 
study dealt with problems in their systems that were similar, such as:

1. Old ERP systems housed on-premises servers that required costly maintenance.
2. Customised solutions for specific needs
3. There is a dearth of standardised financial accounting as they follow 
diverse methods and infrastructures based on factors like geography, industry, and size.
4. Depending on manual procedures
5. Exclusive insider information
6. There is an absence of real-time visibility of financial growth.

Impact:
Companies were able to overcome the limitations of their old, individually 
customised ERP systems by utilising Dynamics 365 Finance. In doing so, 
it relieves the stress of work on finance professionals by doing away 
with the necessity for time-consuming and arduous manual operations. 
At the same time, it gives companies the tools they need to be creative and 
productive in a competitive market by helping them make better decisions 
based on real-time data analysis.

Areas of impact:
Productivity of the financial team
The use of Dynamics 365 Finance enabled the companies to centralise and 
harmonise their financial branches across all geographies and industries. 
Using real-time data and automation, finance departments were able to move 
some employees to work on more strategic projects without having to hire 
new people. Efficiency gains in the finance department are worth $2.30 
million over three years.

IT personnel productivity
The composites saved a substantial amount of time and money by 
adopting Dynamics 365 Finance as its primary accounting platform. 
To achieve this, a more feature-rich, less-customizable, and generally 
easier-to-maintain solution was implemented. This means that the organisation 
was able to reduce the burden on its IT and developer employees. Over the 
course of three years, the present value of increased productivity among 
IT personnel was $402,870.

Legacy maintenance
By replacing their antiquated ERP systems with cloud-based Dynamics 365 Finance, 
the companies saved a fortune. The transition to Dynamics 365 Finance cuts down 
on infrastructure costs , lowers the cost to scale with demand and eliminates 
financial auditing fees. By eliminating these maintenance costs, the organisation 
expects to save $3.52 million over the next three years.

Added Advantages 
Improvements in judgement and faster reaction times thanks to real-time 
data and knowledge; improved adherence to accepted norms and improved 
system dependability; through modularity, the Microsoft ecosystem can 
adapt to change in the future, all resulting in satisfaction among 
financial industry employees rising.

Conclusion
According to the findings of the analysis, migrating to Microsoft Dynamics 
365 Finance is a smart strategic and financial move. By moving their financial 
ERP to the cloud, these companies were able to review its role in the business, 
leading to improved decision-making based on real-time data and the agility to 
adapt to changing market conditions. Organizations saw greater productivity and 
cost savings as a result of simplified processes and the elimination of unnecessary 
infrastructure and solution expenditures.

Want to explore more about Dynamics 365 for Finance? Please connect with us now!


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