Microsoft readies business network

Computerworld - KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- In addition to its mobile support for CRM software (see story), Microsoft Corp. is rolling out additional integration, performance and e-commerce enhancements to its lineup of business applications.
For instance, company executives detailed plans to release the Microsoft Business Network beta in the next six months, with commercial shipment planned in 2005. The network is a set of business, desktop and middleware applications that help companies automate their trading processes using Web services technology. The company currently has several customers in its early adopter program.
Among the features that will be added is the ability to support the transmission of electronic data interchange documents between high-volume partners, said Julio De Villasante, group product manager at Microsoft. At the lower end, companies will be able to access the application with a Web browser. There will also be tight integration with the Axapta ERP line of software, and Microsoft is reviewing creating similar hooks for its Navision, Great Plains and Solomon software.
Among the early adopters is Mikimoto Co., a pearl dealer based in New York and Tokyo that used the network to speed up order-to-cash processes by 50%, or to just one week.
Prior to this, processing orders coming in by phone or other channels was time-consuming, and sometimes a faxed order might be cut off in the middle, said Sanny Rahardja, manager of IS at Mikimoto. Now, order data can be sent right into the company's back-office Great Plains system. Mikimoto has brought in 11 customers who access the system through their own Outlook or Excel clients, and it plans to extend it to another 100 customers this fall.
Most other e-commerce hubs, such as online marketplace Transora Inc., have demanded that companies change the ways they do business, said Bruce Richardson, an analyst at AMR Research Inc. in Boston. But the Microsoft Business Network is more accommodating in that it allows users to do things, such as manage documents, in ways similar to what they have done all along.
"People want to work with what they're used to," he said.
Other product enhancements include:

• The FRX financial reporting software, Version 6.7, has been enhanced with a report manager to allow users to create a report "book" into which may be placed PowerPoint, PDF or other documents, which can then be distributed securely via e-mail or through a Web site. It's available now.


• The ERP Navision 4.0 software, which has been enhanced to speed up sales cycles and cut down implementation time. It's due in October.


• And the ERP Solomon 6.0 package, which will have a new user interface and seamless integration with Microsoft CRM. It's due out in July.