Supply Chain And Procurement Optimization

Evidence and data. Interviewees and survey respondents reported that their organizations saw significant reductions in inventory waste and scrap costs after implementing Dynamics 365 ERP. The interviewees reported a number of ways that Dynamics 365 ERP optimized their organizations’ inventory costs:

• Interviewees and survey respondents reported that their organizations leveraged integrated Dynamics 365 ERP workflows and real-time data to improve order accuracy, reducing scrap costs associated with incorrect or duplicate orders. The IT executive at a manufacturing firm stated: “We used to have issues [with order accuracy], especially with engineer-to-order products tailored to specific customer requirements. Sometimes the wrong specs like color or length would go down the line, and we’d end up scrapping the finished product. … If we look at the number of such instances, we’ve reduced them by roughly 50% [with Dynamics 365 ERP]. That improvement in order accuracy saves us $3 million to $4 million per year in scrap costs.”
  The same interviewee went on to say: “[Dynamics 365 ERP] helps ensure load accuracy. We use the Load Planning Workbench to build and validate each load, making sure what we’re shipping to customers is correct. We’ve seen real improvement in the accuracy of our auto shipments.”

• Among enterprise survey respondents whose organizations use the Supply Chain Management module, 62% agreed that their organization used Dynamics 365 ERP to improve demand forecast accuracy and reduce inventory waste or spoilage compared to just 12% that did not experience this.

• By centralizing sourcing, the interviewees’ organizations eliminated costly purchases from unapproved vendors, cutting material costs. The IT executive at a manufacturing firm described the benefit of consolidating sourcing onto Dynamics 365 ERP: “We were able to gain visibility across different groups and see how much we’re procuring from each supplier. That visibility has helped us negotiate volume discounts. Previously, we didn’t know which group was buying what or how much from a supplier. Now, we can see the data, and that’s given us leverage, both in terms of transparency and in discussions with suppliers. … It’s saving us a few million dollars per year.”

• Among enterprise survey respondents whose organizations use the Supply Chain Management module, 56% reported that their organization reduced procurement expenses by using Dynamics 365 ERP to consolidate vendors or identify cost-effective suppliers compared to just 18% that disagreed.

• Meanwhile, 56% of the same survey respondents agreed that they measured a reduction in inventory carrying costs by using Dynamics 365 ERP to lower storage costs with just-in-time inventory (18% did not).

• Of the same respondents, 59% agreed that Dynamics 365 ERP enabled shipping or logistics cost savings compared to 15% that disagreed.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey responses, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• As an organization with a high manufacturing presence, the composite organization’s annual cost of goods sold (COGS) is $3 billion.  

• Each year, scrap costs and inventory waste amount to 4% of the composite’s total COGS.

• With Dynamics 365 ERP, the composite organization reduces scrap costs and wasteful procurement spending by 5%.

• Using a phased implementation process, the composite organization realizes 33% of the cost savings in Year 1 and 100% of the cost savings in Years 2 and 3.

Risks. The inventory cost savings from using Dynamics 365 ERP will vary depending on:

• The total COGS of an organization before implementing Dynamics 365 ERP.

• The order accuracy of an organization and the degree to which missed orders result in scrap costs.

• The amount of wasteful procurement spend before adopting Dynamics 365 ERP and the degree to which an organization can negotiate lower prices with its vendors.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 15%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $9.6 million.

Warehouse And Supply Chain Time Savings

Evidence and data. Interviewees and survey respondents shared that their organizations achieved significant time savings in warehouse operations after implementing Dynamics 365 ERP. Automated processes reduced manual tasks for warehouse staff — such as inventory checks, picking, and shipment scheduling — through features like barcode scanning and automated replenishment. Warehouse supervisors benefited from real-time dashboards and streamlined approval workflows, reducing time spent on oversight and exception handling. Interviewees and survey respondents provided a range of specific warehouse time savings use cases:

• The global IT manager at a consumer goods manufacturer described how their organization used Dynamics 365 ERP to leverage real-time inventory data and procurement workflows to automate material requirements planning (MRP) processes: “Moving from our legacy system to Dynamics 365 ERP cut our MRP scheduling time from [a range of] 4 to 6 hours to under 10 minutes. … With Dynamics 365 ERP, MRP runs daily and is fully automated, so we no longer need employee involvement.”

• The same interviewee went on to say that Dynamics 365 ERP Supply Chain Management improved the efficiency in order flow by automating critical steps and speeding up receiving, picking, packing, and shipping. The interviewee estimated the improvement, stating, “We’ve gone from 30% efficiency in order flow to 95% or more with touchless transactions.”

• The global IT manager at the consumer goods manufacturer also described the FTE impact of these changes in one of their warehouses: “One of our shipping and dispatch teams run three shifts with about 40 people. Dynamics 365 ERP helped us rebalance 14 FTEs in that area, and we have automated processes that used to require manual intervention. It’s a major efficiency gain.”

• The IT executive at a manufacturing firm noted how their warehouse supervisors saw additional time savings as Microsoft dashboards and approval workflows helped supervisors quickly resolve issues and cut cycle times. The interviewee added: “Our 150 warehouse supervisors spend less time working with the [ERP] system and more time making products. It’s a 20% to 30% time saving.”

• Among enterprise survey respondents whose organizations use the Supply Chain Management module, 82% reported that their organization automated warehouse operations (including barcode scanning, picking, packing, and shipping) with Dynamics 365 ERP compared to just 3% that disagreed.

• Meanwhile, 59% agreed that they improved production planning and reduced delays in manufacturing windows compared to just 12% that disagreed.

• With the improvements in productivity, the interviewees’ organizations accelerated delivery timelines. In the survey, 62% of respondents agreed that their organization accelerated order fulfillment with just 15% disagreeing.

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey responses, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• Prior to deploying Dynamics 365 ERP, the composite organization has 50 warehouse supervisors that are reliant on manual processes.

• After deploying Dynamics 365 ERP, these warehouse supervisors experience 25% time savings.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for a warehouse supervisor is $95,000.

• The composite organization rolls out Dynamics 365 ERP to 700 warehouse operations staff who previously relied on manual picking, packing, and shipping processes.

• With Dynamics 365 ERP, warehouse operations staff experience a 15% productivity lift.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for a warehouse operations staff member is $56,000.

• Forrester applies a productivity recapture of 50% to account for the fact that not all time savings are redeployed productively.

• Using a phased implementation process, the composite organization realizes 33% of the time savings in Year 1 and 100% of the time savings in Years 2 and 3.

Risks. The warehouse time savings will vary depending on:

• The prior technology and processes and the degree to which an organization’s warehouse relied on manual processes.

• The skill and capacity of an organization’s personnel whose day-to-day activities are impacted by Dynamics 365 ERP.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for warehouse operations staff and supervisors.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $6.0 million.

Finance And Accounting Productivity Increase

Evidence and data. Interviewees and respondents reported that their organizations’ finance and accounting teams saw significant time savings after consolidating legacy processes onto Dynamics 365 ERP, eliminating the manual data pulling and reconciliations associated with their fragmented legacy systems. The interviewees and survey respondents noted several specific efficiency lifts:   

• Reporting time savings. Interviewees and survey respondents noted that financial reporting was far more efficient with Dynamics 365 ERP than with their legacy systems because employees were able to centralize data in a single system with built-in analytics capabilities. The VP of IT at a software solutions provider described how the reporting process improved with Dynamics 365 ERP: “[Our financial reporting team] is now getting more accurate and detailed information sooner than they did previously. It used to be very last minute, where they would get the reports to management immediately before the earnings call. Now, they’ve got a few weeks to prep for earnings calls.”
  Interviewees also described how integrated Microsoft capabilities, such as Power BI, led to additional reporting time savings. The global IT manager at a consumer goods manufacturing firm reported: “Financial reporting is easier to manipulate now. We can make changes, rerun reports, and deploy Power BI dashboards across the company without heavy IT involvement. That flexibility has been a big win for us.”
  Among enterprise survey respondents whose organizations used the Finance module, 83% agreed that Dynamics 365 ERP improved financial report generation and analysis compared to just 4% that disagreed.

• Faster book closing. Interviewees and survey respondents noted that prior to Dynamics 365 ERP, the month-end closing process entailed manually reconciling accounts and checking to see what had been paid. With Dynamics 365 ERP, they were able to automate reconciliations, reducing manual effort and improving accuracy. An IT executive at a manufacturing firm stated: “Our month-end closing process used to be highly manual. It typically took about seven days to complete everything, from closing the books [and] reconciling accounts, [to] ensuring receivables were recorded and invoices were paid. Now, we’ve reduced that to about four days. So, while it still takes a few days, it’s a noticeable improvement over our previous process.”
  The VP of IT at a software solutions provider agreed that Dynamics 365 ERP accelerated the month-end book closing process: “Our book-closing process went from 10 to 15 days down to eight days. We’re spending less time grinding through the task of closing the books and more time looking at the numbers, doing investigations, changing the way a business process works to say, ‘Let’s do it this way to be consistent with the rest of the company.’”
  Among the survey respondents, 70% agreed that their organization had measured a reduction in days to close its books compared to just 9% that disagreed.

• Internal time savings on audit- or compliance-related tasks. Interviewees and survey respondents noted their organizations measured a reduction in time required for audit-, compliance-, or tax-related tasks. The VP of IT at a software solutions provider noted that Microsoft’s AI capabilities played a major role in accelerating audit processes: “As a publicly traded company, we’re audited by an organization that has started to use AI in their audits. With Dynamics 365 ERP connected to Microsoft Fabric, all our data flows into Fabric, allowing us to build predictive analytics and machine learning models on our Dynamics 365 ERP data. These models help us flag general ledger transactions that look like anomalies. This lets us get ahead of auditors — investigating issues, gathering evidence, and being ready to explain why a transaction appears unusual but is valid.” The same interviewee went on to estimate that their internal compliance team saved 40% to 50% of their time on audit tasks with Dynamics 365 ERP.
  An IT executive at a manufacturing firm agreed that their organization saw time savings related to auditing and tax work: “Tax accuracy is significantly improved. We have both internal and external audits, and suddenly with the reporting that we have, there is a time saving there. It’s definitely more accurate and saves time in the auditing process.”
  In addition to the time savings, 53% of enterprise survey respondents whose organizations used the Finance module agreed that Dynamics 365 ERP helped reduce audit fees or compliance penalties compared to 23% that disagreed.

• Finance and accounting transformation with Microsoft’s AI capabilities. Across the board, interviewees reported that consolidating onto Dynamics 365 ERP made their finance and accounting teams more AI-ready, with some teams already recognizing significant productivity lifts from AI features compatible with the Dynamics 365 ERP platform. The VP of IT at a software solutions provider described: “We’ve consolidated our 10 different ERPs into one, and now all of our data is in Microsoft Fabric. We’ve built the foundation, so now we’ve got to see what AI capabilities Microsoft rolls out and where we can leverage them.”
  The same interviewee described some of their nascent AI use cases: “[Already], we can see that the analysis and data aggregation we’re able to do in Microsoft Fabric has been really powerful. We’ve developed general ledger transaction anomaly detection, machine learning, and a predictive analytics engine. We couldn’t have done that without Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI.”
  The service director at a government agency also anticipated significant time savings from AI features like Copilot and process automation: “We’re starting to explore how AI and Copilot can transform our finance environment in Dynamics 365 ERP. Microsoft has introduced Copilot and process automation, and we’re looking at ways to automate routine reconciliation tasks. The goal is to use AI to streamline processes and free up time for higher-value work.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey responses, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization dedicates 80 employees to financial reporting and analysis. After consolidating from multiple ERP systems to Dynamics 365 ERP and automating manual reporting tasks, these employees experience time savings of 25%.

• Prior to implementing Dynamics 365 ERP, 30 of the composite organization’s employees spend a portion (35%) of their time managing the month-end book closing process. With Dynamics 365 ERP, these employees see time savings of 40% on book-closing processes.

• The composite organization has a team of 10 finance employees in charge of managing internal audits and compliance-related tasks. With Dynamics 365 ERP, this team sees a productivity lift of 40%.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for a finance and accounting employee is $125,000.

• A 50% productivity recapture is applied to account for the fact that not all time savings are redeployed productively.

• Using a phased implementation process, the composite organization realizes 33% of the time savings in Year 1 and 100% of the time savings in Years 2 and 3.

Risks. The finance and accounting efficiency savings will vary depending on:

• The prior technology and processes and the degree to which an organization’s finance and accounting teams relied on manual work.

• The skill and capacity of an organization’s personnel whose day-to-day activities are impacted by Dynamics 365 ERP.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for employees on the finance, accounting, and auditing teams.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $3.0 million.

Sales And Order Management Efficiency

Evidence and data. Interviewees and survey respondents shared that Dynamics 365 ERP automated many key order management workflows, such as order entry, invoicing, and payment tracking. Interviewees noted that the platform’s integrated workflows reduced manual data entry and eliminated redundant steps, enabling their sales teams to convert quotes into orders in a fraction of the time. Interviewees and survey respondents emphasized that these capabilities not only improve order-to-cash cycles but improve order accuracy:

• Interviewees highlighted that automated invoicing eliminated repetitive tasks and ensured compliance with billing standards, freeing up time for accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) staff. The IT executive at a manufacturing firm reported: “The invoice capture module has been really helpful to automate invoices that previously were manually processed. Now the bill comes in, and it gets entered into Dynamics 365 ERP. There are still certain invoices that get stuck and need to be manually processed, but overall, it’s roughly 30% time savings.”
  The global IT manager at a consumer goods manufacturing firm estimated even greater time savings: “About 65 to 70% of our big-box accounts now auto-invoice, eliminating manual checks and improving accuracy. … We’ve also rebalanced five FTEs on the accounts receivable side by automating deductions and collections. That’s a big improvement for a team that used to spend hours manually reviewing every order.”
  Among enterprise survey respondents whose organizations used the Finance module, 61% agreed that their organization automated invoice processing, while 17% disagreed.

• Interviewees and respondents shared that automating order entry with Dynamics 365 ERP allowed their teams to save time on manual entries while also improving order accuracy. The global IT manager at a consumer goods manufacturer described the value of automated order entry: “Automation in Dynamics 365 ERP means that less than 5% of our orders are entered manually now. … We went from 30% automated order entry to 95%, reducing errors and chargebacks. Order accuracy has improved dramatically.”

• The same interviewee added that their organization automated the process of reserving inventory to specific orders, leading to major time savings for their team, stating, “Reserving product and releasing it to the warehouse is now fully automated, allowing us to rebalance an entire department.”

• Some interviewees reported that their organizations were piloting some of Microsoft’s AI features to further streamline the order entry process. The IT executive at a manufacturer stated: “We have a sales order automation project underway, where AI is used to convert purchase orders into sales orders. For example, if a PO includes a customer part number, the system needs to intelligently match it to our internal part number to create the correct sales order. We’re expecting a 50% efficiency gain from this initiative. It’s very promising.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey responses, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization has a team of 45 accounts payable and accounts receivable employees that handle order entry and invoicing processes.

• With Dynamics 365 ERP, this team experiences a productivity lift of 35% on these tasks.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for an accounts payable and receivable staff member is $65,000.

• A productivity recapture of 50% is applied to account for the fact that not all time savings are redeployed productively.

• Using a phased implementation process, the composite organization realizes 33% of the time savings in Year 1 and 100% of the time savings in Years 2 and 3.

Risks. The sales and order management time savings will vary depending on:

• The prior technology and processes and the degree to which an organization’s order management employees relied on manual processes for invoicing and order entry.

• The skill and capacity of an organization’s personnel whose day-to-day activities are impacted by Dynamics 365 ERP.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for employees on the accounts payable or receivable teams.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $865,000.

Improved Demand Planning And Forecasting

Evidence and data. Interviewees and survey respondents reported that Dynamics 365 ERP reduced the time required for demand planning and forecasting by combining granular reporting, AI-driven insights, and integrated MRP.   

• Interviewees noted that Dynamics 365 ERP’s detailed and granular reporting simplified the creation of forecasts by providing visibility into sales trends, inventory levels, and supplier lead times. The VP of IT a software solutions provider noted: “A big benefit is that seeing all our information in one place lets us do analysis and gain insights we couldn’t before. For example, for 2026, we’re planning at the customer- and product-level — something we couldn’t do previously. Our budgeting used to be by business unit or division, and we couldn’t get down to the customer- or vendor-level for annual budgets. This change gives us a more consistent budgeting process and much greater detail in forecasting and planning than we ever had before.”

• Other interviewees reported that AI-powered demand planning further accelerated the process by automatically generating predictive models. The global IT manager at a consumer goods manufacturer stated: “Demand planning with AI in Dynamics 365 ERP has saved about two FTEs so far on scheduling and forecasting. It’s a great example of how automation is helping us scale without adding headcount.”

• Additionally, some interviewees noted that Dynamics 365 ERP’s built-in MRP capabilities streamlined production scheduling and procurement planning, ensuring that forecasts translated directly into actionable supply chain decisions without manual intervention. The IT executive at a manufacturing firm added: “Planning has definitely improved. Previously, a lot of it was done in Excel. Now, with MRP, we can create planned orders and follow through on them, saving a significant amount of time. More importantly, the process is much more accurate than doing it manually. So, it’s not just about saving time; it’s about the quality and accuracy of the information we’re getting.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey responses, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization has 25 employees dedicated to demand planning and forecasting.

• With Dynamics 365 ERP, the demand planners see a 25% productivity lift.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for a demand planning and forecasting FTE is $108,000.

• A productivity recapture of 50% is applied to account for the fact that not all time savings are redeployed productively.

• Using a phased implementation process, the composite organization realizes 33% of the time savings in Year 1 and 100% of the time savings in Years 2 and 3.

Risks. The demand planning and forecasting time savings will vary depending on:

• The prior technology and processes and the degree to which an organization’s demand planners relied on manual processes.

• The skill and capacity of an organization’s personnel whose day-to-day activities are impacted by Dynamics 365 ERP.

• The average fully burdened annual salary for demand planners.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $570,000.

Reduced Infrastructure And IT Operations Spend

Evidence and data. Interviewees and survey respondents shared that moving to Dynamics 365 ERP’s cloud platform enabled their organizations to retire legacy on-premises systems, cutting both costs and internal workload. They noted that expenses tied to purchasing, maintaining, and supporting servers, hardware, and third-party applications dropped significantly. Some survey respondents also highlighted savings from eliminating physical data centers, including overhead for space, power, and cooling. Because these features were native to Dynamics 365 ERP, interviewees’ and survey respondents’ organizations avoided the expense of third-party solutions and custom connectors, simplifying operations. They described a few areas of specific cost savings:

• In the survey, 68% of enterprise respondents reported that implementing Dynamics 365 ERP led to a reduction in legacy maintenance costs. Many interviewees agreed, with the VP of IT at a software solutions provider reporting: “We had a whole host of other ERPs, but now we have centralized those 10 tools into Dynamics 365 ERP. … Not all of our ERPs were SaaS, so we had to dedicate some employee time to managing infrastructure, servers, hardware, and storage. We don’t have to do that anymore, so we can free our resources up to do more intelligent work.”

• The service director at a government agency reported net cost savings from implementing Dynamics 365 ERP, as they were able to eliminate many legacy ERP platforms: “Previously, there were four separate organizations with four separate finance and procurement systems. We merged all of that [onto Dynamics 365 ERP] so they got rid of the legacy systems. … Because Dynamics 365 ERP is part of our broader Microsoft ecosystem, we can leverage their expertise, funding, and support, all wrapped into one contract, creating real economies of scale.”

• The same interviewee went on to describe how the adoption of Dynamics 365 ERP led to a decrease in third-party support costs: “Running our legacy system was costly. We needed third-party support and lacked in-house expertise. Moving to Dynamics 365 ERP as a SaaS solution eliminated those expenses because Microsoft manages the environment as part of the license.”

• The CIO at a consumer goods manufacturer also reported that, if you considered the legacy systems they retired, their organization saved money by implementing Dynamics 365 ERP: “We retired legacy ISVs and EDI systems when moving to Dynamics, eliminating multi-six-figure costs. Consolidating everything under one platform has been a huge cost advantage.”

• The IT executive at a manufacturing firm noted how the Dynamics 365 ERP migration reduced the costs associated with legacy servers and hardware: “With Dynamics 365 ERP, we no longer need to maintain physical servers as it’s a cloud-based solution. When you factor in everything — downtime, backup and restore issues, reliability concerns — the overall cost is likely comparable, if not better.”

Modeling and assumptions. Based on the interviews and survey responses, Forrester assumes the following about the composite organization:

• The composite organization retires $434,000 of annual legacy licensing costs.

• The composite reduces its legacy hardware costs by $598,000 annually.

• The composite reduces its third-party software costs by $504,000 annually.

• With Dynamics 365 ERP, the composite eliminates $631,000 in annual data center costs.

• The composite reduces its annual IT support costs by $573,000.

• The composite’s legacy maintenance costs are reduced by $682,000.

• Using a phased implementation process, the composite organization realizes 33% of the cost savings in Year 1 and 100% of the cost savings in Years 2 and 3.

Risks. The legacy system cost savings will vary based on the following factors:

• The specific tools, hardware systems, and support costs that made up the legacy environment.

• The speed at which an organization retires legacy costs.

• The complexity of an organization’s infrastructure solutions.

Results. To account for these risks, Forrester adjusted this benefit downward by 10%, yielding a three-year, risk-adjusted total PV (discounted at 10%) of $5.8 million.

Unquantified Benefits

Interviewees and survey respondents mentioned the following additional benefits that their organizations experienced but were not able to quantify:

• More accurate and granular reporting. Interviewees and survey respondents highlighted that Dynamics 365 ERP not only saved staff time on data aggregation and reporting but also allowed them to build more accurate and detailed reports. They explained that the platform’s ability to capture transactional and operational data at a granular level allowed their organizations to get more granular insights, such as margin per product or the relative cost of each supplier. The service director at a government agency detailed the improvement in visibility: “Dynamics 365 ERP gives us visibility into spend and the ability to create our own reports, which is something we couldn’t do with our legacy tools. We were stuck with the same limited intelligence for years. Now, with Dynamics 365 ERP, we can build new analyses, categorize suppliers, and access richer information about where money is going. That means we can spot patterns, like having 10 cleaning companies for our buildings, and start identifying opportunities to save.”
  The IT executive at a manufacturing organization described how reports have become more accurate and more useful: “Having consistent, reliable data across departments, and a single view of the customer and their orders all within one ERP system is incredibly valuable. It helps us deliver better service, retain customers, and ultimately, we hope, grow our revenue.”

• Reduced maverick spend. Some interviewees reported that Dynamics 365 ERP’s procurement automation helped their organizations centralize and formalize the procurement process, reducing unauthorized purchases and improving adherence to corporate policies. Interviewees explained that implementing structured workflows and approval hierarchies within the system made it easier to enforce a “no purchase order, no pay” policy. The service director at a government agency noted: “There was a lot of nonpurchase order procurement going on previously. As part of the [Dynamics 365 ERP] project, we introduced a ‘no PO, no pay’ policy, which has significantly increased the share of spend going through proper purchasing channels.”

• Reduced downtime through Dynamics 365 ERP Preventive Maintenance. Interviewees in manufacturing and other asset-heavy industries described how the Preventive Maintenance tool within the Supply Chain Management module minimized costly unplanned outages. These interviewees shared that Preventive Maintenance’s AI-driven analytics continuously monitored equipment health, generating alerts when anomalies suggested potential failures. Staff used these insights to schedule repairs proactively, avoiding unplanned downtime and extending asset life. The IT executive at a manufacturing firm described: “Preventive Maintenance is incredibly helpful for maintaining our assets. We can create various work orders based on different criteria, such as time intervals, number of pieces produced, and other factors. … It’s a process improvement that reduces downtime, which usually costs in the range of millions of dollars. It’s roughly a 25% reduction in downtime.”

• Improved security and compliance. Interviewees and survey respondents cited enhanced security as a major benefit of moving to Dynamics 365 ERP. Their organizations valued Microsoft’s responsibility for system updates and compliance certifications, which mitigated their own risk. In the survey, 62% of enterprise respondents reported an improvement in security from migrating to Dynamics 365 ERP.

Flexibility

The value of flexibility is unique to each customer. There are multiple scenarios in which a customer might implement Dynamics 365 ERP and later realize additional uses and business opportunities, including:

• Faster, more accurate deliveries reducing customer churn. Interviewees emphasized that Dynamics 365 ERP helped their organizations deliver products faster and with greater accuracy, which they linked directly to improved customer retention. Interviewees expressed that their customers’ expectations for shipping times, fill rates, and order accuracy have increased significantly in recent years, and that Dynamics 365 ERP was instrumental in meeting these higher expectations. The IT executive at a manufacturing firm described the benefit: “If our customers are building a warehouse, for example, our product needs to be there on a certain date. If you don’t have the right product shipped to them on that date, the entire project gets delayed and there’s cost to it for them. It’s a 5% to 10% improvement in retention with [Dynamics 365 ERP].”
  The global IT manager at a consumer goods manufacturer also reported an improvement in shipping timelines and customer loyalty: “Before Dynamics 365 ERP, we could only process orders from 9 to 5. Now, we can push orders 24/7, reserve product continuously, and meet tight deadlines for big-box customers. That change alone has transformed our ability to serve customers.”

• Additional time and cost savings from deploying other Dynamics 365 ERP modules. While the financial analysis of the composite organization is based on the deployment of the Supply Chain Management and Finance modules, some survey respondents reported further time and cost savings from using additional Dynamics 365 ERP modules, including Project Operations, HR, and Commerce.
  Among the 20 enterprise survey respondents that primarily used the Project Operations module, 17 agreed that their organization was able to optimize resource utilization, and 15 agreed that their organization was able to automate time tracking and attendance.
  Meanwhile, 11 of the 15 enterprise survey respondents whose organization primarily used the HR module agreed that Dynamics 365 ERP enabled them to develop self-service HR portals.

• Streamlined M&A integration through a unified platform. Some interviewees explained that Dynamics 365 ERP played a crucial role in simplifying mergers and acquisitions (M&A) by providing a single, unified platform for integrating systems and processes. Interviewees noted that, in the past, consolidating ERP, CRM, and financial data from acquired entities required months of manual work and custom integrations, sometimes requiring them to onboards dozens of new employees. With Dynamics 365 ERP, interviewees shared that their organizations could onboard new business units quickly with standardized workflows, centralized data models, and built-in connectors, helping avoid hires. The VP of IT at a software solutions provider described the transformation of the M&A process: “Having one platform with a standard integration playbook has dramatically improved our ability to complete acquisitions in under 12 months — something that used to take years. … We’ve done 10 acquisitions since we went live with Dynamics 365 ERP, and we haven’t added any support staff, IT, or accounting with any of these acquisitions because we’ve got one integrated system and we’ve standardized processes. Normally we would have had to add back-office staff. Some acquisitions could require 20 people, some could require over 100.”

Flexibility would also be quantified when evaluated as part of a specific project (described in more detail in Total Economic Impact Approach).