Industry: Apparel
5 fast facts: Why Sunrise Technologies is the Microsoft partner for you
Why Partner With Sunrise?
5 reasons you can trust us to implement the last ERP and CRM with embedded BI you’ll ever need
Is a new ERP like Microsoft Dynamics 365 in your future? Consider this…your mother was right…picking the right partner is important. Basing your technology and implementation selection on budget or location alone, without considering industry experience and pre-built solutions, can have you headed straight towards an over budget, overly customized, headache of a deployment.
At Sunrise, we believe that every morning’s sunrise is an invitation for relentless improvement that will support a brand’s growth into new product lines, channels, and global markets. Challenging business as usual with a fresh approach to ERP, CRM, and business intelligence on a single platform requires us to go far beyond just making technology work.
It is critical that we deliver our clients real solutions that can help you:
- Grow your business globally
- Tighten the links of your supply chain
- Expand across multiple channels
- Lower your overall costs
Microsoft has recognized our achievements and ability to deliver real industry solutions with a number of awards. We have been Retail Partner of the Year, Distribution Partner of the Year and members of the Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle and President’s Clubs that celebrate the top partners worldwide.
Beyond this proven track record of delivering real industry solutions, here are 5 reasons you can trust Sunrise as your partner for a lifetime.
1. We speak your language
No other partner knows your industry as well as Sunrise. With over 22 years of experience in ERP and BI, and hundreds of successful industry focused go-lives, it’s no wonder we have a reputation for knowing our stuff. You’ll have a more productive system evaluation, deployment, and ongoing support with our team of Microsoft certified specialists. This vertical focus on manufacturing, distribution, and retail offers deep expertise in consumer goods (textiles, apparel, footwear, accessories, home furnishings, furniture, cosmetics) and other discrete products has allowed us to streamline our implementations with our exclusive Sunrise 365TM solutions.
2. Hit the ground running
With an industry partner, you’ll get to value faster with less customizations. You’ll be able to start with a system that’s ready to go with industry solutions built for Dynamics 365. Our exclusive Sunrise 365 solutions immediately deliver industry best practices and speed up implementations with pre-configurations, a business process library, and advanced supply chain capabilities.
The Sunrise 365 solution family is consists of and supported by:
- Quick Start 365 – Accelerate new implementations and upgrades
- Supply Chain 365 – Add game-changing processes and reporting
- Business Intelligence – Empower every level of the organization with embedded role-based dashboards
- Global Support – Brands are global, and so is our 24×7 ongoing support
3. Ready for the cloud
Cloud is a strategy to minimize costs and speed up business agility. By 2020, only 10% of business applications will be on premise and our customers are quickly adopting the Microsoft cloud solutions. Many partners are resisting this change but Sunrise is far ahead of the pack and gaining more momentum every day. As a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner and a high performing Cloud Solution Provider with tons of cloud projects underway, we’re ready to handle the future and our industry solutions are ready too. Sunrise has never missed a product update from Microsoft, so we’re able to offer the latest and greatest on day one. In fact, since Dynamics AX moved to the cloud and became Dynamics 365, several version updates have been released from Microsoft and within a week, our solutions were updated as well.
4. Local (but global)
Headquartered in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Sunrise has regional offices spanning North America, Europe, and Asia. No matter where you are in the world, count on Sunrise to bring industry expertise to the table, everywhere you do business. It’s important that we are a global company because it helps us better serve our global customers. Sunrise is headquartered Winston-Salem, North Carolina with regional offices located in Dallas, Texas; Salt Lake City, Utah; Xi’an, China and Lugano, Switzerland. Most of our team is remote and we even offer internally managed, offshore development services that pass lower costs onto our customers.
5. Pay-as-you-go support
Projects don’t end at go live. Information systems are living and breathing, constantly changing and evolving with the business direction. Why hire freelance consultants or expensive full time staff when you can leverage Sunrise Global Support? This is an a favorite service among our customers because they gain a cost-effective support umbrella with 24×7 coverage across North America, Europe, and Asia. Let our team maximize your investment in Dynamics 365 or Dynamics AX for a lifetime, freeing up your team for more business critical initiatives.
Other Resources
We aim to be your one stop shop for Microsoft cloud solutions with value-added services and products that help reduce the total cost of ownership of business applications. We have been partnered with Microsoft since the beginning because its solutions empower employees to embrace change and enable businesses to thrive with better decision making.
Download the PDF here.
Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!
Whether you’re exploring your options for new business platforms, or ready to get started, we are trusted business partners for some of the world’s most well-known brands. With over 25 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.
Customer video: Atlanco
Customer Video: Atlanco
Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!
Whether you’re exploring your options for new business platforms, or ready to get started, we are trusted business partners for some of the world’s most well-known brands. With over 25 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.
The Microsoft Dynamics modern store
Purpose-Built Business Applications: Microsoft Dynamics 365
Transforming business for over 30 years through Microsoft Dynamics 365 and AI innovation.
Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!
Whether you’re exploring your options for new business platforms, or ready to get started, we are trusted business partners for some of the world’s most well-known brands. With over 25 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.
3 success factors in moving to a single global ERP instance for CPG companies
3 Critical Success Factors
When moving to a single global erp instance for consumer goods companies
Written by Cem Item, Vice President at Sunrise Technologies.
Managing multiple ERP instances is common for Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies who inherit a system through business acquisition, or have customized legacy systems for each business unit, channel, location, and or department. As old technologies lose their effectiveness, customizations are made and patches are created to keep the systems working. This can lead to a growing mess.
Companies that are considering consolidating to a unified platform for ERP, CRM, and business intelligence know that the process will be time consuming and costly, but the benefits of global visibility and universal business processes throughout the organization will immediately show a ROI. For many, consolidating and moving to a single instance of a modern platform is key to their very survival and being able to support the solution for the long term and keep it up-to-date. (Want to dive deeper into the reasons? Check out the Top Benefits of Standardizing Global CPG Manufacturing with a Single Instance ERP Solution).
There are three critical success factors to consider when planning to move to a single ERP instance:
1. Infrastructure Plan and Management
With any ERP implementation, you need to assess your existing infrastructure and make sure you have good plan in place. This should be your starting point. What does your existing infrastructure look like? How will the organization be accessing the solution – in the cloud or from a datacenter? You will need to examine the full range of your IT architecture, including data network equipment, telecommunications, servers and storage, data center efficiency, end-user technology, physical security, and support strategy. Will your current network be able to support the additional demands of the new modern unified platform so that you get the security, reliability, and cost savings you expect? Is it time to consider a cloud strategy that will allow you to always stay fresh on the latest version without the management of infrastructure?
2. Master Data Consolidation and Management
The master data which is spread across various business information systems will need to be consolidated and moved into a single data management hub. Take a look at the entities and processes and create consistency in the way the master data is managed or what is called Global Master Data Management. For example, look at how the company is going to define products, customers, and vendors across the organization and standardize that data up front. You will need to make the global design decisions early in the process and stick to it throughout implementation, as well as after you are up and running. The quality of this data will be a critical driver to the success of the implementation.
3. Process Standardization
You can realize significant cost savings by standardizing processes across the entire global supply chain, whether you own it or not. The goal is to integrate your processes and standardize them as much as possible which will lead to common parameters for comparison, reduction in costs and a single internal view of the organization. Such process standardization is the foundation for enabling shared services across the enterprise. For example, you can standardize key global procurement processes, which can ultimately provide greater transparency, and increased procurement speed and efficiency along the supply chain, by consolidating and managing procurement resources spread around the world under a centrally shared procurement center.
Selecting an ERP application and implementing a global single instance can be challenging, but the benefits and return on investment can be considerable. Be sure to keep these factors in mind as you go through your evaluation process and work with an experienced partner familiar with your industry who can carefully walk you through your options and alternatives.
Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!
Whether you’re exploring your options for new business platforms, or ready to get started, we are trusted business partners for some of the world’s most well-known brands. With over 25 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.
Why Sunrise? 5 reasons you can count on Sunrise
Why Sunrise? 5 Reasons You Can Count on Sunrise
Trust Sunrise to implement the last ERP you’ll ever need. This factsheet outlines 5 reasons you can count on Sunrise Technologies to implement Microsoft Dynamics 365 and support it for a lifetime. In a nutshell, we speak your language and have exclusive industry solutions so you can hit the ground running. Plus you’ll enjoy the affordability and elasticity of the Microsoft Cloud, and a global consulting and support presence. See the backside of the factsheet for a quick overview of our industry solutions.
Sunrise Global Support for Microsoft Dynamics 365 / AX and Power BI
Our commitment to clients
Our Commitment to Clients
Our promise to support you long after go live.
We’ve always believed in long term relationships. And long after go live, you can count on us as an extension of your IT team.
You’ll receive access to 24×7 support, made possible by our team of functional and technical team members all across the globe.
Learn more about our support services
Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!
Whether you’re exploring your options for new business platforms, or ready to get started, we are trusted business partners for some of the world’s most well-known brands. With over 25 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.
Invasive roots: Code overlays vs. extensions in Dynamics AX
Anyone who has ever visited the American South has probably encountered kudzu…how can you not? It’s EVERYWHERE.
If you aren’t familiar (lucky you), kudzu is a species of climbing vine native to Asia. Locally, it is known as “the vine that ate the South.” When it was first introduced to the United States in the late 1870s, it was considered a miracle plant with a wide variety of uses — as long as it was managed properly. However, decades of neglect have left the South engulfed in kudzu, which is estimated to spread at a rate of about 150,000 acres per year. On average, Southern communities spend about $6 million per year to combat this killer weed.
At this point, you may be thinking, “That’s fascinating, but has nothing to do with Dynamics AX or Dynamics 365.” Not true! Dynamics AX had its own problem with invasive activity in the form of overlaid code (which can impact the move to Dynamics 365). And like kudzu, it was initially viewed as a good thing.
Until the introduction of Dynamics 365, overlaying code was the only way partners and customers were able to offer customizations for industry requirements due to AX’s 3-tier infrastructure. By the sheer nature of the software, some invasive overwriting was bound to occur. However, the degree of invasiveness really boiled down to a fundamental split in philosophy about Dynamics AX.
Some partners (like Sunrise) celebrated what Microsoft Dynamics AX is at its core. Solutions offered by these types of partners offered additional functionality to the software while minimizing customizations to what came out-of-the-box (because the long term maintenance and upgradability was just as important as the added industry capabilities).
Other partners were not as satisfied with the core functionality of Dynamics AX and tried to force a different structure onto the software. These partners’ add-ons, while providing legitimate benefits, often overwrote key features standard to AX. The more customization that occurred, the more deeply these ‘roots’ become entwined with the source code. When it came time to upgrade, untangling everything became just like trying to get rid of kudzu — frustrating, time-consuming, and expensive.
With the introduction of Dynamics 365, developers are required to create extensions that interact with, but don’t alter, Dynamics 365’s source code. This way customers and partners can still incorporate industry-specific tweaks and still take advantage of the regular platform and application updates released by Microsoft. Another great benefit is that code extensions don’t break after you run an update. Dynamics 365 simply searches for the existing extension and picks up right where it left off.
(If you’re interested in the nitty-gritty details, this is a great article that dives into what overlays and extensions can and can’t do.)
So what does this mean for you? It depends. If you are new to Dynamics 365, this is great news because you can rest easy knowing that you can always take advantage of the latest and greatest in Dynamics 365 without having to worry about any customizations interfering with an update.
If you are planning to migrate or upgrade from an older version of Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 you’ll need to plan to do a little homework. First, take a hard look at your customizations and see if you still need all of them, since new functionality is being added regularly. For those customizations you decide to keep, you need to check with the ISV developer to ensure that they have been converted to code extensions. If they have, make sure to ask how the ISV has adapted/plans to adapt to keep up with more frequent Microsoft releases. Also, depending on how invasive previously implemented customizations were, you may also need to allot additional time to untangle your data to prepare it for migration.
Unlike the South’s on going war with kudzu, Microsoft has managed to get to the “root” of invasive code overlays and has found a permanent solution to the problem. While legacy Dynamics customers may see the repercussions of code overlays for a few more years, the end is in sight!
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Whether you’re exploring your options for new business platforms, or ready to get started, we are trusted business partners for some of the world’s most well-known brands. With over 25 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.
When good orders go bad: Part 2
In part 1 of our mini-series How Did We End Up Here? The Impact of Dysfunctional, Fragmented Systems on Customer Perception and Brand Reputation – and Ways to Fix It we explored a common scenario of a frustrated consumer trying to find out what happened to an order, how fragmented systems can be the primary inhibitor to good customer service (and higher revenue), and touched on the benefits of a Unified Commerce system. But we ended on an ominous note. There is still one major element that is keeping major retailers from making the switch to a Unified Commerce solution: fear.
The prospect of replacing an organization’s ERP, POS, CRM, BI, SCM, PLM, WMS, and productivity solutions is enough to make even the most prepared executive shudder. Not only does the prospect of failure loom over such a project, but it also typically involves coming face-to-face with less than ideal business practices. Not to mention fighting the inertia of “but we’ve always done it that way.”
These systems essentially represent an organization’s respiratory system and replacing them is suggesting multiple organ transplants. And, like true organ transplants, while there is potential for pain and risk, there is also the potential for innumerable positive outcomes. In fact, according to a report by IDC, organizations that replace outdated, disparate solutions stand to gain up to $3,700 in revenue annually per employee in increased productivity and agility.1
If you’re considering such a ‘transplant’ for your own organization, consider the following to ensure that the operation goes smoothly and your systems aren’t rejected:
Give yourself plenty of time.
Instead of waiting for a crisis (sun setting of current systems, angry customers reaching critical mass, etc.) start your search now. Having a clear, systematic, organized plan of action will make the transition all the easier.
Go unified or go home.
If you’re experiencing multiple system failures in your organization, then replacing them with more unintegrated systems is maybe not the wisest decision. Similarly, if you replace a damaged heart (ex: ERP) but still have lungs that are only working at 25% capacity (ex: WMS) then you will most likely still have problems. Look for a unified platform of business applications that were built to work as a team, but can stand on their own as well. Flexibility and mobility are a must across your entire organization.
Pick with the future in mind.
Make sure you don’t end up in a systems conundrum again. Choose a solution from a company with proven longevity and a strong forward vision. Companies like Microsoft aren’t going out of business anytime soon. Research product timelines and R&D budgets to be sure solutions are on the cutting edge.
Find the right partner.
This is directly related to giving yourself plenty of time. Just like you wouldn’t want Doogie Howser doing your heart transplant, you’ll want to spend time working with an experienced partner that knows your vertical like the back of their hand and has a history of successful implementations to draw from. Specific solutions for your industry are always a plus too.
If you’re wondering what happened to my order from part 1, it took over a month for all of my items to be delivered and in the end so much of my order had been refunded that my total spend was $1.15 — for a total discount of nearly 99.5%. At this point I feel pretty confident that I have cost this leading brand money because of how my order was handled. On top of that, although I loved this store previously, I never want to do business with them again. I’m not alone in this feeling either.
Don’t let these customers be your customers. Stop asking yourself, “How did we end up here?” and start telling yourself, “I know how we’re going to fix this.”
Sunrise Technologies has over 20 years of experience helping organizations tame unruly systems. As a preferred Microsoft implementation partner with hundreds of successful Dynamics AX implementations, we have unparalleled experience working with apparel, footwear, home furnishings and consumer products brands. If you’re ready to take the bandages off your business applications, reduce the number of interfaces you have to maintain, improve your customers’ experiences, and see increased revenue through increased productivity and agility, contact us today or head over to our resource library for customer success stories, white papers, and factsheets.
Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!
Whether you’re exploring your options for new business platforms, or ready to get started, we are trusted business partners for some of the world’s most well-known brands. With over 25 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.