The future of furniture: Are your systems connected and ready?

The shopping experience is collapsing into a single channel: the customer. Today people expect a seamless shopping experience whether it begins online, in store, or a mix of both, plus attentive customer service that’s available whenever they need help.

The furnishings industry is no exception. Orchestrating the business processes for furniture manufacturing, distribution, and retail is notoriously difficult. Cloud-based ERP platforms like Dynamics 365 make it possible to integrate all of your business systems and create a seamless operational experience. With nearly 30 years of experience as an ERP implementor and systems integrator, we’ve helped our customers work through some of their trickiest friction points across their supply chains, production processes, and customer service.

We like to say that the future of furniture is connected. We have observed a few recurring pain points in the following areas — and helped our customers identify opportunities for improvement:

Configuration and embellishments | Shipping and logistics | Data and insights | Quality control and field installation | Siloed business systems

Configuration and embellishments

“Give the customer what they want!” Sounds simple enough, right? But every furniture industry veteran knows that giving the customer what they want is easier said than done. Coordinating custom orders across multiple systems and teams can lead to logistical nightmares, delays, and even costly errors.

The key to streamlining custom orders is to work smarter, not harder. Decrease manual workloads around customer orders by capturing configuration details upfront in your business systems and pass them along to every step of production that might have highly stylized processes. Capturing these details and passing them along can include automated notifications and reminders to ensure everyone involved in the production process is aware of the customization requirements.

Shipping and logistics

One of the most complicated moving pieces for furniture retailers, manufacturers, and distributors is, well, moving pieces!

Shipping furniture is a complicated affair, especially when it comes to items that are meant to go together. A dining table and chairs, for example. Or a bedroom set. But with multiple products, shipping destinations, and customer preferences, keeping inventory flowing while making sure customers receive all the pieces from their orders quickly can get overwhelming.

Many organizations rely on the knowledge of their long-time employees to define shipping processes and rules for sets of items. However, relying solely on this institutional knowledge is not sustainable, particularly if there are plans to expand your product catalog. It is crucial to provide clear instructions and guidelines to everyone involved in the shipping process. Partnering with the right experts can help define these rules within your business systems.

Data and insights

Even without the challenges of the past few years, managing furniture supply chains has always been difficult. We like to say that brands don’t compete – their supply chains do. Changes in terms, tariffs, and freight charges can have a significant impact on pricing and profitability. To stay competitive, you need to be able to quickly estimate costs and adjust your pricing and cost strategies accordingly. Taking it one step further, being able to project future costs saves you time and makes your organization more efficient overall. Your ability to quickly pivot could be the difference between you and your next closest competitor.

You should have a solution that can drill deep down into the actual costs for your products and see the cost broken out by physical dimensions, like weight or volume, and see how these different dimensions affect your freight bills. Such a level of detail makes it possible to quickly adapt – for example, say you discover a large, bulky item is so heavy it’s adding on undue cost. You could work with the manufacturer to find a lighter weight version to increase that item’s profitability

Ultimately, the key to success in managing your supply chain is data. Every input to your supply chain is producing data, but if you don’t have a solution for ingesting all your forecasts, lead time analysis, vendor scorecards, production capacities and turning it all into actionable advice, it’s doing you about as much good as a two-legged stool.

Quality control and field installation

Everyone from your sales team to your field service technicians to your finance team has a stake in quality control. Customers today have more choices than ever before, and they aren’t shy about sharing their experiences when something goes wrong. Returns and rejected deliveries cost time, money, and sometimes your company’s reputation.

First and foremost, you need to ensure that your current system can automatically track goods from production to delivery. The ability to quickly identify all inventory pieces that may be affected by a quality issue is crucial for delivering a great customer experience.

Second, your delivery process should meet customer expectations. Furniture retailers who also distribute have the unenviable task of having to manage large, complicated, expensive deliveries. No one is going to applaud that you got them their dining room table and chairs without any dings or dents – they just expect it. But we know how challenging it can be and it leads us to our third point…

Do you know your weak links? If you’re getting consistent feedback that the quality of a product is not up to standard, or you’re seeing repeated deliveries rejected, are you able to quickly determine where things have gone wrong? Is it something during manufacturing? The warehouse? Or maybe it’s a bad delivery service. Your ability to quickly parse this data and identify the weak link is key to nipping this problem in the bud.

Siloed business systems

A common theme we’ve noticed among many of the furniture brands we’ve dealt with is once they find a business system that works for them, they tend to stay with it. And stay. And stay…

Brand loyalty is a great thing. However, the reluctance to let go of legacy systems opens up your organization up to vulnerabilities like ransomware, falling behind due to manual processes, and maintaining expensive, dual-sided integrations.

For example, manual processes just can’t keep up when the rest of the world is moving digitally. And while having long-tenured employees speaks volumes about your corporate culture, relying on their institutional knowledge to manage your processes is a recipe for trouble. What happens when they retire or decide to move to a new opportunity?

What’s the solution?

If you’ve identified with any of the above issues, we have good news! They are all solvable. A cloud-based business system makes all the data you’re already gathering work for you, not against you. As we already discussed, your customers expect constant visibility into their order status – shouldn’t you and your team expect the same from your business systems?

If you’re interested in how Dynamics 365 can work for the furniture industry, you can learn more here.

Ready to learn more?

Schedule a call with one of our industry experts today. We work with furniture brands, retailers, manufacturers, and distributors to streamline and modernize their operations on a single platform — Dynamics 365.

Dynamics AX for apparel and footwear

When Microsoft Dynamics AX first hit the market, it was a breakthrough solution for companies looking for a robust ERP system, particularly in apparel, footwear, and manufacturing. With powerful features and the flexibility to manage complex supply chains, multi-channel sales, and global operations, Dynamics AX helped businesses grow and streamline operations. But as technology has evolved, so too has the need for more modern, scalable, and cost-efficient solutions. While Microsoft Dynamics AX on-premises was a great option, it’s time to move to the cloud with Microsoft Dynamics 365.

The Strengths of Microsoft Dynamics AX On-Premises

1. Global Reach and Multi-Channel Capabilities

Dynamics AX allowed businesses to unify operations across multiple regions, thanks to its multi-language and multi-currency features. It made managing global supply chains easier and provided seamless support for both wholesale and retail operations. This capability was essential for brands looking to expand into new markets without overhauling their entire ERP system.

2. Optimized Supply Chain Management

One of the key strengths of Dynamics AX was its ability to simplify complex supply chains. The solution offered enhanced forecasting, inventory control, and SKU management, which allowed businesses to respond quickly to market demands and scale their operations. This level of precision and visibility helped companies minimize costs and improve operational efficiency.

3. Embedded Business Intelligence

Long before data-driven decision-making became a buzzword, Dynamics AX embedded business intelligence tools that enabled companies to turn raw data into actionable insights. The integration of Power BI into the system meant that businesses could easily visualize trends and uncover hidden opportunities across their sales and operational data. This feature empowered leaders at all levels of the organization to make smarter, faster decisions.

4. Customization and Control

Because Dynamics AX was hosted on-premises, businesses had full control over the infrastructure and could customize the system according to their specific needs. This control was particularly appealing to large organizations with complex IT environments, as they could configure the solution to meet their exact business processes and requirements.

The Challenges of On-Premises Hosting

However, while Dynamics AX was a powerful solution, its on-premises hosting model came with several challenges. For one, companies were responsible for maintaining their own IT infrastructure, which required significant investment in hardware, software, and personnel. This not only increased operational costs but also made scaling difficult, as businesses had to invest in more infrastructure to support growth.

Moreover, on-premises systems can’t offer the same level of agility as cloud-based solutions. Updates and upgrades to the software had to be managed internally, often leading to downtime or delayed adoption of new features.

Enter Microsoft Dynamics 365: The Evolution of ERP

Microsoft recognized the limitations of the on-premises model and introduced Microsoft Dynamics 365, a cloud-hosted solution that takes the best of AX and brings it into the future.

1. Scalability and Cost Efficiency

With Dynamics 365, businesses no longer need to worry about maintaining their own servers or infrastructure. The cloud-based model allows companies to scale their operations up or down as needed, without the overhead of on-premises maintenance. This also results in significant cost savings, as companies only pay for the resources they use, rather than investing in infrastructure that may sit idle.

2. Continuous Innovation

One of the biggest benefits of moving to Dynamics 365 is the ability to access the latest features and updates without any disruption. Because the solution is hosted in the cloud, Microsoft can continuously roll out updates, meaning businesses always have access to the most current capabilities without having to manage upgrades themselves.

3. Seamless Integration with Other Microsoft Tools

Just like AX, Dynamics 365 is integrated with Power BI, but it also has native connections to other Microsoft tools like Teams, the Power Platform, and Azure. This makes it easier for businesses to leverage a complete ecosystem of productivity, collaboration, and development tools, all within the same cloud environment.

4. Enhanced Security and Compliance

Dynamics 365 benefits from Microsoft’s world-class cloud security and compliance standards. This is especially important for companies operating in regulated industries or those expanding into global markets, as the solution ensures that data remains secure and compliant with various local and international regulations.

Why It’s Time to Upgrade

While Microsoft Dynamics AX on-premises was a highly successful ERP system for many years, the business landscape has evolved. Companies need solutions that are agile, scalable, and cost-effective—and Microsoft Dynamics 365 delivers on all fronts. It’s the next step for businesses that want to continue growing and innovating without the burdens of maintaining complex IT infrastructure.

Upgrading from Dynamics AX to Dynamics 365 will not only improve operational efficiency but will also enable businesses to take advantage of modern features like AI-driven insights, advanced analytics, and enhanced cloud capabilities that weren’t possible with on-premises systems.

Ready for the Next Step?

Schedule a call with one of our industry experts today. We work with brands, retailers, manufacturers, and distributors to streamline and modernize their operations on a single platform—Dynamics 365.

Fraud in the COVID-19 era

The Catfish. The Reject. Attack of the Bots. These aren’t upcoming horror movies – they’re examples of fraud scams experienced by consumers and businesses alike. In the US alone, consumers lost $246 million from online shopping fraud in 2020, according to the FTC. For businesses, the threat is even greater: omni-channel brands and retailers are constantly at risk of data breaches and organized retail crimes.

Fraudsters take advantage of outdated legacy systems and security loopholes, which in turn damages a brand’s reputation, sometimes permanently. Hacked eCommerce sites and stolen payment card numbers are some of the primary reasons customers walk away from brands.

Battling fraud can feel futile. But advancements in AI and machine learning can help organizations be more proactive about securing data and spotting patterns of fraudulent behavior. Let’s look at some examples of fraud, what consumers are worried about, and what a business can do to secure its brand and protect its reputation.

All Industries Report an Increase in Fraudulent Behavior

According to a report from the Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 79 percent of respondents have observed an increase in fraud since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. 90 percent of respondents anticipate that this trend will continue well into 2021. Specific types of fraud cited were malware and ransomware attacks and credit card fraud. For brands and retailers, credit card and payment fraud, both by individuals and organized retail criminals, is an urgent issue.

Retail and eCommerce fraud can manifest in several different ways:

Catfishing: bad actors will contact a company’s customer service department and manipulate employees, usually with a sad or sympathetic story, into waiving fees or giving them discounts or free products.
Bots: Automated attacks by hackers can acquire customer data, including credit card numbers, or take over accounts. Bots may also scoop up large quantities of limited-edition products, shutting out real customers. Especially for brands, ordering large quantities of goods and selling them on resale markets dilutes its reputation.
Inside jobs: Employee collusion in either stealing products, or helping outsiders abuse a company’s return and exchange policy.

However, all of these types of con jobs have something in common: a data trail. An organization can use that data to its advantage, with the right tools.

Consumer Fears Drive Fraud Protection

According to a report from Experian, 74 percent of consumers said security was the most important factor when deciding to engage with a business online. Consumers lose billions of dollars every year to credit card theft, hacked accounts, and phishing scams. And it’s only gotten worse: with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020, eCommerce shopping skyrocketed, along with scams like account takeover (a fraudster gaining access to a user’s online account and making unauthorized purchases or stealing credit card numbers).

Bad actors like Bargain Bear are an example of an organized crime ring dedicated to online fraud. There are many ways gangs like Bargain Bear perpetrate scams – content abuse, like stealing trademarks and product images to use on shady websites, exploiting security flaws in eCommerce sites to steal customer account information and credit card numbers, or using a brand’s eCommerce site as a testing ground for stolen credit cards.

Even just the perception of fraud can turn customers away. Forget about the financial losses – the impact to a brand’s reputation from this kind of behavior can be ruinous.

Be Proactive

So, what can organizations do to combat fraud? Experts recommend taking a three-pronged approach:

Assess risk: Review data from the past six to eight months for suspicious patterns of transactions, unusual behavior, or other anomalies.
Invest in anti-fraud technology: If you’ve already invested in fraud analytics or cybercrime monitoring projects, great. Otherwise, it’s time to assess your options — especially for high-volume businesses like online retail. Fraud protection technology can be an important safeguard for the brand.
Monitor remote work: The sudden shift to working from home for many industries has opened security gaps. Inappropriate security roles can create loopholes that unethical employees can abuse. Companies’ remote workers who are under pressure to perform, combined with the stresses of working from home and the pandemic, can be prone to making more mistakes. Checking in more often is important, since red flags for fraudulent activity from employees may go unnoticed while working from home.

How Companies Can Mitigate Fraud Losses

In the past, fraud used to be securely within finance’s domain. But today, it impacts an entire organization. Customer service, retail, IT, and eCommerce professionals must work with their organization’s finance team to gain a complete picture of the systems security landscape. Tools like Microsoft Fraud Protection can protect both users and organizations from bad actors and fraudulent activity. With Fraud Protection, adaptive AI technology continuously learns through advanced machine learning and a unique connected knowledge graph to spot suspicious account activity, transactions, bots, and consumer behavior in real time.

Learn More

Fraud Protection from Microsoft

Mitigating Fraud: A Framework for Omni-Channel Retail and CPG Companies

Free Assessment

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.

Evolving supply chains (interview with Business of Fashion)

Evolving Supply Chains (Interview with Business of Fashion)

Sunrise Technologies’ VP of Global Business Development Mike Pereira recently sat down (virtually) with Business of Fashion to discuss the future of supply chain management for brands and retailers. Shifts in supply chains have changed the way brands and retailers serve customers. This interview covers new technologies and strategies businesses should embrace as the world emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic, new opportunities within supply chain management, and solutions for both large and small businesses planning a comeback.

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 30 years of experience with the Microsoft stack, we can help you understand all the capabilities Microsoft has to offer.

Omni-channel deployment strategies

McKenzi Gebhard is a Senior Supply Chain consultant and Project Manager at Sunrise Technologies. McKenzi has worked with global organizations to implement Microsoft cloud solutions in the luxury furnishings, retail, and consumer goods industries

Customer expectations have never been higher. To meet these expectations fast shipping, resourceful customer service representatives, and extensive return policies are a must to stay relevant. But, while omni-channel retail capabilities are touted as the goal for a truly customer-centric shopping experience. So many people sing the praises of omni-channel, yet few companies do it well. Why? It starts with their systems footprint.

Complexity in the systems footprint
Satisfying customer expectations
Standalone OMS as a solution?
One solution for true omni-channel retail
Frequently asked questions

Complexity in the systems footprint

Most companies have separate eCommerce, POS, and call center systems. The integration required to sync the required information across these systems is an immense amount of work. For many legacy systems, this is quite a tall order. These kinds of “ship from anywhere” policies require both a ton of integration work and an understanding of the sophisticated routing rules for a fully integrated supply chain. Solving these technology challenges usually requires outside help, in which case you need a partner who understands the complex supply chain challenges inherent within retail.

Satisfying customer expectations

Say you’re a company with retail stores, eCommerce, and call centers. In today’s retail landscape, your customers expect you can do the following:

Buy online, pick up in store: Customer A places an order online but wants to pick up the product in a retail store. In order to do this, your eCommerce system needs visibility into your retail store’s inventory, plus the ability to send a pickup order to the POS system.
Buy in store and have the item shipped to their house: Customer B found an item they liked in the store, but wanted it shipped to their home. For this, your store’s POS needs visibility into the eCommerce system’s inventory, and the ability to send an order to your eCommerce system to fulfill the order. Or, the POS may need visibility into other retail stores’ inventory to fulfill the order from one of those instead.
Call a call center and process a return or exchange for an item purchased through another channel: For this, a customer service rep needs visibility into all the inventory channels and the ability to place an order and process a return from any of them.

… repeat for other shopping scenarios, and you can see the amount of work required to integrate all these systems is staggering.

Standalone OMS as a solution?

Some companies have embraced Order Management Systems (OMS) as a layer to smooth these omni-channel challenges. But the efficacy of OMS is questionable. As an integration-heavy product, it’s still a lot of work to get up and running. At best, it can solve your order and fulfillment challenges in the short term. But many retailers have found they spent years installing an OMS, only to realize very little value and a lot of headaches maintaining yet another system.

One solution for true omni-channel retail

The solution for achieving true omni-channel commerce, that is both long-term and cost-effective, is a single platform that keeps track of all your orders and inventory across your entire supply chain. ERP systems like Dynamics 365 operate seamlessly across your entire business, including your retail stores, call centers, and website.

Frequently asked questions

Why is omni-channel so hard?

Omni-channel operations require integrations between all your sales channels. The work required for these integrations is expensive and time-consuming.

There are Order Management Systems out there that can facilitate buy-anywhere ship-anywhere. Why shouldn’t we pick one of those?

OMS is expensive, and you still have to do the same integration work to connect all your sales channels. You may find you’ve spent a tremendous amount of money and time on a system that only returns a fraction of your investment.

How does an ERP system like Dynamics 365 fulfill its promise of true omni-channel retail?

Dynamics 365 combines supply chain, finance, and retail on a single platform. Say goodbye to patching together integrations between disparate systems, and hello to seamless operations on a single platform, backed by the security of the Microsoft Azure cloud.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Can your systems keep your brand’s promises?

As the Chief Administrative Officer for Sunrise Technologies, Heather Essic is responsible for overseeing Sunrise operations, including finance, marketing, and pre-sales. Prior to being named the Chief Administrative Officer, Heather was Sunrise’s Director of Business Development for Existing Customers, leading extensive sales cycles for Microsoft Dynamics 365 and consulting.

Trust. It’s hard to gain, and easy to lose. And for brands, consumer trust is essential for growth. One of the most challenging parts of growing a company is maintaining your brand’s reputation while expanding into new products, channels, and regions. You may be thinking about different expansion strategies. But have you considered all the ways in which your legacy systems might be affected?

What is a brand promise?
Different expansion strategies
How branching out can affect legacy systems
How a global platform supports your brand
Frequently asked questions

What is a brand promise?

A brand promise is the experience or product your customers can expect to receive every time they interact with your company. Customers need to know you, like you, and then trust you. A person’s connection to a brand is built on trust.

Different expansion strategies

There are three paths companies typically follow as they begin to grow:

Products: As a brand becomes more popular, it may branch out into new product categories. For example, a fashion brand may start selling accessories, then handbags, then shoes.
Sales channels: Next, that same brand might open brick and mortar retail stores. Conversely, it might start selling online.
Locations: Finally, this brand is ready to sell products in new regions or countries. Many companies start by using distributors in other countries before opening international offices or stores.

How branching out can affect legacy systems

The biggest challenge, whether you’re opening your first retail store or your first international office, is keeping the brand promise. The biggest mistake we’ve seen companies make during one of these expansions is installing a legacy business application that serves one strategy but not another.

Let’s say you are an apparel company selling to wholesalers in the U.S. — there are plenty of low-cost apparel management systems for your industry. But that type of system will buckle if you try to expand into new channels, markets, or products.

Or maybe you’re a catalog retailer, branching out into wholesale. Can your current systems handle those types of business processes, like B2B accounts receivables, net terms, cash discounts, or chargebacks?

We’ve heard this story many times: a growing brand chooses a business system (or a few legacy applications) for the business they have right now, but not for the future. Then, as the company grows, their legacy systems are strained. The results are poor customer experience, inventory problems, and other nightmares that frustrate customers and erode their trust. As the brand promise falters, eventually so does the brand.

How a single global platform supports your brand’s promise

Don’t be shortsighted when you select an ERP system. The best thing you can do while you’re still a growing brand is choose a business application that can support different products, sales channels, and regions. A global platform, running on a single database can handle these kinds of processes from the beginning.

Frequently asked questions

Aren’t customizations an option?

They are. But customizing your business applications is a short-term solution. They won’t support your company in the long run.

I’m concerned about cost; aren’t global ERP systems expensive and time-consuming?

The ERP industry has evolved over the last few years, especially with the ubiquity of cloud computing. Systems like Dynamics 365 are built for multi-dimensional, global businesses.

I still need industry-specific solutions to run my business. What are my options?

You can definitely use a global system like Dynamics 365 with industry-specific solutions. Our customers use Sunrise 365 Supply Chain and Retail Replenishment solutions to get specific inventory, supply chain, and retail functions for their businesses, without customizing their core ERP software code.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Post go-live support

Mike Pereira is Sunrise’s Vice President of Global Customer Support and one of Sunrise’s longest-serving employees. Mike has over twenty years of experience and a deep background in apparel and textile management as well as manufacturing supply chain management.

You did it! Breathe a sigh of relief — you made it through go-live, and your new ERP system is up and running. Now it’s time to tackle what to do after go-live. Even though you may want to call this project “done” and move on, the work isn’t over. The first few weeks after going live, it’s critical that you stay vigilant and nip any issues in the bud. Let’s walk through the hyper care process and document some things you should expect…

Data migration: the first wave

Special cases

Helping new users

Avoid the Valley of Despair

Frequently asked questions

Data migration issues — the first wave

People are surprised at how quiet the first week after go-live can be. If you did all your testing and gave yourself plenty of time and CRPs, transactions should be flowing through your system without a hitch. The first thing you might encounter are data migration errors. These usually happen because business users have only interacted with the old, migrated data before, and any issues that existed could throw errors in the new system. It’s important to clear out these data migration errors first, before too many pile up.

Special cases

It’s impossible to test every possible scenario prior to go-live. The second wave of issues you might encounter are the outliers — one-off scenarios you didn’t have time to test. These are to be expected (after all, you have to go-live at some point, right?) As users start adding new master and transactional data, these corner cases become obvious. The intersection of data and business processes can create unique, unexpected situations. If your project team handles these cases as they appear, you should be fine.

Helping new users

You’ve conquered any migration problems and taken care of the corner cases. The last thing to look out for are user errors. We consider these issues the most dangerous because if they aren’t dealt with swiftly, user errors can snowball into an avalanche of problems that affect the whole organization. For example, an employee from merchandising might forget to associate the cost for a new product. The warehouse then receives the product at zero cost, and now the fix requires several financial transactions and lots of time. During this time, speed of resolution is key. If errors are being created faster than resolutions, that’s a problem. Your project team and your organization’s power users should work on clearing out these errors and reinforcing best practices among the rest of the organization.

Avoid the “Valley of Despair”

The Valley of Despair is when your ERP’s performance drops dramatically, shortly after going live. Users might get frustrated, disappointed, and wonder if the project was even worth it. Guiding users around this metaphorical valley of despair is why your project team should stick around a little longer. The real benchmark people should focus on is closing the first financial period in the new system.

Frequently asked questions

What are the most common problems users might experience after go-live?

Data migration errors, followed by special cases regarding business processes, and user errors are most common.

What’s a good benchmark for measuring success post go-live?

Closing the first financial period in your new ERP system is a common benchmark to use.

We don’t have time to test every scenario in time for our scheduled go-live, is this bad?

Assessing go-live readiness is an art and a science. Businesses are complex—and it’s impossible to test every single scenario and stay on schedule. It’s to be expected that some special cases will reveal themselves in the first few weeks after go-live.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

To customize, or not to customize?

Implementing a cloud-based ERP system like Microsoft Dynamics 365 is essential for organizations seeking to stay competitive. However, one topic that often causes hesitation during ERP projects is customizations. While ERP customizations have historically been a source of frustration, particularly when they lead to long-term maintenance issues or system instability, a “no customization” policy isn’t always the best approach. The key is knowing when customizations add value versus when they create unnecessary complexity.

Understanding When to Customize Your ERP System

Not all customizations are created equal. The decision to customize should never be taken lightly, but avoiding all customizations across the board can leave your organization struggling to maintain a competitive edge. A better approach is to evaluate whether a customization serves a clear business purpose. Customizations should align with your company’s goals and long-term strategy, enabling your teams to perform at their best while enhancing overall efficiency.

Gap-Fit Analysis: Identifying When Customizations Are Necessary

During the early stages of an ERP project, your team will engage in a gap-fit analysis to document current business processes and compare them with the new system’s out-of-the-box functionality. This is where the decision to customize or change your processes often comes into play. Should the software be customized to fit your current business processes, or should your processes adapt to fit the software?

There are pros and cons to each approach. Customizing the software may seem like a faster, easier option in the short term, especially when users resist change. But using customizations as a shortcut can result in significant long-term costs, from ongoing maintenance to system updates that break existing custom code. On the other hand, asking your team to change ingrained business processes can be time-consuming and may lead to friction during implementation.

The trick is finding the right balance. Customizations should be reserved for areas that truly impact your company’s uniqueness or provide a competitive advantage.

Strategic Factors to Consider Before Customizing

Adding Value to the Organization

Customizations should deliver measurable value. Will the customization improve efficiency, enhance the customer experience, or contribute to higher revenue streams? If the answer is yes, it may be worth considering. However, any customization should align with your organization’s broader strategic goals and business objectives.

One good rule of thumb is to ask: Will this customization make my business more competitive in the marketplace? If the answer is no, it might be better to explore standard functionality or process changes.

Streamlining Processes

A well-planned customization can help streamline workflows by automating repetitive tasks, simplifying processes, or integrating disparate systems. For instance, if your business relies heavily on manual processes, a customization could significantly reduce time and labor costs.

However, remember that customizing software to match inefficient processes isn’t the answer. Consider whether changing your business processes could deliver similar efficiency gains without the need for custom code.

Exploring Low-Code Alternatives

Before diving into full-blown customizations, consider low-code solutions, such as Microsoft’s Power Platform. Low-code platforms allow you to build custom applications with minimal development effort, providing needed functionality without heavy investments in development or future maintenance.

The Power Platform integrates seamlessly with Dynamics 365, giving users the flexibility to extend the ERP system without feeling like they’re interacting with a completely different solution. This approach can reduce complexity and help you avoid the maintenance issues that customizations can introduce, all while enhancing user satisfaction.

Evaluating the Long-Term Feasibility of Customizations

It’s easy to overlook the long-term implications of customizations, but it’s critical to assess their feasibility over time. Customizations require ongoing updates, especially as cloud platforms evolve. You’ll need to ensure that your customizations remain compatible with future upgrades and don’t become a burden on your IT team.

When evaluating whether a customization is sustainable, consider:

The resources required to maintain and update the customization over time.
The potential impact on future upgrades or new system features.
Whether the customization aligns with the long-term goals of your business.

By thinking ahead, you can ensure that customizations don’t become obstacles but rather sustainable enhancements that support your growth.

Everything You Need For A

SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION

Cloud-based ERPs have changed implementation best practices and methodologies. Based on over 30 years of experience, we’ve identified seven critical factors that influence whether a project succeeds or fails.

Ready for your tailored ERP solution?

Schedule a call with one of our ERP experts today to implement Dynamics 365 with less cost and fewer customizations.

Don’t underestimate data migration

As a Director of Consulting for Sunrise Technologies, Jason Wolf has over 15 years of experience implementing Dynamics ERP solutions for apparel, footwear, retail, and consumer goods companies.

ERP implementations are tough

Over the years, implementation partners have created methodologies, project management and planning tools to account for every aspect of an ERP implementation. Yet it’s still common to see data migration get left behind during project planning. We believe this is backwards, since without the data, your new ERP system can’t go live. Data migration should be considered at the beginning of an ERP project, while other important design decisions are being made. By taking the time upfront to plan your migration strategy, you can avoid unexpected delays during your project.

Why migration planning is so important
Data migration strategies
Data cleansing
Validation and testing
Frequently asked questions

Data migration can make or break your implementation

Migration planning should happen early in the project. Getting a jumpstart on the challenges for each data structure can save tons of time, and safeguard against unexpected hiccups during the project. It also gives the project team a better idea on timelines and resources needed to get from the old system to the new one. The bigger the change to a data structure (especially master data structures like product, customer, vendor, etc.,) the more challenging it will be to move to the new system. Without a plan in place, budgets can run over, timelines run long, or an issue stalls the process late in the project.

Selecting a strategy for data migration

The key to a smooth migration is picking the right strategy. One size does NOT fit all, which is why it’s important to spend time early in the project deciding on the best method. Some examples are:

Bill of Materials data might be complex, with significant changes to the data structure. However, the volume might be small enough that it’s easier to enter it manually. For very complex data structures, it doesn’t make sense to write a migration script that you’ll only use once, when in the same amount of time you could just enter the data.
Sales orders (or other types of transactional data), might be thousands or even hundreds of thousands of lines long. In that case, it might be better to create an automated script to move and map the data.

Cleaning the data

One of the unsung benefits of an implementation is getting a fresh start with clean, well-organized data. You can’t realize all the benefits of a new ERP system if your data is riddled with errors. Take this opportunity to remove redundancies, append missing information, fix typos and errors, and archive what you won’t need going forward. The key is to clean the data before migrating to the new system. Source data should be audited, issues resolved quickly, and controls set up for maintaining data quality and governance in the new ERP system. Much of this data cleansing work is manual, but it’s worth it to get the full value out of your implementation.

Data validation

The only way to know for sure that the data migrated successfully is to check. The basic process is to start with a small amount of data, load it into the new ERP system, test, add more, and repeat. Once the migration is complete, you can validate it by checking against the source system. For example, say you want to check your open sales orders. You could check the line counts, quantity, and amount against the original source and if the numbers match, you’re good to go.

Frequently asked questions

When should we start thinking about data migration strategy?

As early as possible! A data migration strategy should be considered early in the project, while other key design decisions are being made.

How do we decide which strategy to use for data migration?

There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for data migration. Your implementation partner should offer guidance based on their experience. In general, for lower volumes, it might be more efficient to manually enter the data rather than spend time creating an automated script. For very large sets of data that contain complex mapping and business logic, automation may be the way to go.

How should we handle data cleansing?

Clean your data in the source system prior to the migration.

How do we validate that the migration was successful?

Create a checklist to test what’s in your new system against the legacy data source.

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

What kills an ERP project?

As a Project Manager for Sunrise Technologies, Kristin Pehilj brings over 20 years of industry experience to the table and serves as a trusted advisor for apparel, footwear, and consumer goods companies that are in the midst of an ERP replacement.

No one wants to think about it, but your ERP project might fail. And while there’s a wealth of analysis on why ERP implementations fail, we consider one factor to be the difference between an implementation’s success or failure. Executive involvement is key — without it, an ERP project will struggle from the beginning and may not recover.

Change management

The executive’s role

Steering committee meetings

Frequently asked questions

More than just an ERP project

An ERP implementation is really a change management initiative. Just with more software involved. Asking people to change is never easy. It’s up to your company’s leaders to champion the project and guide your employees throughout the process.

Once a project is underway (and starts to get tough), the new system should be the catalyst for business transformation, something people can reference as the driving force behind positive change. You can have the best consultants, but even skilled, friendly, hard-working people face resistance when they’re the outsiders. Members of groups follow their leaders. And this is a good thing! Huge projects only get accomplished when people work together as a team, which is why executives should be prepared make tough decisions, foster consensus, and drive the project forward.

How executives can play a crucial role

Of the thousands of decisions that need to be made during a project, many are going to be controversial. An ERP system touches almost every department in a company. Each department has its own set of processes and distinct personalities. Something like sales order management — which crosses paths with sales, credit, customer service, planning, logistics, accounts receivable — could require days or weeks of meetings. And when people can’t come to an agreement? The process stalls. This is the death knell of your project. This type of deadlock is why executive support is crucial. They can smooth the path and make the tough decisions needed to drive the project forward.

Why meetings are so important

We recommend you form a project steering committee and meet at least once a month. The meetings don’t have to be long, but they should focus on specific asks for executives, rather than just listing project updates. It’s amazing what you can accomplish in a one-hour meeting. The key is to keep requests concise, limit needless updates, and be clear on who is responsible for what. By bringing a list of short, actionable items to the executive team, you can respect everyone’s time and keep them engaged and involved.

Frequently asked questions

Why is this more important than budgets, applications, platforms, or other resources?

Certainly those factors are important, but we consider executive involvement the backbone of a successful ERP implementation. These projects involve change management, which is never easy and relies on a company’s leaders to see it through.

How can I ensure my executive team’s involvement?

The most basic thing you can do is establish a steering committee and ask key members of the executive team to participate. Getting executives to attend regular meetings might be tough, but a well thought out meeting with an agenda, decisions and next steps will go a long way to keeping them involved. And it will be worth it in the end.

Ultimately, who is responsible for what?

It’s the implementation team’s job to decide who is responsible for what activities, which problems need an executive decision, and which can be solved on their own.

Fitting in another monthly meeting is hard, how do we use the time effectively?

The key to a successful steering committee meeting isn’t just project updates (people can get that information on their own time), it’s bringing up the issues that need executive input. Get in, follow the agenda, assign next steps, and move on.

The future of furniture is connected

The future of furniture is connected: are your systems ready?

Configuration and embellishments

Shipping and logistics

Data and insights

Quality control and field installation

Siloed business systems

What’s the solution?

Ready to learn more?

Why Microsoft Dynamics AX On-Premises Was a Game-Changer...and Why It’s Time to Move to the Cloud

The Strengths of Microsoft Dynamics AX On-Premises

1. Global Reach and Multi-Channel Capabilities

2. Optimized Supply Chain Management

3. Embedded Business Intelligence

4. Customization and Control

The Challenges of On-Premises Hosting

Enter Microsoft Dynamics 365: The Evolution of ERP

1. Scalability and Cost Efficiency

2. Continuous Innovation

3. Seamless Integration with Other Microsoft Tools

4. Enhanced Security and Compliance

Why It’s Time to Upgrade

Ready for the Next Step?

Business Fraud During COVID-19

All Industries Report an Increase in Fraudulent Behavior

Consumer Fears Drive Fraud Protection

Be Proactive

How Companies Can Mitigate Fraud Losses

Learn More

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Evolving Supply Chains (Interview with Business of Fashion)

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Omni-channel challenges

Complexity in the systems footprint

Satisfying customer expectations

Standalone OMS as a solution?

One solution for true omni-channel retail

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

Can your systems keep your brand’s promises?

What is a brand promise?

Different expansion strategies

How branching out can affect legacy systems

How a single global platform supports your brand’s promise

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

You Just Went Live...Now What?

Data migration issues — the first wave

Special cases

Helping new users

Avoid the “Valley of Despair”

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

To Customize, or Not to Customize?

Table of Contents

Understanding When to Customize Your ERP System

Gap-Fit Analysis: Identifying When Customizations Are Necessary

Strategic Factors to Consider Before Customizing

Adding Value to the Organization

Streamlining Processes

Exploring Low-Code Alternatives

Evaluating the Long-Term Feasibility of Customizations

Everything You Need For A

SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION

Ready for your tailored ERP solution?

Don't underestimate data migration

ERP implementations are tough

Data migration can make or break your implementation

Selecting a strategy for data migration

Cleaning the data

Data validation

Frequently asked questions

Further Reading

Start Your Journey with Sunrise Today!

What kills an ERP project?

More than just an ERP project

How executives can play a crucial role