Results from a survey conducted by MSDynamicsWorld.com

1. The Truth About Analytics A Presentation for Microsoft Dynamics Customers

2. MSDynamicsworld.com Survey Conducted in April 2010 Online survey of Microsoft Dynamics AX, NAV, CRM & GP customers 432 respondents globally Examined current status and trends in using reporting and analytics

3. Industry Please specify the industry in which you work

4. Country What country do you work in?

5. Need to improve analytical capabilities to remain competitive Does your organization need to improve its analytical capabilities to remain competitive?

6. What respondents said “Lots of information but no formal way to report and analyze.” “We need to leverage our data better, identifying trends and correlations to improve forecasting.” “Not so much competitive as trying to stay afloat in this economy.” “We have to better manage our cost structure at the lowest level possible.” “The recent downturn highlighted that relying on instinct does not always work.” “Business needs on demand info to remain competitive. If a sales manager cannot pull out necessary details for analysis, the business suffers!” “We want information faster and more accurate so that we can remain the leader in the market and not be forced to react to issues.”

7. Challenges in analyzing and reporting on Microsoft Dynamics data What challenges do you face in analyzing and reporting on Microsoft Dynamics data?

8. What respondents said “We are slim on resources and fully don’t understand what is available to us and what would make the most impact with the least investment.” “Quantity of data vs. speed of accessing the data.” “Some manufacturing data is in another system - disparate database create challenges.” “Too complex for my users to understand.” “Most of our reporting is done manually using Excel.” “Not sure what tools to use for different analysis needs.”

9. The use of offline spreadsheets Is reporting and analysis performed using offline spreadsheets that are not connected to the original Microsoft Dynamics data source?

10. Offline spreadsheets causing accuracy and data issues Does offline reporting and analysis cause any issues with accuracy and data integrity?

11. What respondents said “Human intervention = higher chance for human error.” “Separate spreadsheets generally mean separate data. No way to integrate the offline analysis back into the data set.” “Had an Excel spreadsheet tracking leads, but it takes so long to update at remote locations that they cannot use it. It shows old data until it updates and not everyone is aware what’s happening.” “Data accuracy and integrity is critical and needs to be reviewed and tested before it’s ready for wide scale usage.” “Since it is offline, each user may have different version of the so called ‘true data’, hence the data integrity problem.” “Absolutely. We goof up a pivot table link, fail to capture all the data, or fail to understand how underlying data has changed thereby making our spreadsheet obsolete.” “Difficult to update reports without downloading new data, which takes far too long.”

12. Rate your current organizational performance Managing inventoryHighest number of “Very Poor” votes Managing supplier performanceHighest number of “Poor” votes Evaluating performanceHighest number of “Average” votes Achieving growth and recurring business from existing customersHighest number of “Effective” and “Very Effective” votes

13. Top 3 areas where improvement would have the biggest impact on organizational performance

14. Tools and solutions used to report on and analyze Microsoft Dynamics data

15. Barriers to Business Intelligence

16. What respondents said “Trying to decide whether it should be NAV specific or a more general solution because of the mass of legacy data.” “Not setup to utilize properly.” “Hard to work with internal IT dept to implement.” “Yet to decide on what toolset meets our needs and even what our needs are as we are somewhat stuck in a culture of printed reports.” “Working on creating one that addresses our measurement points.” “We have solution but we don’t have the skilled persons to implement.”

18. Provides SQL Server based business intelligence solutions to mid-market businesses

19. Has a range of solutions specifically for Microsoft Dynamics customers that dramatically reduce the time and cost of implementing and maintaining BI solutions

20. Award-winning and Certified for Microsoft Dynamicswww.zaptechnology.com