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MS Connects Office and Back-Office Apps
Robert writes to tell us CBR Online is reporting that Microsoft has released a new set of tools to link up their back-office applications with Office 2003. From the article: "The Microsoft Dynamics Snap tools allow users to interact with data and processes within Dynamics AX 3.0 (Axapta), and Dynamics CRM 3.0 without leaving Office, by taking small components from the back office applications and snapping them into the Office environment. The initial release delivers four applications. Timesheet Snap-In and Vacation Management Snap-In, which are built for Dynamics AX only, and two versions of Business Data Lookup Snap-In, one each for Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM."
That has a firm grip on Office and still does not understand what the hell this post means?
I'd say you're probably in the company of a vast majority of Office users (even a good number of "power users" who can turn straw into gold using VBA macros in Excel). This is because Microsoft is re-positioning Office somewhat and it is going to (try to) occupy a role that traditional Office users are quite unfamiliar with. However, if you happen to be a cubicle-serf at a large corporation then you'll "get it" if you look into it a bit more.
Let me expound on things a bit:
Microsoft already dominates in the small-to-medium enterprise market and the personal computer industry as a whole. This means it has great security but ever-more limited growth potential. It has decided to take on new challenges in many areas where it does not yet dominate, and that is in the enterprise-class server and large-enterprise systems market.
To that end, MS has formed a "business solutions" division and gobbled up a few players in that market--the two most notable being Great Plains and Damgaard/Navision, known for their accounting and ERP software respectively. The Great Plains accounting system and Navision Axapta ERP have now been assimilated into Microsoft's CRM 3.0 and AX 3.0 products as part of the MS strategy to take on SAP from "the bottom"--maintaining these products traditional base of medium-sized enterprises and scaling up to meet those who traditionally look at SAP.
Where does Office fit into all of this? Well, Microsoft already has a firm grip on those corporate IT gonads and it is looking to leverage its position in that market to push "end-to-end integration". THAT is what this story is all about. It is a strategy that has helped Exchange Server to succeed despite the fact that it had (at least at the start) a fairly longstanding and very well-deserved reputation for being a steaming pile o' crap: Microsoft managed to put together a half-decent groupware client in Outlook and used the marketing might of its Office division to entrench it on the corporate desktop...and they managed to continually improve it.
Now, the PHB can have a spiffy and snappy client to connect to his exchange server that is conveniently bundled with the spreadsheet and word processor and presentation software that are all so essential in calculating budget cutbacks, issuing memos for his underlings to ignore and create mind-numbing slideshows for pointless meetings. In the meantime, IBM has their quite capable Lotus server, and it is challenged with a client that looks like ass in comparison and is just as stinky to use. Result? Exchange kicks ass on the competition.
Now MS needs a "differentiator" that distracts PHBs from the trance that only an SAP consultant seems to be able to induce so that it can pick up business for its AX/CRM solution. We all know that PHBs like bright shiny things, and the client application is the most easily polished. I've had a bit of experience with Axapta and can tell you it doesn't offer enough of a differentiator from SAP (which is to say...it looks like ass, just like all ERP systems look like ass). Compared to Office, it is large, slow and arcane. Solution? Make Office the client! Office is far from perfect, but it is fast(er), more integrated and nore familiar with the cubicle serfs. I know it would be a popular option in MY office--right now we have to enter our time in a wretched klunky, Java-applet-based web interface. For example, if we had Axapta/CRM and Office and a "software assurance" agreement then we could look forward to filling out a convenient Excel spreadsheet and have it INSTANTLY update the ERP/CRM system! Wunderbar! PHBs will salivate over it.
This is also all part of a long term strategy to try and own "web services". Office is being remade into an intellegent web services client (R) (TM) that hooks into enterprise systems (sepecially Microsoft enterprise systems) via web services, so that you can interact with some "virtua