Dynamics NAV is an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software that forms the large Microsoft Dynamics 365 suite. The program helps businesses of all sizes to efficiently manage their back-end operations, and it is widely used by businesses in the manufacturing, hospitality, retail, and fashion sector, just to mention a few.
Dynamics NAV subsists in the Business Central module, and it is available as both a cloud solution or as an on-premise solution. Some of the key modules in the ERP include:
- General Ledger: For managing all the general ledger aspects including analysis.
- Fixed Assets: For managing assets and depreciation.
- Accounts Receivables: For managing customer accounts with ease and complete flexibility.
- Accounts Payable: For managing vendor accounts with ease.
- Sales Order Management: Handles all the sales aspects from ordering, invoicing, shipping, and analysis.
- Inventory Management: Gives you deep insights into the inventory levels, location, and status.
- Assembly Management: For integrating the kitting and manufacturing environments.
- Manufacturing: Microsoft Dynamics NAV for manufacturing helps enterprises to manage capacity planning, bills of materials, routings, work centers, work orders, work calendars, and much more.
- Sales & Marketing: Incorporates full CRM and marketing capabilities.
- Human Resources: Manage employee records and other confidential information in a single, unified database.
- Project Management: Record and manage all your project’s tasks from commencement to completion.
- Service Management: Record, create and manage all aspects of your service orders.
Common Signs Indicating That You Need Dynamics CRM integration with Navision
As a business owner, it is important to critically evaluate whether or not your ERP system is ready for Navision integration. As earlier indicated, Navision development does not come cheap, and you want to be certain that the project is viable before diving in.
Here are the top three signs that you need NAV integration:
Inefficient Processes
Disjointed systems create bottlenecks and inefficiencies in your business processes. If it takes an eternity to get new products to the market and update inventory counts, it may be hard to keep up with the competition. As such, it may be the right time to get a Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERP consulting provider.
Time Wastage on Redundant Tasks
Without integration, businesses mainly rely on manual data entry, which can heavily impact a company’s bottom line. If you are running a business that retains dedicated data-entry teams or individuals, it’s probably the right time to automate. All the hours spent manually moving the data could be better spent dealing with other core business areas.
Your System is Littered with Inaccurate Data
The biggest problem of manual data entry is that it is more prone to human errors. A single typo mistake in your system can offset your data, leading to disastrous results such as wrong inventory counts, incompatible product information, and wrong delivery addresses for the online customers. If you are dealing with similar issues daily, you should automate your system.
Top 5 Benefits of Integrating Microsoft Dynamics NAV
Navision implementation allows your business to automatically synchronize data between the existing ERP and other supplemental systems. You simply lay out pre-defined rules on data sharing depending on your operational needs and you are good to go.
Some of the benefits of NAV integration include:
Helps Save Time
Integration eliminates redundant tasks like manual data entry. Once data is entered in a single point of touch, it is automatically synchronized and made available to all the users plugged into the entire system depending on their security clearance. This automatically saves you and your d365 development team time, as it eliminates the need for manual data entry in multiple systems.
Improves the Efficiency of Your Processes
No matter how you look at it, process efficiency or lack of it directly or indirectly affects the profitability of your company. With NAV integration, however, you can easily improve operational efficiency by generating real-time data and making informed decisions quicker.
Better Data Visibility
Making critical business decisions like when to move your inventory from one location to another, markdown your products, and how to market to various demographics heavily relies on integration. It not only gives you a unified platform to manage customer’s data but also access to real-time information.
Helps Meet Customer Demands
In today’s competitive business environment, businesses have to ensure that they’re meeting ever-changing customer demands and behaviors. Customers want better customer care, faster shipping turnaround time, real-time product availability status, low shipping costs, and so much more.
Without solutions like MS Dynamics NAV integration, merchants would struggle to offer this experience to their customers.
Consistent Data
Another critical benefit of NAV integration is that it eliminates human mistakes like incorrect spelling and typos, ensuring that your system is populated with quality data. And in case of mistakes at the first touch-point, the mistake can be rectified and automatically synchronized with the entire system.
Factors to Consider Before Commencing NAV Integration
Now that you have seen the benefits of integration, let’s talk about the factors to consider before you begin the process.
Budget
One of the critical aspects of NAV integration is the budget. When managed inappropriately, the cost of Microsoft Dynamics NAV integration can escalate quickly, so it is important to ensure that you have a general idea of the cost of Navision integration web-services, as well as a reserve budget in case there are budget overruns.
Team
If you are looking for a customized solution, your Microsoft Dynamics NAV customization partner/s should not only have proper Dynamics NAV integration tools but also understand your business requirements. This allows them to solve a wider range of problems instead of simply writing discrete lines of code.
Check out the top 30+ Dynamics CRM developer interview questions to ask to find your ideal candidate!
NAV Integration Options
There are two major NAV integration approaches.
Custom Integration
If your business has an in-house NAV development team, you can choose to build a bespoke integration yourself. This mainly requires the team to have both technical and vocational NAV knowledge and all the other systems you intend to integrate into the platform. The need for a bespoke integration is largely informed by different factors including, super-specific business needs, to avoid external threats, or even for purposes of retaining complete control and ownership. On top of mapping all your business needs, the development team should be able to build from scratch, support, integrate, and maintain the platform.
Third-Party Integration
For businesses that don’t have in-house development teams and resources, using a third-party provider is a good bet. More than often, these third-party solutions are cloud-based and come with built-in connectors for data synchronization between different systems. The biggest advantage of working with third-party integrators is that they have more technical knowledge as a result of working on multiple projects. Along with that, they manage and integrate the system for you, which can save you a lot in the long-run. Given all these benefits, most businesses use this integration approach.
Find a Talented Navision Developer
While investing in MS Dynamics NAV integration is a resource-intense venture, the price for not doing it, can be significantly higher in the long-run. From gaining business intel in real-time to automating and streamlining all your business processes, investing in MS Dynamics NAV integration is integral to the success of your company.
If your company is looking for Dynamics NAV help or Dynamics NAV integration services, we can help in boosting your ERP to new heights. We are the leading experts in configuring, deploying, and integrating Microsoft Dynamics NAV solutions for all industries.