There is a lot of software available that can help you accomplish business tasks. Using software tools can save your company time and streamline certain processes, help you discover new information leading to more profit, and in general make your life easier. It’s obvious that software can make (or break!) a company. With so much software to choose from, it’s hard to make the right choice. In this post, I will explain what the Velosio Grand Rapids office can do for your company in making this decision easier.

What We Do

At a high-level, our team at the Velosio Grand Rapids office sells, configures and supports Microsoft Dynamics 365 software, in particular CRM, Business Central and Power BI (among many others). However our office is unique from other Velosio offices in that we have experienced software developers that can customize these technologies to expand and streamline business processes.

In addition to customizing Dynamics 365 software, we also have many clients with completely custom solutions fit specifically for their needs. These range from quoting and work order processing to full inventory management systems. The custom tools we create are tailor fit for our clients to save our clients time and money, allowing them to expand and grow.

Data Integrations

It is very common in our world today that companies use multiple pieces of software to do specific jobs. You may have a software package for accounting, another software managing your customer relations, another handling marketing, and so on. This type of setup within an organization often leaves gaps where information is in one system but not another. Although these separate software systems do their jobs well, it’s often the case where you want some data from one system to “talk” to the next system. In doing so, you eliminate the need to jump back and forth between systems so often, or having people enter the same information into both systems. If the systems would automatically move the data then it would improve efficiency and accuracy. This allows organizations to separate concerns much more efficiently; meaning, you can have your marketing people only need to work in their marketing software.

As an example, a quote needs to be created by the sales team and the when the order comes in the customer needs to be set up in the accounting system and the order entered into the order management system. Have the quoting system help create the customer in the accounting system can help the accounting team take less time entering data. Having the quoting system help generate the order would also remove another reentry of data. This is a simple example, and can be applied to many different scenarios.

Data Integrations work to transfer data between systems so you don’t have to manually. As our office configures Dynamics 365 software, our clients very often need to get data from their current systems into the new one. They also often have another system that they wish to continue to use, but connect to their new Dynamics 365 implementation. Our office is very experienced in doing one time migrations or creating regular processes to move the data from one system to another. Contact us to see if we can help you with your data integrations to streamline your business.

Dynamics 365 Customization

A new installation of Dynamics 365 CRM or Business Central can be intimidating; here you are with this new expansive software system that is supposed to make your life easier. But how do you get started? You have spreadsheets full of data that needs to get imported. You have a marketing system that needs to feed in contacts. You have a specific process that needs to send a file to a supplier. You want to have automatic emails send out when new milestones are reached or when something needs attention. You want to handle checking that addresses are valid on your customer list. CRM can do some of it but it does not support everything you need out of the box. What do you do now?

At the Velosio Grand Rapids office, we can help. First we go through your organization – what does your current workflow look like? What do you need Dynamics 365 to accomplish, and what would you like it to do? Where does this data currently live and how would you like it represented in the new system?

We’ll help you figure out a strategy to tackle the requirements – We are the experts for these systems, so you don’t have to be. Once we have a consensus and a good design, we can get to work customizing your system.

All of the scenarios listed above we have done before, and multiple times. We can help populate your Dynamics 365 system with existing data. We can help with integrating it with other systems that transfer data automatically. We can help with customizing forms, views, dashboards, custom entities, custom scripts, form validation.. And the list goes on.

Custom Website

When it comes to your online presence, having your own website is a must in today’s age. Customers need a place to find information about who you are and what you can do for them; but that isn’t the only use-case for a custom website.

Tools like SquareSpace or WordPress are great for making websites if your needs are small. However, if you need a full-scale, cross-platform system that crunches data, generates reports, gives you custom dashboards and allows the people of your organization to simply log in and work from home, then a custom website is for you.

At the Velosio Grand Rapids office, we have the experience to create these websites, and we have done just that for many clients. It’s much more than an off-the-shelf piece of software with some customizations, this is your system. You tell us what you need, and we make it happen.

Custom Desktop Software

Software comes in many forms, and each has their advantages and disadvantages. The advantage of a website is that it’s automatically cross-platform; any device with a web browser can access it.

The advantage of a custom desktop software solution is that it’s much, much more customizable, and it’s capable of running much faster and being more predictable than a website. Desktop software doesn’t “go down” when the server or network crashes. In the desktop software space, the only limits are the capabilities of your own hardware; and you may be surprised by just how fast modern hardware really is. In my opinion, much of today’s software is slow and clunky and often just doesn’t work. That’s why I prefer to work with the hardware, not against it, to exemplify the capabilities of today’s machines.

One example of a desktop software system we have built is an inventory management system for a retailer. They use the software to track their inventory, sales, customize options for each inventory item, and we have given the ability to automatically update their stock and items through file imports received from their suppliers.

There are many possibilities in this space; just think of what software you use daily, and think of what could be made easier, or if a tool is missing from your business process. If you find yourself unsatisfied with your current systems, let us know and we can help design new solutions for you.

Conclusion

In my opinion, the user experience of software today is dwindling; and in many cases, the user has to deal with it because they have to use this software to get the things they want done. We live in a world where the user is expected to know that software breaks all the time, and they are expected to know to “turn it off and back on again” to fix things. This, to me, is unacceptable, and wouldn’t be accepted in almost any other field. What if an architect said “Yeah, that bridge will probably stand, let’s build it and see if it does”? No, they have to prove that it will work before using any resources or putting anyone in danger. I strive to ensure any software I build will stand up to the test, and be a joy to use.

When you have a need that isn’t getting met in your current business process, let us know. At the Velosio Grand Rapids office, we have experts that will help you get to a solution you are happy with; contact us today.