Microsoft Lets A Wizard Help Sell More Dynamics

After a year of educating its partners on the benefits of Dynamics, Microsoft is extending the accounting and CRM business software to more customers with the help of a third-party IT integrator called Wizard ...pointy hat and wand not included.Wizard Productivity Systems sent me a note this week letting me know that they will be offering an end-user package on Thursday that can help a company purchase, install and train their staff on Dynamics, Microsoft's financial and business CRM tool.

It's not that Dynamics is that hard to conceptualize -- your company's supply chain information is linked to your partners' supply chain information so you don't end up with a warehouse full of stuff that you don't need and/or can't use. But apparently, companies are having a hard time synchronizing systems and other business practices enough that Wizard figures it has now created a cottage industry: helping companies make sense of Microsoft.

Microsoft has been promoting Dynamics to retailers, manufacturers, wholesale distributors, and service companies for the last year, but figures it can't hurt to promote the tool to other verticals as well.

That's where Wizard said they can help.

"It's an excellent fail-safe choice for time or budget-sensitive situations, and gives end-users comfort and assurance that they can get up to speed on their implementation without worrying about snafus," Paul Farrell, Wizard president said.

In addition to set up, Wizard said its software can also anticipate on behalf of, and make recommendations to, those configuring the system -- as well as alerting people to threats and quickly catching any developing problems.

Wizard said it has the inside track since they were contracted by Microsoft to help the Dynamics group with setup, training and trouble shooting.

This got me to thinking that Wizard's gain is also Microsoft's in that IT integrators Microsoft partners with can also serve as ambassadors for Microsoft products, whereas larger firms such as CA, Wipro, and others may be inclined to steer customers away from Dynamics.

If nothing else, Microsoft is certainly getting Wizard to do some heavy lifting while it works on newer versions of Dynamics.