Microsoft's Commitment to The Architecture, Engineering and ...

Microsoft?s Commitment to The Architecture, Engineering and Construction Industry

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As the U.S. Director of Service Industries within the Microsoft Dynamics Business Unit, I am frequently asked to explain Microsoft?s commitment to the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. I love this request! We have arrived at a point whereby a number of key pieces to Microsoft?s industry strategy have fallen firmly into place creating what I believe to be the strongest enterprise solution footprint in the market today. Below is evidence that, when stacked together, frames our AEC commitment and offering, something unmatched in the market.

• Research and Development ? Microsoft currently invests $9.5B annually in research and development across the business, making it one of the largest firms on the planet in terms of a financial commitment to R&D. And the Microsoft Dynamics business unit remains a key area of investment.
• Microsoft Dynamics Industry Focus ? Within Microsoft Dynamics, we are aggressively investing in six key industries: Service Industries (Professional Services, AEC & Media and Entertainment), Retail, Manufacturing, Public Sector, Financial Services and Distribution & Consumer Goods. Within AEC we have built solutions to address the business process challenges of Architects, Engineers, General Contractors, Specialty Contractors, Heavy Highway and Civil Engineering and Homebuilding.
• Dedicated R&D Industry Team ? There is a dedicated team within R&D charged with building out industry specific functionality and a roadmap for the Service Industries, including AEC. Furthermore there are dedicated resources charged with looking 5 -10 years into the future for large market trends that will impact this industry and how we can prepare now to address them.
• Dedicated Partners and Partner Management Team ? There are a number of partners who have built their business around delivering Microsoft Dynamics to AEC firms and they are vitally important to Microsoft?s industry strategy. Given the importance of these partners we have partner account managers in place to ensure alignment between these partners and Microsoft R&D, Marketing and Business Development.
• Industry Specific Partner Solutions (CfMD) ? We often work with partners to build very unique software features that extend our code-base. In other words these solutions are built right into the code-base of our Microsoft Dynamics solutions eliminating the need for costly integration services, such as software to manage the rental of equipment. To ensure these solutions are of the highest quality we require these partners certify their solutions through the Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CfMD) program.
• Dedicated Marketing & Business Development Teams ? We continue to invest in marketing programs and resources across the country for this industry to help explain our AEC offerings and what truly differentiates Microsoft.
• Key AEC Solution Differentiators
  • Powerful ? Our solutions have been built specifically for the AEC industry taking into consideration the various roles within a firm as well as the need to support a truly dispersed organization with multi-company, multi-currency and regulatory compliance. And we can?t forget the fact that our solutions have been specifically designed to integrate with other Microsoft products to allow you to take advantage of your current Microsoft investment. This includes Microsoft Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, SharePoint, Lync and SQL Server.
  • Agile ? We realize that change is constant within every AEC firm, albeit through a restructuring, acquisition or other socioeconomic event. As a result, we know the solution you deploy today will likely not be the solution you need in the future. Therefore we have made our solutions as flexible as possible giving customers the ability to easily modify the solution through configurations and workflow. This flexibility also extends to deployment options either on premise or in the cloud. No longer should AEC firms have to live with inflexible software which is analogous to ?pouring digital concrete? never to be moved again or at substantial financial cost.
  • Simple ? the number one impediment to the success of any software deployment ultimately rests with user adoption. For this reason we architected our solutions to have the same look and feel as the other Microsoft Office products many people are already using. In doing so we have dramatically reduced the learning curve and shortened the time to user productivity.
• Mobility ? Given the fact that AEC firms spend quite a bit of time with clients and on the jobsite it is important to understand Microsoft?s strategy around mobility. Simply put, we support both Window-based devices for mobility as well as other environments, like Droid and Apple. For example, you can access Microsoft Dynamics via an iPad if that happens to be your chosen device. Also, with the coming release of Windows 8 Microsoft Dynamics will now run across multiple devices ? phone, tablet or laptop -without any additional coding required.

We?ve just covered quite a bit and I would like to reiterate a few key points.

First, Microsoft is absolutely focused on the AEC industry and is aggressively investing in this industry through industry-focused roadmaps and other resources.

Second, we believe in providing customers with a choice which includes supporting multiple environments for mobility and solution deployment options like on premises, in the cloud or a hybrid of both.

Third, many companies today already own a number of Microsoft products, so where relevant we have integrated those products, like Microsoft Office and SharePoint with our AEC solutions.

Lastly, we know user adoption is a major barrier to realizing the full value of a business solution investment so we have developed our solutions to have the same look and feel as our familiar Microsoft Office products.

To learn more about Microsoft?s Dynamics for the AEC industry click here.

About Ted Kempf

Ted has over 15 years of experience researching, developing and advising firms on project-based ERP and CRM solutions designed for professional services, architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) and media and entertainment companies. Over the course of his career, he held positions at Gartner as a Principal Analyst focused on Professional Services Automation (PSA) solutions, at Oracle as a Senior Director in charge of marketing Oracle?s business solutions for the Professional Services and Engineering and Construction industries globally and at Deltek as Vice President of Product Marketing and Strategy for the Vision product line focused on the global Architecture and Engineering markets. At Microsoft, Ted is responsible for developing and managing the execution of Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM strategy for the Professional Services, AEC and Media and Entertainment industries in the United States. Ted and his amazing wife are the proud parents of two wonderful girls and currently reside in Des Moines, IA. When not working, you can find Ted running, swimming, biking or traveling with the family. He is also very engaged in his daughter?s education and in supporting Above + Beyond Cancer.org. Ted can be reached at edwardk@microsoft.com. View all posts by Ted Kempf ?

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