How do you measure the competence of Microsoft partners?

Perhaps you look at the certifications they hold. Our team has a bunch of those!

Perhaps you want to know how long they’ve been in business. 23 years!

Perhaps you like to go straight to the About US section of their Web site. Feel free!

Those are all well and good. But we would like to suggest that real-life case studies, that our clients agreed to share publicly on our Web site, are even more important. So we’re going to share a few with you, right now.

Read the synopses below and then contact Liberty Grove for details. We’re at nav@libertyGrove.com.

Cathedral Art Metal

Cathedral Art Metal (CAMCO) is a family-run manufacturing company that produces sentiment-driven gifts to celebrate family, friends, and life’s special occasions. Headquartered in Rhode Island, the company also has plants in El Salvador and Mexico. CAMCO’s NAV users include both English and Spanish speaking employees.

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Cathedral Art Metal has continued to leverage their investment in Microsoft Dynamics NAV as they adapt to changing business requirements. NAV follows each order along with all the steps on the production floor–casting, polishing, finishing, and packaging.

Washington Music Center

Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center (WMC) is a family-owned and operated business that has been serving the professional, student and amateur musicians in the Washington, DC area for more than 50 years. Customers come to WMC because they know they will get exactly what they want from an extensive, well-selected inventory backed up by great service.

WMC uses Dynamics NAV to support local and international sales to individuals and government agencies and to manage all sorts of specialized applications including the rental of thousands of instruments and a wide variety of repair services.

Italvibras USA

Italy’s ITALVIBRAS G. SILINGARDI is a world leader in the design, manufacture, and service of specialized industrial vibrators. These are used in a variety of industrial applications that demand unparalleled reliability backed by a company that is flexible and experienced enough to deliver world-class customer care.

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Italvibras USA Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of ITALVIBRAS. This is ITALVIBRAS’ first subsidiary, and the company wanted to be able to directly manage the supply chain and distribution requirements efficiently and effectively in the US. Dynamics NAV proved to be the ideal solution.

Modern Optical

Modern Optical International is one of America’s leading providers of eyeglass frames, distributing its high-quality optical products across the United States. Key components of Modern’s success are its field sales force and a focus on outstanding customer service.

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Modern has been using Microsoft Dynamics NAV since 1996 and has continued to invest in NAV through upgrades, fine-tuning, and ongoing training to ensure that it's business systems stay competitive in this service-driven industry. After their upgrade to Dynamics NAV 2009, they wanted to empower the sales force by providing real-time access to sales data.

From Navision to Microsoft Dynamics NAV to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

Setting the record straight…

From 1996 to 2001, Liberty Grove implemented Navision for our clients. In 2002, Navision was acquired by Microsoft and renamed Microsoft Dynamics NAV. So we continued to support our Navision clients and implement Dynamics NAV. Then last year, in April of 2018, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central was launched. And Dynamics NAV was effectively rebranded Dynamics 365 Business Central.

All of that may cause a bit of naming confusion, but as “The Bard” famously wrote way back in 1597: “A rose by any name would smell as sweet.” So call it what you will, the fact remains that Navision, aka NAV, aka Business Central, has always served our clients exceptionally well.

Take the next step

Liberty Grove’s team of Microsoft Dynamics NAV specialists is waiting to chat with you so you can learn more about us, about our clients, and about Microsoft Dynamics. Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com.

Related Articles:

The Proof of the Pudding Lies in 700+ Microsoft Dynamics NAV UpgradesMeet the Liberty Grove Microsoft Dynamics NAV Rescue Team

Let’s start with 2 questions. 1) What are add-ons? 2) Why should you get to know them?

Question 1: What are add-ons?

Add-ons are software applications that, as a rule, have been developed by third parties, in other words, not Microsoft. Those of us who live in the Microsoft world refer to these third parties as ISVs, Independent Software Vendors.

Question 2: Why should you get to know them?

It would be a rare case if your chosen ERP software system were actually able to meet 100% of your requirements. Typically, that number would be more like 95%. Therefore, the remaining 5% is going to require some type of assistance. That could come in the form of programming: a software configuration or customization that we at would perform for you.

Or, it could come in the form of an add-on.

There are scores of add-ons that have been developed for Dynamics 365/NAV and they can be very helpful. But before you integrate any third-party product into your system, you need to be sure that the provider and their product are reputable.

That’s why Liberty Grove has a strict Add-On Policy.

1. The add-on vendor must be a stable company with solid principles and a great reputation in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central/NAV circles; this is, after all, something we’re going to install on your system.
2. We need to either possess direct experience with the add-on or have access to someone who has direct experience with it (i.e., working on or closely advising our implementation team). This is in keeping with our policy of not making you into a guinea pig.

Here are a few of the ISVs that we have rigorously vetted for you:

• Anveo: They provide a Mobile App, a Web Portal, and an EDI Connect. All of which are “Certified for Microsoft Dynamics” (CfMD). That’s a critical seal of approval that you should always look for.
• Continia: They provide solutions to accelerate your finance processes and make various aspects of those processes more productive. The Expense Management and Document Capture apps are 2 favorites.
• Cost Control Software: They provide NAV training materials and 24 add-on products to make NAV a friendlier place to work and grow.
• ExpandIT: They help enable your systems integrator to modify and implement mobile ERP solutions and web applications such as e-commerce.
• Jet Reports: Inside a familiar Excel environment, you can easily access all of your Microsoft Dynamics data and utilize all of Excel’s capabilities to create high impact reports.
• Lanham Associates: More than 80,000 users worldwide rely on Lanham applications, including EDI, e-ship, and e-receive, to meet today’s complex supply chain demands.
• SQL Perform: In a nutshell, they provide performance enhancement tools for your Dynamics system.

Take the next step

Our team of Microsoft Dynamics Business Central/NAV specialists are waiting to speak with you. Here’s how to contact us. Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com.

Remember when accounting software was nothing more than a system for managing your General Ledger (GL), Accounts Payable (AP), and Accounts receivable (AR)? We even had a name for it back then! We called it “glappar” as in GL AP AR.

Those days are gone. Today, everyone expects a lot more from their accounting software. We don’t even call it accounting software anymore. We now call it ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning).

is a shining example of an ERP solution that goes far beyond the limits of basic accounting software. It is an all-in-one business management solution that helps companies connect their financials, sales, service, and operations to streamline business processes, improve customer interactions, and make better decisions. Dynamics 365 Business Central brings the full power of Dynamics NAV to the cloud and has at its foundation a set of trusted, proven technologies that have served millions of users worldwide.

It’s all about an enhanced user experience, which we call the UX. The UX is what sets Business Central apart from the crowded field of ERP systems that are available. In the words of a client:

“Customer service has only gotten better with Dynamics 365. Our response time is so much quicker now, and that creates loyalty and happy customers.” - Christopher Gates, Business Operations Manager, Quantico Boot LLC

Ready to learn more? Take less than 3 minutes out from your busy day and watch this video.

Introducing Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: A modern solution for modern businesses

Then take the next step

Our team of Microsoft Dynamics Business Central/NAV specialists are waiting to speak with you. Here’s how to contact us. Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com.

This is part 2 in our series dedicated to the security of your ERP system, specifically (fondly known as BC). In part 1 we looked at security measures that apply to Dynamics 365 in general. If you missed that article, you can catch up on it here:

But today we are delving deeper into BC security for each of the 2 BC versions, online and on-premises.

Security in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Online

Data isolation and encryption

Data belonging to a single tenant is stored in an isolated database and is never mixed with data from other tenants. This ensures complete isolation of data in day-to-day use as well as in backup-restore scenarios. Furthermore, Business Central Online uses encryption to help protect tenant data:

• Data is encrypted at-rest by using Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) and backup encryption.
• Data backups are always encrypted.
• All network traffic inside the service is encrypted by using industry-standard encryption protocols.

Service integration

We recommend that you use encrypted network protocols to connect to the PowerBI server and Business Central web services. For more information, see the following articles:

Connect to Business Central with Power BIUsing Security Certificates with Business Central On-Premises

Security in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central On-Premises

Server Security

Business Central Server handles communication between clients and databases, controlling authentication, event logging, scheduled tasks, reporting, and more. The following articles explain how to improve the security of Business Central Server instances.

Hardening Business Central Server SecurityLocking Down Server Communication settings

Client Security

In order to improve the security of connections from the clients to the Business Central Server, you need to properly configure SSL and understand how to use security certificates. These articles will help:

Configuring SSL to Secure the Client ConnectionsUsing Security Certificates with Business Central On-Premises

Database Security

For a Business Central Server instance to connect to and access a database in SQL Server, the server instance must be authenticated by the database. As in SQL Server, Business Central supports two authentication modes for database communication: Windows Authentication and SQL Server Authentication. When you set up Business Central, you must ensure that database authentication is configured correctly on both the server instance and database, otherwise, the server instance will not be able to connect to the database.

This article discusses configurations that you can perform on the Business Central Server and also, how to create and import your own encryption key:

Configuring the Database

Worried about the security of your Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP software?

Talk to the security experts at . Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com. Related Post

Here we will compare and contrast Microsoft Dynamics NAV (NAV) and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC). The way you view it will depend on your point of view (e.g., current NAV user, current Microsoft Dynamics GP user, new to BC…). Also, we will explore the options for deployment.

The differences are broken up into areas, and we will dig into each area in turn.

Deployment Options

With the advent of BC, the ability to deploy to the public cloud has become a viable option. As organizations look forward and plan their future with BC, they can consider the possibilities of on-premise, private cloud (platform as a service) or public cloud.

Traditionally, companies purchased hardware and on-premise licenses for NAV (and other ERP systems), which worked well. Still, a lot has changed over the past few years (improved internet speeds and reliability, move to virtual servers, drive to reduce IT management costs…). Options today allow you to run BC directly from the cloud with the exact number of licenses you need and access without installing software, servers…

User Interface Options

While the Modern Client (aka Web Client) has been available for several years, it has evolved significantly in the past couple of years and is the only option available today. There are versions of the Modern Client available for phones and tablets, known as the Phone Client and Universal Client, respectively. With the 2019 Wave 2 (aka fall release or version 15), the Windows Clients (aka Role Tailored Client) was retired. The things that were helpful for users (e.g., live tiles, personalization, shortcuts, Outlook Integration) are still available plus the added benefits of the other Dynamics 365 tools (PowerBI, PowerAutomate…).

Extended Feature Options

In the early 2000s, organizations and partners built customizations to handle unique requirements. This lead to the creation of moderately to highly modified solutions. Often there were similarities in requirements from one organization to another, but each ended up with their own customizations. There has been an evolution of how to extend functionality now; repeatable solutions are built as Apps and licensed to multiple companies. This allows an organization to install an App (and avoid customization) to meet their requirements. To support this change, Microsoft has changed the development environment and moved from C/AL to AL. This architectural change has provided several benefits ranging from a modern development environment, ease of creating automated tests, ease of managing code and versions, and ways to extend tables and pages. Furthermore, the creation of Apps (along with supporting information) has allowed Microsoft to setup Appsource, so you can find download, test drive, and subscribe to the App.

If you still require customizations, using any of the deployment options, then a private extension can be created and published to provide you with the exact functionality you require.

With any of the App options, private or Appsource, you still need to complete your due diligence to ensure that the code will be available in the event that the creator stops supporting it.

Moving to Business Central

You have several options about how to move to BC; this will focus on organizations that are currently using NAV or GP. The first thing to identify is your type of deployment. There are of several factors that you may want to consider, such as how critical your ERP is to your daily operations.

On-Premise (Purchase or Subscription)

If you have a completely integrated solution with manufacturing (e.g., interactive label printing and output posting), then you may want to have an on-premise solution to eliminate external connectivity as a risk to daily operations. Also, if your facility is located in an area of poor internet connectivity that may also drive you towards an on-premise solution.

Private Cloud

If you want to outsource your hardware and/or infrastructure, a private cloud environment allows you to have access and/or control that is not available with a Public Cloud deployment. You can configure an environment to meet your specific requirements. It does, however, depending on the service level agreements, reduce your agility to make updates.

Public Cloud

If you want to have a scalable solution (e.g., to deal with seasonality) or the ability to use and forget about the backend details, then the public cloud offers a great opportunity.

What to Learn More...

Talk to the Microsoft Dynamics experts at . Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com.

Your ERP software system cannot contract COVID-19. But it is susceptible to any number of malicious viruses that periodically infect computer networks. That’s just one reason for the many reasons why at we recommend an annual, or better yet a semi-annual, system health check.

What Can Go Wrong? Is Your System Sick?

Whether you are running or , a lot of things can go wrong if you turn your back for even a minute. And suddenly, your system is running slow, and you don’t know why. Suddenly, your month-end close is taking longer than it should (1). Or it takes longer to complete simple tasks than it should (2). So, you’re frustrated (3).

Let’s take a closer look at these three scenarios to see what may be happening and how Liberty Grove can step in and resolve these pesky issues.

1-Month end Close Takes too Long

You’re posting in real-time throughout the month. So why is it taking so long to close out the month? What has changed that requires a lot of manual work at month end?

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Liberty Grove will help you to understand what can be streamlined and moved into daily processes and automated, so your month-end closes can take place quickly.

2-It Takes Longer to Complete Tasks than Before

It’s entirely possible that your organization has evolved and changed, while your systems and processes have not changed to accommodate your growth.

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You can work with our team to eliminate non-value added activities that are slowing down your system. These changes are focused on your processes, including the system.

3-Users are Frustrated

When you initially installed your system, your users were trained and therefore knew how to complete their daily and periodic work efficiently. With employee turnover and business growth, the understanding of how best to use the system has slipped away.

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The Liberty Grove team can help you re-engage your employees by equipping them with the knowledge to complete their work efficiently and accurately. We can also help you build a continuous training program.

The Cure: Revitalization and Business Continuity Planning

There are so many ways that Liberty Grove can help. For starters, we have dozens of tips and tricks for revitalizing your system that we can share with you. Beyond that, we can discuss a business continuity plan that will protect you and your systems from threats such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, internal threats, operational threats, and more.

Take the Next Step to Keep Your Systems Healthy

Visit to schedule a thorough health check. Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com.

Related Article:

Optimizing Your Current ERP System vs Purchasing New Software

Well…look at it this way:You don’t have to hire a moving truck. You don’t have to box up all your belongings. You don’t have to move a stick of furniture.

Basically, moving your Microsoft Dynamics ERP to the cloud is neither exhausting nor disruptive. Today you’re hosting your system on-premise; tomorrow, you’re running Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, and it’s being hosted in the cloud. Not just any cloud. The Microsoft cloud.

Admittedly, today to tomorrow is an oversimplification. There are steps involved in migrating your data, processes, applications, transaction history… It’s not just a question of flicking a switch.

However, you can look at it this way:It’s easier than a brand-new implementation.It’s easier than moving to another platform altogether, i.e., not a Microsoft ERP.It’s easier than upgrading from a 10-year-old NAV release to the current version.

It’s Easy Because There Is a Path

And you can thank Microsoft for preparing it. Yay!

Microsoft Dynamics NAV users have been anxiously awaiting this upgrade path from NAV to . This is primarily because mainstream support for all but the most recent releases of NAV has already ended. The last release of Dynamics NAV as we know it was Dynamics NAV 2018, which became generally available on December 1, 2017. So, the move to Business Central is becoming imperative.

Let me explain…

Microsoft Dynamics products, NAV included, are supported for ten years from their go-to-market (GTM) release date, but “mainstream” support is only provided for the first five years. In the case of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2018, the mainstream support will end in December 2022. When you still fall under mainstream support, you can submit support incidents to Microsoft, and the product development team will continue to release updates and hotfixes.

After that, you will fall into “extended” support, wherein only security updates will be released, and hotfixes will no longer be developed. You really don’t want to be there.

Luckily, there is a prescribed path. When migrating from NAV 2018 to Business Central with the Intelligent Cloud, virtually all on-premises tables and data will be replicated, with the exception of custom tables. There are some additional caveats and provisos, especially if you’re on any version earlier than Dynamics NAV 2018, that we would be happy to discuss with you.

Take the Next Step, Sooner than Later…

Contact for more information. Call 630-858-7388 or email nav@libertygrove.com.

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You Have Upgrade Questions. We Have Upgrade Answers.

Let’s start with the details of when and where this three-day virtual conference will take place.

When: March 16-18, 2021Where: VirtualRegistration Link: Register - DynamicsConCost: FREE!

Kudos to Microsoft and DynamicsCon’s Sponsors

As a Microsoft partner, I have never heard of a free event like this one. Given how tough this past year has been for so many companies and individuals, and given the constraints of COVID-19, it’s great that Microsoft’s annual user event is both virtual and free. Many generous sponsors will largely bear the costs of running the event. is proud to be one of those sponsors!

What’s more, the net proceeds will be donated to charity. Kudos to you, Microsoft, and special thanks to all of our fellow sponsors who made this possible.

Three FREE Days

Let’s take a quick look at the three-day DynamicsCon schedule, which will cover topics in 5 areas: Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC), Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement (CE), Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (F&O), Microsoft Dynamics GP (GP), and last but not least the Power Platform.

Here’s a quick taste to whet your appetite with a sample list of great sessions that you might attend.

Such as these 4 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central presentations:

10 BC Functions Every System Admin Should Know End-to-End Solutions for Retailers & Distributors Using BC Voyage through the BC Information Archipelago NAV to BC Upgrade Strategies

Or these 4 Power Platform sessions:

Power Platform OverviewThe Notorious Data DebatePower Apps, Teams, and IoTReal-time Streaming of Your Data with Power BI

There’s something for everyone at DynamicsCon. In fact, there’s so much content being delivered over the course of three days that you may not be able to attend all of the Livestream sessions. Don’t worry! All content will be posted on the DynamicsCon YouTube channel. And you will be able to watch any session from any of the five product tracks at any time.

Got questions you need help with?

Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com.

Related PostHow Easy Is It to Move Your Microsoft Dynamics ERP to the Cloud?

Electronic Banking and Bank Rec are powerful tools that extend Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central/NAV's basic functionality. You know how important it is to have the right tools when you're embarking on a DIY project at home. Having the right financial tools in your ERP toolbox is equally essential. We're going to take a look at two of the best tools that you can add to your Business Central/NAV system: Electronic Banking and Bank Rec.

Electronic Banking

Electronic Banking is an extension of the standard electronic banking functionality in , facilitating the handling of transfers to bank accounts and importing bank statements. It allows for easier and more secure processing of transactions between your banks and your Dynamics 365 Business Central ERP.

Thanks to Electronic Banking, Business Central/NAV users can:

• Settle payments faster and without errors
• Define templates for payment proposals and statements for a given bank
• Generate payment proposals for customers, vendors, and employees to send payments electronically to a chosen bank
• Import bank statements from your banks
• Automate settlement with open payables and receivables entries

And much more!

Bank Rec

Bank reconciliation is a task you perform on a regular basis. At its core, you are reconciling your bank, receivables, and payables accounts by applying payments recorded in the bank to their related open (unpaid) invoices, credit memos, or other open entries in Business Central.

The only question is: Would you prefer to automate the reconciliation process or conduct this process manually? It might seem like the choice is simple, because who wouldn't want to automate the process? Well, some of you may actually prefer manual reconciliation because it allows you to feel like you have more control over the process. Or perhaps you have worked with automatic Bank Rec tools that were hard to set up and cumbersome to use in the past.

That is no longer the case. Setting Banc Rec up in is simple, and the tools are easy to use. And you have two options.

1. You can perform the reconciliation on the Bank Acc. Reconciliation page where you match (reconcile) bank statement lines in the left-hand pane with your internal bank account ledger entries in the right-hand pane.
2. Alternatively, you can perform this task on the Payment Reconciliation Journal page as part of processing the payments that are represented on a bank statement.

In both cases, you can fill in the bank statement information by importing a file or feed. You can also make use of automatic matching suggestions!

Take the next step…

We think you're going to love both programs – Electronic Banking and Bank Rec. We would be happy to answer your questions, show you the details of how both programs work and get you started. Contact by calling 630-858-7388 or emailing nav@libertygrove.com.

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ERP in the Cloud: A Bright Spot in the Pandemic

As Directions North America 2021 draws near (April 26-28), as registration has opened and as the agenda for the three-day virtual event is being fleshed out, Microsoft Dynamics Partners across North America are feeling the excitement. Directions brings the brightest Microsoft Dynamics resources together in one place, at one time. That includes .

A brief history behind the Directions event

The Directions North America Conference started with the imagination and passion of a small group of Microsoft Dynamics NAV Partners who launched the first event in 2005. Over the years, the community has expanded, and so has the conference. The event has matured into a unique conference that today brings together all Dynamics Partners servicing the SMB (Small and Medium Business) market.

Microsoft Directions today

Today, Directions is the only North American conference organized by Partners and for Partners, where Microsoft Partners have an opportunity to discover more about Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. This event empowers Microsoft partners to serve the SMB market to boost their business efficiency and strengthen important relationships.

Throughout the conference, a wealth of content will be presented, content that has been created based on partner feedback. This content will enable the channel to drive sales, enhance their product knowledge and skills, explore the latest ISV solutions, learn best business practices, and understand how to apply them.

Attendees will discover valuable tools for execution and success. They can also use the many networking opportunities the conference offers to grow and enhance relationships with other partners, with ISVs (Independent Software Vendors), service providers, and of course, with Microsoft.

What to expect at Directions 2021

Session types include:

• Microsoft Keynotes
• ISV Sessions
• Track Sessions

Track session content will fall into these categories:

• Consulting
• Technical
• New to Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
• Power Platform
• Leadership
• Sales and Marketing

Liberty Grove Software at Microsoft Directions 2021

Liberty Grove will participate in Directions North America 2021, as we have since its inception in 2015. We come to learn, to share, and this year, our CEO, Andrew Good has the honor of presenting a track session.

About Andrew

Andrew is a Software Engineer, project manager, analyst, manufacturing expert, and Lead NAV Microsoft Certified Trainer. Andrew does implementation, project management, business process design, application analysis, end-user training, and implementation project management training. Andrew is part of the inaugural group of Dynamics Credentialed Professional for Core Application Setup Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

About Andrew’s Track Session Presentation

Andrew’s session is entitled “Business Central – Holes and How to Fill Them.”

Every business has unique requirements, even beyond the capabilities of an incredibly full-functioned solution like Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. There are bound to be holes that need to be plugged. So, how do we do that? What and where are the additional pieces that will bridge those gaps and plug those holes?

The answer is: Every aspect of the functionality needed to make an ERP solution meet every requirement a customer might have is available. There are plug-ins for EDI, for Supply Chain Management (SCM), and for Sales and Use Tax, just to name a few. This functionality exists because Microsoft Dynamics Partners and ISVs have developed it and it’s available from those providers, on the Azure Marketplace, or on AppSource.

Andrew knows where to find every last piece needed to plug every last hole! Learn more about Directions North America 2021.

Contact Liberty Grove Software

Call us at 630-858-7388 or email us at nav@libertygrove.com.

Related Post

How Easy Is It to Move Your Microsoft Dynamics ERP to the Cloud?