Tag: Microsoft Office 365

IT infrastructure

A strong IT infrastructure is essential in supporting your business’s overall goals. You need to trust that no matter what is thrown your way that you have a strong foundation to keep your operations running smoothly. 

But what falls under the term IT infrastructure? IT infrastructure consists of all elements that support the management and usability of data and is usually split into four categories, software, hardware, network  and servers.

Since 2001 Monpellier have worked with SMEs in Cumbria and across the North East to help advise, implement and support elements of IT infrastructure. When it comes to building a strong foundation Microsoft Dynamics 365 has you more than covered. Dynamics 365 is a budget-friendly Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution that can adapt and grow with your business. Perfect for businesses that don’t want to fork out large amounts for their own hardware and onsite server, Dynamics 365 is neatly and securely hosted on the Microsoft Azure Cloud. 

Dynamics 365 is a unified suite, making it a valuable base to your IT infrastructure. Unlike other full-suite software solutions, Dynamics 365 is modular so you only pay for what you need. This gives businesses options to scale up (or down) as their organisation changes. 

Applications from Dynamics 365:

Finance – Monitor performance in real-time, predict future outcomes, and make data-driven decisions to drive growth.

Operations – Use predictive insights and intelligence across planning, production, stock, warehouse, and transportation. 

Marketing – Increase customer demand for your products and services and improve marketing results. 

Sales – Go beyond sales force automation to better understand customer needs, engage more effectively, and win more deals.

Field Service – Optimise your field operations with built-in intelligence, remote monitoring, and tools that enable your technicians to deliver quality work

Customer Service – Differentiate your brand, Built-in intelligence delivers faster, more personalised service and adds value to every interaction.

These six applications are just a snapshot of what Dynamics 365 has to offer with other applications such as HR, Talent and Retail also available. 

From a user’s point of view, Dynamics 365 keeps all your systems unified and can ultimately reduce training and on-boarding, meaning a much shorter ‘learning curve’ for you and your team. Integration between systems becomes seamless and the size and complexity of your infrastructure stays firmly in your control. 

Dynamics 365 by Monpellier

Monpellier are experts in providing custom, integrated solutions and delivering first-class support across a wide range of areas. Give us a call on 01228 550 167 or email info@monpellier.co.uk for a free onsite consultation. 

 First published: In Cumbria Magazine’s November Issue, 2019.  

What is Microsoft SharePoint and how can it help me?

When it comes to communication within the workplace, technology continues to reshape the way we collaborate. But with an app for almost everything these days some businesses are suffering from communication fatigue. Make no mistake, technology is an amazing addition to any workplace but only when it’s the right solution.

With a market flooded with communication and collaboration tools, many businesses are resorting to sticking with outdated methods and processes.  

Microsoft SharePoint has over 100 million users worldwide and is used by a whopping 78% of the Fortune 500. 

What is Microsoft SharePoint  

Developed by Microsoft, SharePoint launched in 2001 and is a web-based document management and collaboration tool. SharePoint works with Office 365 to create a server type environment designed for sharing. 

If you choose to implement SharePoint into your business it is typically deployed onto your company’s network as a selection of intranet sites. Each site is designed specifically for each department with its own security, functionality and data. 

Reasons to use SharePoint 

Improve efficiency – The most common way businesses use SharePoint is as an intranet portal. SharePoint gives its users a powerful, fully-searchable centralised location from which to run operations. By dividing your SharePoint into separate team sites you can organise information and documents by department, ensuring data is but a click away. Unlike other intranet systems, SharePoint follows the same Office 365 style you are acclimatised to but adds additional intuitive features such as; highlighting upcoming deadlines and team scheduling data. 

Cultivate positive collaboration – SharePoint is a content management system (CMS) and is used to store and share information. Its’ features include version management, business workflows and social aspects, which can all be accessed remotely. You can use SharePoint to accelerate productivity by transforming everything from a simple task to complex operational workflows.

Increase business intelligence – Your business collects so much valuable information, wouldn’t it be amazing to view all this data at a single glance and in one location? Through SharePoint’s integration capabilities, users can connect the platform with just about any existing information output from different applications. SharePoint is your one-stop-shop for custom-made business intelligence reporting. 

Microsoft SharePoint by Monpellier

Monpellier (based in Cumbria and the North East) are experts in providing custom, integrated solutions, delivering first-class support and solutions across a wide range of areas from accounting & payroll to intranet and CRM solutions. Give us a call on 01228 550 167 or email info@monpellier.co.uk for a free onsite consultation.

 First published: In Cumbria Magazine’s October’s 2019 issue. 

Make the most of Power BI

Power BI is Microsoft’s cloud-based business intelligence technology. It’s part of the Office 365 suite – a cloud-based suite of productivity applications. This particular Microsoft feature is a suite of business analytics tools which analyse data and share insights. The Power BI dashboard also provides a 360-degree view for business users helping to highlight metrics in one place.

Whether in cloud or on-premise, Power BI can be used to unify all of your organisation’s data. It will connect you to a wealth of Microsoft Azure services which you can use to power up your apps and data analysis beyond visualisation services like:

• Machine learning
• Cortana Intelligence Suite

The power tools within this particular Microsoft application include:

• Power Query – to extract and transform
• Power View and Map – this visualises data
• Power Pivot – models and analyses

Experience data in new ways

Power BI can enable you to explore data in vivid new ways. From reports to graphs and charts, your data takes on an entirely new perspective. This will help you and your organisation make informed decisions, while at the same time monitoring your company’s growth.

Whether your data lives in a cloud service or on-premises, Power BI can connect, clean, shape, model and visualise live reports as well as dashboards. You can get started in minutes with Content Packs, reports for popular services including pre-built dashboards.

Data at your fingertips

At the heart of Power BI, is data. This Microsoft cloud-based business intelligence technology brings all of your business intelligence together. It allows users to interact and visualise data in one place. What could be better than to analyse and share insights in real time? You’ll also have the ability to access your data at anytime and anywhere.

Interaction your data across all devices

Your business has the ability to access data across all devices with:

• Power BI Desktop
• Mobile
• Gateway

With Power BI mobile apps, you can streamline your data and reports from anywhere in the world. Expect update changes to your dashboard to be processed automatically. By integrating Power BI into your organisation’s office tools, your data will be transformed to enable greater insights for quicker, more focused, informed decisions.

Cut down on operational time

It doesn’t matter whether your data comes from Excel spreadsheets, big data, the cloud or on-premises. Power BI will allow you to connect with all of your current data sources in one centralised location. As Power BI is shifted to a cloud-base and stand-alone framework, it’s easily integrated with existing data such as that found in SQL Server cubes.

Businesses can now access and gain insights from existing data without the need to have to move this data. This concept cuts down on operational time while helping to make the actual analytic process much more streamlined.

Why not get in touch with one of our consultants about the prospect of implementing Power BI into your organisation? Training can be provided where needed such as teaching you how to use Power Queries and charts. It pays to get the best out of Microsoft’s Power BI software.