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Microsoft To Release Dynamics for Retail in April
Microsoft announced some forthcoming Dynamics for Retail features on Monday.
The updated Dynamics for Retail solution will include improvements to call center functions, transportation and delivery capabilities, as well as point-of-sale (POS) functions, according to Microsoft's announcement. It will arrive in April, to coincide with the release of Dynamics AX 2012 R3.
Dynamics for Retail is a set of functionalities aimed at supporting POS, supply chain, channel management, merchandising and other sales-oriented tasks. First launched in 2010, Dynamics for Retail is a component of Microsoft's Dynamics AX enterprise resource planning (ERP) offering.
"All these new capabilities will be provided in a fully unified, end-to-end platform. For retailers, this means superior customer engagement, better understanding of your supply chain, better customer insight/visibility and accurate, timely, consistent operations," according to Tracy Issel, general manager of Worldwide Retail Sector at Microsoft, in a blog post Monday.
Microsoft's announcement coincides with the National Retail Federation's Annual Convention & Expo, which is taking place this week in New York.
Microsoft also announced that it was collaborating with several partners -- including Sitecore, a provider of online content management software, and Vantiv, a provider of payment processing solutions -- to develop third-party solutions that work with Dynamics for Retail.
Another company Microsoft said it is partnering with is IBM. The two companies are collaborating on the development of new enterprise-grade, integrated retail solutions, although Microsoft's announcement did not get into any specifics. The partnership will entail IBM creating "differentiated intellectual property" related to Dynamics for Retail.