Microsoft Actually Makes Something Intuitive: Dynamics POS 2009

Written by Steven Walling / August 3, 2009 11:52 AM / 7 Comments

Moan and groan all you like about SharePoint, Outlook and other Microsoft products. We'll happily listen to your troubles and agree. But this time around we have to say it: Microsoft Dynamics POS is pretty slick. The 2009 version of the software was released today and is an easy-to-navigate resource for SMBs managing retail businesses.

Microsoft Dynamics is a line of enterprise software that includes a CRM and various ERP solutions which can be either on-premise or hosted. Dynamics Point of Sale is specifically aimed at mid-market and specialty retailers, providing them with a tool for store management.

Microsoft Dynamics POS is a bit like their CRM option, but instead of focusing solely on a sales-based perspective, it's aimed at comprehensive inventory and supply chain management for retailers.

The strength of POS 2009 is the role-based experience, which changes based on whether you're a store manager, a cashier, or a sales rep, for example. What this means in practice is that Microsoft has made software centered on people, not just processes or departments. For all roles, there's a clear, hierarchical folder structure that is intuitive to navigate.

Beyond purely functional business needs, Microsoft's GUI for the software is also doing some interesting things with touch screens; it's one of the few business products that is at all optimized for touch-screen monitors. However, it's still a secondary priority for the package, and the real jackpot would be software that plays nice with mobile, not desktop touch screens.

Dynamics POS is a retail tool that should prevent the huge headache that so many Microsoft products for the enterprise can cause. It still carries the baggage of Microsoft systems requirements, but its user experience just works.

Comments

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Seriously? POS 2009? Are you sure The Onion didn't help MS name this for future hilarious news reasons?

Posted by: Joel Housman | August 3, 2009 1:38 PM

@Joel

Seriously.

Posted by: Steven Walling | August 3, 2009 1:46 PM

Yeah thay have released fantastic piece of software. But have completely forgotten about current clients on RMS 2.0 with a multi store environment. We as partnrs now need to go and write our own HQ component. CRAP!!!!!

Posted by: Stephenzwarts@gmail.com | August 4, 2009 3:29 AM

When I first read the headline, my immediate first thought was:

Microsoft Dynamics Piece-Of-S....

Hehe.

Posted by: Jonathan Wong | August 5, 2009 6:14 AM

They missed the boat on this one. They claim it is optimized for touch screens, but apparently, they don't actually USE touch screens. If they did, they would realize that most store environments use small touch screens, such as ELOs, that don't offer very much screen space. There are no options for making the screen fonts larger, which then takes away from any intuitiveness they were trying to build in.

RMS 2.0 is simply a dog. So POS 09 is "better". But, the better isn't that much of a difference. THe search functions have improved greatly, and seeing daily sales and batches is by far better, so I will give credit where it is due.

Posted by: Brad | August 7, 2009 7:37 AM

Business supply chains are hard to get right. From the few people I've met using Microsoft's newest offering they can vouch for it being a POS - not a proper CRM and not an effective management tool either.

Posted by: wilburscoles | October 29, 2009 3:26 PM