Since Tensoft President and CEO Bob Scarborough isn’t always great at blowing his own horn, I’ll do it for him. I’m proud to announce that this April Bob started fielding questions as an industry and subject matter expert on the Proformative website (www.proformative.com).

Proformative is an online resource and professional community that provides a new and effective way for corporate finance, accounting, treasury and finance-related professionals to find answers to their technical and operational questions, and easily find practical resources that serve their daily needs. On the site, financial professionals can search an ever growing knowledge-base of peer, expert and aggregated content to quickly find practical answers and relevant information.

Bob’s expert page can be found at http://www.proformative.com/ask/expert/bob-scarborough. He is listed as an expert in: 1) revenue recognition accounting; 2) manufacturing accounting; 3) cloud computing and SaaS software; 4) revenue recognition software and 5) Microsoft Dynamics GP implementation. Bob encourages questions and discussions on real-world financial issues, and enjoys the interchange of ideas and solutions that the site facilitates.

If you lose the link above, simply click on “Ask the Experts” and type in “Scarborough” to see the questions and comments that are currently under discussion. Or, send Bob a question and engage in open or private discussions (anonymously or with your real name) and get his perspective on issues on which you deal every day.

We’ve recently posted a great new customer case study to the Tensoft website that beautifully illustrates the benefits of cloud deployment. Focusing on our customer, Syndiant, the four-page case study describes how this technology industry start-up has been able to leverage Tensoft’s industry-specific solutions in the cloud to quickly gain better visibility, control, and efficiency.  .

 Syndiant’s V.P. of Operations, Tupper Patnode, provided much of the commentary in the document, discussing in detail how Tensoft FSM and Microsoft Dynamics GP, running on a cloud platform provided by Tensoft partner SaaSplaza, enabled the company to comfortably plan and scale their growth from a $1 million company to $20 and up to a $60 million enterprise. Take a look at the Syndiant case study and tell us what you think by responding to this blog.

And, if you’re planning to attend Microsoft Dynamics Convergence in Atlanta on April 10-13, discuss the particulars of the Syndiant project or your own future project with our own Michael Chadwick and Sonam Thandi in the SaaSplaza booth #1316. They will only be at the booth part of the time, so contact me ASAP if you’d like to arrange a time to meet.

See you in the Cloud!

I'm here in Atlanta, GA for Microsoft Convergence, the 14th annual user conference for Microsoft Dynamics business applications, along with over 8,000 attendees.

Yesterday, Microsoft announced the general availability of the Dynamics GP 2010 (version 11.0) ERP software solution.  The opening keynote address was delivered by Stephen Elop, President of the Microsoft Business Division. The spotlight was the agile interconnectivity of Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 simultaneously working with both on-premise and on-demand systems including Customer Relationship Management SaaS software, instant messaging, video conferencing, word processing, spreadsheet and email programs. Some of this was pretty interesting, so you may want to take a look at this live demo: http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/dynamics/videogallery.aspx. 

Dynamics GP 2010 enhancements include:

• Tighter integration with other Microsoft business solutions and cloud computing technologies
• 100+ new dashboard indicators / KPI's
• 400 Excel and SQL Reporting Services (SRS) web based reports
• Simplified and enhanced workflow automation
• Web based ERP enhancements

Interesting Microsoft facts shared during the keynote on their cloud strategy including the Windows Azure platform:

• 20 million customers now using Microsoft cloud computing applications
• 70% of programmers focused on developing applications for the cloud
• Spending $9.5 billion on R&D in 2010

Simply put, it appears that Microsoft is "all in" as it relates to cloud and software-as-a-service technology.

- Mike Chadwick, Director of Sales, Tensoft