Top Seven Reasons Why Agriculture Retailers are Replacing Dynamics GP and CINCH with Levridge
Microsoft Dynamics GP and CINCH have been one of the main solutions that agriculture retailers have used to manage their business and grower relationships. However, as technology continues to evolve, many long-term GP+CINCH users are finding shortcomings in the system that are not enabling their business to move forward and keep up with demands from growers and their constituents.
1. Upgrading Dynamics GP with multiple ISV add-on solutions is not easy
Dynamics GP users current on their annual enhancement have access to all new versions, functionality, and features at no additional cost. Staying on the latest version of Dynamics GP ensures that you’ll have access to support services, updates, hotfixes, and tax changes from Microsoft. However, when you have ISV add-on solutions like CINCH, you need to wait for their product to become compatible with the new release, which can take some time. Even when those solutions become compatible with the upgrade, the process then becomes more timely and complicated to complete, which ends up in additional labor hours and funds to complete the process.
Dynamics 365 provides two major releases each year that are automatically implemented within the system with very minimal work from your team. Levridge is in full lock-step with those releases and there is no delay in integration as the product is always compatible.
2. Reliability and investment into the products are questionable
Dynamics GP is a legacy system and functions well for small to mid-sized businesses. However, technology and the needs of SMB companies have changed and the future of software is in the cloud. With a cloud-based solution like Levridge, your employees can securely access the system anytime, anywhere, and on any device. Additionally, ag retailers can gain valuable insights into their data with a full end-to-end integrated solution, which isn’t possible with siloed systems such as Dynamics GP. Microsoft is heavily invested in developing Dynamics 365, Power Platform functionality, AI, and Machine Learning and will continue to trend heavily towards those technologies and away from Dynamics GP.
Levridge is developed by an ever-growing team of software and agriculture experts that are heavily invested in the solution and continue to update and add new features.
3. Manual processes and data entry are time-consuming
Manual processes and data entry are par for the course with Dynamics GP and CINCH. With papers shuffling between departments and stacked in vehicles in the field, it can be days or even weeks before information on new sales, completed deliveries or applied products are entered into the system. By transitioning to Levridge, your employees can immediately collect information through mobile devices no matter where they are. That information automatically syncs to the system and effectively eliminates any re-entry of data or manual process.
4. Inability to integrate into new technologies slows down business
Technology is moving faster than ever, and the top ag retailers are taking advantage of new solutions to have insights into data, make better business decisions, and accurately project sales, revenue, and budgets for the future. Levridge integrates to the full Microsoft stack, including Office applications and the Power Platform, which empowers ag retailers to develop custom apps to solve business challenges, automate organizational processes, and access data-driven insights. Without the ability to easily integrate to these solutions, and specific ag applications like AgSync, ag retailers will fall behind.
Power BI compiles data from any source into one system, giving you access to dashboards and reporting to make valuable strategic business decisions based on facts and not simply projections.
5. The new workforce requires a modern interface
The generation of new agronomists and ag employees entering the workforce are more apt to relocate for a job or company that best fits their own personal expectations. Attracting these employees to your agribusiness is important for your continuing operation – which means understanding some of the core expectations of this workforce, which include:
- Access to technology with a modern user interface
- Workplace flexibility and the ability to work across a variety of devices (phone, computer tablet) from any location
6. Accurate & timely service to growers & members is key
Ag retailers operate a business like any other that requires excellent customer service, timely communications, and efficient invoicing and payment to run at full steam. With an end to end solution like Levridge, your agronomists have instant access to each grower’s account and can instantly answer account questions, make recommendations, and look up historical data. Billing can be processed more efficiently so you can collect on payments due faster.
7. Merging disparate systems after ag retailer acquisitions is tedious
More and more frequently, ag retailers are merging and consolidating into larger organizations. This can leave the business office with multiple different disparate systems that are all still being used to manage accounting, equity and patronage, agronomy, and more. This information has to then be reconciled into one system manually, which can lead to errors and doesn’t offer real-time visibility into the true status of the operation.
By streamlining operations through one end-to-end solution, each department and location is in sync with the same processes and workflows. This allows business leaders access to real-time information that includes data from the entire operation.
Plus with Levridge, onboarding new or recently acquired locations is not a difficult process. Built on the Microsoft platform, uploading historical data can be as easy as importing a spreadsheet.
Levridge gives ag retailers the ability to streamline business processes and work more efficiently. Learn more about the capabilities of Levridge on our blog or reach out to our team to learn how you can transition from Dynamics GP and CINCH to Levridge.
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