From May 2022, businesses in four more African countries will be able to access the software-as-a-service (SaaS) version of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central application.
Nick Botha, MD of 4Sight Dynamics Africa says that this expands the number of African countries able to access this application to 11, following on the announcement last year that support would be extended to Kenya, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt and Nigeria.
Support for the cloud-based version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is now available in Botswana, Zimbabwe, Angola and Mauritius, alongside South Africa, Kenya, Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia and Nigeria.
“Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a trusted, comprehensive business management solution that small and midsized companies have come to rely on to meet their customers’ expectations,” Botha says. “Accessing it via the cloud rather than the traditional on-premises model has significant advantages in terms of pricing and cash flow, as well as access to a greater range of additional services and improved automation of business processes.”
4Sight Dynamics Africa is a value-added Indirect Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) that services a large number of Microsoft partners in Africa and the Middle East. It plays a key role in helping its network of established Microsoft partners acquire the skills to onboard customers quickly and provide quality support that boosts business growth.
Botha believes that adoption of the new model will build steadily in the four new territories as businesses appreciate the advantages of moving to the cloud. As in the rest of the world, a key accelerator is the move to hybrid working styles, enabling smarter, more collaborative work environments that allow for business innovations to be implemented more quickly. The cloud model offers users the ability to respond to changing business conditions more rapidly, and to scale as needed without lengthy, capital-intensive projects in a highly secure environment.
Microsoft is a leader in five Gartner Magic Quadrants for security, delivering world-class identity protection, role-based access, encryption, and auditing and logging.
One of the concerns often expressed about SaaS is network bandwidth and latency. Speed tests conducted by 4Sight Dynamic Africa in 2021, indicated that download and upload speeds across the African continent support the use of the cloud.
“African businesses are eager to compete globally and build the continent, and they are increasingly seeing the cloud as the way to access the business solutions they need to do so,” concludes Botha. “Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central has earned its spurs in this market and making it available through the cloud presents a huge opportunity for African businesses to digitalise their operations to compete more effectively and future proof themselves in a fast-changing business environment.