ERP and CRM Consultancy Specialist Ardent Solutions Launches Hosted Dynamics AX

BIRMINGHAM, England -

- Ardent 24 Offers Microsoft Dynamics SaaS and Provides Secure and Resilient IT Management and Cutting-Edge Hardware to Enable Greater Focus on Core Business Activities

ERP and CRM consultancy specialist, Ardent Solutions www.ardentsolutions.co.uk/ has announced the launch of its new hosted managed service, Ardent 24. The service sees the provision of an option for hosted Dynamics AX - Microsoft’s solution for improving financial, customer-relationship, and supply-chain management - for a fixed monthly fee, mitigating the need for an expensive long-term capital outlay. The announcement of Microsoft Dynamics SaaS from Ardent comes at a time when more and more businesses are remaining increasingly aware of financial outlays and long-term commitments within the current economy, particularly within the manufacturing and distribution industries.

Andrew Watkinson, Managing Director of ERP and CRM consultancy specialist Ardent Solutions, comments, “As our recent report - The Ardent Solution SME Business Technology report: tinyurl.com/ln2a32 - highlighted, our hosted Dynamics AX offering is very timely for business, as IT spend and associated risks in long term investments are being assessed and kept to a minimum across the majority of companies as they look to emerge cautiously from the recession.” Watkinson continues, “The Ardent 24 initiative is set to give customers greater flexibility, ensuring that they are able to take better control of IT expenditure whilst benefitting from a secure, up-to-date and supported IT infrastructure through Microsoft Dynamics SaaS.”

Ardent 24 tinyurl.com/nlsx6f takes the entire existing Microsoft infrastructure including operating systems, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft Office applications, as well as any third party integrated applications, and hosts them as Microsoft Dynamics SaaS at Ardent’s secure data centre using the latest IBM technology.

The hosted Dynamics AX solution from ERP and CRM consultancy specialist Ardent Solutions provides management of enterprise-wide applications as well as standard Microsoft Office and Exchange requirements. This gives an end-to-end business solution that delivers the end user with increased performance, security and resilience for a fixed monthly fee that is substantially lower than the costs involved in running and staffing an equivalent infrastructure.

Watkinson explains, “By failing to stay up to date with technology or carrying out poor hardware management practices, a company is opening itself up to all types of risk. Not only are security issues a genuine cause for concern, but many companies simply do not attach enough value to how they manage data and what would happen to their business should they lose it. Our recent research showed that only 57% of SMEs surveyed stated they had a disaster recovery plan in place in case of hardware or software failure.”

The business benefits of ERP and CRM consultancy specialist Ardent Solutions’ hosted Dynamics AX solution, Ardent 24 include: - No capital investment - Fixed price per user per month - Flexible IT - only pay for what is needed - An ERP solution delivered back to end users - Microsoft Office, Exchange, Security, back-ups and anti-spam/virus included - Access to the system 24/7 - No costly hardware purchases - All upgrades and patches to applications and operating systems included - Greater resilience and resistance guaranteed - Microsoft Dynamics SaaS

Ardent 24 - the hosted Dynamics AX solution from ERP and CRM consultancy specialist Ardent Solutions - offers full server technology using failover and load balanced technologies. Online back-ups are produced as standard as well as nightly off-site backup and a full disaster recovery solution is also available if required.

ERP and CRM consultancy specialist Ardent Solutions has partnered with one of the leading data centres in the UK, UK Solutions (UKS), to provide a reliable and efficient hosting environment for its offering of Microsoft Dynamics SaaS. The UKS North site is a purpose-built facility, specifically designed and built to Tier IV specification - the highest level that can be reached when specifying a data centre’s criticality. Security of data is paramount and as such the data centre has been built with special consideration and attention to the exterior landscape, controlled access ways and comprehensive CCTV coverage, along with a 24/7 on-site security team.

Watkinson comments, “The benefits of a hosted Dynamics AX solution reach far beyond the obvious advantages of a secure IT function and a fixed monthly charge. A hosted solution removes the requirement for a business to manage its technical infrastructure in-house, allowing resource to be utilised in more key focus areas for the company, creating greater efficiency and increasing the resilience of the company’s IT.”

Watkinson concludes, “The pace of technology change is escalating on an almost daily basis. In a business world that is, now more than ever, focussed on remaining competitive and sustainable it is vital that businesses embrace alternative methods of not only keeping up with the changing face of technology, but staying ahead of it.”

About Ardent Solutions Limited

Based in the West Midlands, Ardent Solutions is a privately owned business software specialist that provides ERP and CRM consultancy, implementation and integration services, as well as a hosted managed IT service, Ardent 24, to companies in a wide range of industries, including manufacturing, distribution, service, FMCG and IEM (Industrial Equipment Manufacturing).

Ardent Solutions was awarded the Microsoft Dynamics EMEA Partner of the Year in July 2008 and is the No 1 partner in the UK for Microsoft Dynamics AX ‘New Named Sites’ and works with third party resellers in order to deliver a ‘whole solution’.

A Microsoft Gold Partner, the company is one of the largest-based resellers of Microsoft Dynamics AX software in the UK with full Microsoft certification and accreditation for all its consultants. Ardent Solutions also has strategic partnerships with third party products and organisations including IBM enabling it to deliver its customers a ‘total business solution’.

About Ardent 24 - www.ardent24.co.uk

Ardent 24 is the hosted Dynamics AX managed service offering from ERP and CRM consultancy specialist Ardent Solutions. It has been designed to take the headache out of managing IT and allows a business to concentrate on what it does best.

Ardent 24 can take an entire existing Microsoft infrastructure including operating systems, Microsoft Exchange and your Microsoft Office applications as well as any third party integrated applications and host them at our secure data centre on the latest IBM technology. Ardent 24 delivers Microsoft Dynamics SaaS - an unrivalled user experience back to the end user with increased performance, security and resiliency for a fraction of the cost.

For further information, please contact: Katie Jones Krista Cundy / Kirsty Cornell Ardent Solutions Limited The itpr Group +44(0)844-880-6146 +44(0)1932-578800 www.ardentsolutions.co.uk www.itpr.co.uk

Source: Ardent Solutions Limited

For further information, please contact: Katie Jones, Ardent Solutions Limited, +44(0)844-880-6146, https://www.ardentsolutions.co.uk; Krista Cundy / Kirsty Cornell, The itpr Group, +44(0)1932-578800, https://www.itpr.co.uk