SMART business, as a key Microsoft Solutions partner, has been helping its customers around the world achieve their business goals for 15 years.
From year to year, we are increasing our cross-industry expertise and ability to organize business processes in accordance with local business conditions in various jurisdictions.
With customers in 65 countries around the world and physical offices in Georgia, Azerbaijan and Ukraine, in 2022 we opened another one – in Warsaw, thus adding a new region of presence.
Before that, the company already had the experience of operating in Poland for a few years and we saw a demand from local businesses for the expertise of our team. After all, a modern ERP system from SMART business is not only an opportunity for local companies to maintain accounting, tax and personnel records in accordance with the requirements of local legislation, but also to comply with European standards and easily scale across the European Union.
In addition, the choice of Poland was dictated by an understanding of the prospects and economic feasibility. According to the European Commission report for 2023, Poland ranks sixth in nominal GDP among all EU member states and is considered a country with stable economic growth and fairly attractive business conditions.
Glowny Urzad Statystyczny reports that according to the results of 2023, 4.7 million active enterprises were registered in Poland. At the same time, the country demonstrates significant achievements in the field of digitalization and constant expansion of the market for the implementation of modern IT solutions. Thus, according to the Polish Institute of Economics, in recent years Poland has been steadily rising in the DESI (Digital Economy & Society Index) ranking.
Therefore, SMART business assesses the country as attractive in terms of investment, and entering its market is strategic in terms of growth potential for both the company and the local business environment.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: Your Business Deserves the Best
The country’s market includes ERP systems from well-known vendors, mostly common among large and medium-sized companies, and local solutions that are used mainly by small and medium-sized enterprises.
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is steadily gaining popularity in the local business community ecosystem. In particular, at the Directions EMEA 2023 conference, it was noted that the number of implementations and use of this solution in the Eastern European region is constantly growing due to new features and integrations, the number of which increases annually. Our local solutions developed for Poland help local businesses automate accounting and reporting processes in terms of current legal requirements and accounting standards.
We are pleased that local businesses choose SMART Localization for Poland and SMART Payroll for Poland not only because of the ability to automate standard accounting in accordance with local legislation, but also considering the specifics of the enterprise’s activities, whether it is a logistics company or agricultural production. Business Central successfully operates in companies of different fields of activity and of different segments of the economy.
The main advantages of the localized solution for Poland, which have already been appreciated by local businesses, are as follows:
- The solution meets both international and European standards in force in the European Union, as well as the requirements of Polish tax and labor legislation,
- Integration with other Microsoft products. Since many enterprises already use the vendor’s products, such as Microsoft Office 365, for them the implementation of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is a logical step to improve the efficiency of internal business processes,
- Flexibility and scalability: the solution can be adapted not only to the needs of small and large enterprises, but also to the specifics of accounting in different segments of the local economy,
- The possibility of quick implementation, ease of use and continuous support throughout the entire period of use of the product,
- Quarterly release of regular updates. Each of the following versions considers not only the latest changes in legislation regarding accounting and reporting requirements, but also improves the system, including by adding new functionality. For users, this is an opportunity to quickly respond to market changes and stay on trend with the latest management methods,
- Security – another important advantage of the product, directly related to the quarterly releases, since the system is regularly updated considering the latest security standards.
All this allows businesses to focus on achieving strategic goals with the confidence that the technological infrastructure operates reliably, efficiently and safely.
If we compare Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central with local solutions operating in the local market, then to the listed advantages we should add accessibility and mobility, which are provided by cloud technologies, and greater opportunities for conducting international business due to integration with global systems and services.
And compared to international solutions from vendors, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is more affordable and is characterized by the possibility of quick implementation and ease of use.
The first European office of SMART business in Warsaw: from a brand awareness strategy to a systemic partnership
The opening of a physical office in Warsaw by SMART business in September 2022 was a logical step for the team. Having an understanding of the local target audience and its needs, as well as serious expertise and an ambitious vision, we thus declared our active presence in Europe.
Our solutions are designed to adapt the business processes of local companies in accordance with today’s challenges and help them achieve a new level of efficiency by removing operational restrictions.
In particular, SMART Localization for Poland was recently released. This is a comprehensive tool that complements the ERP system with additional functionality for financial accounting in Poland. The solution takes into account both the local requirements of Polish legislation on maintaining enterprise financial records and those in force in the European Union.
At the stage of its development, the SMART business team involved specialists as expert consultants who know the intricacies of financial accounting in Poland and have significant experience working in Polish companies. These are outsourced accountants with considerable experience in “managing” numerous contractors, and specialists who have worked with leading representatives of Polish business for a long time.
The main advantage of the product is its advanced functionality for sales, purchases, fixed asset accounting and operational reporting processes.
It is worth emphasizing integration with the National Bank of Poland and other most popular banks, as well as localization of sales and purchase processes. If we talk about the localized sales process, then this is the ability to generate various invoices: Faktura Zaliczkowa, Faktura VAT/Koncowa, Faktura Korekta. The process of their generation in the system is automated and printed forms are implemented. It is important that the solution provides the ability to divide purchases into economic and non-economic ones (KUP and NKUP), including by VAT amounts; separately generate VAT and EU VAT declarations and many useful functions for business. Printed forms for maintaining cash records, accounting for fixed assets and stocks are localized.
Earlier, SMART Payroll for Poland was released – a solution based on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for maintaining records of personnel and wages in accordance with current labor standards and tax legislation requirements of Poland.
Among its main advantages are a role-based interface for the HR manager and payroll accountant; quick implementation of the system; templates for transferring data and history from other systems; automation of processes for calculating wages, tax deductions, bonuses, sick leave, etc.; the ability to recalculate payroll document lines, revise calculation details, control data for calculating average wages; a wide range of regulated reporting for ZUS, PIT, PFRON, PPK, GUS; the application is fully synchronized with financial and accounting modules, providing a single data flow, minimizing duplication of user actions and many other features that make the use of the solution extremely simple, intuitive and as close as possible to user requests.
We regularly implement our solutions for local businesses, inform them about releases and encourage feedback to “keep our finger on the pulse” of their needs. For this purpose, SMART business has created localized pages on its official website and corresponding profiles on popular social networks.
Regular posts on social networks, monthly digests, publications of expert articles in the blog of the Business Central website are designed to familiarize the local business community with the package of our offers. In the blog, we also regularly post news about our updates, including for the Accounting and Payroll solutions for Poland.
Find out more about our products and subscribe to our quarterly updates: here.
Every year, we hold a number of events to increase brand awareness, train and support users of Microsoft products and establish business contacts with local businesses. These include webinars, where the team introduces potential and existing customers to the full functionality and benefits of their products, as well as short training courses-academies.
Academy participants are provided with individual access to the latest web version of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. Classes are held for a limited number of participants and include both theoretical and practical parts. Each participant has the opportunity, with the support of a coordinator, to work in the system and gain skills in working in it. This is a great opportunity to see the system in action for those who are looking for an alternative to their current software or want to get acquainted with the new version and test the web interface.
The following events took place in 2024:
- In March – a webinar explaining the capabilities of SMART Payroll for Poland,
- In July – ERP Academy “Finance and accounting in the international ERP system from Microsoft”,
- At the end of August – a webinar about SMART Payroll for Poland, during which the company’s experts demonstrated to the participants how well-established and automated processes for personnel management and payroll calculation help companies build transparent financial interactions with employees and at the same time always be confident that all processes comply with the country’s labor standards and legal requirements,
- In September – free online academy ”Zarządzanie kadrami i płacami w międzynarodowym systemie ERP od Microsoft”. During practical classes, the participants had the opportunity to learn how to perform basic operations on personnel management and payroll calculation in the system and master the functionality of the international ERP system from Microsoft,
- A series of meetings with Business Central users to inform them about the latest wave of updates from Microsoft.
The upcoming plans:
- Holding a webinar at the end of autumn to explain the functionality of SMART Accounting,
- In November – launch of the ERP academy “Finanse i księgowość w międzynarodowym systemie ERP od Mycrosoft opartym na SMART Localization for Poland”. In addition to theoretical knowledge, students will have the opportunity to gain practical skills in financial transactions and financial accounting in an international ERP system in accordance with the requirements of Polish law.
Why cooperation with SMART business is always a plus one competitive advantage for Polish companies
Having carefully studied the conditions in which local businesses operate, we came to the Polish market to create products that would not only allow local companies to automate accounting and reporting processes in accordance with legal requirements, but also become the beginning of a digital transformation.
At the development stage, we combined our 15 years of experience in developing, localizing and implementing our own solutions based on advanced Microsoft technologies and the experience of leading specialists in the accounting and reporting system in Poland, with whom we actively consulted.
This gave us the opportunity to develop products that meet the needs of local companies. The implementation of our solutions will allow local companies to focus on achieving their main goal – to be profitable. At the same time, managers should not worry whether, for example, tax accounting will work correctly after the introduction of certain regulatory innovations, or whether reports will be made on time if the deadlines for their submission suddenly change.
The regular releases of our product guarantee maximum compliance of enterprise accounting and reporting systems with legal requirements. Also, with updates, we often add useful functionality upgrades designed to simplify work with the product as much as possible.
Realizing that the loyalty and trust of local users are critical for successful entry into the country’s market, we always use our in-depth expertise to relevantly assess the needs of a particular business. If necessary, we develop customized solutions that are implemented in a short time. We also provide ongoing technical support throughout the entire period of use of the products.
Thus, we regard our presence in Poland in the context of cooperation with local businesses as a WIN-WIN situation. On the one hand, given that in recent years Poland has been characterized by an increasingly high demand for high-quality IT services and significant investments in digital infrastructure, we consider such scaling to be a point of our own growth. On the other hand, for the Polish business community, the emergence of a player of such a level of expertise on the IT infrastructure market is an excellent opportunity to reach a new level of efficiency.
