Into the Not-So-Distant Future: How Microsoft and Its Partners Could Use Kinect, Mobile, Metro UI with Dynamics GP

So you work in the warehouse of a big manufacturing company. And sometimes that work can get a little tedious. Wouldn't it be great if you could incorporate some gaming technology like what's available with Microsoft's Kinect platform into your job to make working with Microsoft Dynamics GP more fun - not to mention make you more productive? Or get faster and easier access to KPIs in Business Analyzer?  Or enjoy it all in a sleek new operating system?

Well ... maybe someday.

At the Dynamics GP general session at Convergence 2012, Microsoft execs demonstrated how businesses could process information and communicate in a virtual setting without physically interacting with a computer. And whether there's strong demand for bleeding edge solutions or just curiosity from the Dynamics GP pros out there, Microsoft can take credit for putting effort into linking its ERP products to other new or upcoming products, something analysts might like to see even more of.

Although the Kinect has primarily been used for gaming and entertainment, Microsoft execs demonstrated a couple of ways the device could be used with Microsoft Dynamics GP to increase productivity.

One of the demos showed how a warehouse worker could use a Kinect device to interact with a computer without having to use a traditional keyboard and mouse. Rather, he could use face recognition, voice recognition and gestures to perform actions in the system.

For example, say that employee is wearing safety gloves that make it difficult for him to operate a computer to access Dynamics GP to track inventory or confirm that certain steps in the manufacturing process have been completed. Kinect's motion-detection and voice control technology could adapted to allow the ...