Strategically placed deep within the central controls of the organization, enterprise resource planning (ERP) solutions like Dynamics ERP products aren't always immediately linked to improving customer-facing activities and experiences. Analysts and vendors have started promoting the value of using ERP to boost customer experience, but has that message reached the end user?

We ferreted out four different ways companies can use (or, that they already are using) their ERPs to improve customer service levels and outpace their competitors. Here's what we learned: