If you’ve heard of Salesforce.com or NetSuite then you’ve heard of startup companies whose business model is based on Software as a Service (SAAS). Universal high-speed internet access has enabled this business model where your business software is hosted by another company in another location. In old fashioned terms this was called leasing. In the modern world SAAS is much like paying for web hosting. Even more importantly your business depends on that live connection being 100% available.

Many companies are jumping on the SAAS bandwagon if only to stay competitive. Microsoft Dynamics, our own flagship product, now has SAAS pricing. If you search the web for information on SAAS you will find a wide range of opinions on this subject. So much so that one ERP expert went as far as to say that “on-premise versions of large-scale software systems are obsolete”. This is certainly an extreme statement as there are several major factors to consider in choosing an advanced Business Software system. These are the Hosting model, Customizations, Cost of Ownership, Security and Efficiency.  more...

Over the years I have seen possibly hundreds of business software implementations. What makes the good ones stand out is that the system immediately provides such a marked improvement to its users that management is more than just a little bit happy with their investment. What makes the bad ones stand out is how long it takes before the system is useful, how much extra work has to be done to get it there and leaving management afraid to ask for anything more.

What separates the good from the bad implementations has much less to do with the “fit” of the software than the “fit” of the company you choose. An honest salesperson who tells you what it will really take to meet your requirements, a competent project manager who takes the time to write a complete design specification and implementation plan  and technical personnel who are not learning at your expense, this is the right way to get it done.

Implementation of mid-range business software systems is not something you can do just out of trade school. It is more like the hand assembly method of manufacturing than the assembly line. Although many setups can be done mechanically, the way the system is configured for a company is done on a case-by-case basis. Before the automobile industry implemented the assembly line, each team of technicians had to be sufficiently trained to build the entire car.

If software implementation is not well thought out and complete you may end up going back to your old system to get things done or with vital features missing. This is the difference between the good and the bad. You wouldn’t want to be without the steering wheel just because no one was assigned to install it, or asked to pay extra for the tires just because you didn’t ask for them.

The same goes for software implementations.  If you’re hiring a team to implement Microsoft Dynamics at your company, they had better have all the skills necessary to do a complete job. Then your ROI will not be hard to find.

1. Save money through Automation
   If your business is using multiple applications to accomplish a single task, you may be paying people to do what your business software should be doing by itself. We often implement Microsoft Dynamics NAV in companies that have their employees building and maintaining spreadsheets, doing double entry or spending time just finding information. Installing our business software application makes this unnecessary and frees up these personnel. Now they can and are put to more efficient uses such as speeding time of delivery, calling customers to increase the quantity and size of orders, or any number of actions that increase sales volume and cash flow.
   
2. Increased Analysis gives Increased Efficiency
   Many businesses are using multiple applications that are not integrated, so data collection and analysis are difficult and time consuming. A software package that offers fully integrated data also offers fully integrated data analysis. Using the data analysis tools in Microsoft Dynamics NAV can help you find out where your business can be made more efficient and more cost effective. It can help you monitor statistics so you can take actions such as isolating sources of cash flow, reducing average days to pay and increasing billing accuracy.
   
3. Take Advantage of Slow Business to Grow Business
   Most often a software implementation is scheduled during an “off season” time to minimize impact on business processes. This gives both information workers and management time to learn the new system so that when the busy season comes they aren’t slowed down by the learning curve. Then when the busy season does arrive it can be handled with more speed and efficiency than ever and giving a positive image to customers and opening the door to more sales and income. Things may be slow now, but they will pick up, so many companies are taking advantage of this chance to update their business processes and their business software. Of course we recommend Microsoft Dynamics NAV.

We’ve just returned from Directions, the annual NAV resellers conference held last week in Atlanta. This year was all about Dynamics NAV 2009 or, to you NAV users out there, NAV 6.0. NAV 2009 is a leap forward, an introduction of more than a little new technology into the Navision product. It’s pretty, it shows well, and it’s full of graphical user interfaces. What does this mean? It means that Dynamics NAV 2009 centers around the user menu. We used to make these all the time before the “Outlook” style menu took over in 4.0. Now the user menu is back and it’s call the Role Center, but it’s much more than a menu. You can add charts and graphs and there’s even a section for e-mail notifications. So the idea is that the user menu is no longer just a set of buttons, it is now an information center. And then there’s the new programmers access to NAV “web services” meaning we can now finally begin writing high powered web interfaces.

Microsoft is investing heavily in this product and it looks like this is paying off. The Dynamics NAV 2009 version is as revolutionary a change from NAV as Navision Financials was to Navision DOS. All in all, existing users will be both attracted to the new features and challenged by the difference, but new users may simply love it. Dynamics NAV 2009 opens a lot of new doors. You’ve heard the Microsoft promo, “where do you want to go today?” Well, today it’s through these doors that lead to the promising land of Dynamics NAV 2009.

I’ve just finished reading a marketing book, “Selling the Invisible” by Harry Beckwith. This is about marketing a service business. The title derives from the concept that service is an invisible product. The author makes some very salient points about service: You can’t see it or hold it; You buy it on confidence alone; Once you get it you can’t return it.

Our business model is based on impeccable service. I loved this book because this is what it’s all about. He talks about finding a focus to differentiate your business from all the other services businesses in your industry. Our quality of service is what differentiates our company. So I’ve come up with our positioning statement, and it’s not just “hype” or “PR”, it’s the honest truth.

“Dynamics West is a Microsoft Dynamics NAV reseller. Our customers are mid market companies searching for ERP software. Unlike other resellers that sell and deliver Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Dynamics West offers only highly experienced personnel who deliver a more thorough, well planned installation on time and on budget that minimizes unseen costs of software conversions.”

Sure we sell the software, but it’s the delivery that really gives the customer the superior value that NAV has to offer. A happy customer is a well implemented customer, a well trained customer, and a well supported customer. That’s why we have user groups, and that’s why we get so many good references.

I highly recommend “Selling the Invisible”.

The emerging message from Microsoft for Dynamics resellers is “go vertical”. That means to specialize not just in one module, like Manufacturing, but in a specific market such as high-tech manufacturing, non-profit accounting, or e-commerce, etc.

The “open source” nature of Dynamics NAV allows for many tightly integrated software add-on products that enable vertical specialization. For those who don’t know, NAV resellers have full access to the business logic (that is contained in the program source code). This makes these add-on packages more than just “add-ons”. They literally become a part of the program. This is both an advantage and a challenge. It gives us more to sell and deliver, but it also gives us more to learn.

We like to stay up to date on as many of these as possible so that we know what to recommend when we advise a prospect or existing customer. Add-ons can save a lot of programming time while giving the customer some very impressive features.  A s “enlightened” resellers, we expect certain things from these vendors. We want to have the right to deliver the product ourselves and to be able to support it completely so our customer is not beholden to two (or more) software vendors. We want to be able to demonstrate competence with the add-on product with or without closed training classes. On line training is great; having to travel for a weeks training is difficult and costly, especially just for updates.

With NAV 2009 it is likely that the add-on market will expand even more and especially for web oriented products.  To keep the momentum these need to stay open source and open training.

Sales: I highly recommend the Demo to Win workshop. I’ve done a lot of software demonstrations, seen a lot of software demo’s and I’ve read about software demo’s. Nothing beats someone actually making you do it the way it's done in Demo to Win. In my opinion this technique is so effective that even if you only do it half right you’re already doing twice as good as you were without it. It keeps the Prospect's attention on what is important - the value of what you are showing them.

At the October Quarterly Partner Briefing it was announced there will a Discover to Win workshop. Discovery is such an important part of the sales process that this is another event not to be missed!

Dave Cintron, Dynamics West

 With NAV 5.0 Service Pack 1 Microsoft has rewritten the SQL version of the client to use SQL Indexing to take place of the original pre-Microsoft Navision SIFT technology. I believe they have been working on putting this feature into the NAV client for several years because it has taken them this long to match the sophistication of SIFT technology in the SQL server.

Recently we have been doing upgrades to the 5.0 SP1 version, sometimes the entire database and sometimes the client only. We have noticed a significant increase in speed especially where the database itself is upgraded because Microsoft has also rewritten the code in the database to take advantage of SQL features.

The client-only upgrade is very fast and trouble free. As soon as you open the database with the new client it runs through the tables doing the version update and this goes very quickly. Alternately you can do a backup/restore on the database to force an index rebuild. There is of course more SQL optimization to be done, but this is a report on the easy part. And of course the newer the SQL version the better. I’m not sure how far the SQL Optimization tools go with this version of NAV, but I’ve also found that the simplest actions usually get the job done.

Dave

We are Dynamics West. We are resellers, implementers, programmers, trainers and overall evangelists for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. Most of us have been working with NAV (Navision) for over 10 years, and with ERP software implementations in general for many more.

Here you will find our blog entries with our insights and our concerns into the Navision world. As our blog grows please feel free to contact us with questions and comments, directly by e-mail or by blogging your own comments.

Dave, Larry and Carol
Dynamics West