Which Dynamics Flavour?
Overview and history
With several different versions of Dynamics ERP, there is some confusion in the marketplace over Microsoft’s strategy for ERP. This section attempts to explain this and the differences between the versions.
Historical Reasons
When Microsoft initially decided to move into Business Applications they decided to acquire Great Plains in order to gain some immediate market traction. This was completed in April 2001. Great Plains was the mid-market leader in the US and had a strong market presence in English speaking countries and the Middle East. Whilst it had multi-language and multi-currency capability, Great Plains was not so strong in mainland Europe. Therefore Microsoft, being a truly global organisation, decided to also acquire Navision 16 months later, in July 2002. Navision was the mid-market leader in Europe, so this move made a lot of strategic sense for Microsoft, who are very committed to developing this market (see also history above for more detail).
Unlike Sage (with its multitude of products), which does not invest much in R&D but buys a company every few months to expand, Microsoft have always derived the vast majority of their growth organically via huge R&D – we do not think that Microsoft will buy any more ERP software companies, we believe that their planned dramatic growth in ERP software sales will come from investment in the existing products.
Great Plains acquisition products
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Dynamics GP (also called eEnterprise)
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Dynamics SL (only sold in US)
Navision acquisition products
