Dynamics NAV: Brilliant, Just Brilliant Says Microsoft
November 22, 2008
Microsoft has released a new version of its ERP (enterprise resource planning) on steroids product–Dynamics NAV. If you aren’t familiar with this product, it is a SharePoint for backoffice operations. Here’s what Microsoft says aboiut the product on its own Web site:
Microsoft Dynamics NAV offers growing small and midsize business a powerful yet cost-effective solution that can be tailored for your company. It can support customization and add-in software to meet industry or other specific needs. In addition, it can adapt as a growing business needs more power and functionality. Microsoft Dynamics NAV addresses the following business needs: Financial management, Manufacturing, Business intelligence, Sales and marketing, and Distribution.
These are broad and sweeping statements from a company once eager to buy SAP, another vendor of “kitchen sink” software.
But what caught my attention was a Web log post by a person who joined the Dynamics team in February 2008 and quite likes the product. You can read “Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 Ships” here. I found this a remarkable Web log post. The writer is an engineer yet his prose resonates with the Buffy-esque enthusiasm I see in the marketing collateral produced by 22 year old Brown University English majors. Consider this snippet:
There are a number of things that I simply love about this release, but I have to start with the UX (or user design). When I installed NAV 2009 when I first joined the team back in February, I knew the user experience was special. Then, in my last blog post, I admitted that I had a crush on it. Now, I must say that it’s brilliant.
I found it difficult to believe that the prose would escalate from this lofty peak of self congratulation. The Dynamics team member shattered my skepticism. Another snippet of the Web log post:
People who love the tools they work with end up loving their work more. People who love their work more end up being more successful. They make fewer mistakes, they treat each other better, and they get to work on time. If we build a Microsoft Dynamics NAV user experience that users love, it’s a win-win-win situation. The customer wins. The customer’s employee wins. And we at Microsoft win. That’s why this user experience is brilliant.
My brief encounters with Dynamics may have been outliers. For example, these questions linger in my mind:
- How do I get this Dynamics stuff to work within SharePoint?
- How do I find a particular item in the Dynamics repository?
- How can I find security conflicts within Dynamics and across other Microsoft servers required by the system?
I am an addled goose and a bit cautious when it comes to software Microsoft acquires, changes, and converts to its magical Dot Net platform. Unfortunately our experience with Dynamics is a bit short of brilliant. Yep, we can get it to work. The integration, performance, and complexity certainly inject serious revenue into the consulting revenue line. In my opinion, I want to hear from customers that a product is brilliant. Engineers are often biased. Remember the Wow of Vista? Remember the Xbox red circle of death? Remember the purchase of Fast Search & Transfer which arrived with a police raid?
Yep, brilliant. Just brilliant.
Stephen Arnold, November 22, 2008
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