The History and Future of Dynamics NAV

Navision

In 1983 PC&C was founded providing character based accounting solutions and four years later in 1987 the Navision product was launched. The product grew and in 1995 Navision Financials 1.0 was launched based on the Microsoft windows 32-bit client/server platform. From here onwards, Navision went through several mergers with other products, increasing functionality including multicurrency, manufacturing functionality, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) etc. 

Microsoft Purchase Navision

In 2002 Microsoft purchased Navision and along side Great Plains (now GP) the Microsoft Business Solutions suite of products was created. Microsoft Business Solutions would change to Microsoft Dynamics in 2005 with a rebrand of Navision to Dynamics NAV. From here Microsoft started massive R&D projects and added functionality such as an enhanced Job suite with the release of NAV 5.0. With the next release, NAV 2009, Microsoft released the new Role Tailored Client (RTC), as well as Role Tailored Reports. With 2009 R2 Microsoft included the ability to integrate NAV with Dynamics CRM. 

Dynamics NAV 2013 - The New Era

The release of Dynamics NAV 2013 was a landmark not only for the Microsoft product but in the ERP world in general. With an easy to use interface with the familiar look and feel of the Microsoft Office products, as well as integration with these products including Excel and Word, NAV 2013 provides a product that is technically advanced as well as user friendly. Offering a flexibility for companies like no other software package, NAV became a product that could be moulded for the customer needs. This was not just a change in how the product looks, but also an increase in functionality, including Bank Reconciliation, multi-tenancy and cash management. 

The Dynamics Brand

Microsoft's suite of business management software offers a wide selection of products, which can prove difficult when deciding which product is for you. The products in the Dynamics range are:

• Dynamics NAV
• Dynamics SL
• Dynamics GP
• Dynamics AX
• Dynamics CRM

NAV, SL and GP are all software aimed at the Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) market. Dynamics SL and GP are typically American products (SL is only available in the US), and although are ERP packages in their own right, typically have reduced functionality compared to NAV which has the largest number of users globally. Dynamics AX is typically aimed at the very large multinational organisations and is a big package which means that the services required for implementation typically make this an expensive option. Dynamics CRM is not an ERP product and as the name suggests is fully aimed at Customer Relationship Management, ie sales and marketing. Because of the wide level of functionality involved with CRM this is often integrated with eg NAV for companies that have a very sales focussed business.

The easier answer is that you are a small or medium business (SMB), then Dynamics NAV is the product that is most likely to be the best fit to your business.