Microsoft takes on Intacct and Netsuite in the Cloud

If you thought you could simply dismiss Microsoft Dynamics 365, think again! What started out small is quickly gaining momentum in the Software as a Service (SaaS) realm.

As a Microsoft partner who had attended an Intacct training event in California a few years ago, I was initially disappointed to see what Dynamics 365 offered in its pretrial days this summer.

Now, however, it’s obvious that the stripped-down version was in fact the promising beginnings of a much more robust product. When Microsoft released Dynamics NAV 2017 in the fall, Dynamics 365 suddenly started to look formidable.

The Dynamics 365 product is remarkably inexpensive compared to its cloud competitors, namely Intacct and NetSuite. Microsoft has leveraged far superior products Dynamics NAV and Dynamics AX and pushed them into the SaaS model — for a much more reasonable cost. Microsoft, I believe, has checkmated everyone.

Plus, the integration with Dynamics CRM, Sharepoint, Power BI and the rest of Office 365 is something to gush over. While the financial reporting is not quite yet “formidable,” the people from Jet Reports are ready to release their own report writer to fill that gap in early 2017.

Last year Microsoft’s only claim to SaaS was references to the cloud in various press releases. Now they have a real multi-tenant option that is a true SaaS product. We expect that in the next several months many of the features of Dynamics NAV and Dynamics AX will be available in Microsoft’s SaaS offering of Dynamics 365.

The change in payment structure with this latest offering will uniquely impact current software resellers as well. Partners who relied on having the cheapest prices despite less-than-stellar services will no longer survive because Microsoft has leveled the playing field as far as cost.

Now, partners like Boyer & Associates will have to rely on competence and delivery abilities rather than good salespeople and past maintenance sales. This is great news for us since we’re already focused on quality services and helping our clients make business better.

If you’d like to hear more about Dynamics 365 or how we can help you implement your next ERP product, contact us today. For more on Dynamics 365, register for our webinar.