Why Microsoft Dynamics NAV is a Great Solution for Small (As Well As Not-So-Small) Businesses

Around 80,000 organisations throughout the world use Microsoft Dynamics NAV to streamline their business processes and increase their business efficiency and competitiveness. It’s a great tool for organisations in a wide variety of industries, segments, and verticals and is predominantly used in the mid-sized business market.

Theoretically, the number of users an organisation can have using Microsoft Dynamics NAV is almost unlimited. Sites with 100 or more users are by no means uncommon, and there are some sites with several hundred users. However, Microsoft Dynamics NAV is also a great solution for small (including very small) businesses as well.

There are several definitions of what constitutes a small, a medium or a large business. These are usually based on number of employees and turnover. If using head count, a commonly accepted definition of a small business is 50 staff or less, and a medium sized business typically 50 to 250 staff. There are also ‘micro’ businesses, which are usually defined as 10 users or less. Please note these definitions are by no means universal.

So, how small can a business be to achieve a reasonable return on investment from implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV? Could a ‘micro’ business justifiably deploy Microsoft Dynamics NAV?

The answer is ‘Yes’. For example, here at Concentrix TSG we recently deployed Microsoft Dynamics NAV for a single user in a very small start-up. The single user in this company had used Microsoft Dynamics NAV at a previous organisation so was already familiar with the product. Their objective was primarily to use Microsoft Dynamics NAV for  accounting and financial management. They also knew exactly what they wanted from the product and didn’t need much in the way of configuration or training.

With this in mind, it made a great deal of sense to use Microsoft Dynamics NAV. The single licence costs were about the same as one of the most popular small-business accounting products. They initially aimed to use Microsoft Dynamics NAV as a basic accounting solution: for taking orders, processing orders, invoicing, providing statements to customers and raising purchase orders for suppliers. These are functions Microsoft Dynamics NAV provides ‘out of the box’ so set up costs were minimal.

Although fairly new, the business was already up and running with processes in place and orders starting to come in. They had considered Microsoft Dynamics NAV in the cloud, but decided to go for on-premise. In addition they were expecting the business to expand significantly. Because Microsoft Dynamics NAV is modular they could expand the use of the product, and users, in line with the growth of the company. This strategy meant they would be set up and ready to harness more of the power of Microsoft Dynamics NAV in the future.

So, there’s really no ‘lower limit’ of users for Microsoft Dynamics NAV. It’s a highly flexible product so it is often the right solution for medium-sized businesses, and there’s no doubt medium-sized businesses are where its core user-base lies. However its ‘out of the box’ functionality combined with competitive pricing make it a realistic solution for many small and micro businesses as well, right down to a single user.

By Concentrix TSG– independent UK Microsoft Dynamics NAV software specialists