This week we received a query asking if we could help explain the difference between Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Microsoft Dynamics AX. Nicki has explained her thoughts on the differences in previous blog post, Microsoft Dynamics ERP Product Positioning, and also in our white paper, Which Microsoft Dynamics ERP solution is for me?. My response lacks the marketing spin; hopefully it will give another perspective so have shared below:
It’s a good question (difference between AX and NAV) and it depends on what level you want to examine the difference i.e. Microsoft Strategy, Technology Futures, ‘Real World’ Implementation and Support, Technical, Where in the World, etc.
To my mind when compared to other products, it can be quite hard to truly differentiate between the two products during the sales cycle; certainly when in competition against e.g. JD Edwards, SAP, Sage, Oracle, etc where the differences between the Dynamics Products and these is far more ‘stark’.
My overall experience is that all opinions about differences are badly coloured by the viewpoint of the person expressing them. You may find ‘independent’ consultants who claim that they’re neutral; but everyone’s biased. In the 90s I worked for a client who engaged a very large consultancy firm to review their systems 3 times in 3 years and come up with a recommendation. Each time they recommended a different product: JD Edwards, Oracle and Peoplesoft respectively. When I dug a little deeper I found out that their ‘opinion’ was mainly driven by which product they currently had spare resources to help on the implementation that they hoped would follow. Fortunately, the client chose to do nothing.
Our knowledge comes purely from being NAV ‘experts’ having worked with the product since ‘v2’ of the Windows 95 client offering from 2000. We were Axapta accredited by Navision before Microsoft acquired Navision. We decided strategically in the UK not to continue with accreditation in that area after the Microsoft acquisition. Why? Because our view was that in the majority of situations NAV could meet the needs, was easier to work with, more cost-effective and quickly delivered return. Strategically, focussing on one product meant we could become true experts and our sales approach is based on investigating the suitability of NAV for a particular project rather than what suits us. That’s not to say that AX is never the right solution; but it is more expensive both from a licence investment and in service costs (yours and the partner’s) and should not be entered into lightly.
So anything that we would have to say would be coloured by that view; that NAV should be the first choice and AX only when other factors intervene. But if you want to listen to why we have that view then I’m more than happy to meet up and see if we can help.
