If you take a look at Microsoft Business Solution’s website http://www.microsoft.com/businesssolutions/ then the Navision brand is already gone. Even when no official message about the name change has gone out. They only call it ATTAIN, AXAPTA etc.
Yeahh that seems a bit weird. Especially because that the products has changed their names to Microsoft Navision Attain and Microsoft Navision Axapta. Hmm, I’ll ask around Palle
Yes please do that Palle… [:)]
The Great Plains and Solomon names, as divisions, are also gone. It was announced that as of the Stampede conference (next week), everything becomes “Microsoft Business Solutions” with product lines of Great Plains, Solomon and Navision. So this should come as no big surprise.
Well… if you just click on the link they offer you’re refered to www.NAVISION.com webpage where you can read “With Microsoft Navision Attain you can:” So Navision is still there… Regards,
We had this debate some weeks ago, where I said that MS would very quickly dump the Navision name, I didn’t make it up, its a fact. Navision has been gone for about 6 weeks now. [V]
I totally agree. The “Navision”-brand will dissapear. Yes I know that the brand is well known - just as B&O [:D] BUT the Microsoft brand is even bigger. We all know that its not BETTER, but it’s BIGGER. And over there in the US, they always say The bigger, the better Laughs. So goodbye “Navision Attain” [:(] and hello “Microsoft Business Solutions Attain”. Probably they will release a 3.60A or something called MBS Attain 3.x Palle
Hmmn. I’ll be surprised if it’s gone for Attain 3.60 - perhaps the next version afterwards. I know for Axapta the product is called Microsoft Navision Axapta
Are we sailing in a ship without a Captain? Certainly not I believe. Then Why not MS come up & explain clearly the Positioning & naming for these Products. Am I getting impatient or is there somebody who share my views? It’s long time we(NSC) heard something officially from MS? I hope they comeup and explain to help stop the guess work for long. Regards[:(]
I agree, not only because of the confusion about names, also the confusion about the positioning of products Attain - Axapta - Great Plains. I can understand the geografical proposition, but the productlines Axapta and Navision? At first, we were told that Axapta was for the bigger companies (+250 Con. users), Attain for the smaller or midsize (10-250 c.u.'s). Interesting fact that in one of the latest presentations we got, the average # of users in an Attain license is around 18 users and in Axapta arount 21… Now we are told that Axapta is for less flexible environments with a lot of parameters to set up, where Attain is flexible enough for flexible, changing environments… What’s the story? Is it true there is going to be another low-end product (C7)???
Peter, I understand your confusion, but maybe you should take this debate in the Presales/Sales forum instead…
Erik - please close this discussion if you want us to move it. I enjoy this site. Now for some information. Please attend Stampede if you want to hear the official word of positioning and names, etc. However, I did confirm today that the products are Microsoft Navision Attain and Microsoft Navision Axapta. /Michael
As far as the issue of position Axapta high versus the Attain at the low end of the user arena, realize that just because you “position” a product for users 250+ does not mean that your average number of users will necessarily be there. Axapta’s market niche is not a very mature product…especially within the US market. The Axapta group sold the product to anyone that would take it. Therefore, this is the reason the numbers are low. Positioning is simply a goal to shoot for and not necessarily a representation of reality.
Hi, Name definitely is not a problem. It is really matter of marketing and I personally trust Microsoft select any name they want. But positioning is real problem. I was implementing Attain for clients with 100+ users and with 1B+ in revenue. I invested 7 years of my time in Navision Finansials and Attain. If Microsoft will position Attain for small companies I have to move to another solution. What should I learn now? Great Plains? Axapta? Is it better go for SAP and do not wait what they will decide!!! Time is only one resource that I worry about. So MICROSOFT, please decide what is your product strategy!!!
hi all, i am a recent entrant inthe navision world .i don’t know how many of the members have exposure to other erp products like baan ;sap etc.but based on mine as a keyuser in baan -5yrs & sap training for 4 functional modules; i would like to stress that microsoft has made a smart & stratagic decision. attain as a product is very simple yet highly relevant & easily customisable.it has got the capacity to outsmart the existing ones provided it is handled properly.erp-1 provided technogick status to users at high cost.erp2 stresses on roi(return of investment) & attain just fits into it. what i am waiting for is: how microsoft plans to make a place for attain. dharmendra
Valentin, If you’re having trouble sleeping and are concerned about the “high end” customers that you already have, then rest easy and start reading up on Axapta. My sources are saying that Microsoft is really having trouble trying to find a fit for Great Plains E-Enterprise. Axapta at the high end will be the official positioning. However, if you feel that the customers you are targeting are looking to you and your ability to provide a solution that fits there needs…irrespective of the product…then continue on with pushing Attain. Either way, whether the Navision name disappears or not…the philosphy / spirit of providing robust products that can be easily modified will continue on with whatever they choose to call it.
Again I need to say the thing I say over again. All these products are basically the same. You can not differentiate by number of users or client revenue. The issue comes down to marketing and product positioning. SAP is a really simple product, with a great strategy and support. They concentrate on big customers and get them. Navision has always marketed Attain/Financials/Navigator at mid sized companies, because that is what the NSCs were capable of. The product is such a trivial part of the implementation, that it is not a significant component of the final implementation. The key is that clients should target to the company they buy from. In this world you do not buy from Microsoft, you buy from an NSC. Go with the NSC that has the size and experience that matches your needs, and work with them to decide which product you should go with. Then ask for references not by product, but by NSC, and get references not only from the product you choose, but also the product you don’t. So if the NSC shows you references for Attain, ask to talk with at least one of their Axapta and Great Plains clients as well. And find out why they chose the product they chose.
Dave, While I really believe your statement, I feel that it is biased. As an NSC representative, I too push this angle and try to inform the customer that the NSC is the key part of the implementation…and the software they use is simply a tool that is utilized to create the desired solution. The problem for your statement is that as we all know Microsoft is a “marketing machine” and will forever push the idea of the software being the key to the solution. Until Microsoft changes this approach…and I really don’t see that ever happening…the perception of our target customers will be that they need some specific software to suit their needs. Now obviously there are companies that realize that software is simply a tool and that the knowledge and the skill set of the implementation team is what really makes a successfull solution. Unfortunately, this savvy of a client is few and far between and this means that NSCs will forever play the education game on how software selections and implementation processes show occur. It is simply the nature of the beast when dealing with mid-sized organizations. The only way that this trend in marketing solution creation skills versus the silver bullet of a software package being instlled will change is if the same amount of dollars are spent to market to / educate the public on this. Now maybe I’m dealing with a lower end of the mid-range market, but this is the trend that I’ve been dealing with over the past 5 years selling Navision.
Hey Bill, You are totally correct, I just wish it wern’t that way. I suppose my comments were more an attempt to train the clients out there.
I’m the same way Dave. That’s one of the main reasons that I’m on this forum as well. Let’s keep up the good work! Thanks.