by Martyn Kemp, ERP Sales Specialist, Advantage Business Systems
The event featured a range of announcements and revelations about NAV 2016 and the future of the product. Here are the highlights of the event from a partner perspective:
1. In, On, and With Office 365, Azure and CRM
Paul White, Microsoft General Manager ERP Product Marketing, opened the conference with a keynote speech on one of the highlights of the conference; NAV 2016. He stressed the philosophy of NAV as being ‘in’, ‘on, and ‘with’ – ‘in’ Office 365, ‘on’ Azure cloud and ‘with’ Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
2. NAV on any device
Marko Perisic, General Manager of Dynamics R&D, emphasized ease of use and offering a solution that will run on any device – PC, laptop, tablet, mobile phone, etc. With over 60 improvements being made in the web client interface, a user can utilise all of NAV 2016’s rich functionality from any location.
3. e-Everything Solution
NAV 2016’s impressive mobile phone integration was demonstrated by taking a picture of an invoice and by using NAV’s OCR capability the invoice core detail was seamlessly entered into NAV without rekeying data. The web services based OCR functionality shows how Microsoft has developed NAV to become an e-Everything solution. NAV 2016 also has a new (and, many already say, an improved) connector for Dynamics CRM, to integrate marketing and sales opportunities with financial, supply chain, and order fulfilment processes.
3. Deeper integration with Office 365
The theme of innovation was also seen in NAV’s deeper integration with Office 365. The native reporting and analytical capabilities of NAV can now be extended by using Power BI with a comprehensive content pack that provides prebuilt KPIs and. NAV 2016 also improves its finance functionality like the ability to preview postings (and their impact on the various ledgers) before postings are committed and deferred income scheduling with auto monthly processing.
4. Powerful workflows
One of the most exciting new functions is the workflows. The principal of being able to monitor an event anywhere within NAV and then trigger an activity (i.e. ‘if’…‘then’) means that it is now a truly proactive, rather than simply reactive, business solution. Users can be automatically notified if a shipment is delayed, whether a customer has exceeded his payment terms, or it can be used in conjunction with a plethora of standard templates for importing updated Foreign exchange rates, OCR imports, etc.
5. Even more incentives and options
If the rich additional features of NAV 2016 were not enough enticement to invest, Microsoft announced an incentive for prospective customers by offering up to 45% discount off the license investment. NAV 2016 represents a fantastic offering, for a solution that can reside on premise or in the cloud, with options to purchase via monthly subscription or upfront capital investment.