The future looks bright for MS Dynamics NAV upgrades: easier and more cost-effective

As 2016 comes to an end, how did you do against your goals last year? We hope it was a great year for your business and you can look forward to the holiday season with real pride and satisfaction.

And, so to 2017. This is the time of the year when we make new plans. What do you want to achieve next year? Will you just try and overcome the problems you had in 2016, or will you be aiming for new heights?

We believe 2017 is going to be a good year for everyone who works in the Dynamics NAV industry. We’ve just had the recent release of the exciting new NAV 2017 and your customers will be looking for upgrades. They want to take advantage of its great features so they can streamline business processes and strengthen their competitive advantage.

That‘s a big upgrade opportunity and one that can boost your revenue streams and get you closer to your customers. So, put upgrades on your 2017 sales plan and that‘s one New Year‘s resolution taken care of!

 

Ready for upgrading?

But, are you ready to take full advantage of the upgrade opportunity? Many of our clients find they have too much work for their developers to handle. As a result, they don‘t have the time or resources to take on more projects.

Even if you have spare capacity, upgrades may not be the best type of work for your development team. It‘s a job that consists of many repetitive tasks – a time-consuming problem when you want your team to be focusing on innovation and rapid delivery.

However, the main problem many partners face is delegation. They just don‘t want to let go of projects because they think it‘s easier and better to handle them internally, rather than hand them over to the partner.

We understand the problem of delegation or outsourcing. Most of the companies think they know how to do the job properly and that others won‘t be able to meet their standards. They are worried others might make mistakes or create problems that they have to sort out themselves later. And, they feel it‘s easier to do it themselves rather than trying to explain their requirements to someone else.

Trust an upgrade specialist

While these are valid reasons for not delegating, most of the ISV and VAR partners overlook the fact that specialists do the same repetitive job day after day. That‘s why they are specialists and they succeed because they meet high standards and continually deliver quality results faster than non-specialists.

This is just as true for NAV upgrades as it is for any other business. At Simplanova, our sole focus is on NAV upgrades. We do many NAV upgrade projects during each month and we have successfully completed 30 NAV upgrade projects in 2016.

But, it‘s not just experience and familiarity that make upgrade partners important. We believe there are five strong reasons for working with NAV upgrade specialists like Simplanova.

Access scarce competencies

First, you are gaining access to competencies that you probably don‘t have in your own business. Our team is familiar with all versions of Dynamics NAV and they understand how to upgrade from version to version.

As an example, Danish solution integrator Elbek & Vejrup recognized that they did not have the skills or resources to complete the upgrading of reports during a NAV 4.0 to NAV 2013 migration. By partnering with Simplanova, they were able to access essential resources and meet their clients’ needs efficiently.

Our team has experience of upgrades across many different industry sectors and they know how to simplify the complexity that can result from add-ons, customization and functionality that is no longer needed.

Benefit from automated processes

One really big differentiation is the automated upgrade tools we use every day. They save time and money by reducing repetitive manual tasks. And, we continually develop the process, either by improving the automation tools or creating new tools to meet specific needs.

The end result is that we can save you time and money and complete upgrade projects much faster than you could using internal resources. In fact, we’ve found that using automation tools rather than conventional processes can lead to time savings of up to 54 percent on upgrades.

For example, Belgian software house Harmonize IT appointed Simplanova to complete the upgrading of 73 standard and customized Resilux reports from version 3.7 to version 8.00. Using automated tools and an iterative approach, we were able to deliver the project in just two weeks.

Grow revenue

You can use time and cost savings like that to offer your customers short lead times and competitive prices for NAV upgrades. That can help you win more upgrade business and increase revenue and profit.

Improve competitive advantage

Working with a partner gives you a strong competitive advantage. It can help your business grow by adding the skills, resources and value you need to meet growing demand for NAV upgrades.

Focus on core activities

Partnership can also help you improve productivity and efficiency and reduce costs compared with upgrading products in-house. And, it leaves your team free to concentrate on strategic tasks and the core business activities that make you successful.

Changing the future of NAV upgrades

While we‘re talking about plans for 2017, there are two developments that will shape the future of NAV upgrades.

One is the introduction of Extensions in NAV 2017 and Dynamics 365. The other is the launch of the Simplanova Report Wizard, which will simplify and speed up the task of creating NAV RDLC reports.

Make the most of Extensions

The Extensions function allows developers to deploy the modifications in a live environment without modifying the core NAV system. This will make upgrades much easier because Simplanova developers can quickly take the code and extend, customize a NAV deployment without modifying the original application objects. Using Extensions also maintains stability by protecting the code from unwanted or unauthorized changes.

And, there‘s an added bonus. You can publish your upgraded Add-on to Extension on the Microsoft AppSource, a prime destination for launching your app to a wider market.

We can help you take advantage of this opportunity by upgrading Add-on to Extensions. You can use our experience, skills and tools to speed up the upgrade and deliver a quality app quickly and efficiently.

We will evaluate your project free and provide you with a fixed-price proposal in five business days. If you go ahead and partner with us on the project, you retain ownership of the intellectual property.

Simplify RDLC reports

Simplanova Report Wizard can help you create NAV RDLC reports quickly and easily. We know that this is one the biggest challenges almost all NAV developers are facing.

We have used our long experience in creating and customizing NAV reports to develop the Simplanova Report Wizard. It can reduce the time spent on repetitive tasks and eliminate the risk of human error.

Now you can forget Visual Studio and create new customized RDLC reports in just one NAV page. No specialist skills or external software are required and the process is as simple as the original Classic approach.

Into 2017 with confidence

2017 sees great opportunities for NAV developers that can take advantage of the growing demand for NAV upgrades. By partnering with a specialist like Simplanova, you can handle upgrades quickly, easily and profitably without diverting your team from their core activities.

We look forward to working with you in the New Year.