UK’s Microsoft Dynamics NAV Partners Criticize Aggressive Client Campaign, Acknowledge Churn and Support Issues

"Bottomfeeders" is what one Microsoft Dynamics NAV partner called TouchstoneNAV for promoting a new campaign trying to attract (some would say "poach") the un-satisfied clients of Dynamics NAV competitors in the UK.

While it is nothing new to see partners trying - sometimes aggressively - to attract clients away from other partners, the overt and public nature of the new campaign seems to have hit a nerve among the tight knit community of UK Dynamics partners, as evidenced by their comments to an MSDynamicsWorld.com piece about the program.

In conversations with UK Dynamics NAV partners, there is little disagreement that some customers are unsatisfied after the initial sale as partners sometimes turn their attention to new deals. And those clients will look for a new partner that promises better service.  But while this customer churn may be common, usually it is not done quite so openly, one partner said.

"So why does the NAV Doctor gimmick grate?" the UK-based partner asked, who requested his name not be used. "When mud starts to sling, we all get dirty. When there's this infighting, customers don't want to listen to all this squabbling, so they decide to go over to SAP or Sage and leave Microsoft entirely."

According to TouchstoneNAV, its NAV Doctor service was rolled out in response to what it says is a growing demand by Dynamics NAV users who feel that their partners aren't giving them the quality of service they want or expect.

Despite the criticism, TouchstoneNAV wouldn't have changed the way it publicized its new NAV Doctor service, said Matt Dredge, Sales Director, TouchstoneNAV, in a telephone interview.