Skip to main content

Licensing Model Changes for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013, Part 2: Charting Microsoft's ERP Goals

by Vjekoslav Babic
NAV Consultant, Microsoft Services, Microsoft

In part one of this article we looked at some of the key details and differences between the new Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 licensing model and the previous one.  Given Microsoft's stated goal of simplicity and an attempt to be more competitive in the SME arena of ERP, some of the details may leave partners and customers with more questions than before.  Let's dive in a little deeper to see where we might find the real winners and losers in the new model.

When prices according to new and old licensing models are analyzed in parallel, the Business Essentials license, which was still somewhat expensive for small business, becomes even more expensive for any companies with only one or two seats. Those companies almost never purchased NAV, and it seems that Microsoft is not interested in motivating them to purchase NAV in the future either. If you only need the Starter Pack, and you are a company with 3 to 5 seats, then NAV is going to be cheaper. NAV is prohibitively expensive if you have only one user, it is slightly more expensive for two users, and starting with 6 users, NAV becomes increasingly more expensive as compared to previous versions. At 15 users, and without the Extended Pack, NAV is 26% more expensive than a comparable 15-user Business Essentials license.

On another hand, Microsoft gives companies very strong motivation to purchase the Extended Pack. Its flat fee completely redraws the price curve, so depending on how much Advanced Management functionality you needed in the past, and how many additional users you had, you can expect very convincing savings. For example, a company that uses simple warehouse management with modest customizations, depending on the number of users, saves ...

FREE Membership Required to View Full Content:

Joining MSDynamicsWorld.com gives you free, unlimited access to news, analysis, white papers, case studies, product brochures, and more. You can also receive periodic email newsletters with the latest relevant articles and content updates.
Learn more about us here

About Vjekoslav Babic

Vjekoslav Babić is an independent Microsoft Dynamics NAV consultant, trainer, author and blogger, with 10 years of experience in NAV and 16 years of experience in IT.

As a solutions architect and a project manager with a leading Microsoft Dynamics President's Club service provider company, as a Microsoft Dynamics NAV consultant with Microsoft Services, and as an independent consultant, he has been working on Microsoft Dynamics NAV implementations ranging from tiny one-man-bands to international mega-corporations, delivering services and trainings all over the world.

In 2008, Vjekoslav co-authored the acclaimed book "Implementing Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009". Vjekoslav runs an active blog about NAV implementation, project management and development best practices, acts as a columnist and editorial advisory board member at MSDynamicsWorld.com, and as a columnist in a number of other web or printed periodicals in Croatia and worldwide. Vjekoslav is also a frequent speaker at Microsoft or Microsoft Dynamics conferences.

Since spring 2010, Vjekoslav has been awarded the prestigious Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) award for Microsoft Dynamics NAV.