The evolution of a Microsoft Dynamics ISV

As an organization that has developed and sold independent software vendor (ISV) solutions for Microsoft Dynamics NAV for over a decade, our story is a real-world example of how Microsoft Dynamics ISVs evolve and are challenged to stay current.

While a customer may comfortably sit out a NAV release (or two), we are charged with staying ahead of product direction and with finding creative ways to solve business challenges for NAV users.

I've worked with Microsoft Dynamics NAV since 1995 (when it was called Navision) and founded my own reselling partner organization, Radiant Technologies, in 2005. Two years later, I started Vertical Leap, which you may know as Dynamics NAV Addons. Even though I sold my partner organization a few years ago, I still own Vertical Leap.

Sticker shock and missing capabilities

The first lesson I learned is how much of an investment had to be made when starting an ISV. I thought it would be easy to get an ISV up, running, and profitable. After all, I had had technical people on staff and products already written, in the form of programming performed for our clients.

It was anything but quick and easy. By having the developers from Radiant Technologies work on the products in their "spare time," nothing ever got completed, and we ended up with a bunch of half-done solutions.

I hired dedicated resources in the form of a sales person and programmer, which enabled us to move forward with consistency. Finding the sales person was a particular challenge, as I needed someone that had sales and implementation skills, knew the product, and ...