Adapting to Microsoft Dynamics NAV Managed Service: Positive Signs, Says One Early Partner

In October, Microsoft rolled out Microsoft Dynamics NAV managed service for partners, a way for them to host multi-tenant NAV-based solutions on Azure with new administrative tools, licensing, and cloud support provided by Microsoft.

Dynamics NAV managed service enables Dynamics NAV partners to easily offer SaaS solutions to their customers, deployed on Azure infrastructure and managed by Microsoft cloud engineers, according to the company.

For partners, one difference from other hosting approaches is that Microsoft hosts the databases in the cloud as a managed service, according to Microsoft MVP Eric Wauters. In short, partners no longer have to worry about cloud infrastructure and installation/monitoring services anymore, according to Wauters.

Currently there are about 15 ISVs using the Dynamics NAV managed service.

One of the very first of those partner companies to go live on the managed service platform is OneNFP, which was in the preview program for Dynamics NAV managed service. OneNFP, which spun off from Serenic in 2014, is a global provider of financial, fundraising, and business management cloud solutions that satisfy the requirements of non-profits and the public sector.

They offer OneNFP Financials with Microsoft Dynamics NAV and OneNFP Fundraising with Microsoft CRM Online.

"One hundred percent, we were going after the ‘One Microsoft' story, so Office 365, Dynamics ERP, CRM Online for fundraising, Power BI-the whole stack, all integrated," says Brandon Taylor, president of OneNFP.

Before Microsoft launched Dynamics NAV managed service, OneNFP was already able to offer a pure cloud-based solution built on Azure. It worked with Microsoft to build the foundation it needed to deploy its OneNFP ...