Best of 2011: Top Microsoft Dynamics NAV Stories of the Year

With Microsoft finally acknowledging this year that Dynamics AX is, in fact, their enterprise ERP software product, one might assume that Microsoft Dynamics NAV, with a customer base many times the size of the AX base, has taken a back seat at the company.  But if you followed Dynamics NAV news this year, you know that nothing could have been farther from the truth in 2011. 

It's probably true that NAV received less development dollars than its ERP cousins, especially in the push for the AX 2012 release, and it is also true that AX gets more attention from the press and analysts because of its ability to compete in larger businesses.  But if you take a look at the year 2011 from start to finish,the Dynamics NAV product and ecosystem has experienced as much forward movement as any other Microsoft ERP product, and probably more than some in the community would have preferred.

Let's take a look at the wide range of important stories that moved the Dynamics NAV world in 2011:

Navigating the New Cloud Opportunities of Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2009 R2

The 2010 release of Dynamics NAV 2009 R2 brought with it a range of important enhancements that many people were still trying to understand as 2011 began.  Among the biggest changes in 2009 R2 were updates to the software's architecture that set the stage for 2012's NAV 7 release.  Some experts recognized the importance of the architectural changes right away, but there remained much for the community to learn about why, when, and how to get current. 

In this article ...