Cavallo charts a future spanning Microsoft's mid-market ERP landscape

When SalesPad rebranded as Cavallo in 2021, the change allowed the organization to separate the company's overall identity from their primary product offering, the GP-specific SalesPad suite of applications for distributors. SalesPad’s success has earned the software a prominent place in the GP community, but as the software has evolved and expanded over time, the name came to say less about what the company that built it.

Cavallo CEO Mike Biwer, who took on leadership at the company in 2019, believes the updated brand name represents the company’s future in a range of ways. It references a work of Leonardo da Vinci, the Gran Cavallo or “Great Horse” sculpture that was planned but not immediately created in the fifteenth century. One of the few replicas of the sculpture was commissioned by businessman Frederik Meijer in his hometown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, which also happens to be the home of Cavallo. The SalesPad team also happened to be using da Vinci works as project code names when they came across the connection to their home town. 

The change of brand also speaks to future opportunities still rooted in western Michigan as the firm moves ahead with new product launches aimed at the Dynamics 365 Business Central market. Biwer and his team spoke to Cavallo clients and partners at the company’s PANELS’23 event earlier this month. Biwer spoke with MSDW about some of their product announcements and plans spanning both the GP and Business Central (BC) markets.

MSDW: Based on the updates shared at PANELS’23, it’s clear that Cavallo is now living in two ERP worlds, with commitment to Dynamics GP and Dynamics 365 Business Central. How do you describe the balance between the two ERPs? 

Mike Biwer: Our primary motivation is effectively serving our end customers whether they are on GP or BC.  What drives us every day is our mission to make our customers’ businesses more profitable and efficient. While we started in the GP space 20 years ago, we’ve invested a lot over the last several years to build equally great products that integrate with BC. Obviously, the growth rates and maturity of these overall markets are very different. We’re taking a long-term approach and expect that one day in the future, our BC products will outpace our GP products. Our customers and the market will determine the pace. Our mantra is, “we’ll meet you where you are.”

What are you asking of Microsoft these days as a vendor?

Historically, I believe we did not try hard enough to establish a direct relationship with Microsoft. Our products have been designed to supplement Microsoft’s mid-market ERPs for highly specific vertical markets. GP and BC are great horizontal platforms. We are great at making them work even better for selected verticals. We believe our software strengthens the Dynamics ERP value proposition in vertical-specific markets like wholesale distribution against Microsoft’s primary competition. We’ve been a lot more active in 2023 in finding opportunities to meet with Microsoft and it’s paying off.  We want to do what we can to demonstrate that Cavallo’s priorities are aligned with theirs.

Cavallo works with GP ISVs and finds integration points within SalesPad, but in Business Central it seems to require a different approach given some of the areas where the product doesn't carry over. Can you say more about that?