Microsoft Dynamics GP 2013 module changes bring a mix of opportunities, challenges

The Microsoft Dynamics GP team continues to shed products that they had once acquired. Over the last couple of years the list has included Field Service Anywhere, Risk Management, Extender and Collections Management. Now Microsoft has announced that SmartList Builder is also returning to eOne. The pace seems to be accelerating, and I don't think that this is the end either. I think that there may be a couple more products to come.

While Microsoft's Errol Schoenfish described the trend last year (see the end of the interview) as a way for the GP team to concentrate on their core solution, the popular consensus seems to be that the culprit was Microsoft's licensing model change with Dynamics GP 2013. Essentially everything is being rolled into the new GP 2013 license model. This is a nice change for customers and may help drive the adoption of products like payroll and HR, which used to have separate user count restrictions. The products affected are all believed to have had development and support agreements between Microsoft and the ISV who developed the product. The licensing change meant that there wasn't a way for Microsoft to continue charging extra to support the agreements they had with those ISVs. That's the story that I keep hearing from partners and ISVs that I talk to.

Most ISVs seem genuinely happy to get their applications back. The time their solutions spent with Microsoft served as ...