At NRF 2018, LS Retail notes vertical successes, plans for Microsoft Dynamics 365

Veteran Microsoft Dynamics NAV retail solution provider LS Retail is ramping up its NRF BIG Show presence in 2018 with a larger booth and new customers to appreciate. The company also enters 2018 with a solid plan for navigating the upcoming transition from Microsoft Dynamics NAV to Dynamics 365 Tenerife - and for bringing existing customers forward, too.

A year of growth

LS Retail added hundreds of customers in 2017, says Eloise Freygang, the company's chief marketing officer. And perhaps even better, she says, is that growth is coming from markets around the world.

"We're seeing more retailers who know our brand [separate from Microsoft]" at this week's NRF event, she says, especially from countries beyond the US. With strong growth over the last five years, Freygang explains that the company has seen particular strength in hospitality. One notable client, premium food and grocery chain Dean & Deluca, is featured this week for its food service point-of-sale (POS) solution, which ties back to its larger retail grocery solution.

Proactive plans handling Microsoft's NAV roadmap

As a business with commitments to both the retail industry and to Microsoft's SMB business solutions strategy, LS Retail navigates a complex landscape to deliver its own message and brand identity. Microsoft is preparing to transition from the Dynamics NAV brand to Dynamics 365, which impacts both the brand and technical factors for existing NAV users and ISVs.

LS Retail has a plan for each of these challenges. First, they have already embraced the Extensions model and the use of Events in NAV 2017 and 2018. This move will ease their efforts to support Dynamics 365 Tenerife when it is available, says LS Retail COO Sigrun Dora. Further, ...