Navision Deal Continues Move into Business Applications

A bid for Danish software company Navision could give Microsoft a channel for selling software and services to European small and mid-size businesses, which are more numerous than their North American counterparts. However, integrating the new company will take time, and in the meantime, customers, resellers, and ISVs will face six overlapping lines of Microsoft accounting and business management software. Although Microsoft has reiterated that it is not targeting enterprises with the move, the deal signals once again that Microsoft considers business management software a key growth area, and could impact relationships with partners in the same market such as SAP and Siebel.

Business and Product Lines Echo Great Plains

Microsoft has offered 10.8 billion Danish kroner (DKK)—about US$1.33 billion—for Navision, which sells accounting and business management software to mid-size businesses (defined as having between five and 1,000 employees and US$1 million and US$800 million in annual revenue). Today, Navision offers three lines of software: Axapta for its largest customers, and Attain/Financials and XAP for smaller businesses. (For a detailed rundown, see the sidebar “Navision’s Product Lines“.)