14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has added “fresh bait” to the line-up of Enterprise resource planning offerings that it is dangling in front of existing NetSuite customers, in the hopes that it will hook and pull them away from the ERP rival company. Essentially, businesses running NetSuite are promised financial incentives if they will dump their current solutions and embrace one of Microsoft’s Dynamics products. The new offer is aimed exclusively at midsize businesses in the United States, with the Redmond company applauding its own lineup of ERP products as capable of offering customers more flexibility, and increased adaptability to their requirements.
“To assume that a single deployment model for ERP will work for every business is unrealistic,” Crispin Read, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics ERP, noted. “By having a choice of owning an on-premise solution, subscribing to a hosted solution or combining the two at any point and time, companies have the option to make wise decisions that satisfy their specific business requirements.”
Customers choosing to switch ERP vendors will have the option to move to Microsoft Dynamics GP, Microsoft Dynamics NAV or Microsoft Dynamics SL. The software giant promises that, no matter the Dynamics product chosen, midsize businesses in the US that make the jump away from NetSuite will receive a credit of up to $850 for every NetSuite user.
“This new offer enables our partners to provide customers with more options and is one of many investments we make in sales support,” Doug Kennedy, vice president of Microsoft Dynamics Partners, added. “To deliver a choice of options, Microsoft Dynamics ERP partners who offer on-premise deployments can partner with hosting providers to provide the best level of technical expertise and skills for their customers and prospects.”
At the same time, the fact that Microsoft has single-handedly made this offer to NetSuite customers could in fact also boost the perception of the rival ERP vendor. Still, offering financial incentives to customers running competitor’s products is now a standard business practice, and NetSuite is no stranger to similar tactics.