A Decision for Microsoft Why this
is also a Decision
for Continuous Innovation

Continuous Innovation as a Medium and Long-term Goal

Business software vendors are all talking about innovation these days, and no wonder! After all, everyone wants to position themselves on the market as an innovative, future-oriented company. And it is precisely this magic word that customers want to hear. However, the question is whether all vendors are actually able to deliver continuous innovation. And not just tomorrow, but also in the medium and long term. It’s hard to overestimate how many resources are needed to keep up with the rapid pace of technological innovation.

Can your current Vendor keep up with the Pace of Innovation?

Questions you should ask yourself in this context:

• Is your vendor able to devote the necessary resources to research and development?

• If yes - does it have the necessary capabilities to deliver top performance in all the different sectors where innovation is urgently needed in the coming years?

R&D Budgets: between 8 and 12 Percent of Annual Revenue

Most IT vendors spend between 8 and 12 percent of their annual revenue on research and development (R&D). However, these similar percentages lead to completely different results when comparing a locally operating vendor with an annual revenue of 3 to 5 million euros with a company like Microsoft, which has a revenue of more than 150 billion euros! Logically, a globally operating group has financial resources of a completely different order of magnitude than the local company - which means that much more far-reaching results can be achieved.

Long-term Innovation - Key Indicators

Here are some of the key economic indicators that will determine your potential vendors’ ability to increase their R&D budgets and secure long-term product innovation:

1. the global availability of the product. For example, there are already 90 localized versions of Dynamics 365 Business Central (as of October 2022), and the trend is rising. This development is supported by Microsoft’s goal of making BC the “world’s best ERP solution for SMEs”.

2. a continuous sales growth. Thanks to strong revenue and profit growth in recent quarters, Microsoft can continue to invest in further innovations.

3. a strong partner network with solutions that are suitable for many different industries. Microsoft has a global ecosystem of hundreds of thousands of partners, which means many benefits for its customers.

Microsoft: Product Innovation also with the Help of Partners and Customers

For the continuous optimization of Dynamics 365 solutions, Microsoft also relies on the principle of co-creation. The company involves partners and customers in the innovation process by enabling the thousands of implementation partners and tens of thousands of end users worldwide to contribute ideas that make the products even better.

Do you know the R&D Budget of your Vendor?

For many years, Microsoft has been one of the companies that spends the most on research and development. Last year, the group spent 18.8 billion euros on R&D and employed more than 60,000 people in this division, which is far more than the competition in this market can boast.

Do you know the amount of the R&D budget of your current ERP vendor? And what about the budget of the ERP vendors that make it onto your shortlist when you are preparing a new project?

When you choose Microsoft as the vendor for your next upgrade or software implementation, you are choosing - metaphorically speaking - a stream of innovation that never runs dry.