Microsoft in the UK: cautiously optimistic

Last week I attended Microsoft’s European Convergence conference. Given the state of the EU economies, it was surprisingly busy. According to the UK reps, they’d fulfilled 90% of their anticipated attendee target. What was more surprising is that at least one Microsoft person is quietly confident that the software market is not going to be the train wreck so many others think it might in 2009-10.

Not everyone feels the same way. Contrast the two videos – the first with Gary Turner who runs product marketing for Microsoft UK’s Dynamics business and the second with Kirill Tatarinov, who has overall responsibility for the global Dynamics product line. I’ve known Gary for many years and he’s not one to go out on a limb unless he genuinely believes there is good reason to do so. Kirill on the other hand is paid to be cautious and not send out market signals that might be taken as rash. Even so, Kirill gave an upbeat message:

Tatarinov acknowledged – as is now traditional, if not compulsory at such events – that the collapse of the global economy has cast a long shadow over buying software for now. But he added that it would be the companies that steeled themselves to carry on investing in the right places that would be the ones to come out the other end of the chaos in good stead.

This was the first time that Microsoft unleashed a number of customers onto the press and analyst group. I was fortunate enough to meet a clutch of them, all of whom told great stories. More videos to come.

Microsoft wants to reach the largely untouched middle ground of customers who have outgrown Sage but don’t want to spend on large ERP systems. They have the products, they have the customers. Most important, they have a differentiated value proposition at an attractive price point. What they don’t have is a solid programme that gets the customer to tell their story on Microsoft’s behalf. I don’t understand why this is the case, especially given the success of the past Blue Monster campaign.

Having said that, not everything in the garden is rosy. Some customers were sharply critical of NAV2009, saying that it doesn’t offer enough functionality to make them want to upgrade for the time being. Matthew Wilkinson of Ammeraal Beltech for instance said they will wait until the first service patch is delivered so they can assess whether they will be able to migrate smoothly. “We have a lot of customizations in place and we’d have a lot of work on our hands for little reward right now.”

Related articles by Zemanta

• Dynamics NAV: Brilliant, Just Brilliant Says Microsoft
• Microsoft personalises Dynamics
• Getting Excited about Global Enterprise
• New deal for Microsoft CRM customers
• Microsoft: Pricing Hardball

Tagged as: Gary Turner, Kirill Tatarinov, Microsoft