At the World Wide Partner Conference from July 10-14, 2015 in Orlando, Microsoft announced the successor to Dynamics NAV 2015. Under the official name Dynamics NAV 2016, the latest version is expected to be released in the fall of 2015. The exact date is not yet known, but the topics of the new version are worth taking a closer look at.
The central theme of the new release is the comprehensively improved cloud capability, with which Microsoft is impressively underlining its "cloud first, mobile first" paradigm. While Office 365 and Microsoft CRM were previously the main pillars of the cloud business, Dynamics NAV 2016 is intended to create the central Microsoft cloud application around which the "long-established" applications are grouped in a fully integrated manner.
To avoid any misunderstandings: on-premise installation will still be possible. With the new NAV version, however, Microsoft expects a strong push towards the cloud and various functions are reserved for operation in the cloud (e.g. Power BI).
The main innovations in the functional area are the integration of a workflow management and document management system as well as electronic invoice functionality with OCR recognition.
Compared to NAV 2015, there will be further improvements in the Power BI area (in conjunction with O365), so that the use of third-party products should no longer be necessary in this area. In the financial area, there is new functionality for accruals and deferrals and a posting preview.
The mobile component is expanded by adding the smart phone as a further client alongside Windows, Web, SharePoint and tablet.
When operating in the cloud, the full integration of Azure SQL and CRM Online is the new standard.
If you would like more detailed information, we warmly recommend the following blog post by Gary Winter: http://www.garywinter.net/2015/07/13/the-skys-the-limit-nav-2016-continues-cloud-integration/
However, the release date for NAV 2016 is not yet known, nor is the answer to the question of whether there will be any price changes to the license costs. We will of course keep you up to date on this.
