If you would like to pick something from Microsoft, or its ERP subdivision – Microsoft Business Solutions, and in case of large public company, you should consider these three: Axapta, Navision or Great Plains. We are not talking about Solomon here, because it is recommended for project organization. You should probably be aware about specific product life cycle (or is it new or mature one on the market), database platform, average implementation cycle, typical customization requirements, rich vs. standard ERP functionality, etc. Also you should get comparison from relatively objective source, if you are asking to compare somebody, who implements and sells Great Plains – more likely these people will try to prove that you need Great Plains and it is the best fit.

On the other hand if you ask large consulting practice with regional offices to make comparison for you – you should know that specific regional office might operate with maximum independence and promote, say Navision only. • Product Life Cycle. Both Navision and Great Plains should be considered as mature products, have more than 10 years of successful presence on the ERP market. Navision is more popular in Europe, Navision Software was Denmark based software development company – it was bought by Microsoft in the beginning of XXI century. Navision is also present on the US market, however we’d say it fits to specific market niches. Great Plains Software was also purchased by Microsoft a little bit earlier than Navision Software and GP is historically had excellent positions in US, Australia, New Zealand, UK, Middle East, South Africa, Poland, Pakistan. Axapta is relatively new ERP and its was released in the beginning of XXI century. However it is really scaled up for large companies and its sales increase rapidly.