Microsoft Dynamics and MSPs: A Real or Imagined Business Combo?

On the one hand, sales of Microsoft Dynamics — CRM, ERP and accounting applications — continue to rise swiftly. On the other hand, more and more MSPs continue to adopt PSA (professional services automation) software. So could Microsoft Dynamics and PSA software be on a collision course within the managed services provider community? Perhaps yes.

I started brainstorming this blog entry when Massey Consulting earlier this week announced an integration between Microsoft Dynamics GP (financial accounting software) ConnectWise, the PSA platform.

Massey Consulting says the solution, called DynamicsConnect, “is a highly customizable tool that enables synchronization of information between Microsoft Dynamics GP and ConnectWise — in real time or on a schedule. With this integration, users benefit from automated synchronization of customers, vendors, inventory items, sales invoices, expense reports and more from ConnectWise to Dynamics GP.”

Massey Consulting specializes in accounting software. Integrations between PSA software and accounting systems are hardly new. Most of the major PSA platforms can connect to third-party accounting systems. But the Dynamics GP integration caught my attention because I think many MSPs are overlooking Dynamics’ growing market influence.

Microsoft Dynamics Sales Growth

Rewind to October 2011 when Microsoft announced its most recent quarterly results, and you’ll notice rather strong demand for  Microsoft business applications — Lync, SharePoint, Exchange and Dynamics. In fact, Dynamics sales grew 17 percent during the quarter — a big number considering Microsoft essentially acquired Dynamics a decade ago as part of the Great Plains buyout.

How many MSPs actually leverage Dynamics internally? I’m not sure. But I do know quite a few service providers that are promoting Dynamics as a hosted service. And the trend seems to be accelerating.