Navision spells out its five-year plan

At its annual conference in Copenhagen last week, mid-range financial software specialist Navision unveiled its strategy for taking on the enterprise resource planning ‘big boys’ following its recent Danish flotation.

With its Financials suite, Navision has grown rapidly over the past year to become one of the key mid-market players, which face increasing competition from ERP giants such as SAP and PeopleSoft.

Navision predicted it would double its revenues for the year ended 30 April when it reports next month.

In his keynote conference speech, Navision chief executive Jasper Balser said the flotation on the Copenhagen stock exchange would raise Navision’s profile with business and investors. ‘For many years we have been living in a shadow and have not been well known. But that is changing,’ he said.

Balser recognised the threat posed by high-end giants such as SAP, but said the Danish company had an ambitious five-year survival plan.

‘We want to become one of the top three mid-range ERP vendors worldwide within the next three to five years,’ he said. ‘We have a window of opportunity until the big boys have the right products and partners for the mid-market.’

Navision will continue to rely on independent resellers or solution centres to drive its international expansion, Balser added.

‘Around 80% of our revenues come from outside Denmark,’ he said. ‘We have offices in 29 countries and more than 31,000 customers.’

Industry analysts predict there will be a frenzy of acquisitions in the ERP market next year and that the consolidation process will leave only five enterprise giants in the market.

Having gone public, Balser was aware that Navision could become a takeover target, but remained defiant.

‘We would be the ideal partner if SAP wanted to go into the mid-market, but I’m not giving them an invitation,’ he said.