The only reason your customers aren’t buying Dynamics NAV on Azure is because they are not aware of the value it delivers. Use this Dynamics NAV on Azure simplified benefits list and win more sales.

When Microsoft Dynamics NAV is deployed in the cloud on Windows Azure, customers get the following additional benefits:

• Low Predictable Monthly Cost, No Capital Investment: The model for Azure is best described as “pay as you go”, with no upfront investments and no monthly/yearly commitment. This means that you only pay for what you use, and as such, are charged by the minute. You can also plan your software expenses (e.g. ugrades to the new version) on the monthly basis.

With NAV on Azure you reduce the cost of IT administration because the hardware is being taken care of for you, off-premises. The cost of creating, testing, debugging and distributing web-based applications decreases because you only pay for the computer processing time and storage space you need at a given time.

• Scalability without Investment in New Hardware: With Azure, you can easily scale up or down on-demand to meet business needs. Never worry about running out of resources or paying for overcapacity. Using Azure, you can easily create applications that run reliably and scale from 10 users to 1000 users or even 10,000 users - without any additional coding.

• A Secure Infrastructure that Scales: The fear of losing data or losing access to data in the cloud is the #1 fear of customers considering the cloud today. The Microsoft platform with robust security, backup and privacy controls, enabled by Windows Azure, running in geographically dispersed datacenters that comply with key industry standards can be magical words that open the doors and minds to new customers.

Knowing that security is a concern for most companies considering moving to the cloud, Microsoft designed Azure with security in mind. The .NET Access Control Service provides a way to integrate identities and Security Assertion Markup Language (SAML) tokens are used by applications to determine user access at all levels. Microsoft has designed its compliance framework to meet regulatory requirements worldwide.

To sum up, it is even safer to run your Microsoft Dynamics NAV solution on Microsoft Azure than on premise because:
• Hardware, on which your solution is running, is monitored 24/7/365
• Backups are made and monitored daily
• Your solution is running on at least two virtual machines and in case one of the machines fails, the others are still available
• Your solution’s database is stored in a clustered high availability environment.

In addition, typically for small to mid-market businesses, IT staffing is limited and most companies would prefer to focus on key business objectives, rather than hardware issues. Through migrating infrastructure and Dynamics NAV to an enterprise-class platform, like Windows Azure, this worry is eliminated.

 Accelerated Deployment: Get up and running in hours instead of weeks by removing the need to scope, purchase, deploy and test infrastructure. While using the 1ClickFactory Self-Provisioning platform your Microsoft Dynamics partner will be able to deliver Dynamics NAV on Azure in less than 2 hours and enable you instantly access the solution either using windows or web-client on any device (now tablet also).

 Anytime, Anywhere Access: Securely access your business data in the cloud from anywhere at anytime using the Microsoft Dynamics NAV web-client on virtually any device.

I hope you found it useful.