It is said that your first love never dies, emotions with it are so strong.

- And strong emotions stick with us, good or bad, they never die, so to speak.

The brain retains things that are emotionally charged, and practically no love is ever forgotten, it's only weakened by time and absence.

My unexpected return to my first love in computing happened through the path of Azure AI, ML, and Power Apps Certifications. I invested time in learning new skills and certifications - which led me to set up an instance of Dynamics 365 BC, to try out the CoPilot and the AI features, and to check in on my old friend NAV.

Was I blown away completely?!

Absolutely - not only keeping in line with the original intuitive look and feel but adding so many new functionalities and features, I sat for a moment, just enjoying the feel of stepping back into the space where my journey started many, many years ago.

Even though I went to ‘the dark side’ as my old friends and colleagues would phrase it back in 2012, I have stayed in touch and enjoyed seeing the explosive growth Dynamics Business Central has been going through over the years and have been waiting for an opportunity to reconnect, but somehow that opportunity never truly materialized – but here we are - back where it all started.

My relationship with Navision has allowed me to work with companies across the globe and has provided me the opportunity to live in several countries and to be part of many great companies and teams, meeting some pretty amazing people in the channel along the way.

My first love in ERP was IBM Navigator, back in 1988/89, an accounting system that I sold together with IBM PS/2 diskless workstations, connected to a server through PC LAN and twisted pair cables. The first client-server ERP.

Over the years IBM Navigator transformed into Navigator, Navision, Navision Financials, Navision Attain, MBS Navision, NAV, and now Dynamics 365 Business Central, where my story picks up again.

Revisiting the solution has brought me great joy and has inspired me to strongly consider returning to my old patch to help businesses and people see the potential of Dynamics BC combined with the new AI, CoPilot, and Machine Learning capabilities along with all the integrated MS Dynamics features.

Sitting with Dynamics Business Central getting reacquainted with all the functionality and enjoying all the new rich features and the complete integration with the Microsoft Platform offerings - I reflected on my journey from the last century and how the solution has grown since the humble beginnings.

Microsoft does not reveal the number of Dynamics Business Central sold in the market but cites an announcement from back in 2021 stating that some 15,000 companies had chosen to buy Business Central in the cloud, and the growth rate was 200% year over year.

Add to that number some 175,000 companies using different earlier versions of the solution, and a total user count of probably over 2M. There is also a statement about the increase in the number of concurrent users taking Business Central into the lower end of the enterprise segment, which makes a lot of sense, considering the broad functionality of the solution (Dynamics 365 Business Central reaches 15K cloud customers with user count rising even faster | MSDynamicsWorld.com )

That is quite the base to work with, and I see that many of my old friends and colleagues are doing really well, and keep growing their businesses focused on Microsoft Dynamics Business Solution. Kudos to the ones who stuck with Navision through all these years, and kudos to the ones who are stepping into the ring to be part of the community now.

I am looking forward to reconnecting with parts of the ecosystem later this week, and I hope to learn a lot more about what Microsoft is planning for the SMB/SMC market, and what the future holds for Microsoft Dynamics Business Solutions.

This post could come over as if I am tooting the horn of Dynamics Business Solutions on behalf of Dynamics Finance & SCM, which I am not. The two solutions have grown closer and closer in look and feel, and the original idea of Microsoft of "Project Green" from back in 2003 seems to have been achieved at least around the user interface and the functionality at large. Both Solutions serve their target audience well, and both solutions have strong ecosystems.

On a personal note; my first true love was not Navision, it was my wife. Our relationship and marriage started years before my introduction to ERP and before computers were mainstream, and I am happy to say that it is proof to me that your first love will stay with you forever.