Founded by several former Microsoft Dynamics AX senior executives, Kineticsware has a dual purpose, acting as a software developer and as a hub for other Microsoft partners. It has a three-strand business strategy: developing vertical specific functionality for the supply-chain-heavy high-tech, consumer goods, and apparel sectors on top of the Dynamics AX suite using the .NET framework; delivering a consistent implementation tool set, methodology, and training for use by its own people and the partners it hopes to recruit; and generating leads for its partners.
Microsoft has not made a huge investment in demand-generation [because it is] a classic high-volume, low-touch business, but ERP is low-volume and high-touch. That creates a gap in the middle, said Kineticsware co-founder and CEO Jeff Sampson.
Although Microsoft has something like 10,000 partners worldwide, Sampson believes they are not used or trained effectively and therefore are not making the sales they might. This failure to exploit an important asset could become a more serious issue given SAP’s and Oracle’s increased mid-market activity. They are a huge asset, but they have hardly scratched the surface [of the AX market], said Sampson.
He said that although the partner base is large, it is highly fractured and suffers because partners are specialists in particular products or technology solutions. Nor is there a consistent implementation methodology. Founded and largely run by former Microsoft people, Kineticsware aims to use its broad knowledge of Microsoft applications and technology, and its networking contacts to help educate other Microsoft partners in bringing applications and technology together, and to generate leads. Pre-sales and solution architecture are the most difficult areas to get people for, but that is what Kineticsware does and makes available to its partners, said Sampson.
It is not the plans that make Kineticsware stand out from other start-ups and partners but its pedigree. Co-founders Sampson and chief marketing officer Richard Barnett are both former directors who were responsible for the Microsoft Dynamics AX product line within Microsoft. However, they were not long-term Microsoft careerists so maintain they have retained their entrepreneurial instincts.
The EMEA operation is led by Simon Thomason. With 20 years of Microsoft industry experience, his most recent role was technology vice president for Capgemini’s UK and Ireland practice where he established the global Microsoft Dynamics initiative globally. The UK managing director is Philip Stride who was previously at the Touchstone Group, which generated significant revenue from Microsoft Dynamics AX.
