Microsoft partners set for Kineticsware boost

Start-up ISV company poised to recruit 60 Microsoft Dynamics AX resellers worldwide

ISV Kineticsware is reaching out to Microsoft Dynamics partners to offer additional resources that it claims Microsoft may not be able to provide.

Founded by two former Microsoft directors responsible for the vendor’s Dynamics AX product line, the company initially launched in North America in March and has just opened a European HQ in Reading.

Microsoft Dynamics AX is one range in the Dynamics family of ERP software, mainly aimed at large corporates. According to Microsoft, the AX business grew 45 per cent last year and is set for similar levels this year.

Philip Stride, Kineticsware’s UK managing director, said: “To sustain this growth Microsoft needs to take on more partners or get its existing partners to grow. We want to take the pain out of growth and help partners with marketing and lead generation.”

Simon Thomason, managing director of Kineticsware, EMEA, told CRN: “Microsoft is limited as to how much resource it can put behind any one partner, so where Microsoft’s capabilities stop we can bridge the gap.”

Kineticsware develops AX applications for three verticals – consumer goods, textiles and apparel, and high-tech – and is looking for partners with expertise in these markets. By next year it wants to recruit 60 AX VARs worldwide and 10 in the UK.

“We want to help the right resellers get the right leads and are spending a lot of money on lead generation for our partners,” added Stride.

Paul White, head of the Dynamics partner channel at Microsoft, said: “Kineticsware is trying something new and looking to create a community of partners that can work together. It’s saying to partners, ‘concentrate on doing the things you do best and we’ll help with the rest’.”

Thomas Ajspur, sales director of Watermark UK, said: “We are the biggest Dynamics partner in Europe so we can handle our own marketing and lead generation, but it might help smaller resellers.”

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