Microsoft POS Software Roadmap – What about RMS?

Posted by spencer on February 9, 2010 under Retail Software | Be the First to Comment

As I visited the Microsoft booth at National Retail Federation I was impressed with the surface computer they had on display and the really cool wall display that could be used in future retail stores. What I didn’t see was anything about Microsoft RMS. I looked and asked about the product, but they had no RMS representation at all. Instead, they had a very large display of Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail. What is going on with Microsoft’s retail strategy?

After further investigation and a conversation with representatives from Microsoft, here is my understanding of the Microsoft POS Roadmap. Please note that this is just my interpretation of their roadmap, so I am not speaking directly for Microsoft on this, but I think I have a good idea about the direction they are headed.

There are 3 retail software products now offered by Microsoft – Microsoft POS 2009; Retail Management System (RMS); and Dynamics AX for Retail.

Microsoft POS 2009 - This product was built from the ground up using the .NET architecture and was released in 3Q 2009. POS 2009 is focused on the low end of the market with retailers that have a SINGLE STORE ONLY. The POS system has no HQ solution and would have to integrate to a financial system on the back end. It was built to compete with Quickbooks and small end POS solutions (of which there are many) on the market.

Microsoft RMS – This is the system that Microsoft acquired a number of years ago and actually has a large number of installations. It handles multi-store environments and is more scalable than POS 2009. However the product does not have an accounting back office and must link to a separate accounting system like Dynamics GP or Sage MAS 500. The system also lacks some of the more advanced retail features like Open to Buy. Microsoft has decided that this product will have a few more years of upgrades and enhancements and will then stop development of new features for the software sometime in the 2012-2014 time period. Microsoft will then begin the process of moving RMS users to the new Dynamics AX Retail product. Microsoft will continue to support the product for years after that because of the large install base, but there is definitely a limit to the lifespan of this product.

Microsoft Dynamics AX Retail – This is where Microsoft is putting their future in the retail industry. Dynamics AX is the former Damgaard Axapta product that was acquired by Microsoft in the 2000-2001 timeframe. It is a very functional ERP software solution that is very flexible. Like many of the other ERP software solutions sold by Microsoft (GP, NAV, SL) there are a number of Independent Software Vendor (ISV) companies that have developed add-ons to the AX product. One of these is LS Retail and they developed a retail add-on to the AX product. In order to develop a core retail solution within AX, Microsoft bought the retail code from LS Retail and has made further modifications and branded the software Dynamics AX Retail. Microsoft is just getting this product off the ground and has 3 beta installs in process. They see this product as a scalable product for retailers with 1 store on up to very large retail chains, that offers full functionality including the back office financials. 

I will be talking more about Microsoft and their strategy soon…