Transparent pricing for Microsoft Dynamics, LS Central, and Retail Co-Pilot in the Gulf.

Microsoft licences are the cleanest part of the bill. Per-user per-month, annual commitment, monthly billing. The variation is what sits around them — local implementation rates, ZATCA and FTA compliance work, integration to legacy systems, and the size of the customisation reserve a sensible CFO sets aside. Below is how the maths actually behaves for a Gulf mid-market buyer.

Where the Microsoft licence sits in the total spend

For a 50-user Gulf SME on Business Central Essentials, Microsoft licences are USD 48,000 per year (50 × USD 80 × 12). That's typically 40-55% of year-one all-in. The rest is implementation (one-off USD 25,000-45,000), Novasoft customisation reserve (USD 8,000-15,000 for typical Gulf scope), managed support (USD 18,000-42,000 depending on NovaCare tier), and compliance packs (ZATCA Phase 2 in KSA, FTA e-invoicing in UAE). After year one, the recurring spend drops sharply — implementation is one-off and customisation rolls into business-as-usual.

Why the Premium tier rarely pays back unless you manufacture

Business Central Premium adds USD 30/user/month over Essentials (USD 110 vs USD 80) for two modules: manufacturing and service management. For a 50-user company, that's USD 18,000/year incremental. Premium is worth it only if you genuinely use those modules — manufacturers, contractors, equipment-service businesses. Most retail, distribution, professional-services and F&B customers are well served by Essentials. We've migrated several customers from Premium back to Essentials after audit found they weren't using the extra modules.

Why LS Central is priced separately from Business Central

LS Central is an LS Retail product that runs on top of Business Central. You pay both: Business Central per user (USD 80 Essentials covers it) plus LS Central per user (from USD 60/user/month for the core). For a 10-store chain with 25 POS users, that's roughly USD 240,000/year combined licence cost. The hospitality, grocery, and forecourt modules add USD 25-30/user/month each. Bundle pricing is available when committing to multiple modules at signup.

Where the compliance packs come in

ZATCA Phase 2 (KSA) and UAE FTA e-invoicing are not Microsoft licences — they're compliance work Novasoft does inside Business Central. The packs cover Microsoft's localisation install, Novasoft's e-Invoicing extension, FATOORA sandbox testing in KSA, FTA test cycle in UAE, and production cutover. KSA pack is from USD 8,000 (4 weeks), UAE FTA pack is from USD 6,000 (3 weeks). Both are one-off project costs separate from the implementation package.

What changes in year two

Year two onwards drops to roughly half of year-one spend. Licences continue at the same monthly rate (USD 48,000/year for our 50-user example). NovaCare managed support continues at the chosen tier (Essential USD 18,000/year, Pro USD 42,000/year, Enterprise USD 90,000/year). Implementation and compliance packs are paid. Customisation rolls into change-requests at a defined hourly or daily rate — most customers see USD 5,000-15,000/year in change requests as the business evolves. The 5-year total for our 50-user example: roughly USD 380,000-460,000 all-in.

The single biggest hidden cost: integration

The line that varies wildly between quotes is integration. If you have a clean Business Central deployment and only need to integrate with Microsoft 365 (Outlook, Teams, Power BI), it's effectively free — the integration is native. The moment you add Shopify, Magento, a legacy POS, an accounting consolidation tool, or an industry-specific add-on, integration becomes its own project. Budget USD 8,000-25,000 per non-Microsoft integration, depending on complexity. Most Gulf customers have one or two of these — typically eCommerce or a legacy accounting tool.

How to negotiate — what's flexible and what isn't

Microsoft list prices are largely fixed for SME tiers — Essentials USD 80 and Premium USD 110 don't materially move without a 250+ user commitment. Where you have leverage: multi-year commitments (3-year deals sometimes earn a small effective discount via credits), bundle deals when adding LS Central or M365 Copilot, and timing relative to Microsoft's fiscal year (July-June) when partner incentives can be passed through. Novasoft implementation and managed support pricing is more flexible — packaging Discovery plus Standard plus first-year NovaCare into a single commercial agreement typically earns 10-15% off list. Ask for the all-in commercial. Fixed-price scope earns better discounts than time-and-materials because the partner can plan capacity. For Gulf customers committing to multi-country rollouts (UAE plus KSA plus Bahrain, for example), bundled rate cards make a material difference to the 5-year total.