GSC managing director Fermin Taruc said this development evolved from recent discussions between GSC CEO Joey Gurango and then-potential partners in Copenhagen, Denmark in October.

"This is in line with the execution of GSC’s business model. Navision Upgrade Services falls under our Product Support pillar," said Taruc.

"With our two other service pillars—outsourced software development and global distribution—GSC offers a full range of products and services to position the Philippines as a central hub in the Microsoft Dynamics global ecosystem."

Navision is a complete, customizable business management solution available from Microsoft Dynamics. It integrates financial, manufacturing, distribution, customer relationship management, and e-commerce processes.

Navision currently has an installed base of 20,000 customers worldwide, and was originally introduced in Denmark in the early 1980s.

This accounts for the substantial customer base in Scandinavian countries. Navision was acquired by Microsoft in 2002.

DynamicPeople will begin operating in January. A Copenhagen office will handle marketing and account management and GSC’s Manila office will provide technical resources.

"The majority of Navision clients in Europe are using early versions of the solution," said Taruc. "One of the main reasons for their reluctance to upgrade is the relatively high cost of acquiring the latest version," he explained.

In Europe, the cost of upgrading from an earlier version of Navision to the current version typically ranges from ,000 to ,000, and the upgrade requires two to three weeks to implement.

"NUS will be delivered by GSC in half that time," Taruc said. "And because implementation time is dramatically shortened, the cost is likewise significantly decreased."

Under the joint venture, GSC will also provide post-upgrade support to EU-based customers, generating recurrent revenue for GSC and DynamicPeople.

DynamicPeople establishes a strategic direct presence for GSC in Europe, said Taruc.

"Breaking into the European market has always been a key objective, but its realization has been fast-tracked with the identification of this opportunity and by tapping the right partners," he explained.

"Now that we have our foot in the door, GSC is confident that other business opportunities in Europe in the areas of global distribution and outsourced software development will result."