Microsoft Business Solutions Great Plains is marketed for mid-size companies in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, as well as in Middle East.

One of the strengths of Great Plains is its ability to be localized. This makes Great Plains compatible with almost all countries in the world. Before, countries with different character sets like Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic are forced to use English in their Great Plains installation. This sat well with some companies since they have international operations and use English as the mode of communication as well. However, some companies felt left behind due to the scope of their businesses. Traditional companies and some government agencies prefer to use their local language for business transactions, which makes it impossible for them to use international applications like Great Plains before.

Thus, realizing the need to tap the market of these regions, Microsoft Business Solutions started supporting the Arabic language. By supporting the Arabic implementations of Great Plains, MBS was able to get a bigger market share in the Arab nations like the UAE, Oman, Qatar, Syria, Egypt, Jordan, Iran, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, etc.

There are 2 ways to approach the implementation of Great Plains using the Arabic language. One is by using the language packs included with the Windows operating system. More information on this can be found in http://www.microsoft.com/middleeast/arabicdev/mbs/Greatplains/wpapers.asp. The other method is to use third-party products developed by Great Plains ISV