This episode is sponsored by Stratos Cloud Alliance.
In this episode, we dive into the evolving Microsoft partner landscape and what it means for growth-minded organizations navigating CSP changes, AI adoption, and cloud strategy. The conversation explores how partners can adapt their go-to-market approach, build sustainable recurring revenue, and take advantage of new opportunities across Microsoft Dynamics 365, Business Central, and Copilot.
Our guests share practical insights on aligning your business with Microsoft’s direction, strengthening customer relationships, and leveraging programs like Stratos Cloud Alliance to scale more efficiently.
More from Stratos Cloud Alliance:
With ongoing CSP changes and increasing pressure on Direct partners, now is the time to evaluate your next move. Don’t wait until requirements impact your margins or operations.
Learn how the Stratos Indirect Partner Program can help you scale faster with less overhead—or explore your path to successfully transition from Direct to Indirect with the right support in place.
Reach out to Scott May to learn more: Direct-Bill Recruit Book a Meeting with Scott May | Stratos Cloud Alliance
MSDW was on-site at Directions North America 2026 as a media partner, and we took some time to chat with participants about the event and their outlook on the Microsoft channel. In this episode, three product leaders from Truvio join us to discuss the team's plans, their experiences at Directions North America, and how they are working with SMB ERP partners.
Our guests, Tim Kahne, Ari Liukko, and Scott Caudle from Truvio, tell us how the organization is executing on a product strategy that spans banking, finance, operations, and commerce. We also discuss some of the deal-critical demands that Microsoft partners face when competing with Dynamics 365 Business Central and how the Truvio team brings their expertise to bear to support those teams.
MSDW was on-site at Directions North America 2026 as a media partner and we took some time to chat with participants about the event and their outlook on the Microsoft channel. In this episode, IAMCP international president Elena Baeva joins us to discuss her work with the organization, some of her priorities as president of the organization, what makes this volunteer organization so effective as a partner-to-partner community.
We reflect on some of the key themes of the event like growth in the BC channel, shifting market conditions, and the nature of partner businesses. And we discuss IAMCP's perspective on the challenge and opportunity of building community among Microsoft partners with different priorities and interests.
This episode is sponsored by XPLUS.
Traditional regression testing in Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations breaks down as complexity and test volume grows, but the causes can be hard to identify. Our guest, Bartosz Spiech from XPLUS, discusses how XPLUS's new software introduces a more effective approach based on smoke testing, autonomy, and observability. We also discuss how emerging concepts like agents and agentic UI are reshaping the future of test automation and what organizations can do today to move beyond manual testing.
Learn more in the free masterclasses: https://xplusglobal.com/free-masterclasses-autonomous-regression-testing-for-dynamics-365-fscm/
Directions North America 2026 begins on April 27. MSDW is a media partner of the event, and in preparation for the event, we sat down with event organizing team vice president and content chair Trish Boccuti to learn more about what attendees can expect throughout the week.
This year's event builds on past Directions North America experiences, Trish tells us, but also expands the agenda. The organizers have made a concerted effort to offer content relevant to Dynamics GP partners who want to learn more about building a BC practice. And there will be a wealth of Microsoft-led sessions on all the latest product and channel topics.
We also discuss some of the event experiences, including the Marketing Day on April 26, session highlights, and the event celebration on the final night.
Links:
This episode is sponsored by Flywire.
A/R teams running on Business Central are dealing with more invoices, more complexity, and less time to manage it. In this episode, we sit down with Caroline Broms from Flywire — the company behind Invoiced, an award-winning A/R platform trusted by finance teams worldwide — to discuss the company's recent work in the Microsoft ecosystem and learn about their outlook on continuing to improve the invoice-to-cash process for organizations.
We discuss the origins of their new offering, Integration Studio, and what it means when a finance team finally owns is ERP integrations rather than relying on IT. Caroline also offers a glimpse at what's coming on the AI front and where listeners can find Flywire at in-person events this spring.
Links & Resources
This episode is sponsored by STAEDEAN.
The unique business process requirements of the equipment rental industry present real challenges when planning for investments in IT systems to improve for financial and operational management. Assets are under heavy use, but also changing hands frequently as demand for rental over ownership grows, customer service expectations change, and financial pressures grow.
In this conversation with STAEDEAN's Anastasia van der Wielen and Michiel Toppers, we discuss some of the factors driving the ERP needs of the rental industry. The requirements of these firms in areas like accounting, service tracking, planning and dispatching, inventory management, and more, have led technology firms like STAEDEAN to develop deep industry solutions for them. Our guests discuss their outlook on rental companies' needs, how Microsoft's approach to business solutions serves this sector, and their team's success in building relationships with customers, partners, and Microsoft.
More from Staedean:
On this episode we are recapping last week's AI Agent & Copilot Summit 2026 conference, which brought together Microsoft officials, partners, and customers for three days of customer education and education.
MSDW was a media partner of the event and in addition to event news and announcements we have already covered, we talked to industry veterans for more perspective on how their work with Microsoft customers is evolving as the solutions and technology options evolve for them.
We discuss the theme of headless commerce, new user sentiment data around AI adoption, investments in development projects, user adoption challenges, and scenarios presented at the conference that show promise in the future.
Our guests on this episode are:
• Adam Drewes, Kopis
• Michael Newman, Yooz
• Asif Rehmani, VisualSP
• Daniel Spees, BDO
This episode is sponsored by Yooz.
Efforts by finance teams to make productive use of AI still vary widely, but a growing number of organizations could be progressing toward establishing use cases for their core processes. New data from Yooz finds that the momentum appears to be real, and that confidence is trending upward as familiarity grows.
To learn more about these findings, which Yooz will be releasing soon, we speak with Michael Newman, North America marketing leader at the company. He tells us about how Yooz is approaching AI priorities through the lens of their customers' requirements, the importance of providing guidance, and how finance and IT teams can balance their own interests with advances in the marketplace.
We also discuss the upcoming AI Agent and Copilot Summit 2026 event (https://copilot.summitna.com/) and what members of the Yooz team will be paying attention listening to.
More from Yooz:
• Blog post: https://www.getyooz.com/blog/use-of-ai-in-accounting
• Interview with Yooz CFO John Gronen: https://globalfintechseries.com/fintech/how-ai-and-lean-financial-operations-will-close-finances-execution-gap-in-2026/
This episode is sponsored by Velixo.
Year‑end pain in Dynamics 365 Business Central environments stems less from effort and more from weaknesses in the close process. Our guest, Velixo senior product manager and CPA Jim Norton, shares his latest views on the implications of a challenging year-end close, its link to audit friction, and the issues that arise when teams are rebuilding reports, relying on exports, maintaining offline roll‑forwards, or tightening controls only in January.
For Business Central customers, the risk of audit friction is very real, Jim says, and he shares insights from a recent panel discussion hosted by Velixo where experts identified some of the typical risks like disconnected Excel-based reports.
But Excel can either increase risk or provide an operational advantage, he explains. The right processes and and tools empower finance teams while keeping their Business Central system working for them around close and audits.
See also:
This episode is sponsored by Avalara.
Every year brings tax changes at the local, state, and national level, and Avalara has captured the latest updates in their newest tax changes report, which is available now.
Avalara's vice president of government relations, Scott Peterson, joins us to discuss some of the report's findings and major themes, including what Scott calls 'off the charts' levels of change in terms of transaction taxes in the US.
At the federal level, income tax changes are set to have a direct impact on state income taxes ,and Scott explains how states will react based on own funding needs. And we discuss why states are expanding their sales tax base into digitawl good and servicees, including taxing digital equivalents and B2B services.
Scott also shares his guidance on the role of AI in international tax compliance and what our listeners can take away from this year's report.
To learn more, contact Avalara: microsoft@avalara.com.
This episode is sponsored by Truvio.
Enterprise systems bring order and control to complex organizations, but in the most challenging business processes like AP and commerce experiences, friction can persist. On this episode we are discussing how Truvio, the new brand representing SignUp Software and multiple Dynamics 365 solutions, works with partners to deliver real-world improvements to ERP customers.
Our guests are Kris Marcus, Director of Partnerships at Truvio and Rob Ashe, chief revenue officer at SJS Dynamics. They share customer stories, market challenges, and decisions that partners must make today if they want to add value for their customers in a world where AI challenging business cases are leading to new thinking on technology investment.
More from Truvio:
As 2026 rolls along, Microsoft partners understand that they operate in an ecosystem dominated by AI ambitions. But the channel story goes a lot deeper, and attendees at PartnerIn's inaugural Vibe conference brought a broad range of ideas, experiences, and stories with them.
The event did not ignore AI, and some sessions dove into topics around how partners are incorporating it into end-to-end business processes, data mining, agent development, and security.
But when Microsoft isn't overpowering the conversation, partners also enjoy opening up about other topics like business process standardization, managing consulting teams, creating more effective relationships between ISVs and VARs, and improving sales pipelines.
In this MSDW Podcast episode, we share conversations recorded on-site at Vibe with three presenters: Joel Leichty of Cooptimize, Carol Smock of TechFluent Academy, and Tanya Henderson and Steve Endow of Blue Dragonfly. They each share a bit about what they brought to the event, what they were learning from others, and their outlook on operating in the Microsoft channel in 2026.
In this MSDW podcast episode, Mariano Gomez Bent, Chief Technology and Product Officer at Mekorma, shares a technology leader’s perspective on moving to Business Central.
Drawing from Mekorma’s own transition from GP to Business Central, Mariano discusses key considerations around cloud security, selecting the right implementation partners, and managing change across teams. The conversation highlights real-world lessons, common pitfalls, and what organizations should prioritize to successfully navigate a move to the cloud.
Considering a move to Business Central? Tune in to hear firsthand insights on cloud security, partner selection, and change management.
See more Mekorma content on MSDW: https://msdynamicsworld.com/vendor/mekorma
This episode is sponsored by PlanAutomate.
Enterprise Project Management (EPM) is not the typical project management that most people have experienced at work. EPM brings projects out of their silos and into the fold of business by integrating functions and processes with finance, supply chain, production, HR, and other key workloads.
In other words, EPM is all about putting projects at the core of critical enterprise systems, says our guest Matt Mong of PlanAutomate. For companies that derive their revenue from projects, EPM integrated with ERP is critical to staying competitive and in control of performance. In this conversation, we discuss:
Microsoft partners have a new event experience to consider in early 2026: PartnerIn's Vibe 2026.
The conference takes place January 28 to 30 on South Padre Island. And while it is new, the founders and event organizers, Molly Fuchsel and Liz Hallen, bring years of work in the Microsoft ecosystem to the iniative. Molly joins us on this episode to share a quick rundown of the new event and how they came to the decision to focus it on building partner relationships and skills. Molly shares details about developing the idea ofr the event, experiences the team is planning, and what she believes attendees will take away from the three days on the Gulf Coast.
More information:
This episode is sponsored by SignUp Software.
The e-invoicing landscape is evolving in North America with increasing regulatory pressure and growing customer demand for automation and efficiency.
Our guests on this episode, Johan Niedomysl, COO of NAB Solutions Inc. and SignUp Software's product manager
Tomás Navarro and director Bob Monio, set the scene for the growing role of e-invoicing in the US, Canada, and Mexico. While e-invoicing has advanced much more quickly in other parts of the world, our guests explain why North American businesses already pay attention to the technology enabling e-invoicing and what Business Central customers are doing today to strengthen their functional capabilities.
We discuss the reality in North America compared to e-invoicing in other parts of the world, what BC customers in North America can learn from experiences elsewhere, and what it takes to build a scalable, future-ready e-invoicing setup for BC.
This episode is sponsored by Evenica.
On this episode, Evenica’s Gustavo Oliveira help us unpack the fundamentals of creating a seamless, secure, and consistent checkout experiences in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Commerce. He explains how a payment connector acts as the communication bridge between POS systems, online stores, and financial institutions to handle the orchestration that makes modern payments work.
We also discuss how solutions like Evenica’s e4Payment streamline the “last mile” of the customer journey, reduce friction at checkout, support loyalty and gift card systems, and unlock transaction data inside Dynamics 365.
From tokenization and modern tender types to unified data for better decision-making, Gustavo highlights why payment connectors have become essential for retailers looking to modernize, scale, and differentiate.
From Evenica:
Microsoft MVP Andrew Welch is the founder of the AI-focused consultancy Cloud Lighthouse, where he and his team now help organizations begin or evolve their AI strategies. He joins us to discuss some of the ways organizations are trying to gain confidence with AI today and the challenges they face in terms of strategy, technology, and organizational change management.
Andrew shares examples and anecdotes from his team's work, including ways different kinds of companies are building on past progress or fixing bad habits to prepare themselves for success with AI-driven solutions.
We also discuss topics including how to measure outcomes for AI investments today, Andrew's community efforts, Cloud Lighthouse's participation in the Center for Trustworthy AI, and the Center's upcoming event in the spring, the Brasov Forum.
Show Notes:
Links:
This episode is sponsored by XPLUS.
On this episode we are discussing security and compliance in Dynamics 365 F&O and what advances in these areas could mean for the future of the product.
Since we last talked to our guest, Bartosz Szpiech, VP of Product at XPLUS, Microsoft has advanced its support for user security governance, or USG, which means users must adapt to evolving license enforcement policies.
Bartosz discusses how understanding licensing policy relates to the broader concept of observability in D365. As roles evolve to conform to security and license requirements, customers have the opportunity to begin achieving better insights, he explains. We explore how new tools that offer better insights into activity within F&O could accelerate the identification of high-value AI scenarios that will evolve ERP. He also provides an update on the latest Executive Automats security training for F&O customers.
More from XPLUS
This episode is sponsored by Yooz.
Dynamics ERP customers take different approaches to evaluating investments in invoice automation technology, but the decision ultimately comes down to a few key decisions around cost, fraud, and productivity.
Our guests on this episode, John Parisi of Yooz and Mark Munson of Ace Micro, have helped organizations of all sorts improve their financial management with Dynamics and AP automation, and in this conversation they reflect on some of the challenges of manual processes and how to overcome them, from data entry to approvals to security.
John and Mark share their unique perspectives on the AP-related conversations they are having with GP and Business Central customers today related to fraud and error prevention, evaluating the cost of investing in AP automation, and planning to make it a reality.
More from Yooz:
MSDW was a media partner of Directions EMEA 2025, and in addition to covering news and announcements at the event, we also caught up with a few attendees to learn more about their experiences and impressions.
In addition to major announcements like reaching 50,000 customers of Dynamics 365 Business Central, Microsoft pushed hard on their AI vision for the ERP solution. For the Microsoft partner audience, that focus is sending strong signals about not just about how they should advise customers but also how they will prioritize their own business initiatives.
On this podcast episode, we present interviews done on-site at the Poznan Congress Center during Directions EMEA with Marie Wiese, Andrew Good, and Rick McCutcheon. Our guests shared perspective on how Microsoft's vision will impact customers, the push for greater diversity in the channel workforce, and the priorities of partner marketers in a changing landscape.
Murray Fife, is a true Microsoft ERP veteran, having worked in the partner channel, at Microsoft, and independently. His latest projects include multiple series of educational guides providing a complete view of Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management as a product suite, as well as work with Microsoft on developing their latest official demo database for F&SCM.
Murray's work on these projects has also informed his outlook on F&SCM as a product, he says. For anyone looking to become a solution architect, a product owner for a Microsoft customer, or another senior role, F&SCM requires both a broad and a deep education, perhaps beyond one's comfort zone or day-to-day role and responsibiliies. Being an ERP leader today also requires a perspective on the state of AI in enterprise software, and Murray explains why he believes some of the big initiatives from Microsoft, specifically MCP and AI Agents, have the potential to reshape the ERP story in the future.
Where to find Murray:
This episode is sponsored by PayTrace.
Visa's Commercial Enhanced Data Program (CEDP) goes into effect this month, and there are some key differences from the previous Level 2 and Level 3 interchange program that merchants will need to understand.
Jeremy Boogaart and Sam Johnson of PayTrace join us on this episode to help make sense of CEDP's timeline, enforcement model, and other implications for merchants. There are benefits to achieving and maintaining "verified" status under the program, and for non-verified merchants, consequences could include higher costs and downgrades.
We discuss data elements of Level 3 transactions under CEDP, different types of data quality management, and how it all relates to payment processing integrated with ERP systems. Jeremy and Sam explain how PayTrace has been supporting its clients through this transition and offer tips on how merchants can understand if they have been affected.
More from Paytrace:
This episode is sponsored by HSO.
Attendees at Summit NA 2025 can learn more about the solutions they already use, but the event also offers opportunities to expand their knowledge and perspective on investing in business applications.
Our guest on this episode, HSO VP of Managed Services Hilary McLaughlin, works with clients after they go live on Microsoft solutions, and she tells us that she encourages Summit attendees to think about the areas they may be overlooking today. Attendees can use their time to learn the latest in data management and integration capabilities, research complementary technology, and get new insights into support and user management scenarios.
HSO will have a major presence at Summit NA 2025, including not just a booth but several educational sessions, a solution showcase, and more. They will be showing off their team's breadth and depth, from solutions to data to support and beyond. Hilary tells us more about one of their sessions looking at hidden gems within Power Platform Admin Center and she shares her advice on how to make the most of your next conference experience, from research to session selection.
More from HSO: