Your solution on a Dynamics NAV menu – perfect. But it has to have broad utility and proven pay-off, says Bob Monio, Director, Global Alliances at Lexmark International, Inc.

Then, how do you find and support partners? And what new demands do NAV 2017 and Dynamics 365 place on you?

Monio joins us to navigate the complexities. He will discuss:

• Lexmark’s “glove-in-hand” partnership with Microsoft for a partnership in financial process automation solution.
• How ISVs can grab Microsoft’s attention; a killer app is just a start, is it mature?
• How Lexmark’s SaaS-based Invoice Capture Service (ICS) is built into Dynamics user interfaces for enterprises of all
• The costs savings of AP automation. Hint: saving 80% of $15/invoice = just $3/invoice.
• How this ISV will manage both NAV 2017 and Dynamics 365; Lexmark has been down the road of on-premise vs. cloud before, and is willing to advise partners.
• Microsoft’s mandate to provide consistent value, and tasks ISVs to provide continuous savings.
• Making the freemium model payoff: What’s the “breaking point” at which it drives subscriptions? (Hint: Research and guidance from Microsoft are two factors.)

A week of compelling stories. AX on Azure, NAV Extensions excitement and dismay, the Common Data Model preview for PowerApps, and why is marketing automation sitting on the shelf?

Among this week’s topics:

• Microsoft’s update to New Dynamics AX, available from LCS, which adds the use of Azure Resource Manager for managing deployments, offers improvements to the user interface, Office integration, analytics, security, and integrations.
• Marketing automation’s “dirty little secret” – could it be its absence? Or disuse?
• A look at CRMUG Summit 2016RMUG Summit 2016, in which CRMUG Director Tony Stein promises a “by-user, for-user” feel, and a touch of Convergence.
• Debate on Extensions grows, in which experts are split on the wisdom of Microsoft’s choice; their moods run from excitement to resignation.
• The Common Data Model (CDM) preview for PowerApps, CDM being Microsoft's new Azure-based business application model and storage mechanism for PowerApps, Microsoft Flow, and Power B.
• Two interesting case studies, being the global nonprofit Partners In Health using a NAV-based solution to manage the complexities of that vertical; and the Portland Trail Blazers using Dynamics CRM to retain and upsell ticketholders.

Dynamics AX cannot have enough add-ons: perhaps you need retail store pack-and-ship, or, advanced product lifecycle management. There are ISVs by the hundreds to choose from—but proceed with caution.

Don Riggs joins us to navigate the complexities. He’s a 13-year Dynamics AX veteran, currently Sr. Director AX Applications Architect, enVista Corporation, and a much-sought expert in the AXUG community.

Don will discuss:

• Why ISV products are often bought but not implemented.
• The qualities to look for in an ISV partner. Hint: what is their commitment to the AX product? What is their roadmap?
• What are the partner’s responsibilities in an implementation, or for support?
• What are the long-term risks and hidden costs?

Paul Greenberg is leading CRM analyst, the managing principal of The 56 Group LLC, author of CRM at the Speed of Light (now in its fourth edition and dubbed “The Bible of CRM”), author of the upcoming Commonwealth of Self Interest, and he practically hosted Microsoft’s June “Customer Driven” online event.

He joins us for the MSDW Podcast to share his latest views on issues and topics including:

• “Customer driven” need not mean “customer obsessed”: customers don’t need to love you, they must want to continue to do business with you.
• Does customer culture trump technology (like CRM)?
• Self interest drives both the customer and companies; for companies, it is a key strategy.
• Microsoft aspires to offer more than a platform, but the “matrix within” a business (and how the LinkedIn acquisition can help achieve that).
• Why e-commerce is not the fourth pillar of CRM – but it can’t be missing.
• Is there a worthwhile e-commerce vendor for Microsoft to acquire?