On this episode of the MSDW Podcast we look ahead to Directions North America 2018, which kicks off on September 30. Brent Fisher, the leader of Dynamics 365 Business Central and NAV at DXC Eclipse, joins us to preview the event. He is on the Directions NA board and leads the content team for the event, working with partners and Microsoft subject matter experts.

Brent helps us put the 2018 event in context after a 2017 event that proved to be a critical part of the Dynamics 365 SMB story, from product roadmap to branding to partner readiness.

Show Notes

• 4:00 - Are partners anticipating even more in 2018 than they were at this time in 2017?
• 7:00 – Why partners should be giving Microsoft honest feedback
• 9:30 – What will partners be asking of each other? Of Microsoft?
• 12:00 – The partner role in marketing Dynamics 365-based solutions alongside Microsoft
• 14:30 – Directions NA stats and other details
• 17:30 – Does Directions attract non-NAV partners? Different roles?
• 21:15 – D365 Business Central as an ISV opportunity – hearing from Microsoft and partners who have gone down the product development path
• 26:00 – Stepping into a busy conference season

Our guest on this episode, Elif Item, founder of Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Finance and Operations training firm , Item by Item,  has worked with AX and D365FO for more than a decade and recently took her years of consulting and project-based work and translated them into a new video-based training platform designed to offer smaller, digestible units of educational content for companies deploying D365FO.

We talk about Elif's history in the Dynamics channel, her new company, and D365FO customers' training needs.

Show Notes:

• 1:30 - Elif's journey from AX 2.5 to D36FO
• 6:00 - The modern learning needs of D365FO users – 3 pillars
• 9:15 – Continuously engaging learnings in the context of a D365FO project
• 11:50 – The importance of skill-based, digestible chunks of educational content
• 14:10 – How much do training needs differ by customer?
• 21:00 – The story behind the D365FO Diary
• 27:45 – What kinds of organizations are going live with D365FO?
• 41:30 – What's the future of training?