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The MSDW Podcast

The MSDynamicsWorld.com (MSDW) podcast explores news, ideas, and events in the Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM community.
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Now displaying: April, 2023
Apr 27, 2023

This episode is sponsored by Bluefort.

 

Unlike a one-time order, a subscription-based sale brings with it a range of new opportunities, challenges, and complexities. Working with a customer over multiple interactions can lead to additional orders, up-sell and cross-sell opportunities, upgrades, and downgrades, and new pricing models. Evolving a subscription model can also lead to new demands on sales, support, and service teams. 

 

Our guest, Bjorn Kuijt, VP of product management at Bluefort, discusses his work with Dynamics 365 F&O customers and partners to support subscription-based sales models by building on Microsoft's core ERP and CRM solutions to offer new capabilities related to the order-to-cash process, payment automation, and commerce, and beyond. Bjorn shares his outlook on Microsoft's product roadmap for D365, as well as how key partnerships in the channel are strengthening Bluefort's offerings.

 

Show Notes:

  • 2:30 - Differentiating subscription management vs other types of more conventional order management
  • 5:15 - How Dynamics 365 customers describe their experiences with these challenges and how they want to address them
  • 7:45 - Recommendations on identifying and prioritizing the challenges around subscriptions
  • 10:30 - The challenge of matching customers with the right subscription offers
  • 13:45 - The Dynamics 365 roadmap and Bjorn's outlook on F&O capabilities for subscription, AI, and more
  • 16:30 - Signs of improved alignment in Microsoft product teams, both in data and user experience
  • 18:30 - The partner opportunity to deliver subscription-based solutions

 

If you'd like to learn more about leveraging D365 F&O to accelerate your subscription revenue, tune in to the upcoming webcast where Bjorn talks to Rick McCutcheon in more depth about the topic, including the latest capabilities of Bluefort LISA.

Apr 25, 2023

Life in the Microsoft channel has changed over the years, and while our guest, Microsoft MVP Neil Benson, has never been far from that world of license rules, ISV solutions, and partner programs, his recent experiences with his new venture, Superware, have been instructive, he says.

 

Working with Microsoft in 2023 is not like working with them  in 2013 or 2006, and Neil explains some of the ways he and other partners are adapting. In addition to getting a new industry-focused software and services business off the ground, Neil continues to develop training programs for the Microsoft community, blog, podcast, and think more broadly about where the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform ecosystem is headed.

Show Notes:

  • 1:30 - The launch of a new business
  • 3:30 - Working in Australia's carefully regulated superannuation industry
  • 7:00 - Aligning with Microsoft's industry category approach
  • 8:15 - Applying agile concepts with Superware projects and clients
  • 10:00 - The latest stats on Neil's online courses
  • 14:30 - How do fusion teams align with agile development teams
  • 20:15 - How to estimate the size of the total pool of Dynamics professionals?
  • 22:30 - Developing new skilled workers for the Dynamics and Power Platform ecosystem
  • 26:00 - The challenges of launching a career today
  • 27:30 - Building a channel business in 2023 vs 2006
  • 36:30 - Can Microsoft adequately support its broad landscape of partners?
  • 38:00 - Conference outlook
Apr 11, 2023

This episode is sponsored by emfluence.

 

Following a recent webcast on data-driven email marketing, we speak with Monica Hoyer, marketing director at emfluence, to get her views on different ways to use business data in digital marketing.  For Dynamics ERP and CRM users, it should come as no surprise that their systems offer a bounty of valuable data that marketers can incorporate into their planning and analysis if they have access to it. Data from sales interactions, customer service, orders, and other touch points can all factor into crafting more effective email marketing campaigns. We discuss different types of  B2B and B2C scenarios where Monica has seen Dynamics and emfluence customers find new levels of marketing results by putting data to work.

 

Show Notes:

  • 1:45 - Top observations from the recent webcast with Jessica Best and Rick McCutcheon
  • 3:00 - Guiding companies from basic to sophisticated email marketing
  • 4:00 - What customer journeys are all about and understanding the key touchpoints
  • 5:45 - How do organizations tie end goals back to marketing technology investments around data access
  • 7:30 - Why Microsoft partners are in a unique position to bring better data to the marketing team
  • 9:45 - Building effective email campaigns, and how one B2C firm evolved its approach
  • 13:30 - The complexity of the online-offline interaction in marketing and sales journeys
  • 15:30 - Technology that can enable more sophisticated scenarios

 

For more on this theme from emfluence, check out the recording of the conversation Rick McCutcheon had with Jess Best on MSDW

Apr 6, 2023

This episode is sponsored by Mazars.

 

Microsoft continues to support Dynamics 365 mixed reality applications to support training and remote work scenarios, and the products get even more interesting when viewed against the backdrop of the rest of the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform portfolio's evolution.

 

Our guest, Mazars solution architect and Microsoft MVP Chris Segurado, has been working with the D365 mixed reality hardware and applications for three years, both with Mazars clients and in the development of presentations and other content for the community. He shares an update on how the technology has evolved and what Microsoft customers can do today to get started with planning for mixed reality scenarios in their operations.

 

Show Notes:

  • 2:00 - Chris's journey with mixed reality solutions for D365 Supply Chain Management over the last three years
  • 4:00 - Feedback from interesting mixed reality scenarios and use cases in production, asset maintenance, or warehouse
  • 7:30 - Why manufacturing scenarios are a good place to start with assessments and investments given what Microsoft has already built
  • 11:00 - Tips for putting a mixed reality strategy in place
  • 14:00 - The outlook for D365 Guides and Remote Assist
  • 18:30 - Promising use cases of the future across the Dynamics 365 product line
  • 19:30 - The importance of HoloLens 2 and plans for new demonstrations
  • 22:00 - What Microsoft's AI push could mean for the future of mixed reality

Visit mazars.us/microsoft to learn more about MazarsNow! Mixed Reality assessment, or email the team at bizapps@mazarsusa.com

Apr 3, 2023

Rob Jolliffe of Sabre Limited has been adapting fixed-fee services models to suit his Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central clients for nearly five years. At Directions North America 2023, Rob will be helping lead a workshop for Microsoft partners who want to explore fixed-fee models, share experiences, and even work on new strategies and frameworks that suit the Dynamics 365  channel.

 

On this episode we talk about fixed-fee strategies, expectations for Directions North America 2023 overall, and some signs of where partner sentiment is heading in the space.

 

Show Notes:

  • 1:00 - Rob's history attending and participating at Directions NA events
  • 3:15 - Why partners will be talking about fixed fee service models at Directions
  • 5:30 - Understanding different fixed fee models being used in the Business Central channel
  • 9:00 - The workshop Rob is co-organizing and what they hope to get out of it
  • 13:30 - Why fixed fee models are good for clients
  • 16:00 - Other themes Rob is watching for at this year's event
  • 20:45 - The value for non-BC professionals attending an SMB Business Apps event
  • 22:30 - Predictions and observations about partner sentiment heading into Directions NA 2023
  • 25:30 - Will Microsoft continue to adapt CPP to make it work better for SMB partners?
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