If AXMentor’s inaugural Evolve event in early March served to “take a temperature” of Dynamics 365’s early health, it appears strong.
With customers (and partners) still trying to understand the future of their Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM investments, AXMentor planned to answer their questions.
The company's product manager Deborah Wittich and marketing & sales manager Amir Khoshnayati join us to recap of the event, which focused on and helping companies understand the future of their Dynamics AX and Dynamics CRM investments; and charting their transition paths to Dynamics 365. Our guests describe an air of both caution and enthusiasm.
Among the highlights:
It has been an exciting few weeks of news in the Microsoft Dynamics channel, with acquisitions (Arbela absorbing Integral USA), product news (Dynamics 365 for Operations on-premise), and expectations around new CRM SMB announcements to come.
Some of the topics MSDynamicsWorld editor Jason Gumpert and assistant editor Dann Maurno cover:
Newly awarded Microsoft MVP Steve Mordue has never shied away from the challenging issues that partners face both in their day to day work and in long term business planning. A veteran of the Salesforce ecosystem who transitioned his consulting business to Dynamics CRM several years ago, Mordue now runs RapidStart CRM, an ISV that offers tools that improve user adoption of Dynamics 365.
As we move deeper into 2017, Dynamics 365 professionals are awaiting the next phase of the suite’s position in the CRM market, namely with its planned SMB, or “Business Edition,” sales and marketing apps. Once a skeptic, Mordue says he has been won over by Microsoft’s efforts on the buildout of these apps so far. But questions remain, among them:
With Dynamics 365 for Operations, “shiny new things” come fast and furiously. It’s up to implementation partners to make sure they’re stand-up ready for customers, says Eamon O’Toole, Senior Manager of CRM Solutions with BDO Canada,
O’Toole is a 15-years CRM-industry veteran, who is enthused by some of the apps around Dynamics 365. When he began his CRM career, there were much broader release windows in which features were static for years at a time. Now, new features evolve in the middle of an implementation.
Some of the topics Eamon discusses with MSDynamicsWorld editor Jason Gumpert:
Today we chat with Bob McAdam, program manager for GPUG and organizer of this year’s GPUG Amplify event. Amplify is in its second year and it is one of the few user-facing events of the spring. With Convergence now long gone, we discuss topics including:
Nothing signals an interesting week more than a police presence. Join us for a recap of compelling Microsoft Dynamics stories. Among the topics we cover this time:
Chuck Ingram knows CRM like few do. He has worked with it before it was even called CRM in the late ‘90s, and worked at Microsoft for eight years in CRM, and is now the Dynamics practice director for Tribridge.
He observes "It certainly feels like perpetual on-premises will be an exception rather than the rule,” now that Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2016 on-premises will move ahead to become "Dynamics 365 (On-Premises)".
Ingram walks us through Tribridge’s experience and observations of the Dynamics CRM to Dynamics 365, be it on-prem, in the public cloud or somewhere in between.
Among his observations:
A momentous couple of weeks in the Microsoft Dynamics channel, both within Microsoft and in the channel, as partners roll up their sleeves and put the 2016 tornado of solutions to work.
MSDynamicsWorld Editor Jason Gumpert and Assistant Editor Dann Maurno recap the news, including:
"I am going to laugh when my kids complain that Dynamics 365 marketing dominates the home page and marketplace on their Xbox."
So says Jeff Frye, a veteran Microsoft Dynamics GP user, whose colorful comments consistently challenge the official word on the future of Microsoft technology. Frye has experience on both the customer and partner sides of the ERP ecosystem and he is now a systems analyst with Nashville, Tenn.-based Hunt Brothers Pizza, a deeply-entrenched Microsoft Dynamics GP environment with 7,000+ locations.
Jeff has much more to say about Dynamics GP's status and future, and he joined us to share his wisdom and shoot-from-the-hip commentary:
It's a lively conversation.
Sure, Dynamics 365 was the big story of 2016, and likely will be in 2017. But it wasn’t the only story with impact on the year ahead. What else do we see in our crystal ball for 2017?
MSDynamicsWorld Editor Jason Gumpert looks ahead, with his answers to the questions:
As 2016 nears its end, the MSDW Podcast ponders things ending (Envision), beginning (LinkedIn acquisition), and just coming into focus (Dynamics 365). We also review a raft of excellent expert content and look ahead to two can't-miss webcasts in this last full work week of the year (for most).
Topics include:
Something a little different this week: seven enterprise software podcasters weigh in on 2016 and 2017, talking about everything from Microsoft’s sudden burst of product releases, consolidations among both enterprise packages and partners, and even driverless cars and bitcoin.
Hosted by Bob McAdam (acting as moderator), Todd McDaniel, and Darcy Boerio, cohosts of the EnterpriseSoftwarePodcast.com, also taking part were:
Is digital transformation “The end of ERP software as we know it”?
Panorama Consulting’s Eric Kimberling joins us to talk about his company’s report Everything You Need to Know About Digital Transformation, which makes that bold claim.
No, ERP is not going obsolete; it essential to digital transformation, but just a piece of the puzzle.
Kimberling joins MSDynamicsWorld Editor Jason Gumpert to explore:
An interesting week it was, starting with Microsoft’s plans for a vastly new Envision 2017. Hint: More real-life experience and decision making, no expo floor. Also, why Dynamics NAV partners risk ignoring Dynamics 365 at their own peril. Plus the Dynamics GP 2016 R2 release, and a few very practical how-to articles in warehousing, calendars and CRM portals.
Among the stories we’ll cover:
“NAV used to be a rather stationary target, where updates and new versions were few and far between.” But not anymore.
So begins Catapult‘s latest eBook How to Future-Proof Microsoft Dynamics NAV (download), and CEO Elliot Fishman joins us to tell us more. Elliott describes:
Elliot has also just written the MSDW article 3 best practices for managing Cumulative Updates in Microsoft Dynamics NAV.
November 1 was a landmark day. We knew that Microsoft Dynamics 365 would be generally available, but Microsoft surprised us by releasing Microsoft Flow and PowerApps on the same day, as well as its Common Data Service – all cloud technologies in a single burst.
How are partners synthesizing it all into their businesses? Do these tools truly enable digital transformation at customer organizations? And what’s behind the sudden spike of Dynamics professionals planning to quit partners and go freelance?
(This is also our old-time AM transistor-radio series, wherein two editors on the road phoned in on land lines; please enjoy the classic 1950s sound quality.)
The feel-good conference season is over, with its keynotes, success stories and Dynamics 365 unveiling. Now, what do Microsoft Dynamics SMB partner organizations truly think of the Dynamics channel direction?
Linda Rose, “Chief Cloudster” and founder of RoseASP, joins us for an unflinching look at what Dynamics SMB partners and their clients are likely to experience in the near future. She previews the 2016 Dynamics SMB Partner Survey (registration required) including issues like:
Dynamic Communities’ GPUG Summit celebrated its 10th anniversary this month with record attendance; it was the best-attended of four events (including the AXUG, NAVUG and CRMUG Summits).
GPUG Program Director, Bob McAdam helps orchestrate the Summit, from the content to the venue to Microsoft’s involvement.
Bob joins us to talk about:
Microsoft finally unveiled Dynamics 365 last week, just ahead of the user group Summit conferences. They also updated Dynamics ERP and CRM customers on their respective products’ roadmaps, and what 365 will mean for each one.
There was a lot to take in at the event, and we cover a lot in this podcast including:
The CEO of RapidStart CRM calls himself a “Dynamics 365 Fighter Pilot.”
Steve Mordue has enthusiasm for progress. You won’t find the cloud CRM veteran, ISV and blogger trying to cling to sunsetting products and last decade's sales models.
Steve is the author of such provocative posts as Dynamics 365 – The Irresistible Force meets the Immovable Channel, a subject he talks about in this week’s podcast. He also shares his wisdom about:
Two weeks of compelling Microsoft Dynamics stories, including intelligence from both Directions 2016 and Ignite. Among this week’s topics:
Two weeks of compelling Microsoft Dynamics stories. Among this week's topics:
He’s a Dynamics GP veteran, author and even humorist, and he’s has co-written the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Cookbook.
This week, Fastpath Director of Client Services Mark Polino tells us about his new book, the Microsoft Dynamics GP 2016 Cookbook - Second Edition, co-authored with Ian Grieve and available directly from Packt Publishing or from Amazon. Somewhere between editions he found time to write the free Undead Guide to Dynamics GP Summit (among others), and at the Summit he’ll deliver a talk called “Naked and Afraid: GP Security.”
There’s 55 pages of new material in this cookbook update, meaning quite a lot that’s new. In the podcast, Polino talks about:
A week of compelling stories from the Microsoft Dynamics channel, among the stories:
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: