This episode is sponsored by Enavate.
Cloud ERP and CRM migrations remain a significant but challenging opportunity for Microsoft partners. From Dynamics GP and NAV to AX and CRM, Dynamics customers are planning for the future of their enterprise solutions, but the path forward is not always clear, both in terms of understanding the technical challenges and planning for the optimal future state.
Jennifer Ranz and Chad Sogge of Enavate join us on this episode to provide updates on their team's various upgrade and migration tools and programs. A significant portion of Enavate's effort is focused on working with other partners, they explain, because the demand for cloud migration projects remains high even as partner organizations remain stretched. We discuss the launch of the Dynamics 365 Business Central assessment tool developed by Enavate and its role in the channel. Chad also provides an update on enterprise migrations to F&O and CE.
And we discuss what the upgrade and migration landscape looks like overall today, both for partners and for customers. Many of the challenges, risks, and opportunities of the past look very different today, they say, and we discuss how the technology and methodologies have improved.
Show Notes:
More from Enavate:
The first Microsoft Power Platform Conference (MCCP) 2022 has now concluded, and we catch up with Microsoft MVP Asif Rehmani to discuss what we learned at the event. We review some of the things we learned about Power Platform's position within the larger Microsoft Cloud, how SharePoint will co-exist with it, the various user roles related to Power Platform adoption, and our perception of the Microsoft product team's outlook. We also look ahead to how Power Platform events supported by Microsoft could change in the next year.
Asif has also written a LinkedIn post sharing his event experiences.
Related MSDW articles:
Editor's Note: This episode is sponsored by Dooap.
Machine learning technology has become more common and more accessible in AP automation solutions in recent years. Our guest, Kristin Ewart of Dooap, tells us how her clients are deploying ML as part of their AP and invoice management solutions today and how the experience has transitioned from one of training and modelling to one of passive learning and rapid deployment.
But all ML capabilities are not created equal, and Kristin offers guidance on what to expect in areas like predictive coding, three way matching, and workflow automation alongside a Dynamics 365 solution. She also shares her observations on what the addition of ML capabilities has done to improve the experiences of workers involved in AP approvals and those responsible for managing those processes.
Show Notes:
Book a demo with Dooap at www.dooap.com/book-a-demo
This episode is sponsored by Mavim.
An organization can invest in extensive business process modeling, but without an effective way for workers to access that information, the effort may not lead to any noticeable improvements.
Our guest on this episode, Shrikanth Balla, product lead for Mavim Portal, focuses his efforts on the challenge of helping an organization's people access process models and consume the guidance to incorporate it into their work. Shrikanth explains more about where the concepts of business process modelling and digital twins align, as well as one of the key touchpoints for process consumption, the enterprise systems like Dynamics ERP and CRM, and Power Platform solutions.
Show Notes:
More from Mavim:
The delivery of sales-related technology solutions never stops evolving, and our guest, Chuck Ingram of CongruentX, believes advances in conversation intelligence are poised to become a critical piece of the puzzle for sellers. One of the things that makes conversation intelligence so interesting, Chuck explains, is how quickly the segment has emerged and impacted organizations, with specialist vendors taking market share while the CRM behemoths like Microsoft also step up their offerings.
Chuck explains why his team sees promise across the conversation intelligence landscape, including with Viva Sales, Gong, and in Microsoft's vision around applying Nuance's tools in contact centers and beyond. Momentum in this area has also influenced how CongruentX delivers its services, including an evolving subscription model and new thinking on relationship management thanks to the addition of CRM thought leader JC Quintana.
Show Notes:
More from CongruentX:
What DialoguePrime for Viva Sales Does:
Editor's Note: This episode is sponsored by TIE Kinetix.
No two companies follow the same path to modernizing their supply chain, but successful supply chain transformation projects share some important characteristics, says our guest Dave Mazur of TIE Kinetix.
The decision to move ERP to the cloud is one example of a critical moment for many organizations, representing an opportunity to embrace broader changes in both tools and processes. That includes digitizing documents, improving inter-company transactions, and developing ways to adapt to future changes in the supply chain.
Show Notes:
A message from TIE Kinetix:
For more information on how TIE Kinetix helps Microsoft Dynamics customers digitize their supply chains, please visit TIEKinetix.com or check out their Starter's Guide to Digital Supply Chain Transformation on MSDW.
Is your company preparing to implement permissions in Business Central but doesn’t quite know where to start? Or have you already implemented permissions, but they aren’t quite working as planned? In this discussion with Cari Corozza and Cynthia Priebe of New View Strategies, we discuss a start to finish approach to implementing permissions in Business Central. Cynthia and Cari share real-life stories on why implementing permissions should be more than IT project.
Learn more:
Editor's Note: This episode is sponsored by Netstock.
Netstock CTO Barry Kukkuk and his co-founders wanted to bring advanced inventory management capabilities enjoyed by enterprises to the SMB market. It was a business opportunity for sure, but democratizing these tools by using new pricing enabled by cloud computing and SaaS business models was also part of the team's ethos, he explains. After all, who wants a business landscape controlled solely by the Amazons and Walmarts of the world?
On this episode we discuss the modern capabilities in supply chain software, starting with big data and its accessibility for SMBs. Barry also discusses the lessons that Netstock customers have learned since 2020 about managing changing trends in demand forecasting, stock models, and inventory management. The idea of "future-proofing" a supply chain can take a lot of forms today, with opportunities ranging from supplier performance management to near-shoring to tools that build better vendor and client relationships.
From Netstock: Unlock the data in your ERP and drive smarter supply chain decisions. Learn more.
Show Notes:
With Microsoft’s annual global partner event Inspire 2022 set to begin this week, we look back at some of our relevant reporting and features. Recent coverage discussed by the MSDW and MSCN editorial team on this episode includes:
The Microsoft Business Applications product line's new look is starting to come into focus under the leadership of CVP Charles Lamanna. In a recent conversation with Microsoft MVP Steve Mordue, Lamanna discussed some of his team's recent work, its successes, and future challenges. Lamanna's upward rise at Microsoft started in the Power Platform team, but he now represents the Dynamics 365 lineup, too.
Mordue discusses his impressions after talking with Lamanna this time (it was the fourth interview they've done over the years) and how both Microsoft's product and channel plans have impacted the community, including Mordue's own business decisions related to RapidStart CRM and Forceworks.
Show Notes:
Microsoft partner executives who have been focused on their immediate challenges in recent years would be well served to use the start of Microsoft's FY23 to turn their attention to longer term strategies for maintaining profitability in an economic landscape full of risks.
Our guests, George Brown and Dana Willmer of Partner Economics, have been sharing their latest findings on the micro- and macroeconomic conditions in the Microsoft channel, and for Dynamics-focused services firms, the implications will be huge over the next few years. They recently wrote an article about their new thinking and join us to discuss these topics in more detail.
The factors that drive profitability are shifting rapidly, Brown and Willmer tell us, and partners will need to make difficult choices to adapt. Some of the issues that they discuss include the ongoing resource shortage, the impact of marketplaces on software sales, dropping utilization rates, and valuations.
Partners are not doomed, they say, but in a few years many of the most popular business models in the channel may look nothing like today's typical Dynamics VAR.
Show Notes:
This episode is sponsored by Mavim.
As use of Microsoft Power Platform has grown, so has its influence in customers' business process management initiatives. But Power Platform is almost never the entire story when it comes to governance of processes, IP, and broader challenges like enterprise architecture.
Our guest on this episode, Lennard van Leuen of Mavim, discusses how dedicated BPM tools like Mavim can work alongside tools like Power Apps and Power Automate to provide the most comprehensive management and governance of IP and business processes at the enterprise or department level. We discuss different kinds of automation, what the term "hyper-automation" means to Mavim, and what Microsoft's product roadmap means for the future of business process management initiatives.
Show Notes:
Resources:
This episode is sponsored by Formpipe.
Dynamics 365 Business Central users face a variety of document automation challenges, especially as their organizations grow and interface with more third parties. The question inevitably arises: how far can the customer push standard Business Central capabilities before they need to look for a specialized solution? The team from Formpipe, makers of Lasernet, have been working with BC and NAV customers for years and join us on this episode to provide an update on their experiences working with BC customers and deploying Lasernet to meet broader and more complex document and output automation needs related to international expansion, regulatory requirements, and changing vendor and customer needs. We also discuss where an investment in advanced automation needs fits into the context of a move to Business Central from an older ERP solution.
Show Notes:
For more information on Lasernet for Dynamics or the Lasernet Connector for Business Central, please visit: https://www.formpipe.com/en/software/lasernet/dynamics-365/ or if you would like to set up a demo, you can contact sales@formpipe.com.
This episode is sponsored by Columbus.
The data and reporting needs of Dynamics ERP customers have changed over the years, but the skills and tools have not always kept up. Preparing for the next phase of operational and financial management is largely about gaining control of business data as strategies and processes change, workers face new demands on their time, and executives envision a landscape driven by cloud technology.
On this episode we are talking about the evolving challenges of data management and analysis with Michael Simms VP of digital advisory and data & analytics at Columbus. Simms is a veteran of the Dynamics AX and F&SCM space and has been on the front lines with customers for many years, working to help organizations get control of their business data with reporting and analysis.
Show Notes:
For more information about Columbus and our data and analytics solutions, visit us at
https://www.columbusglobal.com/en-us/solutions/data-analytics
This episode is sponsored by HSO.
Opportunities to modernize field services come in many forms. Our guests on this episode, Max Dinser and Mike Hammons of HSO, help us understand some of the scenarios and technology choices they are helping clients make and where Microsoft's cloud services fit. Some organizations need an overhaul of their field service management, which might call for the deployment of Dynamics 365 Field Service and specialized add-on solutions. Other firms are trying to enhance their field teams' capabilities by adding augmented reality solutions, providing better insight into equipment via IoT, or asking field workers to help fulfill new business models based on new types of service agreements.
Max and Mike also share the new tech that they are most excited about, ranging from analytics to IoT to automation tools. And we discuss some of the unique scenarios that differentiate one organization's needs from another.
Show Notes:
The report mentioned: Key Drivers for Growth in Service: Research Report with Microsoft and Noventum
For additional resources and workshop from HSO: Connected Field Service
This episode is sponsored by KwikTag by enChoice. To learn more about KwikTag and the benefits of SimplyAP, the cloud AP automation solution, visit kwiktag.com.
The Dynamics 365 Business Central ecosystem has seen drastic changes in the last few years, thanks in large part to the product's rapid evolution. That greater maturity means the product can now address the needs of more organizations, and that has also drawn in more ISVs willing to invest in integrating their solutions.
Our guests from KwikTag by enChoice, director of marketing and channel Mary Miller and VP of product Mike Fernandes, share their observations on the changes in the Business Central ecosystem, from buyer attitudes to ISV priorities. Solutions of the future will be easier to deploy (like through AppSource), provide more pre-built AI capabilities, and generally do more for less.
Mary and Mike discuss the importance of enChoice's acquisition of AI-driven OCR platform provider Sypht and the launch SimplyAP for Business Central, KwikTag's new solution for BC that is designed for rapid deployment and uptake.
Show Notes:
While often out of the spotlight, hundreds of Microsoft Dynamics professionals in Ukraine have worked for years with customers and partners around the world. Like the rest of their country, they saw their lives upended by the Ruissian invasion in February with some fleeing the country and others heading to bunkers or into military service.
To understand more about the current situation for Ukrainians in the Dynamics community, we asked the leaders of three partner organizations to tell us about how their Ukrainian employees are doing today. Volodomyr Svyrydenk, CEO of OntargIT, Charlotte McCormick president of ArganoArbela, and Thomas Ajspur, CEO of Enavate, share their experiences, both managing from abroad and, in the case of Volodomyr, returning to Ukraine as the war continues. They discuss the need to understand the trauma their employees were experiencing, the logistics of working amid the upheaval, and the need to come together as a community.
Partners have banded together to raise money for the Dynamics community. You can donate to support them at: https://dynamicsukraine.org/
Show Notes:
The technology needs of today's deskless worker reflect the pressures they face in their day-to-day work experiences. On this episode we are looking at the mobile capabilities that deskless workers are taking advantage of today and how various tech advances suit different roles.
Our guest, Trevor Metcalf of Resco, shares his perspective on the wide range of organizations investing in new solutions for field workers and how they prioritize those requirements to deliver solutions that are optimized for different scenarios, from humanitarian work to retail to travel and leisure.
And Trevor shares some interesting perspective on the future of mobile solutions. More organizations are coming around to the idea that entire workforces can embrace mobile solutions, he says, allowing them to design a future that in some cases is completely free of desktop interfaces.
Show Notes:
A message from Resco:
Join Resco on June 9th, 2022 in Charleston, SC at Resco.connect 2022 to share ideas & spark debates around deskless workers.
Explore the agenda and secure your tickets while they last!
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/rescoconnect-tickets-320874302677
We’re Resco, one of the global leaders in developing cross-platform mobile software solutions. We enable companies to collect, access, share and evaluate vital business data in the field.
Today, Resco products mobilize over 200,000 licensed users at 2000+ corporate customers worldwide and are supported by a network of 600+ partners.
If you want to learn more about Resco, visit: https://www.resco.net
Microsoft revealed its plans to revamp its partner model recently, replacing the Partner Network with the Cloud Partner Program. In the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform space, veteran partners have already started to take measure of the impact of the changes - how Microsoft will score their performance in the channel and what benefits they will gain, lose, or keep as a result.
Our guests, AJ Ansari of DWSi and Peter Wolf of Azamba, tell us that, on the whole, the early signals from Microsoft about the new program have been discouraging. They cite a number of reasons, from the details of the new scoring system to Microsoft's lack of outreach. Neither AJ nor Peter believes that Microsoft engineered the new program to hurt healthy and growing business applications-focused partners, but their concern is real and they believe Microsoft will begin hearing a rising chorus of questions and criticisms as the program nears the planned implementation date.
AJ and Peter discuss this issue from range of perspectives, including the new scoring, the business value of different benefits like IURs, and the realities of trying to run a Microsoft partner business under the new program.
See also:
Microsoft partner organizations, especially those fully committed to the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform channel, should not be surprised to hear that managing their Microsoft relationship is an important element of their business success.
Our guest on this episode, Joe Corigliano, understands the importance and complexity of these relationships between Dynamics partners and Microsoft. Joe joined Microsoft as part of the Great Plains acquisition of the early 2000's and has worked both as an employee and as a member of the channel ecosystem in the years since. Now working with Microsoft ISVs from the outside, he shares his perspective on what top performing Dynamics 365 ISVs are doing well today and what he foresees in Microsoft's ongoing partner engagement efforts and broader community planning.
Show Notes:
We wrap up a busy April with a news roundup edition of the podcast. We begin with a dive into some performance details from Microsoft's Q3 2022 earnings, including a miss on Dynamics revenue, strength in Power Platform, and stabile and healthy Azure growth. From there we discuss recent news about Dynamics SMB strategy and leadership, industry partnerships, Azure in Africa, HR, and more.
Show Notes
This episode is sponsored by Avanade.
Ecolab, a leading provider of water, hygiene, and infection prevention solutions and services, has undergone major business transformation initiatives using Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Power Platform. On this episode we hear from Ecolab's Rachel Hart, program manager for Industrial sales and service applications, in conversation with leaders from Avanade's North American sales and service team. They discuss Ecolab's organizational and technical accomplishments and how the investments in digital transformation have been executed in a way that benefits the organization.
Rachel explains that the work is much more than just technology and platforms, it’s innovating to enable the right user experience and ensuring your users are setup for success.
From Avanade:
If your organization is on a similar journey and you want to learn more, you can reach out to Abi Sridhar by email or on LinkedIn.
This episode is sponsored by Versapay.
From the rise of remote work to the inconveniences of paper checks, it’s no surprise that a recent survey indicated that 93% of CFOs are already digitizing accounting operations. But not all digitization efforts are created equal. This is especially true when integrating solutions with ERPs like Microsoft Dynamics.
In this episode, we speak with Versapay senior product manager Meredith Mitchell and national partner manager David Gersten about the state of AR in 2022, including their experiences building new and improved integrations to Dynamics ERPs, how improved maturity in AR technology aligns with broader goals of the CFO, and their view on evaluating AR solutions.
Show Notes
A message from Versapay:
Put what you learned here about Versapay's integrated payment solution for Microsoft Dynamics 365 into action. Book and attend a meeting with Versapay and you’ll get a complimentary $15 gift card to Starbucks or Uber Eats.
Conditions:
This episode is sponsored by Binary Stream Software.
The thinking around service-based business models has moved far beyond traditional scenarios. Today, forward-thinking businesses in a range of industries are taking service-oriented (or XaaS) approaches that require all corners of the organization to embrace changes in process and technology.
Our guest, Khaled Nassra of Binary Stream Software, a global software and services firm focusing on subscription management, consolidation accounting, and lease administration, helps us unpack some of the reasons why subscription-based business models are succeeding today. We discuss recent research on the performance of forward-thinking firms compared to their traditional counterparts, regulatory pressures, and the technical fundamentals that make new subscription and service models possible.
Show notes:
From Binary Stream:
Binary Stream is a global solution provider for Microsoft Dynamics 365 ERPs with over 20 years of experience supporting over 2500 customers. The company recently cemented its status as an expert in subscription management and completed a licensing agreement with Microsoft for its Subscription Billing Suite solution for Dynamics 365 Finance; and continues to develop leading services and solutions in the space. You can learn more about Binary Stream or get in touch with the team here.
This episode is sponsored by Formpipe.
Despite all the investment in digitization of paper, organizations still face huge volumes of paper documents and manual processes. That's according to Lennart Garbarsch, CEO of Tabellae. He speaks with Formpipe's Ben Saxton on this special MSDW Podcast episode about Tabellae's efforts to help organizations expand their document and output automation across more departments and more core business processes. He also offers feedback on the human side of the automation, both in terms of project execution and user adoption.
For more information on Formpipe, please visit www.formpipe.com or contact them at sales@formpipe.com