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The MSDynamicsWorld.com (MSDW) podcast explores news, ideas, and events in the Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM community.
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Now displaying: 2020
Dec 15, 2020

Microsoft Dataverse; US politics; Azure Purview; FastTrack; Sales Insights

Dec 14, 2020

Note: This episode is sponsored by Avanade. Learn more about Power Platform at Avanade here.

Venkat Rao, Power Platform go to market lead for North America at Avanade, joins us for a conversation following up on his recent five part article series on the Power Platform and its role in supporting the evolution of business applications. (Check out parts onetwothree, four, and five.)

Enterprise-grade systems like Dynamics 365 applications are here to stay. But, Venkat believes, thanks to low-code tools, organizations can now expect to give more responsibility back to their workers as they plan the future of their enterprise investments. Much of Venkat's writing has dealt with newcomers to the Power Platform, and he explains that embracing the tools here requires the acceptance of concepts and practices like running a Center of Excellence. He also reflects on recent customer successes in areas like  managing the return to work, mixed reality, and initiatives to empower citizen developers.

Show Notes:

  • 1:30 - Making sense of Power Platform and how to approach it for the first time
  • 5:00 - Thinking about low-code and no-code solutions as a technology segment
  • 7:30 - The importance of considering complex software requirements when evaluating low-code solutions
  • 9:30 - Venkat's evolving professional focus, from Dynamics CRM to Power Platform
  • 14:30 - What it looks like to scale up Power Platform initiatives across an organization
  • 18:00 - The frequent challenge of bringing a Power Apps deployment back under control after rapid spread
  • 21:00 - The Power Platform Center of Excellence (CoE) starter kit - Venkat's views on its usefulness
  • 24:30 - How organizations build upon the CoE starter kit
  • 27:00 - How Power Platform and HoloLens 2 work together
  • 33:30 - Is RPA mundane or amazing?
  • 36:00 - Looking ahead: New technology Avanade clients are excited about
Dec 8, 2020

The Microsoft channel is ever-changing, and ISVs can spend considerable time optimizing their approach according to the latest incentives, rules, restrictions, and opportunities. Microsoft MVP Steve Mordue returns to talk about some of the latest updates in the channel. Steve is the founder of the ISV business RapidStartCRM. He's also a popular blogger for channel pros. He has also started a new site, ISVConnectED, a private community for ISVs who want to talk channel strategy and tactics, ask their peers questions, and otherwise compare notes. We discuss Microsoft's current partner programs that impact the Dynamics channel, opportunities around Power Platform, including Dataverse, the risks ISVs face when Microsoft builds similar IP, and what the Salesforce Slack deal means for Microsoft.

Show Notes:

  • 1:30 - Microsoft's ISV programs and why Steve started ISVConnectED
  • 3:45 - Why Steve writes about the state of the Microsoft channel and why it continues to create complexity
  • 6:30 - The complexities of Microsoft programs like Direct CSP, and the importance of large CSPs  today
  • 15:30 - Power Platform  - the business model and special offers
  • 20:00 - Microsoft's efforts on industry solutions and what it means for vertical-focused ISVs
  • 24:00 - Working in Microsoft's shadow as an ISV - searching for white space
  • 28:45 - Encouraging news on AppSource
  • 33:00 - Dataverse rollout
  • 36:30 - Why Dataverse is so important to Teams and Microsoft 365
  • 43:00 - New opportunities for custom Power Platform development and the importance of governance
  • 46:00 - The Slack acquisition by Salesforce
  • 48:30 - How Microsoft competes with Salesforce
  • 54:00 - Microsoft's current approach to business applications acquisitions
Dec 1, 2020

Editor's Note: This episode is sponsored by GetResponse MAX for Dynamics 365.

Mac Ossowski of marketing automation solution provider GetResponse joins the podcast to discuss how sales and marketing teams can work together with shared technology, even when performance goals may differ. Mac has been active in the email and marketing automation field for over a decade and runs GetResponse MAX, the company's managed offering for medium and large companies. The company started in the small business sector more than ten years ago, and recently started to make more investment in the Dynamics 365 space with a new integration and more partner alliances. Mac also shares his view on some of the design decisions that went into the company's D365 offering and how companies are deploying solutions across departments today.

Show Notes:

  • 1:45 - GetResponse company history and evolution over two decades
  • 4:00 - Speaking to the needs of mid-market and large companies vs  small businesses
  • 6:30 - Lessons from bringing marketing technology together with Dynamics 365 Sales capabilities
  • 9:30 - What kind of services do Dynamics 365 customers need with implementing marketing automation?
  • 13:00 - Changing perspectives on automation in 2020
  • 16:00 - Sales enablement and sales acceleration: what data and tools do sales professionals need?
  • 20:00 - The value of greater marketing data insights
  • 22:30 - Observations on working in the Microsoft ecosystem
  • 26:00 - What types of marketing technology of the future are most exciting?
Nov 24, 2020

The Microsoft Dynamics NAV and Dynamics 365 Business Central community has a heritage of conferences around the world, some that go back decades. But with the pandemic, everything has changed in 2020. Some events have gone online, others have been put on hold, and still others have emerged as new alternatives. BC Tech Talk is the latest new event. It runs December 3 & 4 and is free to attend. MSDW is a media sponsor, so we sat down with three members of the event's planning committee to learn more about what to expect, who should be there, and what's new in the BC community.

 

Show Notes:

  • 1:30 - How BC Tech Talk came together
  • 4:00 - Observations about the themes emerging from the session topics
  • 8:00 - How quickly are developers adopting the new skills and techniques required for Business Central projects?
  • 11:30 - Why now is a time for up and coming community contributors to emerge
  • 18:45 - Why employees at customer organizations should be paying attention to the topics of a tech-focused event like BC Tech Talk
  • 21:00 - Implications of this year's growth in virtual events
  • 28:00 - Reviewing the BC Tech Talk structure, and more reasons for attending
Nov 19, 2020

Pattern Energy, a company that develops and operates wind and solar energy generation projects around the world, had many years invested into a Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009 ERP solution that was on-premises and highly customized. But by 2018 they knew that their aging system needed to be replaced.

 

On this episode, Nick Tavenier, the ERP systems analyst at Pattern Energy discusses some of the company's experiences in moving away from AX 2009 as they evaluated new options and eventually committed to Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management in the cloud. He discusses his team's experiences planning and executing their migration project, work with third party solution vendors in areas like security, governance, and financial management, and how they have maintained an engaged core ERP team even after their go-live.

 

Show notes:

  • 1:30 - Some history on Pattern Energy's operations and use of Dynamics AX 2009
  • 3:00 - Comparing D365 with Tier 1 & 2 ERP options, as well as looking at AX 2012 as a full or temporary potion
  • 5:00 - Planning to migrate from AX 2009 - Custom and ISV solution needs
  • 7:00 - How Pattern envisioned processes with stock D365FO features and standard use patterns
  • 9:00 - areas of D365FO that Pattern will use based on the complexities of their organization - multi-entity, multi-company, financial consolidation, etc. and new features Microsoft is adding or acquiring
  • 12:30 - Making the decision of cloud vs on-prem D365 and how mindsets had to be changed
  • 13:30 - Connecting with other AX to D365FO customers about the complications around implementation projects in areas like entity hierarchy, data management, and customization
  • 16:30 - Training developers and IT experts on security management, customization techniques
  • 18:45 - Adopting the "One Version" model from Microsoft, and where they have found challenges, including governance and regulatory compliance
  • 22:30 - The importance of voicing concerns and starting a dialog with Microsoft, and why there seems to be a clean slate with the introduction of ERP in the cloud
  • 25:00 - How Pattern uses an internal product manager and others to champion the solution
  • 28:30 - Navigating the internal ownership and duties between the IT and the business
  • 31:00 - How D365FO fits in alongside the organization's other Microsoft investments like Azure and Power BI
  • 33:30 - Why record sharing between entities within D365FO has become a challenging matter from a technical and functional perspective
Nov 13, 2020

The latest release wave for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is now rolling out with a range of updates that should benefit users, developers, and system administrators. Dynamics NAV and BC veteran Kim Congleton of New View Strategies has been busy examining the new updates and helping the community understand how to make use of the improvements. She recently wrote about the system administration enhancements and followed that up with a webcast presentation for MSDW readers. We caught up with Kim for this podcast episode to dig into a few more details of the new release wave as well as to talk about how Business Central has evolved as a new offering (not just a continuation of NAV), how her firm has experienced the pandemic, and her expectations for the future.

Show Notes

  • 3:00 - How to approach the new features and information that arrive in each release wave for business Central
  • 5:30 - Read-only performance for reports
  • 7:15 - Buying added storage capacity in the cloud
  • 10:30 - How do you deal with NAV historical data when moving to BC?
  • 14:00 - Restoring environments
  • 17:30 - Why BC really is a separate product from NAV
  • 19:00 - Impressions on the first iteration of the Teams app for BC and where it might go next
  • 22:30 - Events and batch processing
  • 24:30 - Power BI scenarios for BC
  • 26:30 - Other Microsoft services Kim is looking ahead to.
  • 30:00 - Observations on training investment by NAV and BC customers
  • 32:00 - Why the Microsoft Ideas site is useful
Nov 10, 2020

Australia-based business consultant David Ogilvie has been thinking and writing on how businesses can adapt to economic conditions triggered by the pandemic, looking at factors like managing capital, supply chain optimization, and customer service. And managing across all of those areas require the ability to track the right metrics.

 

David discusses how his work with companies in his region have changed with the pandemic, what the ERP competitive landscape looks like today, the role of the independent ERP consultant today, and some of the tools and metrics of inventory management that he is focusing on.

 

Show Notes:

  • 2:45 - David's work with Dynamics AX customers looking to move to a new ERP, and the themes of today's conversations around business applications
  • 5:00 - Tools, techniques, and organizational approaches that have helped businesses adapt to the pandemic
  • 7:30 - Decisions businesses are making to adapt in the current climate
  • 9:30 - Do organizations have a need for different types of services today versus a year ago?
  • 11:00 - Controlling process behaviors in a business with a focus on metrics like EVA (economic value added) - and cautions around using them properly
  • 15:00 - A case of inventory mismanagement and how metrics could have played a part
  • 17:30 - The importance of supply chain planning to avoid the bullwhip effect amid unexpected
  • 23:00 - The intended meaning of just in time inventory versus how many companies have applied the philosophy
  • 24:30 - Ten inventory management tools that David emphasizes
  • 25:00 - How supply chain matters impact customer experience, and why to start with the customer rather than the supply chain
  • 27:00 - ERP competitors of Microsoft that David sees in his clients' market segment and region
Nov 5, 2020

This episode is sponsored by Provance. Support a digital transformation in IT with Provance ITSM—the most Microsoft-centric IT Service Management product on the market. 

On this episode we catch up on some of the top headlines and contributed articles from the last month, including highlights of the Dynamics 365 and Power Platform 2020 release wave 2, new industry-focused business apps directly from Microsoft, new Teams integration for Business Central, and a few choice Azure advances.  

Articles discussed in this episode:  

Oct 16, 2020

Samuel Adranyi is a Microsoft MVP who brings his expertise to the local, regional, and international Microsoft Azure and Power Platform communities. He tells us about his own professional development, the decision to move back to his home country of Ghana from a role in the US, and what he is doing today to encourage others to gain expertise in Microsoft technology. He has organized local events, he mentors students on developing their professional skills, and he is an active content creator across his own blog and podcast, as well as on YouTube and other social media.

We talk about how he has focused his community efforts since returning to Ghana, some of the most promising tech for students and others looking to gain new professional skills, making cloud technology more accessible in Ghana, and Samuel's experiences as an MVP so far.

Show Notes

  • 2:00 - About Samuel's community activities, professional interests, and moving back to Ghana from the US
  • 4:30 - On making an impact in the West Africa Microsoft community
  • 7:00 - How Samuel got interested in IoT
  • 9:30 - What is the IoT readiness level of organizations today?
  • 11:30 - Bringing IoT to Power Platform
  • 14:30 - Samuel's award-winning COVID-19 IoT solution
  • 18:15 - Making cloud tech more accessible in Ghana - payment method challenges, Azure data center proximity
  •  21:00 - Traction in the Microsoft developer community
  • 22:45 - Samuel's podcast featuring young technologists from Africa and around the world
  • 27:30 - On becoming an MVP, ramping up podcast and video efforts.
Oct 14, 2020

This episode of the MSDW Podcast is sponsored by dotdigital. Find out more about their Microsoft Dynamics offering here.

As marketing technology continues to evolve, so does thinking on where it can deliver the most impact in an organization. The marketing-to-sales funnel remains the most common way to deploy marketing automation tools, but Dan Griffin of dotdigital makes the case on this episode that the organizations should be pushing for customer engagement that encourages more of their own departments to communicate across channels. Customer service, product managers, and others have a lot of value to add to the customer experience after the sale is made, and the digital tools that marketers understand best today could be brought to bear with the right planning, says Griffin.

We also discuss the evolution of the Microsoft channel when it comes to delivering martech solutions. System integrators and agencies will deliver marketing solutions quite differently. And today's economic climate has led customer to ask their service providers to help them deliver digital marketing capabilities  in new and more efficient ways.

Show Notes:

  • 3:15 - dotdigital's latest efforts in the Microsoft channel to deliver marketing technology
  • 5:00 - What does martech mean to partners today?
  • 7:30 - The current landscape has forced customers to do more with less, and they are finding out why digital matters in areas like account-based marketing, top of funnel brand marketing, etc.
  • 9:30 - Companies are beginning to understand the value of marketing to their customers
  • 11:30 - How well do different types of Microsoft partners - systems integrators vs agencies - approach the challenge of digital marketing solutions
  • 18:00 - More ideas on using marketing-based tools to improve engagement across the customer lifecycle
  • 21:30 - Why you want your organization focus more on process to improve metrics
  • 23:00 - How the Microsoft community's marketing conversations have evolved in the last six months
Oct 6, 2020

Blue Horseshoe Solutions holds a notable role in the history of Microsoft's enterprise ERP development. The firm was founded in 2001 and some if its own modules for warehouse and transportation management have become part of Microsoft's core ERP products, first with Dynamics AX and now Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management.

 

On this episode, sponsored by Blue Horseshoe, Steve Shebuski, vice president of digital transformation, and Mike Castelluccio, partner director, discuss some of the standout features and differentiators in Dynamics 365 Supply Chain Management today and how Blue Horseshoe has moved their own roadmap forward alongside Microsoft. They explain why the future of supply chain innovation will be in the cloud, still working with ERPs like Dynamics 365 but available as a service rather than a deep customization.

Sep 29, 2020

Members of the Microsoft Power Platform and Dynamics 365 community came together for a series of online pub quizzes in July to raise money for local charities and support social action against racism. The events took place in midst of civil protests in cities around the world drew hundreds of participants and raised money for local non-profits.

In the UK, funds from the event went to Black Minds Matter, a London-based organization focused on mentoring, education, and other support services for black and ethnic minority young people. Microsoft MVP Tricia Sinclair, a key organizer of the original series of events, has continued her efforts to support the organization by creating a Power Platform-focused training curriculum for them that brought together subject matter experts from the Microsoft community to educate and mentor the group. The multi-week program concluded with a hackathon where the participants developed and presented Power Platform creations focused on themes like mental health and legal services.

On this episode, we are joined by Tricia Sinclair as well as Malik Gul, Director of Wandsworth Community Empowerment Network in London, and program participant Rosina St. James to look back at the hackathon and the broader program, to discuss the outcome, and to learn more about exposing professional opportunities in the Microsoft ecosystem to under-represented communities.

Show Notes:

  • 2:30 - Introductions to our guests and their work
  • 5:00 - Origins of the effort to raise funds, awareness, and support for Black Minds Matter in London
  • 7:00 - The mission and goals of Black Minds Matter in the context of social trends, including boosting opportunities for learning and development
  • 12:00 - Why making the connection between under-served communities and professional opportunities is so important
  • 13:45 - Reaction of the students to the program and the various roles and options
  • 15:30 - Getting an understanding of the software industry
  • 17:45 - Bringing Power Platform community members together to help build out the student program
  • 19:00 - Where is the overall effort to train the next generation on Microsoft business apps workers?23:45 - Preparing the student group for the hackathon
  • 27:30 - Rosina's app from the hackathon
  • 29:30 - Developing ideas for new solutions, and the judging panel's observations and engagement with social and healthcare services organizations
  • 34:15 - Next steps for the program including mentoring, internships, apprenticeships, and education options
  • 38:45 - Plans for scaling these efforts, from technology education to more diverse health and social opportunities

 

Links:

Sep 21, 2020

The news roundup returns, and on this episode, we look back at top headlines from the last several weeks of executive hires, Microsoft revenue numbers, product wins, partner updates, and more.

Show Notes:

Sep 17, 2020

Microsoft MVP, solution architect, and Scrum expert Neil Benson recently concluded two years of work on a membership and sales platform upgrade for RACQ (Royal Automobile Club of Queensland) that involved Dynamics 365 Customer Service, integration with multiple other SaaS vendor solutions, and, of course, lots of legacy data to contend with from the decades old systems being replaced. This was a big project by any standard. Microsoft celebrated its early successes last year, but work has continued, and Neil gives us an inside view of what it has been like managing five delivery streams amid a host of other changes, from user adoption to the IT department's Azure transition to going live during the pandemic.

 

Show Notes

  • 0:45 - About Neil and his business, Customery
  • 2:50 - About RACQ and their modernization project
  • 5:20 - The scale of this project and the challenges of working at that scale
  • 7:35 - Why RACQ had everything to lose in terms of customer satisfaction and retention from undertaking their modernization program
  • 8:20 - Attitude toward cloud adoption from their legacy stance
  • 10:50 - How five workstreams moved ahead together, how they divided up responsibilities and stages
  • 12:05 - The core software products that go into RACQ's cloud transformation
  • 13:35 - Observations on using Adobe Campaign with Dynamics 365 and other solutions
  • 15:20 - Deploying Apttus and the future of their relationship with (or without) Microsoft
  • 17:50 - The fight for ISV cloud hosting between the hypercloud vendors
  • 19:50 - Using Scrum on a project of this scale
  • 23:50 - Neil's experience training others on Scrum
  • 27:50 - Innovative solutions of the RACQ solution
  • 31:20 - How does an organization focused on driving adapt to Covid and other changing trends around car usage?
  • 34:20 - How such a big project transitioned to work from home during the pandemic
  • 34:35 - RACQ's efforts in trialing other tech like RPA
  • 38:20 - Is RPA a viable long-term product for CIOs?
  • 41:50 - On the history of Customery's LEGO usage
  • 43:15 - Neil's podcast activities


Where to find Neil:

Sep 1, 2020

Lisa Crosbie joins us to talk about her many community activities and interests in the Microsoft Business Applications space. Lisa is a technology evangelist at Barhead, a Microsoft partner, and when she's not working with their sales and professional services teams, she can be found doing a range of things, from blogging to podcasting to videos to presentations. We sit down to discuss some of the things Lisa has been focused on in her community efforts recently including Microsoft Teams and Project Oakdale, Microsoft certifications, product updates coming in the 2020 wave 2 releases for Dynamics 365 and Power Platform, and her latest presentation schedule, including the upcoming DynamicsCon event.

Show Notes:

  • 3:30 - Adjusting to and staying motivated by community participation in an all-virtual situation
  • 5:00 - The importance of certifications in today's Microsoft business apps landscape
  • 9:10 - How to use Microsoft Learn to prepare for certifications
  • 13:00 - Lisa's outlook on Project Oakdale
  • 24:20 - Will Teams interfaces be important for ISV solutions?
  • 25:30 - Why Power Automate in Teams will be important
  • 27:15 - The RPA opportunities of 2020 wave 2
  • 30:00 - Lisa's participation in DynamicsCon
  • 34:15 - Lisa's professional evolution from the client side to the consulting side
  • 39:15 - Why the MVP community is still thriving'
  • 41:30 - Will the virtual focus help more people achieve MVP status?
  • 43:15 - Creating the UP Podcast
  • 45:30 - What else Lisa is excited about in the next release wave
Aug 12, 2020

Erik Hougaard returns to the podcast with new perspective on Dynamics 365 Business Central development and customization. Over the last few months, Erik has been creating a rich new library of developer skills videos on his YouTube channel, covering everything from OAuth and Javascript controls to web services and String operations.

 

He recently created a Blast from the Past video in which he spun up an old NAV 3.56 system and explored its features, customization language (which was also called AL at the time), and interface. Looking at a 30 year old predecessor to today's Business Central was more than just a trip down memory lane, as he tells us. It can also give today's customers and professionals a better understanding of why the latest version of Business Central looks and acts the way it does. With that perspective in mind, Erik also shares his views on the latest customization trends, ISV solution adoption, SaaS support, and how the coronavirus pandemic has impacted the ecosystem.

 

Show Notes:

  • 1:45 - Why look at NAV 3.56 now?
  • 4:00 - Why now is a good time to create more educational content, and how Erik develops ideas.
  • 7:45 - Contextualizing the on-prem to cloud transition of Business Central
  • 10:00 - How Erik circulated an easter egg through older NAV systems
  • 11:30 - Is it good that so many features of BC today are so similar to NAV years ago?
  • 14:00 - Features or techniques that have potential for a big impact
  • 16:30 - As an MVP reaching the community, comparing video versus traditional blog posts
  • 20:00 - How many companies still need customization with BC?
  • 23:30 - Customer and partner responsibilities around managing DevOps for BC
  • 25:15 - A current challenge around country versions with extensions management, both in development and in releasing apps to AppSource
  • 29:00 - How are BC users doing in the context of coronavirus?
  • 32:00 - Why is development such a big part of NAV and BC?
  • 34:30 - Tips around developing your YouTube channel
Aug 5, 2020

We continue the Dynamics GP to Dynamics 365 migration podcast series with a conversation focused primarily around making the case for D365 Finance and Operations, once again joined by Karen Riordan of Menlo Technologies and Peter Joeckel of TurnOnDynamics. In some ways, the path to F&O could be described as only marginally easier than a migration from GP to any other vendor's ERP, so the discussion touches on ERP selection more broadly, the range of approaches that partners in the Microsoft channel have selected regarding their own ERP product sales strategies. Many sell more than one ERP, and for many of those, the other ERP is not a Microsoft product. We also touch on the DevOps debate around Business Central and some of the latest Microsoft incentives to GP customers.

 

Show Notes:

  • 1:00 - Quick recap of the first three episodes
  • 2:30 - What are renewing GP customers hearing from Microsoft and partners?
  • 5:00 - Marketing evaluation: Microsoft's BREP to CSP incentive and surrounding positioning
  • 10:45 - If GP customers don't select BC straight away, what does ERP selection look like?
  • 15:30 - What are signs that a GP customer might be a good fit for evaluating F&O?
  • 17:15 - Customer story: How AX/FO dimensional inventory solved a GP user's needs
  • 27:00 - What drives cost in ERP projects (hint: it's moving from one to another)
  • 30:00 - Why a partner sells both Dynamics ERPs and a competing vendor's ERP
  • 35:00 - The DevOps debate
  • 41:30 - Why so many GP partners will never look at F&O, and perhaps why some never should
Jul 31, 2020

With Microsoft's big summertime virtual event, Inspire 2020, now behind us, the MSDW editorial team chats about some of the biggest news of the event, as well as some of our readers favorite new articles from recent weeks. Up for discussion are the newest Microsoft business applications product names: Customer Voice and Dataflex, as well as Azure cost management, Business Central DevOps, and more.

Show Notes:

Jul 27, 2020

Editor's Note: This episode is sponsored by Ingram Micro Cloud.

The coronavirus pandemic has become a core element of Microsoft's FY21 cloud strategy. And the company now expects their partners to align with goals around remote and returning workers, industry specialization, and digital transformation.

While that vision rings true in many ways, it presents challenges for sellers in the Microsoft channel who need to adapt what they sell and how they sell it. Mark Stuyt, chief engagement officer at Neural Impact, a sales and marketing consulting firm that applies behavioral economics, neuroscience, and persuasion psychology to the customer acquisition process, joins us to talk about the transformation that sales teams themselves should consider to close new business in this challenging climate.

Some selling techniques remain unchanged today, but Mark also emphasizes novel tactics like selling via Teams, using video at key times, thinking more about the advantages of industry specialization.

To learn more about today's sponsor, Ingram Micro, and their partner services please visit https://microsoft.ingrammicrocloud.com/dynamics/.

Show Notes:

  • 2:45 - How the pandemic has impacted organizations' investment decisions around tech
  • 4:00 - Unconscious decision making by buyers that leads to selecting a partner
  • 6:30 - Stresses of selling without the traditional early impressions of face to face meetings
  • 8:00 - The range of ways to take advantage of video, and how it taps into buyer psychology
  • 11:00 - Strategies that sales are using today to tap into video
  • 17:20 - Why should a sales team say yes to an industry?
  • 20:30 - The disadvantage that broadly-based partners will face over the next 12 to 18 months compared with industry-focused partners.
  • 22:30 - Why now is the time to be bold in selling
  • 24:30 - The challenge of driving an emotional connection with prospects and customers.
  • 26:30 - The role that  Microsoft Surface Hub can play for partners.
  • 28:00 - Neural Impact's work with Ingram Micro to develop tools to help partners sell remotely
Jul 25, 2020

Microsoft only revealed Dynamics 365 Commerce a year ago, but the offering is already evolving. In reality, Commerce came into existence as a rebrand of Dynamics 365 for Retail with a new e-commerce and content management tools introduced. Today's roadmap for Commerce calls for updates all over the wide ranging solution, from back office to warehouse to the storefront and the call center.

Amid such a wide ranging product, how does a customer train up their various users? To learn more, we welcome Elif Item, an AX and D365FO veteran who now focuses on training development and delivery through her company, Item by Item. Elif explains that Commerce is now delivered in a range of scenarios, and that variability is what can make training so challenging. Customer service agents and e-commerce management staff have very different experiences in the same system, for example. Training methods are also changing, and Elif talks about how her firm and clients are embracing different types of training content and platforms.

Show Notes

  • 2:00 - The evolution of Dynamics 365 Commerce and Elif's recent experiences
  • 5:00 - How the introduction of e-commerce capabiilties changed the product
  • 7:30 - The types of scenarios in which Commerce is deployed today
  • 11:00 - How Commerce differs from third party e-commerce solutions
  • 16:00 - The range of unique requirements and roles that Commerce aims to cover
  • 20:30 - How do you balance so many retail-related roles in a single system
  • 26:15 - Overlooked roles that still need training
  • 32:00 - Learning styles and training trends for today and the future
  • 39:00 - On embracing the changing roadmap of Dynamics 365 products
Jul 8, 2020

Editor's Note: This episode is sponsored by DXC Technology.

There is no single approach to successfully tackling challenges like project methodology, executive sponsorship, user adoption, or planning for post go-live support, but they are all absolutely critical to a successful Dynamics 365 project outcome.

This podcast episode explores some of the very real decisions organizations must face before and during an enterprise software project, and how they reckon with the factors that determine success. The responsibility – and the credit – for a successful project outcome is almost always shared between the services delivery team and the customer's own people. Microsoft MVP Rick McCutcheon speaks with Russ Riley and Greg Pierce of DXC Technology about the mindset of great project teams and what a strong partner relationship looks like during and after go-live.

If you’d like to speak with our guests or learn more about DXC Technology and how they can help your organization move your business applications from on-premises to the cloud with post go-live support, you can reach them at phone no#: 877-651-6193 or email: dxceclipse@dxc.com.

Jun 30, 2020

Editor's Note: This episode is sponsored by Ingram Micro Cloud.

Dynamics 365 is one of the product areas in which Microsoft encourages its partners to push for growth. With some of the highest margins in the channel, Dynamics is a lucrative opportunity for firms -- if they can make it part of their portfolio.

In hindsight, many partners forget or may not have the capacity to add Dynamics 365 to their practice while most may not have the talent, operating model, or financial structure. With the economic impact in today’s market, traditional ERP or CRM isn’t a want anymore, but a need in the digital transformation era.

Mathew Batterbee, UK & EMEA Dynamics 365 lead at Ingram Micro Cloud, joins the podcast to discuss some of the ways Ingram is working to bring more Microsoft partners into the Dynamics 365 space. Growing the number of partners transacting on Dynamics will require some new thinking and new program models, he says. We discuss some of Ingram's latest programs and also look at broader updates in the Dynamics partner channel like new the BREP to CSP incentives and the untapped potential of Microsoft's Cloud Ascent tool.

Show Notes:

  • 1:00 - Mathew's background at Microsoft and in the channel
  • 5:00 - The challenges of transitioning to Dynamics 365
  • 9:00 - How Ingram supports cross-selling Dynamics 365
  • 12:30 - The value and challenges of Microsoft's Cloud Ascent analytics tool for partners
  • 17:00 - The importance of growing the Dynamics 365 channel
  • 19:15 - Mathew's perspective on the new EP to CSP offer for Dynamics ERP on-prem customers
  • 26:45 - How customers who have lapsed on support might be able to revive it
Jun 19, 2020

The news roundup podcast returns! developments. MSDW editors discuss a range of topics including:

  • 1:00 - an interesting new data-related acquisition
  • 3:30 - Microsoft's Q3 earnings
  • 6:30 - The new GM for Dynamics 365, Mike Morton
  • 9:40 - A new BREP to CSP option for Business Central and its impact
  • 13:00 - The new Web API for Power Apps Portals
  • 15:00 - New industry accelerators for the Power Platform
  • 17:00 - The impact of COVID-19 in the Azure space
  • 18:20 - The importance of Dynamics 365 certifications
Jun 16, 2020

While the second episode in our GP upgrade series dealt with customer needs, both current and future, this episode looks at some of the specific conversations that customers and their partners have when it is clear that a change is coming.

 

As we discuss in this episode, there are several precipitating factors that lead to a change from the GP status quo. And it is pretty clear that some ERP veterans, including our guests, Karen Riordan of Menlo Technologies and Peter Joeckel of TurnOnDynamics, have not yet embraced the idea that all or even most GP customers should move to Dynamics 365 Business Central. For some GP customers, BC is a good option, they say. But they also make the case that plotting the wrong path forward can result in big outlays of time and money with little to show at the end.

Show Notes:

  • 2:15 - Why now is the time to talk about GP customer upgrade options
  • 8:45 - Defining two of the unique reasons why GP customers are motivated for a change
  • 16:45 - Are GP customers moving to cloud hosting?
  • 20:15 - Multi-tenancy - what it means that GP doesn't support it
  • 22:45 - Peter makes the case for why GP to BC is not an upgrade
  • 24:45 - Are GP users educating themselves?
  • 28:45 - Why Karen is seeing interest in Intelligent Cloud
  • 30:15 - Where should this series go from here?
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