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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: July, 2021
Jul 23, 2021

Note: This episode is sponsored by Sana Commerce.

 

What does it take to earn and retain the business of B2B buyers today? For manufacturers contemplating ways to improve the experiences of their customers, technology investment is likely a major component of any plan. After all, B2B buyers are hard to replace and, since they are also consumers when they're not at work, their expectations have changed over the years to include things like choosing their preferred ways to buy products and get support.

 

Our guest, supply chain technology marketing strategist Adam Robinson, joins us to provide context on how manufacturers investments in customer experience technology like modern e-commerce is becoming one of the most critical ways to position a company for success in the future. Robinson foresees a wave of change coming to the manufacturing sector that will impact supply chains through new waves of acquisition, continuing risks disruption, and new options for buyers who will more actively seek new options if a vendor fails to meet their needs.

 

Show Notes

  • 2:00 - How customer demand is driving manufacturers to invest in new capabilities
  • 6:00 - How concern over margins and other metrics are driving tech stack investments
  • 9:30 - Are current events creating smarter businesses?
  • 11:00 - Expectations in B2B commerce customer experiences
  • 14:00 - How to get out of day-to-day perspective and re-focus on broader view
  • 16:45 - The relationship between 3PLs and e-commerce technology
  • 20:00 - What roles in a manufacturing organization matter to understanding customers
  • 21:30 - Opportunities in direct-to-consumer scenarios when customer data connects across the organizations
  • 25:15 - Predictions on supply chain and logistics future

References:

Jul 17, 2021

Microsoft offered partners a wealth of Azure-related updates at Inspire 2021. To help us get our bearings on them all, we invited Gordon McKenna, a veteran Microsoft MVP and CTO for public cloud at Ensono, for a conversation. Gordon shared his perspective on both the hybrid scenarios that his clients frequently care about and some of the forward-looking goals that Microsoft has set with new Azure and Azure-adjacent product and service updates.

Show Notes:

  • 2:15 - Experiences as an MVP
  • 3:30 - Microsoft's hybrid cloud updates and how they will help customers
  • 10:30 - Converging services around public cloud
  • 12:00 - Updates from Microsoft on Azure Kubernetes Service
  • 16:00 - The explosion in cloud data projects and new migration scenarios for partners
  • 20:30 - How to evaluate Microsoft's priorities, including in Teams
  • 23:15  - The Windows 365 opportunity alongside WVD, AVD, and Citrix
Jul 15, 2021

This episode is sponsored by Cavallo.

Distribution software firm Cavallo may have recently appeared in the marketplace, but the brand is really the new incarnation of one of the most well-established vendors in the Microsoft business applications ecosystem. Formerly known as Salespad, the company has a long legacy building its solutions atop Dynamics GP and the firm has announced plans to launch its next generation of solutions on Dynamics 365 Business Central first, while also planning to support some products more broadly.

Senior vice president of product Jeremy Boogaart joins us to discuss the story behind the new brand, the evolving needs of distributors, the company's outlook for customers on both Business Central and GP, and his own lengthy career at the company, starting as one of the first employees sixteen years ago and building his expertise in a range of roles.

Show Notes:

  • 0:50 - Discussing the company's rebrand to Cavallo
  • 4:00 - "Project Davinci", the meaning of the new brand name, and the connection to the company's heritage
  • 7:15 - What the Salespad customer base can expect going forward
  • 10:00 - Customer expectations and product roadmap plans
  • 12:15 - How are distributors looking to improve performance?
  • 16:30 - The need for flexibility in order management
  • 19:15 - Jeremy's view on Business Central's native capabilities for distributors and how Cavallo adds value
  • 24:15 - Why this is a great time for ISVs to invest in Business Central
  •  26:00 - What are Dynamics partners telling Jeremy's team about adoption of BC?
  • 28:00 - Jeremy's work at Salespad and Cavallo over the last 16 years

To view Cavallo’s solutions, request a demo or visit their website at www.cavallo.com 

Jul 13, 2021

DevOps has changed a lot in the last decade. And in the world of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and its predecessor, Dynamics NAV, the devops landscape has absorbed many of those changes in just the last two to three years as Business Central emerged as a cloud-first SaaS ERP product.

Our guests on this episode, Tobia Fenster, a Microsoft MVP and Microsoft Regional Director and fellow MVP Waldo (a.k.a., Eric Wauters), discuss their experiences with DevOps for Business Central, including the tools and services they have created to improve the experience. Their work in this area has been driven by both a need to help their internal teams and to offer solutions for the broader BC developer ecosystem that take on a range of needs in areas like container management and automated build pipelines.

DevOps requirements are more sophisticated than ever, which means the tools are more powerful, but the concepts are also more complex. That rapid shift could be a risk both to partners and to BC customers that rely on customizations in the cloud. The situation remains quite manageable, Tobias and Waldo say, but development teams joining the BC community need to address the challenges straight away and understand the stakes,  for their own sake and for their customers.

Show Notes:

  • 1:40 - Introductions to Tobias and Waldo
  • 4:00  - How is the developer experience today different from the old days?
  • 6:45 - Waldo's outlook on embracing Extensions
  • 10 :00 - How is the development community adapting to modern techniques?
  • 13:30 - Who needs to have expertise in modern CI/CD and containerization for an ISV or a VAR organization?
  • 18:00  - The origins of ALOps (created by Waldo) and its reception in the community
  • 20:45 - Tobias's experience as an ALOps early adopter and use of the tool at Cosmo Consult
  • 25:15 - What are Waldo and Tobias are asking of Microsoft to strengthen DevOps
  • 30:00 - What types of partner organization can benefit from finding an existing DevOps framework
  • 33:00 - What, if anything, should customers and others in the community understand about these development topics and the impact on their systems?
  • 37:00 - What to look for in the near future

Links:

Jul 7, 2021

This episode is sponsored by Versapay.

The payment processing landscape today has been shaped by the enormous stresses of the last fifteen months. As our guests, Meredith Mitchell and Jason Read of Versapay explain, they have seen customers accelerating existing modernization plans while for others, their companies' survival hung in the balance of opening up new digital payment options for clients.

Jason and Meredith discuss some of their latest thinking around payment modernization and process automation, like ways to help an organization get paid on time and to make the process both easy for customers and united with the rest of the business operations through systems like Dynamics 365 Business Central.

The Versapay team is also watching some of the more interesting trends today in the Microsoft space, like supporting migrations of Dynamics SMB customers to Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management and helping customers seeking achieve even more optimization around payments.

Show Notes

  • 1:00 - What has changed in conversations with finance professionals in the last year
  • 6:00 - How CFOs and treasurers faced the reality of the pandemic
  • 8:30 - Bringing new capabilities online quickly to help customers pay
  • 9:30 - The latest thinking on payment modernization in the B2B world
  • 14:30 - Finance organization goals, from customer experience to cash flow
  • 17:30 - Process automation in the Microsoft ecosystem
  • 21:30 - What else customers asking for and how Versapay has responded
  • 24:45 - Looking ahead in the product roadmap at Versapay
  • 27:30 - Investing in supporting upgrades and migrations to Dynamics 365 Finance and Supply Chain Management in addition to Business Central
  • 28:45 - The latest on the ChargeLogic merger with Versapay
  • 30:00 - Wrap up - improving how payment around ERP can continue to be optimized.

For more information on Versapay or book a demo with them, visit https://info.versapay.com/versapay-payments-schedule.

Jul 1, 2021

This MSDW Podcast episode is sponsored by KwikTag by enChoice.

Mike Fernandes, VP Products, and Mary Miller, Director, Marketing and Channel, from KwikTag by enChoice joined us to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence and the cloud on AP automation solutions for the mid-market – specifically in the Dynamics space. We discussed the growing market demand among organizations for cloud-based, accelerated deployments as companies continue to have team members working from home. We also explored the rising demand for complete procure-to-pay process coverage and where AP automation fits into the picture. Mary and Mike also provided insight into their product roadmap, which includes payment automation and new solutions for Dynamics products.

Show Notes:

  • 1:30 - How AI is already playing a part in AP automation
  • 5:45 - How cloud is changing the value proposition for AP technology buyers
  • 8:45 - Having a broader cloud deployment strategy, even if ERP remains on-prem
  • 10:00 - Differentiating procure-to-pay and invoice automation
  • 13:10 - Challenges raised by the pandemic and how KwikTag's customers have handled them
  • 16:10 - What else are customers asking the KwikTag team for?
  • 19:15 - At what stage are companies investing in capabilities like invoice management alongside ERP?
  • 21:10 - Tips on creating engaging videos and sharing company culture

KwikTag, by enChoice, leads organizational digital transformation as the one system for invoice and payment automation. KwikTag helps organizations increase efficiency and gain visibility into their invoice workflows with complete AP automation and powerful integrations with the Microsoft Dynamics ERP systems. Visit kwiktag.com to learn how automation could benefit your business.

Learn more about KwikPayables Accelerate, the cloud-based AP automation solution for Dynamics GP: Coffee With KwikTag – KwikPayables Accelerate. To read about AI within the KwikTag AP automation solution, check out the whitepaper “What’s Intelligence Got To Do With It?

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