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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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