The MSDynamicsWorld.com editorial team brings back the Dynamics community news roundup on this episode, with a little of everything, from Dynamics 365 product plans to partner challenges to leading edge tech and community profiles. And we introduce MSDW assistant editor Eamon Mcarthy Earls to the podcast.

Show Notes:

• 00:45 – The evolving standards and costs of CSP Tier 1, and what it could mean for Tier 2, too
• 04:10 – A small update on the Dynamics 365 Business Central product and rollout update
• 06:15 – Work less, do more with D365FO using Flow and PowerApps
• 08:35 – The challenges of growing a Dynamics practice
• 10:50 – More thoughts on the merger of 360 Vertical Solutions and SAGlobal
• 13:20 – Affinio's audience analysis solution launching in AppSource
• 14:30 – The role of AI in ERP complexity; And service industry considerations
• 15:30 – Community profiles:
  • Microsoft Dynamics Profile: For new Australian MVP, love of the D365 / CRM platform drove professional growth
  • Microsoft Dynamics Profile: Investing in emerging tech around Dynamics 365 / CRM

This joint episode of the MSDW Podcast and the Dynamics Podcast was recorded at Summit EMEA 2018 in Dublin with Tommy Skaue and Fredrik Sætre. As the event wrapped up, we grabbed a quiet spot at the convention center to look back at some of the event highlights. Upgrades and cloud deployments were top of mind, as were some of the recent announcements like the acquisition of new D365FO IP and the nearing end-of-life of AX 2009.

Stay tuned for an extended version of this episode going up on the Dynamics Podcast YouTube channel soon, too. Many thanks to Fredrik and Tommy for helping make this one happen!

Show notes:

• 2:00 – Favorite sessions at Summit – more interest in D365FO
• 4:00 – Migration from AX 2009 – Customer experiences and the state of Microsoft's migration tools
• 5:45 – Nearing the end of life for AX 2009. How customers will adapt.
• 8:00 – The latest IP additions to D365FO
• 10:45 – Why companies are choosing public cloud – or not
• 16:00 – The status of D365FO Retail
• 18:30 – The "big brains" from Microsoft and the MVP community at the event.

Microsoft's spring wave of new Dynamics 365 customer experience apps includes both the long-awaited Marketing app and the lighter featured and lower priced sales app known as Sales Professional. For partners focused on the SMB, the arrival of these products is a welcome relief after more than a year of forecasts and updates. But, as is typical with brand new Microsoft business solutions, there are a lot of important details for customers and partners dissect to really understand how to turn the stock solution into something of value to a user base.

Perhaps no one has explored the possibilities and limitations of these new apps more so far than Microsoft MVP and Forceworks founder Steve Mordue. His recent blog posts on the Marketing app and Sales Professional have been tough on Microsoft at times, but they've proved popular within the community for their constructive criticism. We catch up with Steve on this episode of the MSDW Podcast to talk first impressions of the products, licensing, and how firms like Forceworks are working to take advantage of the new Microsoft offerings.

Show notes:

• 6:00 – First impressions of the D365 for Marketing launch – pricing and other early decisions
• 10:00 – What kind of partners will be selling D365 for Marketing?
• 13:00 – How to resolve the logical definitions of leads and contacts in Marketing and Sales apps
• 17:00 – What's been Microsoft's reaction to partner feedback so far?
• 19:00 – Licensing schemes – why are they so difficult?
• 23:00 – How do partners make sense of D365 licensing?
• 27:00 – The importance of the Sales Professional app for Forceworks and other SMB-focused vendors
• 28:30 – Stepping up from the Sales Profession to Sales Enterpise app
• 30:00 – Will Microsoft lock down licensing rules or wait and see?
• 34:14 – Do pricing and licensing updates change anything for the biggest competitive deals where pricing and discounts get huge?
• 37:10 – Why CDS will change everything for D365 Customer Experience partners

Coming on the heels of general availability for Dynamics 365 Business Central, Dynamics ERP veterans and Microsoft MVPs AJ Ansari of InterDyn BMI, Rod O'Connor of BriWare Solutions, and Mark Polino of FastPath, joined us to discuss the details and reaction thus far.

After the initial announcement of the new brand name for the previously code-named Tenerife, the Dynamics community lit up with heated debate and candid opinions. Our panel discusses topics including the end of the NAV name and the quest for brand stability in the future, dischord among SMB ERP veterans, the updated roadmap, and the very real challenges Dynamics SMB partners will face in building a business model around an increasingly SaaS-based product suite.

Related articles:

• Microsoft Dynamics has a Ford Truck problem
• Getting prepared for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central subscription eruption
• Are Microsoft Dynamics SMB partners ready for life in the SaaS era?
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central: What's in a name?
• How ERP buyers will approach Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central - and what it means for resellers

Editor's Note: This episode is the third and final segment of our mini-series with Catapult ERP exploring Dynamics 365 cloud services and strategy.

Dan Ditomaso and Jeff Bacon join Elliot Fishman to discuss Microsoft Azure. What is it, how is it different from other cloud offerings, and what are the opportunities to use it in context of Dynamics solutions.

Show notes:

• 2:00 – Azure – Who’s it for?
• 5:00 – Cloud terminology basics
• 8:00 – Is Azure relevant for on-prem NAV customers?
• 11:30 – Are there differentiating benefits of Azure vs public cloud competitors?
• 13:45 – Is Azure going to save me money in the long run? Should that matter?
• 16:15 – Infrastructure security and scalability in the cloud
• 18:15 – Microsoft’s uptime stats and SLAs for Azure
• 22:30 – Do customers really enjoy the results of an Azure-based solution?

Editor's note: This is part 2 in a 3 part series exploring the presenta nd future of Dynamics 365 cloud services.

Going beyond the high level vision for Dynamics in the cloud, the crew digs into a finer level of granularity to look at Dynamics 365’s origins, its capabilities, and how the solutions differ from the legacy Dynamics products.

Show notes:

• 1:20 – The move to brand Dynamics 365 and its impact.
• 4:00 – Breaking down the product line – ERP, CRM and more.
• 5:45 – Given NAV’s popularity with customization, can D365 Tenerife deliver the same flexibility?
• 7:00 – Making sense of Dynamics 365 Customer Experience products and licenses
• 10:00 – Is partner involvement a positive step in D365 rollouts moving forward?
• 13:00 – What does the roadmap mean for on-prem Dynamics product customers?
• 16:30 – License transition options for existing customers
• 17:30 – Migration path and deployment activities Dynamics CRM on-premises to D365 for Sales, Service
• 20:30 – Elements of the D365 customer experience apps’ user experience enhancements
• 22:45 – Can Dynamics 365 Finance and Operations serve workers who aren’t behind a desk?

We kick off a new podcast mini-series with the team at Catapult ERP exploring the current and future opportunities for Dynamics ERP and CRM users in the Microsoft cloud. 

In part 1, Blair Hurlbut, Jeff Bacon, and Elliot Fishman start the series off by exploring Microsoft’s vision for the cloud. They cover how the cloud has changed delivery of enterprise software capabilities, its impact on both customers and partners, and the reasoning behind changes to the Dynamics brand.

Show notes:

• 1:35 – What is Microsoft’s current vision in delivering enterprise software capabilities?
• 5:00 – Are these changes in technology just hype or a legitimate impact to customers?
• 7:30 – Will larger ERP and CRM solutions fade away in favor of smaller point apps?
• 8:45 – Can Microsoft tame the confusion in the Dynamics brand?
• 11:45 – How does Azure tie into Dynamics software today? How do partners use it?
• 14:20 – How well can Dynamics customers move from on-prem to Azure?
• 17:40 – How mature is the cloud enterprise software adoption cycle today?
• 23:30 – Can PowerApps replace some ISV point solutions?
• 24:30 – The role of the Microsoft partner in today’s market.
• 27:45 – What is the value equation that customers are applying in the cloud?

This time on the MSDW Podcast we catch up with two of the leaders at Real Dynamics, an enterprise software consultancy with expertise in Dynamics AX and 365, BI, and the vertical of mergers & acquisitions. Yogesh Kasat and Jason Weidenbenner share some of their experiences working with AX customers at various stages of solution ownership, why BI is such a key part of D365 projects at go-live, their recent D365 implementation book, and some of the complexities that organizations deal with during a sale or acquisition.

Show notes:

• 1:45 – Roots of Real Dynamics
• 4:45 – Getting involved with clients’ M&A activities
• 5:45 – Reflections on working on the activities around the sale of Kofax (case study)
• 10:40 – What makes M&A work challenging and unique
• 16:45 – Why organizations modelling is so important to prepare for the possibility of M&A activity in the future
• 20:00 – How eager are customers to get to D365 from AX?
• 24:00 – Working in an advisory capacity separate from a Microsoft partner
• 26:45 – How is the role of the independent consultant changing?
• 30:00 – Reflections after 3 years in business

R ”Ray” Wang, Principal Analyst, Founder, and Chairman of Constellation Research, Inc., author of Disrupting Digital Business: Create an Authentic Experience in the Peer-to-Peer Economy, and longtime enterprise software blogger was on hand at this week’s Microsoft Business Applications Analyst Forum, the first such event from Microsoft in several years. He shared many observations on the fly over the course of the event’s two days and recently published an event report. Among the key findings, he wrote, was an updated Microsoft strategy focused around five key areas, at top of which was a “digital feedback loop” approach that frames technology around customers, people, and products, with data and intelligence at the center. It’s an ambitious vision, though one that the company might not yet have fully realized, Wang tells us.

Show notes:

• 2:10 – First impressions of what Microsoft is doing differently today, including the digital feedback loop
• 4:30 – Is Microsoft serious about competing with business soutions?
• 5:50 – Impressions of the leadership team shaping Microsoft strategy
• 7:30 – How the partner opportunity at Microsoft will change.
• 8:45 – Winning with Dynamics 365 in the large enterprise – what is the reality?
• 11:20 – Microsoft sees the C-Suite is pushing for digital transformation
• 12:20 – The licensing vision for business apps?
• 15:20 – Is Microsoft holding the door open for more big changes in branding and acquisitions?
• 18:15 – The importance of major partnerships in the context of the cloud wars.

21:20 – What does Microsoft leave analysts with as they look across the broader cloud and enterprise software market space?  

Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Marketing is now on track to reach general availability by April, and principal program manager Kishan Chetan joins MSDW editor Jason Gumpert and Forceworks founder and Microsoft MVP Steve Mordue to talk about the newly revealed plans and the application’s role as “the front end of the sales cycle”.

The product is now in public preview and, as Kishan explains, partners, customers, and prospects will see in the solution much of the latest tech related to the recent “CRM v9” release of Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement. Topics of this interview include:

• When the Marketing app reach general availability;
• What’s in version 1 and what is in the roadmap beyond;
• How Microsoft differentiates the value proposition for Marketing vs Adobe Marketing Cloud vs third party solutions;
• Lessons and discoveries from the private preview so far;
• Interesting architectural considerations of Marketing on Azure;
• How the partner channel and existing customer base will want to explore Marketing.