Aufzeichnung: Hot News from Inspire 2018

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Microsoft’s most important partner event of the year is called Inspire (aka WPC) and was being delivered this year in Las Vegas, Nevada from July 15th till 19th.

Microsoft partners received many announcements and new strategies especially around Dynamics 365. Like every year, QBS group attended Inspire with a team of people. And we will for sure write another edition of our famous series of Business Reports. But before doing that we wanted to inform you at first hand via QBS Talks about all this news just a few days afterwards.

This time Michael Hartmann – CEO QBS group shared together with Will McIntee & Mark Blackmore the hottest news from Inspire.

They’ve shared news around product strategy, FY19 priorities and more…

(59.17 minutes)

Michael Hartmann also shared his thoughts daily from Inspire.

Thoughts from the day – Inspire

 

This is how we got posted on AppSource!

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QBS is constantly paying attention to help partners keep up-to-date with the latest Microsoft technologies. With this in mind, facing an operational need of InfoStudi, QBS has promoted and encouraged the creation of an App, rather than a simple personalization for the single customer. We have provided all the information, the access to specific Microsoft documentation, instructions and guidelines for realize and publish an App on the Microsoft App Source portal. Our role has also been to provide main technical indications on how to implement an extension.

Finally, QBS supported the partner to create a specific landing page and to start marketing activities to promote the App in the Dynamics ecosystem

In this webinar Simone Rosa, InfoStudi will explain his story how we was able to publish his app for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

(28.02 minutes)

Simone Rosa -MS Dynamics NAV Delivery Manager

“Info Studi is very thankful to QBS for the given help and invites every partner to look at NAVIGATE PRO, a graphical add-in tool for a faster navigation through documents.”

Would you like to post your app to Appsource as well and you would like to know which steps you need to take ? Then you definitely don’t want to miss this session!

 

 

What happens at Inspire 2018 in Vegas…

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Dear Microsoft Dynamics partners,

It’s that time of the year again, Inspire (formerly WPC) is upon us and we will be there as usual to cover the event for those partners who are not able to make it. As with previous events QBS will try to capture as much information as possible and report back on the key messages that Microsoft shares with the community. QBS has an enthusiastic team of people travelling to this year’s event with a mission to gather as much information as possible and then share with you the latest trends, topics, Microsoft strategy and more in our Inspire Business Report 2018.

What happens in Vegas, will not stay in Vegas. For this year event anyway!

This year Microsoft will be hosting the event in Las Vegas, but you can be assured that what happens in Vegas will not be kept secret by QBS.  It will be the first time that Inspire will be joined by Microsoft Ready (Internal event for Microsoft Technical sales and services community) from  the Wednesday. The collaboration means that Satya Nadella will make his Corenote/Keynote address to more than 45,000 attendees from both the partner and Microsoft Employee communities. As we experienced from last year’s event a lot of partners were unable to get into the opening sessions due to the number of people and needed to watch the keynote via screens from outside of the session so let’s see how this will be handled by Microsoft with AI in mind…

The focus for this event will be around three key components of building and growing your business, which are:

  • Innovation—At the core of digital transformation and with the intelligent edge and intelligent cloud, computing is getting imbedded in every aspect of our lives—in every home, business and every industry—creating unprecedented opportunity for partners to expand their customer solutions.
  • Partnership—Demonstrating how expanding business capabilities and profitability opens up new channels for partner collaboration and solution aggregation to capitalize on the $20T digital transformation opportunity.
  • Leadership—Bringing world class expertise to help today’s leaders keep up with an ever-accelerating rate of innovation while maintaining business excellence.

It will be impossible for us to attend every session at Inspire therefore we will be selecting a number of sessions that we feel are appropriate to our community and you would benefit from knowing more about. This year’s content will cover subject matters such as Business Leadership, Partnering with Microsoft, Data & AI, and obviously Business Applications. The sort of topics that you can expect to read about in our Inspire report will be:

  • A Strategy update Microsoft
  • Business update on the results and highlights
  • D365 platform update sales and technical with a clear focus on Azure, O365, D365 sales and marketing, Dynamics 365 Business Central (NAV), AX and Power BI
  • CSP direct, Partner Center and new developments
  • Promo and incentives
  • Interview with some key Microsoft people

Some of the key product/programs that we will be focusing on during the week will consist of (but not be limited to – depending on relevance); CSP and its new requirements, Business Central and the future roadmap, D365 Certifications and partner requirements, and also any other news about D365 Apps. A list of sessions can be viewed on the Microsoft Inspire website for your interest.

The final Inspire 2018 report will be compiled by Mark Blackmore with the support of the QBS Inspire team providing feedback from the sessions they attend. (Special thanks to Guus for driving and delivering this for the last 5 years)

Keep an eye on the QBS website and Yammer for updates during the week as we will be posting information and sharing a Daily Diary from our CEO Michael Hartmann  to keep you abreast of any news, as our commitment is to make sure that the QBS partner community is the best-informed partners in the Dynamics 365 eco-system.

For those attending we are looking forward to seeing you there, for everyone else look out for the report (order your copy now).
Free for all QBS partners – if none QBS partner: order your copy here.

With kind regards,

Nelson Tavares da Silva

Webinars

18/07 Fresh from Inspire – we inform you about the latest and greatest in Microsoft’s Business applications product news Arjen Jansen – CEO MindsUnited
24/07 Hot news from Inspire Michael Hartmann – CEO QBS group

 

Business Report Microsoft Inspire 2018

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Here’s where QBS group can help you out. We will write a business report on Inspire 2018. We will cover more sessions than a single partner normally can do. The sessions that we will cover go ‘cross content’. This means that we will not only cover the keynotes, but also various technical and functional sessions and of course also the business sessions.

Microsoft and her Dynamics partners live in exciting times! The switch from the traditional long-lasting, heavily services oriented on-premise projects to a more product oriented, vertical-specific approach based on subscription pricing is a big challenge!

At QBS group, we understand that informing Dynamics partners well is crucial in that journey for making the right strategic decisions. That’s why we strive every single day to make “QBS Partners the best-informed Microsoft partners.”

We have been writing business reports on the Microsoft WPC/Inspire events since 2004. This year’s report will be our thirteenth annual publication. So we know what we’re doing.

What you can expect
This unique report features broad, insightful and independent business reporting on the happenings at Inspire 2018, especially for Microsoft Dynamics partners. The report, which consists of 54 pages of need-to-know information, is bought by leading Dynamics partners from all over the world.

The report also contains exclusive interviews with Microsoft executives

Index of the report 2017

What do Dynamics partners say about these reports?

This is what some of your colleague partners said about this report:

  • “We are a loyal purchaser of these WPC/Inspire reports. Where in the world can you find a solid, structured and well-informed second opinion for so little money? We always discuss the report in our board meeting. QBS helps us to stay alert!”
  • “This is a great report service! It contains lots of background information that helps us better understand how to translate Microsoft’s strategies to our daily business.”
  • “I’ve only recently started in the Dynamics channel. Thanks to this report I was up to date in no time of the various Microsoft strategies, her product policies and the trends in the Dynamics partner channel”

The average satisfaction score for this report over the last 5 years was 8,6 on a 1 to 10 scale.

First taste?
To get a good idea of what you can expect from our Inspire 2018 Business Report, you can now download the 2017 edition of our Inspire Business Report for free. 

Order your copy now!

Partners of QBS group receive this Inspire 2018 report at no additional cost, as it is part of their QBS membership. For non QBS Microsoft partners, the report is available for only € 400,- exclusive of VAT per partner company.

Do you want to know all about Microsoft’s plans for FY 19 and the opportunities these create for your business? Then order your copy today!

As a Microsoft Dynamics professional, can you afford to miss on this important information?

 

This unique and valuable report is bought by leading Dynamics partners from all over the world.

 

The new requirements for CSP Direct: Is license administration part of a Microsoft Dynamics partner’s core business?

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Microsoft is changing the rules of the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) agreements with her partners as we speak. These changes will especially impact the businesses of partners that have selected the CSP Direct option. Some of them should even consider switching to the CSP Indirect scenario.

As most partners know, tracking and adapting to the latest updates to Microsoft’s partnership model requires significant time and effort. To help the wider partner community understand what’s going on and facilitate their decision-making process, Guus Krabbenborg interviewed Nelson Tavares da Silva, who is deeply involved in this domain. Nelson is VP Business Development at QBS group, one of the leading indirect Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) and the largest Microsoft Dynamics community worldwide. Within the QBS organisation, Nelson is business responsible for the CSP program. For more than two years he has been intensely involved in the CSP program and he has delivered presentations on CSP at international events for Microsoft Dynamics partners like Directions EMEA.

Guus: As a refresher, can you summarize what CSP is today?

Nelson: The Cloud Solution Program (CSP) is a program that helps Microsoft partners to create their own bundle of cloud solutions and cloud services, combined with their own IP and IP-related services. Via the CSP program, those partners can manage, offer, order, deliver, invoice and support that unique bundle to their end-customers all over the world. The purpose of this program is to create additional partner value, to strengthen the partner-customer relationship, and as a result, improve the partner’s profitability.

CSP became relevant for some Microsoft Dynamics partners when Office 365 became available in the CSP contracts. Today, CSP is crucial for every Dynamics SMB partner since Dynamics 365 Business Central is only available via CSP. This means that every modern Dynamics partner on the globe must join the CSP program. And make a choice regarding the level of engagement.

What are your observations regarding the uptake of CSP in the worldwide Dynamics partner channel?

Let me share a few observations. First and foremost, many partners focus on prices and margin levels only and tend to ignore the cost side of the story. To me it seems like most of them have missed the essence of the program, which is about creating additional customer value.

Secondly – there still is confusion about the two models. They are called Direct and Indirect (aka Tier 1 and Tier 2). The Direct CSP option seems to be perceived by many partners as superior to Indirect CSP due to the direct link with Microsoft. As if it is an acquired right.

The next observation is about CSP knowledge. There is still a lack of knowledge regarding the content of the CSP program. And I fully understand that. Microsoft has an ongoing job in positioning CSP and explaining the options. However, it’s fair to say that the amount of information is nothing less than huge! Often it feels like an information tsunami. I myself spend 20 to 30 percent of my time to stay up to date on all the ongoing changes, and that’s just high level knowledge! In our Partner Care team, we have several fulltime colleagues, active in all the CSP details and they spend even more time on this.

Being proactive in CSP in both knowledge and actions will cost the average Microsoft partner at least half the time to a fulltime staff member. This depends, of course, on the number of solutions and the transaction volume. I’m really wondering whether that aspect is sufficiently considered in the choice between CSP Direct and CSP Indirect.

Finally, many SMB partners have grown their businesses based on a ‘do it yourself’ mentality. But with the complexity of CSP, the current pace of change and the growing volumes, this becomes impossible. Which brings back the question: why not outsource this?

How many partners use CSP as it is intended – bundling products and creating additional customer value?

In my view, maximum 20 percent of the partners that we as QBS Group oversee do an effective job of bundling and adding additional value. The remaining 80 percent use CSP as a transactional system only. By doing so, they miss the opportunity to add value and leave money on the table. Maybe even worse – they open the door of their customer base for other partners.

What are the recent changes regarding the CSP Direct status?

The biggest change in my opinion is that Microsoft finally decided to start enforcing the known rules for CSP Direct. In the recent past, many partners have chosen the Direct option because of the higher margins and had little “burden” of this enforcement. But that is really changing now.

These are the requirements for CSP Direct that Microsoft will enforce:

  • Delivering 24*7 support to end-customers, supported by mandatory support contracts that partners must close with Microsoft. The minimum costs for these contracts are $ 15K per year ($ 10K for partners in emerging countries). Premier support contracts start at $ 100K per year.
  • Automation for the links to the Microsoft MS systems. So far it waspossible to do this based on Excel. However, that is not allowed anymore. CSP Direct partners must have a ‘real’ system that connects with the Microsoft systems.
  • Provide at least one managed service, IP service, or customer solution application.

CSP Direct partners are expected to demonstrate and prove that they offer at least one of these three categories.

  • Have the infrastructure in place to manage customer billing

Microsoft expects CSP Direct partners to have a billing and provisioning infrastructure in place to manage their cloud customers and scale.

According to Microsoft, ‘these new requirements strengthen our business and technical relationship with partners who provide their customers with cloud products, support and direct billing’. The new requirements will take effect August 31st, 2018.

So what does this all mean for Microsoft Dynamics partners?

I’d like to answer this question for three different groups of partners. First the partners that have selected the CSP Indirect option. For them, nothing changes at this moment. The second group are the CSP Direct partners. They will experience many changes! They have already made several investments and are now confronted with a dilemma: either change to the Indirect option and disinvest? Or making the additional investments. But how big is that investment?

In addition, these are not the latest changes since Microsoft claims that the model is not finished yet. Products are continually being added and Microsoft continues to optimize the rules. This means that this additional partner investment is certainly not the last one.

The third and last group are those Dynamics partners that have not made any decision yet. For them it’s important to know that Microsoft has decided to not accept any new CSP Direct partners until August 1st, 2018. These partners either must wait until that date (but still need to adhere to the new requirements) or select the Indirect option now. For them it’s important to remember that Dynamics 365 Business Central (the SaaS offering) will only be available via CSP.

More generally I expect that Microsoft will continue to raise the bar. For example, by introducing a certain revenue level for CSP Direct. This has been mentioned before but so far not communicated in public. So being accepted and keeping the CSP Direct status will become even more difficult over time.

Where do you see the turning point in CSP revenue for a choice between Direct and Indirect?

So CSP Direct partners are confronted with higher costs. They must take all these additional costs out of their higher margins. Based on the current requirements, I see the turning point in CSP revenue is roughly around Euro 350K. Partners that have a structural revenue below this turning point do well anyway to choose for the indirect option.

In your opinion, what is the Microsoft strategy regarding CSP?

It is crystal clear that Microsoft bets on a larger part of her Dynamics partners landing in the CSP Indirect model. Rumors say that Microsoft strives for 85 percent of all current CSP Direct partners to move to CSP Indirect, simply because that fits their business model. If they do not manage that result with this set of rules, there will undoubtedly be more tightened rules. Microsoft wants to get rid of all the administrative activities.

Any final considerations or advice for Dynamics partners?  

The key question that every Microsoft partner’s management team must ask themselves is whether license administration belongs to their core business. Think, for example, about the administration of the cars from your staff. Is that really something you would like to do yourself? And does that help you win more deals? Or do you prefer to outsource that to the lease company? It is a similar story with the licenses, since the need for knowledge will greatly increase due to the move from ‘stand-alone’ Dynamics NAV or Dynamics CRM to the Microsoft stack. The average Microsoft Dynamics partner has about 25 employees. Is it worthwhile to dedicate one of them for this specific CSP task? Knowing that you’re still vulnerable in case of absence due to holidays or sickness. Or departure. Wouldn’t it be much better and more profitable to partner with an Indirect CSP and dedicate that additional employee to your marketing or sales staff?

Need help in getting started with CSP? Read more on the QBS group offer here or contact us directly

QBS group übernimmt 1ClickFactory Vertretung in der DACH Region

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Hamburg, 12. Juni 2018. Mit der Ernennung von QBS group zur lokalen 1ClickFactory Vertretung in der DACH Region stärkt das Unternehmen seinen Service für Microsoft Dynamics Partner in Deutschland, Österreich und in der Schweiz. 1ClickFactory ist so in der Lage, Microsoft Dynamics NAV Partner in der Region noch besser zu unterstützen.

Die 1ClickFactory DACH Vertretung wird vom QBS DACH Team unter der Leitung von Eduard Dell übernommen. „Mit den Services von 1ClickFactory ergänzen wir das QBS Serviceangebot für Microsoft Dynamics NAV Partner in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz in idealer Art und Weise. Das QBS DACH Team freut darauf als 1ClickFactory Vertretung, Dynamics Partnern bei den neuen Herausforderungen und Chancen zu unterstützen.,“ sagt Eduard Dell, „Seit unserer Gründung vor nunmehr fast 5 Jahren ist es der Anspruch der QBS group, der führende Anbieter von Services für die Dynamics Partner Community zu sein. Wir sind stolz darauf, heute die Partnerschaft mit 1ClickFactory, als Vertretung für deren Services, in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz bekanntgeben zu können.“

1ClickFactory jigsaw image

1ClickFactory und QBS group sind fokussiert auf Services für Microsoft Dynamics und haben eine partnerorientierte Ausrichtung gemeinsam, mit der sie den dauerhaften Erfolg ihrer Dynamics Partner in der DACH Region unterstützen.

Søren Fink-Jensen, Geschäftsführer und Gründer von 1ClickFactory heißt den neuen Partner willkommen, „Wir sind ein weltweit tätiges, stark wachsendes Unternehmen mit dem strategischen Ziel, einen Verbund lokaler Repräsentanzen zu etablieren. Schon jetzt sind wir mit 10 Niederlassungen in Europa, Nordamerika und Afrika vor Ort. Mit Microsoft Partnern aus der DACH Region haben wir schon in der Vergangenheit erfolgreich zusammengearbeitet. Mit der Eröffnung einer lokalen Vertretung in den DACH Ländern, können wir näher an unseren Partnern sein. Wir können über die lokale Vertretung Bestandspartner und neue Partner künftig auch in ihrer Landessprache betreuen. In einer Zeit, in der sowohl Microsoft, als auch Endkunden nach sicheren und kostengünstigen Möglichkeiten zur Migration nach Dynamics 365 On-Premise oder in der Cloud Ausschau halten, möchten wir näher an den Microsoft Partnern in DACH sein. Wir möchten diese Partner auf dem Weg zu ihrem Geschäftserfolg unterstützen. Zusammen mit QBS group sind wir jetzt in der Lage, unseren Partnern ganzheitliche Services anzubieten, von denen auch die Kunden der Partner profitieren werden.“

Möchten Sie mehr über die 1ClickFactory Vertretung in der DACH Region erfahren? Schreiben Sie einfach an dennis.schulte@1clickfactory.com.

Über 1ClickFactory

1ClickFactory ist ein Microsoft Dynamics 365 Software Serviceanbieter. Unsere hochwertigen Microsoft Dynamics 365 Upgrade- und Entwicklungsservices sowie unsere Trainings und unser leistungsfähiger Microsoft Azure Managed Hosting Service, ermöglichen Microsoft Dynamics Partnern, deren Kunden echte Mehrwerte zu bieten, ob On-Premises oder in der Cloud.

Wir arbeiten exklusiv mit Microsoft Partnern zusammen. Wir helfen Partnern ihr finanzielles Risiko zu verringern, ihre Skalierbarkeit zu verbessern, Projektzeiten zu verkürzen, Ressourcenknappheit zu verringern und Kostenschätzungen zu verbessern – alles mit dem Ziel, Umsätze und Erträge zu steigern.

Im Gegensatz zu anderen ERP Upgrade Serviceanbietern bedeutet dieser Service bei 1ClickFactory nicht einfach nur die Bereitstellung von Personal. Vielmehr übernehmen wir die Verantwortung für das Projekt und nutzen Automatisierungswerkzeuge, um diese Upgrades ressourcenschonend durchzuführen. Wir haben bereits mehr als 500 Dynamics NAV und Dynamics AX Upgrades durchgeführt, mehr als 300 Entwicklungsprojekte umgesetzt und wir verwalten mehr als 5000 NAV Anwender auf Azure.

1ClickFactory ist ein Microsoft ISV Development Center und hat die Microsoft Gold Kompetenzen in den Bereichen Enterprise Resource Planning, Application Development und Cloud Platform. Wir sind ein weltweit tätiger Serviceanbieter für aktuell mehr als 300 Partner in mehr als 40 Ländern.

Organisational Change Management – The Key to Project Success!

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These days, Dynamics 365 projects are nothing more than change projects! With a need for a vision, business goals, good internal communication and intensive leadership involvement. Unfortunately, most Dynamics partners still consider their projects as technical projects. Just like the management of their customers. With a strong focus on functions and features. With contacts on the operational and tactical levels only. And with loads of customizations.

Your customers are unexperienced in ERP and CRM implementations and they hate change – just like any human being on this planet. This often leads to lots of disappointment and a huge waste of time, money and energy. Good Organizational Change Management (OCM) is crucial for project success! Especially when you want to deliver several parts of the Dynamics 365 concept! Ideally, this Change process starts at the strategic level of your customer’s organization. This session is all about implementing this organizational change approach in your projects. After this QBS Talks session you’ll walk away with a good understanding of how you can use OCM to create project success.

It’s GDPR Day!

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Suddenly the calendar is almost on May 25 ’18 and the day that GDPR law comes into effect, and as the current Zuckerberg/Facebook case clearly shows – this is something that people care about – people don’t want to be just “data” anymore – and they definitely want to take back ownership of their own data!

No stress because as of 25 May 2018 we are all compliant, right? Maybe an exaggerated statement, but with only one day to go, it’s time for action!

On the positive side because of GDPR, Europe has an unambiguous legislation for all EU countries and citizens. Thanks to the General Data Protection Regulation, our personal data is no longer exposed to over-ambitious Database Managers or smart Marketers. Companies are now forced to be totally transparent around how they collect, use and store data – and they are responsible for enforcing this with their employees.

And saying that we are definitely not excluding ourselves. Because – honestly – for years we have all been busy scraping together data. Data that we could manipulate, data that we could investigate on, data that we could influence…  We now have to stop that blind data hunting and start treating data with the severity and cautiousness it deserves.

But then again – back to the overwhelming part: how do we do it? One step at a time! We don’t want to lie: this is a time consuming project to become GDPR compliant – but by reviewing your processes critically, “dusting off” everything gives us a golden opportunity to boost our effectiveness in data usage

So where do you need to start? Very simple: at the beginning!

So, this is all about data, so the starting point has been found. Mapping which data you collect, with which departments and especially why and with what! Document how you as a company governs your processes and create data privacy announcements that can reassure those individuals having data sitting with you.

Finally – a good idea is also to be advised by a specialized lawyer. There is a complicated legislation behind GDPR and to avoid any liabilities, consulting a legal specialist would be advisable.

But do not wait any longer – start your GDPR journey NOW!

Aufzeichnung: Introduction to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation (PSA).

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On this CRM Inspirational Webinar, Arjen Jansen hosted an introduction to Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Project Service Automation (PSA).

(30 minutes)

PSA enables project-based organizations to deliver end-to end projects on time and budget. It is an ideal solution to integrate Customer Engagement for Sales and Service processes with Project based work.

In this introduction we covered the core features and functionalities of PSA end address the following questions:

* What types of customer would be a good candidate for PSA?
* What would be the best approach in implementing PSA in given customer scenario’s?
* How to build a PSA implementation practice.

QBS Business Report von der eXtreme 365 EMEA 2018 – Jetzt erhältlich!

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Wir von QBS group möchten Sie mit unserem Business Report von der eXtreme 365 auf dem Laufenden halten. Mit 3 Autoren vor Ort konnten wir an wesentlich mehr Sessions teilnehmen, als es ein einzelner Besucher der Konferenz je könnte. Vor Ort haben wir sichergestellt, dass wir alle inhaltlich relevanten Themen aufgegriffen haben. Das bedeutet, dass wir nicht nur die Keynotes wiedergeben wollten, sondern dass wir auch die zahlreichen Sessions zu technischen oder betriebswirtschaftlichen Themen mit abdecken.

Exklusive Interviews
Darüber hinaus haben wir ein exklusives Interview mit Cecilia Flombaum geführt. Sie ist eine der führenden und sehr erfahrenen Microsoft Spezialistinnen, die seit 2001 bereits mehrere internationale Stationen im Bereich Partner Readiness und Partner Recruitment erfolgreich durchlaufen hat. Aktuell ist ihre Position die der weltweiten Business Applications Partner Lead. In dieser Funktion ist sie verantwortlich für die Kapazitätsplanung, Befähigung, Wachstumsstrategie und die weltweite Implementierung mit dem Ziel, Microsoft Business Applications Partnern ein nachhaltiges Ökosystem sowie dauerhaften Verkaufserfolg zu ermöglichen.

In Dubrovnik konnten wir mit Cecilia über die Einführung des One Commercial Partner Modells und die Auswirkungen von Dynamics 365 auf die Microsoft Partner Community sprechen. Natürlich lassen wir uns von ihr auch die brandaktuellen Tipps und Tricks vorstellen und werden sie nach der besten strategischen Umsetzung für Partner Unternehmen wie Ihres befragen.

Diese wertvollen Informationen sollten Sie nicht verpassen!

Wir empfehlen Ihnen, sich Cecilias LinkedIn Profil anzuschauen.

Während der eXtreme 365 EMEA 2018 konnten wir zudem ein Interview mit Mike Ehrenberg, einem der Keynote Speaker in Dubrovnik, führen. Mike arbeitet seit 2003 für Microsoft.
In seiner Funktion als „Technical Fellow“ ist er einer der wichtigsten Mitarbeiter bei Microsoft überhaupt. Er trägt dort erheblich zur Integration unterschiedlicher Produkte in verschiedene integrierte Plattformen wie Dynamics 365 bei. Wir sprachen mit Mike über das Spring Release von Dynamics 365 und die zukünftige Produktstrategie hinsichtlich Positionierung und Entwicklung. Die Stellung von CRM und die Auswirkungen der Neuentwicklungen auf Partner, Kunden und Serviceangebote waren ebenfalls Thema unseres Gesprächs. Außerdem fragten wir Mike nach seinem ganz persönlichen Rat für Ihre Zukunft als Dynamics Partner.

Besuchen Sie auch das LinkedIn Profil von Mike.

eXtreme365 EMEA 2018 Business Report
Der eXtreme365 Business Report ist jetzt in englischer Sprache erschienen.

QBS Business Report eXtreme EMEA 2018

“QBS Partner sind die am besten informierten Microsoft Partner”

Seit 2004 sind wir bei QBS darauf spezialisiert, Business Reports für Microsoft Dynamics Partner über Microsoft WPC und DIRECTIONS zu schreiben. Im Laufe des Jahres planen wir weitere Publikationen zu Inspire 2018 und Directions EMEA 2018.

QBS group Partner
Für QBS Group Partner ist dieser Bericht im Rahmen ihrer Mitgliedschaft gratis. Nicht-QBS Partner bezahlen € 350,00 für den Business Report. Dieser Betrag versteht sich ohne Mehrwertsteuer.

Dieser einzigartige und für die Branche unerlässliche Bericht wird von führenden Dynamics Partners auf der ganzen Welt gelesen.

Als QBS Partner können Sie den aktuellen Business Report kostenlos herunterladen.

Marketing Automation oder CRM – Was ist besser für Ihr Unternehmen?

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Womöglich lesen Sie diesen Blogbeitrag, weil Sie sich dieselbe Frage stellen, die sich gerade jede Menge andere Marketingverantwortliche ebenfalls stellen: Soll ich denn jetzt auf CRM oder auf Marketing Automation setzen? Wahrscheinlich haben Sie schon gehört, dass beide Werkzeuge für eine kundenorientierte Unternehmensausrichtung unverzichtbar sind, doch was davon am Ende für Ihr Unternehmen den größeren Nutzen mit sich bringt, konnten Sie noch nicht heraushören.

Wie Sie wahrscheinlich schon vermuten, hängt die Antwort auf diese Frage in großem Maße davon ab, welche Parameter Sie für Ihr Unternehmen als wichtiger ansehen. Sind es nun steigende Absatzzahlen oder ist es die Aussicht auf bessere Prognosewerte?

Am Anfang stehen immer konkrete Marketingziele, welche es individuell zu setzen gilt. Damit alleine kommen Sie allerdings gar nicht so weit, wenn Ihnen nicht klar ist, inwiefern sich CRM und Marketing Automation im Hinblick auf diese Ziele unterscheiden. Das wird ganz besonders schwierig, wenn Ihr erklärtes Ziel immer ein und dasselbe ist – nämlich die Pflege Ihrer Kundenbeziehungen mit vergleichbaren oder sogar identischen Bestandsdaten. Solange ein Begriff wie Multi-Channel Marketing Automation Ihnen nur ein Stirnrunzeln zu entlocken vermag, sollten Sie diesen Beitrag weiterlesen. Sie werden im Verlauf Ihre zögerliche Haltung abschütteln können, Ihrer Marketing Strategie mit dem richtigen Werkzeug einen entscheidenden Schub geben können und dabei auch die gewünschten Ergebnisse erzielen.

Sie sollten sich für Marketing Automation entscheiden, wenn…

Sie beispielsweise Ihre Kampagne über mehrere Kanäle laufen lassen wollen. Für die Verteilung Ihrer Aktivitäten auf mehrere Instanzen ist Marketing Automation die richtige Lösung.

Mit dem Einsatz von Marketing Automation rationalisieren Sie die wichtigsten Marketing Aufgaben wie zum Beispiel die Segmentierung Ihrer Zielgruppen, Kundenbindung im Allgemeinen oder Marketingaktivitäten in Abhängigkeit von bestimmten Ereignissen. Sie erlaubt Marketing Managern, sich schnell einen Überblick über große Datenmengen zu verschaffen. Auf dieser Basis können die richtigen Schlüsse, im Hinblick auf die Entwicklung zielgerichteter Kommunikation und passender Angebote, getroffen werden. Mit dem Einsatz von geeigneter Software können automatisierte Lösungen etabliert werden, welche die Einschränkungen zeitlicher Art und den Mangel an Personal abfedern oder sogar eliminieren können.

Mittels der gebräuchlichen Auswertung von Analyseverfahren können Marketing Kampagnen gesteuert, geprüft und nachjustiert werden. Die daraus gewonnen Daten haben ihren Ursprung im Online- und Offline-Verhalten potentieller Kunden, die sich darüber identifizieren lassen.

Marketing Automation ist also beispielsweise wirklich hilfreich für alle, die eine ereignisabhängige Marketing Strategie umsetzen wollen.

Die gebräuchlichsten Marketing Automation Werkzeuge auf dem Markt sind im Moment Single Customer View Plattformen (welche die individuelle Kundensegmentierung ermöglichen) und Customer Journey Automation Werkzeuge zur Zuordnung von Kundendaten (mit welchen die Auswertung und Steigerung von Conversion Rates möglich wird).

Leads, die mittels Marketing Automation qualifiziert wurden, werden später an die passenden Vertriebskanäle übergeben und damit zu Sales Qualified Leads. Das ist der Moment, in dem CRM mit ins Spiel kommt.

Sie sollten CRM Software einsetzen, wenn…

Marketing Automation sich der Nutzung von Technologie bedient, um Marketing Prozesse zu unterstützen – CRM dagegen, durch den Einsatz cleverer Lösungen, den Erfolg Ihres Vertriebs steigert.

Ziel ist es, dabei die direkte Wechselwirkung zwischen Unternehmen und Kunden zu optimieren und den Verkaufsprozess persönlicher zu gestalten. Wollen Sie also die Kundenzufriedenheit erhöhen, ist der Einsatz von CRM der richtige Weg dorthin.

Auch wenn Marketing Automation und CRM oft im Einklang genannt werden, so spielen sie doch zwei völlig unterschiedliche Rollen innerhalb eines Unternehmens.

CRM ist der Oberbegriff für alles, was die Bestandteile Ihrer Verkaufsstrategie mit einbezieht. Dazu zählen unter anderem die Qualifikation von Leads, das Erkennen von Bedarfen und das Erzielen von Abschlüssen.

Die Nutzung von CRM ist unschätzbar wertvoll, wenn Sie in Ihrem Unternehmen Zugriff auf umfangreiche Kundendaten in Echtzeit haben. Daten, die Sie durch die Auswertung verschiedener Kanäle und der Nutzung von Mobilgeräten, (Heim-)Computern, Laptops oder PDAs sammeln konnten. Mittels dieser Daten und dem Einsatz von CRM können Marketing Manager Chancen erkennen und ausbauen, die Zahl künftiger Verkäufe schätzen und, vielleicht am allerwichtigsten, die richtigen Kunden im richtigen Moment mit der richtigen Botschaft ansprechen.

Der Einsatz einer CRM Software ist empfehlenswert für jedes Unternehmen das seinen Vertrieb ankurbeln möchte. Eigentlich unersetzbar wird CRM immer dann, wenn in Ihrem Unternehmen ganz besonders vielschichtige Verkaufssituationen entstehen können und Sie nur dann erfolgreich sein können, wenn der Vertriebsprozess auch tatsächlich strukturiert umgesetzt wird.

Das Original dieses Beitrags von Matthew Walker Jones ist bei Digital Doughnut in englischer Sprache erschienen.

The impact of the higher update frequency on customer satisfaction (and your own business!)

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Microsoft is moving all her business solutions into the cloud. One of the impacts is a much higher update frequency. As we speak, this frequency is changing from every two years to every year to every half year and even every quarter. Have you already figured out what the impact is on aspects like your knowledge levels, your support liabilities and the quality of your support?

33 minutes

In this edition of QBS Talks we’ll discuss the impact of this new update frequency on the long-term satisfaction of your SaaS customers. And on various other aspects of your business. After this session, you’ll walk away with a good understanding of the impact of frequent SaaS updates and a series of ideas to turn this into smart strategies.

NAV posting procedures

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One of our partners requested some background information on the NAV posting procedures and what the meaning is of the different ledger entries tables.

NAV has two posting procedures:

  1. Journal: the resource is added in a journal line and a resource ledger entry is created via the journal posting
  2. Document: the resource is used in a document and a resource ledger entry is created via the document posting routine

1. Journal posting

The scenario explained in this chapter is that Linda and Mark have worked on a project for 8 hours. When these journal lines are posted, one register entry and two resource ledger entries are created.

Posting Date Resource No. Description Quantity Unit of Measure Unit Cost Unit Price
23-01-2020 LINDA Linda Martin 8 HOUR 6,30 50,40
23-01-2020 MARK Mark Hanson 8 HOUR 31,90 54,00

To be able to make this posting we need to setup resource templates, – batches and the resource itself.

1.1. Setup

In the resource template and batches information are stored including number series, source and reason codes.

The last setup step is to create the resource information.

1.2. Journal posting

Now all setup information is complete, it is time to create the journal lines and post these.

As shown the default Resource journal batch is used and the information from Linda and Mark is inserted. When the “Post” action is pressed a message is displayed if the user wants to post the resource journal lines. The user has to confirm the posting and the posting is executed and the resource ledger entries are created.

1.3. Navigation, journal register and entries

There are a number of possibilities to retrieve information from this posting.

From the resource list or card, the action “Ledger Entries” will give an overview of the resource ledger entries.

Another way to find the resource entries is to use the Navigation page

Or you can find the resource entries via the Resource register.

1.4. Technical information

Now we have covered the functional part of the posting, it is time to see the technical side.

When the “Post” button is pressed the following codeunits are executed

Codeunit ID Codeunit Name Function
271 Res.-Jnl.-Post Starting point for posting transaction
213 Res.-Jnl.-Post Batch Open dialog and execute for every line the check (211) and post (212) codeunit
211 Res.-Jnl.-Check Line Check if user is allowed to post based on user and/or general ledger setup and if no dimension conflicts can occur
212 Res.-Jnl.-Post Line Actual posting:
Create or update resource register
Create resource ledger entry

The above-mentioned journal posting is the preferred one, but if you have a lot of batches with journal lines to be posted, it is possible to post the journal lines via the batch page.

When the “Post” button is pressed the following codeunits are executed

Codeunit ID Codeunit Name Function
273 Res.-Jnl.-B.Post Starting point for posting transaction
213 Res.-Jnl.-Post Batch Open dialog and execute for every line the check (211) and post (212) Codeunit
211 Res.-Jnl.-Check Line Check if user is allowed to post based on user and/or general ledger setup and if no dimension conflicts can occur
212 Res.-Jnl.-Post Line Actual posting:
Create or update resource register
Create resource ledger entry

2. Document posting

It is possible to post resource information in a sales order, so the customer gets an invoice for the worked hours.

The scenario explained in this chapter is that Linda and Mark have worked on a project for customer “The Cannon Group PLC” for 8 hours.

Posting Date Resource No. Description Quantity Unit of Measure Unit Cost Unit Price
23-1-2020 LINDA Linda Martin 8 HOUR 6,30 50,40
23-1-2020 MARK Mark Hanson 8 HOUR 31,90 54,00

2.1. Document posting

The following sales order is created and posted (ship and invoice).

2.2. Navigation, journal register and entries

The navigation options described in paragraph 1.3 will still work to find the sales order posting entries. One additional option is possible: from the sales invoice, the action “Navigate” on the “Actions” ribbon gives an overview which entries have been created during the posting.

2.3.  Technical information

When the “Post” action on the Sales Order page is pressed Codeunit 80  “Sales-Post” will be executed to create the ledger entries.

During the posting routine, for every line is checked what type it has and when it is a Resource type line, the information from the sales line will be copied to a resource journal line and that journal line is checked and posted.

The code line ResJnlPostLine.RunWithCheck(ResJnlLine) starts the resource posting.

Codeunit ID Codeunit Name Function
212 Res.-Jnl.-Post Line Actual posting:
Create or update resource register
Create resource ledger entry

Yes, you already came across that number. The same posting codeunit is used in the journal and in the document posting routines.

3. NAV Ledger Entries

The second part of the question was that within NAV there are a lot of different ledger tables. Where are they used for?

That question is a bit tough as there are indeed a lot of ledger entry tables

No. Name
21 Cust. Ledger Entry
25 Vendor Ledger Entry
32 Item Ledger Entry
169 Job Ledger Entry
203 Res. Ledger Entry
271 Bank Account Ledger Entry
272 Check Ledger Entry
281 Phys. Inventory Ledger Entry
317 Payable Vendor Ledger Entry
379 Detailed Cust. Ledg. Entry
380 Detailed Vendor Ledg. Entry
5601 FA Ledger Entry
5625 Maintenance Ledger Entry
5629 Ins. Coverage Ledger Entry
5832 Capacity Ledger Entry
5907 Service Ledger Entry
5908 Warranty Ledger Entry

And even more entry tables. The first eight are shown, the others can be found via the NAV object designer.

No. Name
17 G/L Entry
96 G/L Budget Entry
160 Res. Capactity Entry
179 Reversal Entry
254 VAT Entry
265 Document Entry
271 Bank Account Ledger Entry
272 Check Ledger Entry

So which table is a ledger entry and which isn’t? As mentioned in paragraph 1.3 a ledger entry has to have an accompanying register table. In the following table the register and the ledger entry tables are combined.

No. Register table No. Ledger Entry table
45 G/L Register 17
254		 G/L Entry
VAT Entry
46 Item Register 32
5802
5832		 Item Ledger Entry
Value Entry
Capacity Ledger Entry
51 User Time Register –
87 Date Compr. Register –
240 Resource Register 203 Res. Ledger Entry
241 Job Register 169 Job Ledger Entry
1105 Cost Register 17
1104		 G/L Entry
Cost Entry
1111 Cost Budget Register 96
1109		 G/L Budget Entry
Cost Budget Entry
1205 Credit Transfer Register –
5617 FA Register 5601 FA Ledger Entry
5636 Insurance Register 5629 Ins. Coverage Ledger Entry
5934 Service Register 5907 Service Ledger Entry
5936 Service Document Register –
7313 Warehouse Register 7312 Warehouse Entry
99000848 Registered Absence –

Conclusion

It’s hard to define what a real ledger entry table is and what not. And things get worse. In previous NAV versions you could just press F1 to get at least some information why the table and fields where created. Unfortunately, information is moved from MSDN towards Microsoft Docs  but I can’t find the information there.

When you search for MSDN and G/L Register you get information from the table and field information can be found via the link “List of Fields in the Table”.

Searching on Microsoft Docs won’t give you any results

What can you learn from this post?

  • Define your posting routine and use it
  • Define a proper naming convention schema and stick to it
  • Define a proper data model and update it

 

 

To upgrade or replace that is the question

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Dynamics 365 Business Central completes you customer dialogue

In my last blog I suggested that it will take some time for customers to migrate to Dynamics 365 Business Central. Recently, I had an interesting discussion about this topic with a Marketing Manager at Microsoft. Based on qualitative research they did, they found that customers in the Mid-market tend to make a decision as an entire  company to go to cloud with their IT. So, they no longer look at ERP in isolation but consider all their business solutions in the overall context of cloud migration. At that moment, they are likely to not just consider an upgrade of their ERP solution, but to evaluate their entire business solutions for new. If we look at the typical life-cycle of an ERP solution, it makes senses, after 5-10 years, that your business has changed and your organization has changed as well. Therefore it is likely your business processes, that your original ERP solution modelled, might no longer be the same.

Even more drastic, many customers were looking at their existing ERP solution being legacy and representing “old ways” of doing business, so they are even more inclined to favour a completely new solution, that represents what customer perceive as being their new or evolved business. So, by the time the customer makes a decision to platform their ERP, they might not even consider an upgrade but rather go for a new vendor. If customers then add more standardization into the equation, it could change the dynamics of the ERP buying cycle massively.

This might also drive an analogy to your Dynamics NAV or GP solution. If customers demand a modern ERP solution with greater user experience, mobility, cloud delivery and standardization, will it become more economical to upgrade your existing solution or to build an entirely new solution with Dynamics 365 Business Central? If you consider that your upgraded solution might not meet the customer criteria 100% and appear as being old wine in a new glass, it might even make more sense to start all over again. With your industry expertise  enjoy the benefits of the new development platform that Dynamics 365 Business Central provides,  extend functionality and enable new user scenarios with technologies such as Power BI, Power Apps or Flow. Of course, this is a very complex decision to take, but one you should take seriously – NOW!. We can now take it for granted that customers will request a modern cloud solution for their business processes, it is no longer an option or only true for part of your customer base.

Starting from scratch with a cloud solution, is arguably one of the advantages that some of the “born in the cloud” platforms like Netsuite enjoy. Partners that build solutions on top of these platforms are cloud SaaS solutions by definition and for sure, they will do their best to make any legacy NAV solution look like a Dinosaur. But again, the biggest risk is that customers might not even consider your NAV solution as a viable alternative. So, addressing the opportunity to re-platform the existing solution to cloud becomes a mandatory conversation. A conversation that we can now confidently enter into. With Dynamics 365 Business Central customers will get a modern, scalable cloud solution, even if they decide to deploy that solution on-prem (from fall 2018). They can switch to a SaaS deployment any time in the future.

From a QBS perspective, we would like to have that important discussion with you and consult you with insights we get from other partners. In the end, however you decide to upgrade your existing solution or to build a new one, we can offer services that will help you bring that decision to a productive and successful outcome. As part of the ‘Ready-to-Go’ program, we offer workshops that help you assess and then evaluate the opportunities with existing solutions and how to re-platform or build new IP for Dynamics 365 Business Central. With the upgrade services, we can partly automate the process of upgrading your NAV solutions. Our training and enablement services can help you build the capabilities you need to create a modern, compelling ERP solution that none of your customers will consider being a Dinosaur.

Build your businesses muscle and keep fit (in the QBS gym).

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Don’t worry we are not suggesting here that you make it company policy that every employee spends their lunch break pumping iron, running a marathon or completing a tour de France. While we all know that physical activity is a good way to keep our bodies strong and healthy, what we are talking about when we say ‘Business Muscle’ is developing the knowledge and skills of your employees to build strength within your team and your business.

What we mean is a well-trained, knowledgeable, up-to-date team will make your company stronger and potentially more successful.

Remember when training in the gym you should not stop when you have gained the muscle, you need to keep up the activity to maintain the strength, and it is the same when it comes to developing your skills and knowledge. You need to keep (mentally) fit by being up to date with the latest developments so you are better informed and can perform tasks effectively.

As with physical exercise you must put in the hard yards to see results. Providing the right sort of relevant training to your team will allow them to do their job more effectively and deliver some incredible business benefits to your company. So, no need for donning the Lycra just yet only ‘train the brain’.

Make training routine
Training is a vital part of the success of any business, and investment of time and money to train your team should be a key part of your overall business strategy. The inclusion of a training strategy can have many benefits for your company and should form part of your recruitment and HR policies. Some forward-thinking businesses also factor in training as a standard KPI to help improve employee, and company, performance to achieve objectives and company goals.

Providing the right training for your team can have significant benefits to both your company and employees.

Business Benefits
Training can benefit your company because:

  • It helps improve the overall business performance, your profit and your staff morale;
  • You choose what new skills your workforce gains based on the skills required to meet your operational needs;
  • Staff training can improve productivity and result in better customer service;
  • Your workforce see that you value them enough to invest in their development, which improves loyalty and staff retention. It is that staff retention that results in a saving for you.

Employee Benefits
Training can benefit your staff because:

  • they acquire new skills, increasing their contribution to the business and building their self-esteem;
  • the training they do can take them into other positions within the organisation – positions with better prospects and/or better pay;
  • they are upskilled to do new and different tasks, which keeps them motivated and fresh;
  • because they’re being trained on your time, they see that you value them enough to invest in them. A good company is seen as one that retrains rather than churns.

In addition to having a direct impact on your business and staff, training also makes your company more attractive to potential new recruits. The absence of a training strategy can suggest to potential candidates that your company doesn’t invest in its staff’s development, which will lead to a lack of quality applicants.

How should I train my staff?
While some businesses will have the resources inhouse to be able provide training to their staff, for others there is a need to outsource. When outsourcing your training you get the benefit of gaining the knowledge and experience of someone that is a subject matter expert. Let’s face it – even though you might think you know about a topic there is always someone that knows more and room to improve your knowledge.

Additionally, by outsourcing your training, you are demonstrating to your staff that you take their development seriously and you do not shy away from making the investment that supports their career advancement. External courses are often valued by employees over internal training courses even if the trainer is the same. It is a frame of mind that being rewarded with external training means you care!

QBS group works with Microsoft Dynamics resellers to support their business growth and one of our services is providing training to their teams in functional and technical areas to achieve all the above benefits. We have an Academy portal that allows the company to self-administer and plan training for their teams easily. So, if you already work with QBS you have this option already and should be using it more! However, if you are a Microsoft partner that is thinking about selling Dynamics and needs to get training for their team from a subject matter expert, then please visit our website or drop us a line.

Dynamics 365 for Sales Acceleration Program – Reference MKB365

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Dynamics 365 For Sales Acceleration Program Refence Mkb365
MKB365 has set up a separate business model for implementation of the Dynamics 365 portfolio.

The QBS group Dynamics 365 for sales Acceleration program has provided us a fast way to get trained on product level and get important support during our implementations at our customers.

Hot news from the eXtreme 365 EMEA event

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The most important Microsoft Dynamics partner event in the CRM domain is called eXtreme365. The EMEA edition took place this year in Dubrovnik, Croatia from March 19th till 21st. Microsoft Dynamics partners received announcements, updates and new strategies around Dynamics 365.

Like every year, QBS group was attending eXtreme365 with a team of people. Besides that we are currently writing another edition of our famous series of Business Reports for Dynamics partners. We wanted to inform you at first hand via QBS Talks about all this news just a few days after the event. So, we did on March, 26.

Update on Dynamics 365 Business Central

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This series of webinars is intended to share the latest information on Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both from a technical, functional and business perspective. Besides sharing information, we will also update on the services portfolio from QBS group to assist on the road to Dynamics 365.

Dates 2018

  • Friday 18th of May | 13:00 – 13:30 CEST
  • Friday 29th of June | 13:00 – 13:30 CEST

Highlights from eXtreme 365 EMEA 2018

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Watch this video blog (6 minutes) to get the most important highlights of the eXtreme 365  EMEA 2018 event in Dubrovnik.


Highlights From EXtreme 365 EMEA

Watch this 6 minutes video

This video was brought to you by:

Arjen Jansen – MindsUnited
Richard de Goederen – QBS group (Owner of the Dynamics 365 for Sales Acceleration program)
Guus Krabbenborg – QBS group

eXtreme 365 EMEA Business Report 2018. Available mid April!

This Business Report covers more sessions than a single partner normally can do. We will not only cover the keynotes, but also various technical and functional sessions and of course also the business sessions. On top of that we will publish exclusive interviews that we will have in Dubrovnik with Microsoft executives.
Pre Order now or download the FREE Business Report eXtreme 2017

A partnership with QBS group

Healthy, profitable and successful is what companies strive to achieve, with our support your Dynamics business can get there. At QBS group, we help our Partners to achieve growth by supporting their endeavours through the delivery of specific services designed for business improvement. We provide marketing support to improve your go-to-market strategy, support with closing a deal, and even lead generation through our Take the Lead program. We also recognise the need for staff development and provide technical training on the latest releases to keep your team informed and your customers happy. Microsoft has recognised our added value and confirms that partnering with QBS group can help generate 40% more business.

Sign up webinar: Update on Dynamics 365 Business Central

“Na endlich!”

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“Na endlich!”, war eine der Reaktionen, die ich im Verlauf der QBShare Partnerkonferenz in Dänemark unmittelbar nach der Veröffentlichung von Dynamics 365 Business Central aufgeschnappt habe. Auf diese Produkteinführung haben wir lange gewartet. Seit der ersten Ankündigung erlebten wir einige Richtungsänderungen und es ruckelte an allen Ecken und Enden. Am Anfang stand in den meisten europäischen Ländern eine unfertige Version von Business Edition im Raum, welche zu der Diskussion über die Positionierung der NAV Plattform im Vergleich zu Dynamics 365 führte. Jetzt sind wir alle sehr gespannt darauf, auf der neuen Plattform von Business Central zu arbeiten. Es handelt sich dabei ja nicht nur um eine Cloud Plattform, sondern vielmehr um eine von Grund auf neu entwickelte SaaS Dynamics Plattform für kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen. Microsoft wird bei seiner Doppelstrategie bleiben und weiterhin seinen Partnern und Endkunden Dynamics NAV 2018 on-premise oder Dynamics 365 als Cloud Lösung anbieten.

Jetzt, da die neue Version verfügbar ist stellt sich natürlich die Frage, wie schnell der Kunde Dynamics 365 Business Central annehmen wird. Ich behaupte, dass ein paar Grundvoraussetzungen für den Vertrieb von Business Applications unverändert bleiben, auch wenn eine ERP Lösung ausschließlich für den Einsatz in der Cloud entwickelt und implementiert wurde. Dabei denke ich zuerst an die individuellen Komponenten einer Bestandskunden ERP Plattform. Damit diese von einem Partner mit dem dafür notwendigen Know-how auf eine neue Plattform überführt werden können, muss Zeit und Geld investiert werden. Zweitens wollen Kunden mit einer ERP Lösung arbeiten, welche an die speziellen Bedürfnisse ihrer Branche angepasst ist und alle für sie wichtigen Geschäftsprozesse abbildet. Letztendlich braucht man für den Vertrieb, das Konfigurieren, das Implementieren und für die Betreuung einer ERP Plattform ganz bestimmte Fähigkeiten. Partner müssen von daher nicht nur in der Lage sein, die Anforderungen aus den Geschäftsprozessen zu erkennen. Sie sind auch dafür verantwortlich, dass die Arbeitsabläufe in Gang bleiben oder falls das ERP System womöglich nicht die gewünschten Resultate liefert. Für einen IT Partner ist „die Weiterentwicklung zu ERP“ ein gewaltiger Schritt.

Im Allgemeinen kann also gesagt werden, dass ERP Kunden sich wohl nur dann für eine neue Plattform wie Dynamics 365 Business Central entscheiden werden, wenn der Partner ihres Vertrauens dafür bereit ist. Solche Upgrades sind keine Kleinigkeit, wie viele von uns schon in der Vergangenheit mit Office oder anderen Applikationen erlebt haben. Microsoft ist sich dessen bewusst und hat sich deshalb dazu entschlossen, enorm in das Programm Ready-to-Go zu investieren. Dieses Programm führt Sie entlang einer Reihe von Meilensteinen, mit der die Migration Ihrer Microsoft NAV Lösung und die Vorbereitung der Implementierung in Dynamics 365 Business Central garantiert werden kann. Um diese Meilensteine zu erreichen, müssen mehrere Trainings und Arbeitsschritte innerhalb einer Partnerorganisation in Einklang gebracht werden. Das ist der Punkt, an dem wir von QBS group helfend an Ihrer Seite stehen. Wir wurden von Microsoft als „Master VAR“ Partner für Dynamics Partner in Europa ausgewählt. Wir führen für Sie die notwendigen Trainings und Workshops durch, die Sie für die erfolgreiche Migration Ihrer NAV Lösung auf die neue Business Central Plattform benötigen. Bei der Migration Ihrer ISV-Lösung und der Automatisierung der Überführung Ihrer Kunden arbeiten wir eng mit 1ClickFactory zusammen. Genau so wichtig erscheint mir, dass Sie dabei auf die Erfahrung und die Unterstützung aus unserem QBS Partner Netzwerk zählen können.

Bis die Lösung eines NAV Partners in ansprechender Form in Business Central implementiert ist, wird also immer eine gewisse Zeit vergehen. Ich bin mir aber sicher, dass unsere Partner und deren KMU Kunden stark von den erweiterten Möglichkeiten und der höheren Wirtschaftlichkeit profitieren werden. Außerdem besteht die Möglichkeit, darüber hinaus die Dynamics ERP Plattform mit den anderen Microsoft Cloud Anwendungen zu verknüpfen: der Productivity Cloud mit Office 365 und der Data Cloud mit den Azure Services. Es werden neue Szenarien rund um IoT entstehen und Analytics oder sogar AI werden für KMU Unternehmen erschwinglich werden.

Also, Dynamics 365 Business Central wird endlich veröffentlicht und wir wollen mit dem Ready to Go Partner Service dafür sorgen, dass Sie so schnell wie möglich und so erfolgreich wie möglich mit dieser neuen Plattform arbeiten können. Falls Sie dabei etwas Orientierungshilfe oder Unterstützung im Zusammenhang mit der Veröffentlichung von Dynamics 365 Business Central brauchen, kommen Sie bitte auf uns zu. Bitte besuchen Sie unsere Website und wenden Sie sich an Ihr QBS Team oder direkt an mich.