1ClickFactory and QBS Group Merge to Form Companial, an International Network of Microsoft Dynamics Partners

1ClickFactory and QBS Group merge to provide additional service offerings to customers as it becomes Companial, the largest and fastest-growing international network of Microsoft Dynamics Partners.

Leusden, The Netherlands, Vilinus, Lithuania, Feb. 2, 2022 –  1ClickFactory, based in Vilnius, Lithuania and QBS Group, headquartered in Leusden, the Netherlands, announced today, February 2nd, 2022, that the companies are merging to form a new company named Companial.

1ClickFacory and QBS Group are well known in the Microsoft Business Application area, providing services and licenses to Microsoft Dynamics Partners. When 1ClickFactory and QBS Group began its strategic partnership in 2017, it quickly became obvious that both companies’ offerings around technical services, enablement, license operation, support for Independent software vendors (ISV), marketing services and Dynamics Partner engagement were very complementary, all focused on Microsoft Dynamics and Power Platform. Companial comes to market with a clear vision to become the preferred community for every Dynamics professional.

1ClickFactory is a Microsoft ISV Development Center and Gold Certified in Enterprise Resource Planning, Application Development and Cloud Platform. As a global business, it delivers services to 300+ Dynamics Partners in 40+ countries. 1ClickFactory’s high-quality Microsoft Dynamics 365 upgrade, development, and training services, together with its leading Microsoft Azure managed hosting service, help Microsoft Partners offer better business value to customers, delivering solutions on-premises and/or in the cloud.

“I am very excited to join forces and offer a One-Stop-Shop for every Dynamics Professional with Companial. Our clear mission is to exceed expectations by putting our Microsoft Partners at the center of all our efforts, offering outstanding services, developing and supporting Dynamics Partners on their (cloud) journey, and empowering them in all aspects of their business. The central word in our vision is “community”. We do everything to make the community work and to inspire those in it.

Companial promises that it’s easy to do business with us, that we offer a high-quality portfolio of services supporting all Dynamics workloads, and that we provide our Dynamics Partners with appealing offers!

We are dedicated to the success of our Dynamics Partners, and above all we prioritize personal relationships and a personal touch for the good of our community,”
Louis Rustenhoven, Chief Executive Officer, Companial.

QBS Group is the largest Dynamics ecosystem, second only to Microsoft itself. Situated in over 25 countries worldwide, with over 800 Partners that manage more than 40,000 customers, QBS Group was one of the only Dynamics-focused indirect Cloud Solution Providers. With its expertise and personal contact, QBS Group has helped Dynamics Partners transition to the cloud and supported them in driving the digital transformation. Microsoft has recently recognized QBS Group with the Inner Circle Award for Microsoft Business Applications 2021/22, the 8th year in a row QBS Group has received this honor.

“Seeing Dynamics Partners in our ecosystem scale is the number one thing for growth. We recognize that our Microsoft Partners are the wakeboard, and we want Microsoft Partners to be as efficient, capable, and notable as possible. We have had such great experiences with QBS and 1ClickFactory in the past and we are confident that this combination is really going to enable Companial to bring on more customers, do a better job, have a higher level of customer satisfaction, and have a great relationship with Microsoft. A win-win-win situation for everyone!”
Mike Morton, General Manager Business Central, Microsoft.

While the launch of Companial will have no impact on existing relationships and contracts that Dynamics Partners have with 1ClickFactory or QBS Group, Dynamics Partners can expect additional services and offerings that will help them to either establish a Microsoft Dynamics practice or evolve an existing business to enable digital transformation and better satisfy customers. One example is the newly announced partnership with Plataan, one of the leading training providers for Microsoft Dynamics and Power Platform. This partnership will result in a full set of trainings and enablement tools that will be offered under the Companial brand to Dynamics Partners worldwide.

“I am happy to share my thoughts about the integration that is now happening between QBS and 1ClickFactory. We are excited and we think it’s a great move. Collectively, as a community, we have an enormous amount of work to do to take Dynamics customers forward to a bright Dynamics 365 cloud future. And only collectively do we have the resources to make that happen in any kind of sensitive timeframe. We are already enjoying working with your team to move our customers forward and we hope to do much more of that in the future and having a single throat to choke. We look forward to working with you”
Paul White, Chief Executive Officer at The NAV | 365 People

About Companial

Companial is the largest and fastest-growing international network of Microsoft Dynamics

Partners. Companial supports its Dynamics Partners – Resellers, System Integrators, Service Providers, and ISVs – with business and technical services aimed at growing revenue, lowering costs, and improving customer satisfaction. Companial is an official SMB ERP Distributor; Indirect CSP Provider for Microsoft; a Microsoft ISV Development Center; and Gold Certified in Enterprise Resource Planning, Application Development and Cloud Platform. Companial’s high-quality Microsoft Dynamics 365 upgrade, development, and migration services, together with its leading Microsoft Azure managed hosting service, helps Microsoft Partners offer better business value to their customers when delivering solutions on-premises and/or in the cloud. Companial is currently delivering and supporting over 1000 Dynamics Partners in more than 40 countries worldwide.

For more information reach out to: Ursula Koller, ukoller@qbsgroup.com

Visit our website: www.companial.com

How can you win the market with Power Platform in 2022?

Power Platform is just that, a platform. It’s difficult to go to market with a platform proposition to your customers – so how can you start to make money from Power Platform and its associated technologies? If you would like to think about how you can go from Microsoft Dynamics 365 or Business Central to broader Business Applications, you need to think outside of the product box and broadly consider what can be delivered.

Attend this session to learn about how you can begin to commercialize the Power Platform, what scenarios may fit the market, what has worked well for partners already, and what you will need to consider when starting a successful Power Platform practice.

Microsoft New Commerce Experience in CSP – Office Hours

Microsoft has released the New Commerce Experience for seat-based licenses in the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program.
There are some important changes compared to the current CSP subscriptions that you as partner should be aware of.
Therefore, we are pleased to invite you to our Office Hours regarding the New Commerce Experience in CSP, hosted by the Partner Care team.
During these Office Hours, we will go through important updates, and give you the opportunity to ask all your questions.

Date Time
Thursday 3 February 2022 13:00 – 13:30 CET
Thursday 17 February 2022 13:00 – 13:30 CET
Thursday 3 March 2022 13:00 – 13:30 CET
Thursday 17 March 2022 13:00 – 13:30 CET
Thursday 31 March 2022 13:00 – 13:30 CEST

 

Do you really need the Business Central Universal Code Initiative? Are you shocked? Let’s hope not…

What’s the Business Central Universal Code Initiative?

For a while now, Microsoft has been emphasizing the move to the Cloud. We’ve had their ‘Cloud-first strategy’ and then more recently, the ‘Business Central Publisher Program’ targeting ISVs to convince and even force them to adopt the ‘Cloud-first strategy’. Microsoft forces ISVs to put their solutions on AppSource, even if those ISVs are only serving on-premises customers right now. They’ve even gone so far as to announce possible fees in the future if you won’t adopt the Cloud-first strategy. And now, with the Business Central Universal Code initiative, they are targeting everyone to adopt this strategy.

Basically, with this new initiative, selling extensions not targeted for online use to new Business Central on-premises customers could require you to license two additional modules:

  • Module “Implemented code is not in extensions”
    When the Microsoft Business Central base application is modified, customers will need to license this module.
  • Module “Implemented code is not cloud-optimized”
    When code is developed in extensions, but they are not cloud-optimized, customers will need to license this module

The cost of these modules (read: fees) will start at $0 per full user (both Essentials and Premium) per year and will increase over time. Here is the timeline Microsoft is currently aiming for.

And what about those increasing fees?

Recurring fee(s) Timeline Implemented code is not in extensions Implemented code is not cloud-optimized
2022 $0 $0
2023 $75 $0
2024 $125 $75
2025 $250 $175
2026 onwards TBD TBD

Note: Customers who licensed Dynamics NAV or Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premises before April 1, 2022 will not be required to license the non-Universal Code modules in their current configuration. They can add, remove users and first- and third-party functionality without the need to license previous mentioned new modules.

More information about Business Central Universal Code

What’s Microsoft’s Goal?

To put it very simply, Microsoft would like to create a Business Central SaaS world where every (potential) customer can get any (ISV) solution they need to be able to run their organization on Business Central SaaS. Therefore, Microsoft wants you to create solutions that will work in Business Central SaaS. It’s the future for Microsoft Partners and customers in the Dynamics 365 (Business Central) community, and Microsoft wants to see everyone collaborating on this. Microsoft tries to motivate us by charging fees to those who do not cooperate.

The benefits of the Universal Code initiative, according to Microsoft:

  • Universal Code can be implemented everywhere, in Business Central online, in on-premises or Partner-hosted environments.
  • By listing your Universal Code on Microsoft AppSource, you extend your sales force, reach more customers, and connect directly with decision-makers.
  • By bundling your connected Microsoft cloud services with Universal Code, you generate customer stickiness.
  • Universal Code frees up capacity to improve our mutual offerings and we will be able to serve more customers.

Let’s Get Technical about Universal Code

From Q4 2022 onwards, technical enforcement will be introduced in Business Central so that only ‘Universal Code’ is allowed as additional code in customer environments. You need to move to full extensions only, meaning no more code customizations in Base App. That means in your app.json you should use: “target” : “Cloud”, so your code will work both in SaaS and in on-premises environments.

To make your solutions compatible with Business Central SaaS you need to meet the requirements of SaaS, such as:

  • No usage of .Net Interop (please think about Azure Functions)
  • No file system (please think about Azure Blob Storage, Cosmos etc.)
  • No direct access to SQL
  • Web client only
  • No Base App Source Code modifications
  • Lack of events
  • Printing

This means you not only have to think about moving your code to AL, but also about how to overcome the limitations or requirements of Business Central SaaS. You really need to think outside the box and see the opportunity offered by the whole Microsoft Platform instead of just focusing on the Business Central app itself.

You really need to have a look at Azure (Functions, Storage, SQL, Apps, etc.) which offers multiple solutions in the stack to help you meet the requirements of Business Central SaaS. And yes, that requires other skills you probably don’t have in your organization yet.

Conclusion, Impact and Calls to Action

So, are you shocked, or do you need to make use of this initiative? Let’s hope not, because that would mean you have missed all the Microsoft news in the last 3 or 4 years.

Microsoft has shared their vision for the direction of Business Central SaaS.  It should be the easiest-to-use business application suite, delightful, efficient, “video-game” fast, powerful, simple to discover and quick to onboard. All of this should be available for every (potential) Business Central customer, and they want you to collaborate on that by making your solutions available for SaaS (too).

Hopefully you are already there, or at least almost there, but if not, please rethink your organization’s approach or even the right to exist in the next few years. If you really would like to embrace the cloud you need to think outside the ERP box. It’s not a single solution, but just one part of the platform you offer to your customers.

  • Rethink your solution: Get rid of legacy customizations that are included in Business Central nowadays. Think about Buy or Build. If something already exists on AppSource, why are you going to invest in creating a similar app?
  • Embrace Azure: Have a look at your solutions through the eyes of an Azure Solutions Architect. Train your team in Azure (Blob, SQL, Logic Apps, Functions and Cosmos to start with).
  • Pick your battles: Use Horizontal ISV Solutions. Don’t develop something which already exists. Team up with other Partners. Outsource development and maintenance of your apps.
  • Search for Value: Only invest in solutions where you are really adding value to Business Central and your vertical. Have a look at the QBS Marketplace. Tell your PSM that you would like to have a chat with one of our Architects.

 

I would like to close with a quote of Marije Brummel (Azure Solutions Architect);

“No one needs to be left behind!”

Strategic Partnership QBS Group and 1Clickfactory with Plataan

Plataan, based in Hasselt, Belgium and QBS Group, headquartered in Leusden, The Netherlands announced today that they will join forces moving forward. As of January 2022, QBS Group has acquired a shareholder majority of Plataan.

This transaction is an important step in the strategy of QBS Group to enhance the portfolio of partner growth services delivered to the worldwide Dynamics partner channel. It perfectly fits in the vision of the group to be the most preferred community and center of expertise for every Dynamics professional in the world.

In 2021 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) SaaS growth figures showed that it is now imperative that Dynamics partners become proficient in the relevant Dynamics 365 Business Central competencies, skills and knowledge. The tremendous growth of Business Central SaaS is also reflected in the accelerated intake and number of certifications of new Business Central professionals in the “Business Central Booster” Training Program delivered by Plataan. This program is a virtual online program designed to learn through practical, hands-on exercises whilst being guided by an experienced certified trainer. Apart from the Booster programs for Dynamics Business Central, Plataan is offering training courses for Microsoft’s Power Platform, Office 365 and the Customer Engagement workloads.

With this important strategic announcement, QBS Group and Plataan move into a league of their own when it comes to training capabilities, capacity and coverage to serve the Dynamics partner channel:

We consider Plataan as a leading strategic training partner for our community of current and future Dynamics partners. The ambition of Plataan to build all-inclusive online competency programs for Dynamics partners perfectly fits with our unique set of technical services covering Business Central, F&O, PowerApps and Customer Engagement and our expertise in Traditional and CSP (Cloud) licensing. We’re all looking forward to a great collaboration with multiple benefits for our partner community!
Louis Rustenhoven, CEO QBS Group & 1ClickFactory

 

Both companies are true partner focused organisations. Both have a ‘Microsoft Dynamics only’ strategy. No other Value-Added Distributor in the worldwide Microsoft channel can claim this. Our (digital) training offerings and capabilities combined with the sales & marketing and deep technical skills of QBS Group & 1ClickFactory together plus their wide international distribution network create a great fit! The Dynamics partner community can expect from us more attractive training offerings, including offerings around the domain of D365 Finance & Supply Chain and Power Platform.
Vincent Bellefroid, Partner Plataan

 

Directions EMEA in Milan and we as QBS Group will be there!

It was a tough year without meeting each other in person, having the network possibilities at events and not seeing each other in the conference of Directions. But the focus at this event will be on the fall release of Dynamics 365 Business Central, efficient use of the new development environment, cloud infrastructure and Power Platform.
Gain first-hand knowledge about Dynamics 365 Business Central and the Power Platform.

Innovate your business to successfully deal with technological requirements, and new pricing and sales policies. Offer customers outstanding extensions, innovative solutions, and apps in AppSource using Business Central, Azure Services, Microsoft Power Platform, AI and Machine Learning Collaborate with Microsoft and other Dynamics partners worldwide to enhance your offerings and SMB market presence.

Join Directions EMEA 2021 in Milan on October 27-29, 2021 and get inspired by the QBS presentations during our expertise sessions.

See you in Milan!

 


How to rapidly sell Business Central as a 100% fit, and let your customers recognize the value immediately.

William van Voorthuijsen
William van Voorthuijsen

Target audience: Sales & Marketing, Leadership, Consulting

In this session, you will learn the tips and tricks on how to sell Business Central SaaS to customers in the lower end of the SMB space. We all know that those customers don’t expect high implementation costs. They would rather love to recognize the value of Business Central immediately at low costs and as a great fit with their business. Learn how to complete standard Business Central with some great AppSource offerings and rapid implementations making use of wizards so that your end customers are up and running very quickly as well as recognizing the value of using Business Central in their business.

Session Info – Thursday, October 28, 2021 – 11.00 a.m. – Room Amber 5+6


There is a solution for almost every business challenge, but where can you find it?

Herman van Leeuwen QBS group
Herman van Leeuwen

Target audience: Sales & Marketing

The cloud transformation offers the opportunity to use a dedicated ISV solution rather than developing customizations. Today there are over 1,500 Business Central solutions published on AppSource. Herman will explain how you can find the right solution.

Session Info – Wednesday, October 27, 2021 – 11.00 a.m. – Room Amber 5+6


Go to Market with Power Platform

Chris Parkes
Chris Parkes

Target audience: Sales & Marketing, Leadership

Power Platform is just that, a Platform. It’s difficult to go to market with a platform proposition to your customers so how can you start to make money from Power Platform and associated technologies?  If you would like to think about how you can go from Dynamics 365 or Business Central to broader Business Applications, you need to think outside of the product box and broadly consider what can be delivered.  Attend this session to learn about how you can begin to commercialise power platforms, what scenarios may fit the market, what has worked well for partners already and what you will need to consider to get ready to start a successful Power Platform practice.

Session Info – Wednesday, October 27, 2021 – 11.00 a.m. – Room Coral 3


Have a look at the sessions of 1Click Factory at Directions

Pass by at our booth S09 – a nice surprise is waiting for you!

We are looking forward to seeing you at Directions EMEA in Milan.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us!

Dynamics 365 Update Webcast 1 July 2021

This series of webcasts is intended to share the latest information on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and related ISV solutions, both from a technical, functional and business perspective.
And along the year we will keep you informed about the latest news from Microsoft biggest events like Inspire, Directions ASIA, North America and EMEA.

Topics – 1 July 2021

Part 1: Dynamics 365 Business Central Update
Dynamics 365 Business Central Update (20 Minutes)

Part 2: PowerPlatform and CRM update
PowerPlatform and CRM update (20 Minutes)

Part 3: Solitea
Solitea (15 Minutes)

Dynamics 365 Update Webcast

Dynamics 365 Update Webcast

Cosmos versus Azure SQL and how to integrate with Dynamics 365 Business Central #MSDYN365BC

One of the highest-scoring FAQs from partners and customers moving to Business Central is about direct access to the SQL Server database in combination with the maximum database size.

When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. Since Dynamics NAV in the last ten years only ran on SQL Server this is what most partners know. Large customers often buy CPU licenses and since they have a SQL Server this is what they often start using as a Data Warehouse too.

The cloud equivalent of SQL Server is Azure SQL and this is fully supported by Business Central. In fact, this is what Microsoft uses for hosting the SaaS platform.

One might be tempted to use Azure SQL then also for cloud data storage, but this may not always be the best choice. On Azure, we have more than just a hammer.

Azure Cosmos Database is a good alternative in Azure if you are looking to store large amounts of data from different sources that you want to use in a Web Shop or other Web-Based solution.

The question that rises is then, what would this cost, and how do I send information back and forth between Cosmos and Business Central.

The pricing model for Cosmos is different from Azure SQL in a sense that you pay for real throughput and storage. The storage model is cheaper than the model for Azure SQL.

Cosmos is also auto-scale and auto indexed even though I expect that most of the workload from SMB customers will not be affected by this a lot.

Cosmos vs. Azure Data Lake

In this article we discuss Cosmos as an alternative to Azure SQL. Cosmos is not the only alternative and in the next articles, we will also discuss Azure Data Lake and other blob-based solutions.

Working with Cosmos & Business Central

As you may expect from my profile the main topic of this blog is the technology required to get data to move from Business Central to Cosmos. For this there are two options and I’ll describe both and share code examples.

In both cases we are going to use the Cosmos Rest API.

The AL way

The first option and probably the option of choice by experienced AL developers is to call the API directly from Business Central. This is a straightforward HTTP request where we send json information to a Cosmos container. The thing that may require to fiddle with a bit is the security tokens, but this has been laid out in the example code. You can find code examples on our GitHub.

The C# way

Another option which will most likely be the preferred option by developers who are new to our community is to call the Business Central REST API from an Azure Function and push that data into Cosmos using some C# code. This is also part of the examples you can find on GitHub.

Best of both worlds

Both options can also be combined. This depends on how you want to schedule the synchronization. Scheduling can be done using a Logic App that synchronizes data every x minutes, or hours, or you can push the Azure Function from the Business Central Job Queue. Alternatively, you can even call the Azure Event Grid from a Business Central Webhook and use that to transform data from Business Central to Cosmos.

The Azure Function also allows data to be stored from other data sources such as a SOAP endpoint.

Pitfalls and tips

You can store all kinds of data in Cosmos, based on containers just like Azure Blob Storage.

Cosmos is a no SQL database so it does not force you to follow schemas.

The consequence of the lack of schema’s is that it becomes the responsibility of the owner of the database to make sure data in a container is consistent and all json files follow the same structure.

As an example, let’s assume you have created a container with Item Inventory by date and you want to add location code as a new field. You need to update old records with the location code or create a new container with fresh data.

The example code provided on the GitHub contains a Version No. field and some extra Metadata about the json stored in the container. This allows you to have multiple versions of a record in the same container and store, for example, items and resources in the same container. This can have an advantage if you need an aggregation across Business Central entities in one container.

Because throughput is the main driver for cost in Cosmos it can also be beneficial to duplicate data across containers if there is a clear difference in data requirements across certain BI dashboards. For example, certain dashboards only require a customer name, where other dashboards require post codes or city.

Since data is stored in json format you can store parent and child information in one container, such as Sales Headers and Lines.

Creating a new Cosmos Instance & Database

One of the reasons Cosmos can be interesting for the SMB market and Business Central users is that it provides a free entry level of 25GB and 1000ru. This should suffice for an average Datawarehouse combining data from Business Central and other entities.

Cosmos versus Azure SQL and how to integrate with Dynamics 365 Business Central #MSDYN365BC
API

You can choose any API you are familiar with, but the examples on our GitHub are based on Core SQL. This syntax is relatively close to Transact SQL that most Business Central power users are familiar with.
Cosmos versus Azure SQL and how to integrate with Dynamics 365 Business Central #MSDYN365BC

 

Serverless or Provisioned

Probably serverless since we are having very incremental workloads. If we don’t use Cosmos, we only pay for storage.

Account Name

The account name is a generic name, used for all databases, just like an Azure SQL Server.

Other options may be left default or may vary based on your organizational backup and security policies and are not part of the scope of this document.

Creating a Database and a Container

In our code examples, the Database and Container are created by the Azure Function in C# if you try to write to a Database and/or Container that does not exist. The AL code does not contain examples of creating a Database or Container automatically. If you go for AL only you need to either write this code or create them manually via the Azure Portal.

Cosmos versus Azure SQL and how to integrate with Dynamics 365 Business Central #MSDYN365BC

 

GitHub
https://github.com/qbsgroup/QBS.BusinessCentral.Cosmos
https://github.com/qbsgroup/QBS.AzureFunction.Cosmos

 

Dynamics 365 Update Webcast 27 May 2021

This series of webcasts is intended to share the latest information on Microsoft Dynamics 365 and related ISV solutions, both from a technical, functional and business perspective.
And along the year we will keep you informed about the latest news from Microsoft biggest events like Inspire, Directions ASIA, North America and EMEA.

Dynamics 365 Update Webcast

Dynamics 365 Update Webcast

HELP! My Application Insights EXPLODES!

At QBS Group we are promoting the use of Application Insights. We do that not because we are nerds and love new technology, but also because of simple home economics.

Before the introduction of Application Insights last year, we would often see long-running support tickets between our partners and Microsoft to troubleshoot problems with Business Central. Application Insights changed that almost overnight by giving partners and even customers the option to see where problems are caused.

Although we did not do any exact math, we feel it is safe to say partners can save hundreds, if not thousands of euro’s by using Application Insights.

What exactly does it cost and how do I monitor it?

But what does Application Insights cost per tenant or per ISV Solution in AppSource and do the economics still apply?

Running an Application Insights resource in Azure is not free of charge. The first 5GB per month is paid for by Microsoft with a retention period of 90 days. This sounds like it should suffice and in most cases it does. However, some of our partners reported to us that they had examples where they had much more data than that which resulted in a cost of tens, even hundreds of euros per month to host Application Insights.

Together with Microsoft, we investigated the issues, and we feel we should share these experiences with you.

Executive summary

As an executive summary, the conclusion is that having an Application Insights instance that starts charging you for a Business Central tenants telemetry is a warning of problems as such. An average tenant should not produce enough telemetry to cause the invoicing process in Azure to start.

So, what can trigger Application Insights to explode, what can you do about it and lastly, how can you avoid having to pay hundreds of euros for an overflow of telemetry cause by, for example, an App from AppSource with programming errors.

We investigated a few instances that we have access to which were large. A few tenant instances, an AppSource ISV instance and an Embed App instance.

How to analyze the cost

To analyze which events cause the problem we used this KQL query that Microsoft provided and that they shared on GitHub now too.

traces

| where timestamp > ago(30d)

| project eventId = tostring( customDimensions.eventId )

| summarize count() by eventId

HELP! My Application Insights EXPLODES!

For now, we will ignore AL000EAV because Microsoft confirmed it as a bug. I will get back to that at the end of the blog.

We need to focus on the other events, RT0004, RT0019, RT0009 and RT0020. This means (Pre) Open Company and Web Service calls.

In fact, RT0019 is called 160.000 times which is the equivalent of once per second. In other words, someone is polling something, and the solution is probably to implement an event driven system like Azure Event Grid. The culprit here was a partner customization.

Let’s look at another example.

HELP! My Application Insights EXPLODES!

A whopping 67 million counts into a Web Service from Business Central. In fact, this happened on a few days with the 30 days period generating 50GB of telemetry on one single day generating a 300+ euro invoice for this ISV.

In this case we narrowed the problem to Azure Blob Storage called millions of times to ping if a file exists.

What does this cost exactly?

HELP! My Application Insights EXPLODES!

HELP! My Application Insights EXPLODES!

Don’t kill your own system

The examples we found that were overflowing Application Insights can all be related to software that behaves in a polling mechanism used for interfaces leading to excessive amounts of web service calls both inbound and outbound.

We believe Business Central is not designed for this and with the Azure world, better options exist that are event-driven rather than timer driven. Logic Apps and Azure Event Grid are just two examples that we will share more examples of in the near future.

Avoid large bills

Lastly, I promised to explain how to avoid getting large invoices for Application Insights. Your customers may install an App from AppSource that results in a cost on your tenant without you knowing.

Also, let’s be honest, a bug by Microsoft may also cause a lot of records in your systems and it would be fair not to have to pay the same company for that.

The solution is to cap the amount of data and setup email alerts in a case large number of events are created in the system.

For a Business Central tenant, we recommend capping on 50MB per day and raising an alert by email if one event id is created more than 5000 times per day. Of course, there can be exceptions to this rule.

ISV’s can limit to 1GB per day to start and let the system grow over time if the number of (hopefully paying) customers grows. We recommend ISV’s to look at Application Insights on a daily bases and monitor delta’s rather than just large numbers. You can also raise alerts if you see a new tenant id coming in which probably means someone installed your solution from AppSource.

You can read how to set this up on Microsoft Docs or by registering to the QBS Academy Application Insights Class.

Useful links:

Microsoft  BCTech AppInsights

Microsoft BCTech AppInsights FAQ

QBShare Online 2021

Thank you for attending QBShare Online 2021!

Below you will find all the recording and presentations from the event.


Once again we would like to invite you to our QBShare, an event that aims to inspire you, keep you updated and ahead of your competitors.

We have chosen to convert QBShare to an online webinar in English, in order to accomodate all our Nordic partners.  

When: 16th of June 
Time: 8:30-12:00
Where: Online
Language: English 

 

We have made an exciting agenda for you, packed with interesting topics and speakers, from both Microsoft and team members of QBS Group and 1ClickFactory.

This time we will have four reputable speakers from Microsoft attending, who will share insights, updates and inspiration with you:

  • Mike Morton, General Manager, Dynamics Business Central
  • Jannik Bausager, Director
  • Dmitry Chadayev, Principal Program Manager
  • Ian Marr Westh, Partner Technical Architect, Business Applications

 

Below you wil find the agend for the day. Please note, that the agenda may be subject to change before the event. 

Agenda

Time Subject  Speakers Recording and presentation 
8:30-8:45 Welcome to QBShare Ulrikka van Straten, Nordic Lead, QBS Group
Johan Lundkvist, Partner Success Manager, QBS Group
Recording
No presentation
8:45-9:05 How QBS sustains Partner success Michael Hartmann, CEO, QBS Group Recording

Presentation

9:05-9:50 Highlights 2021 Release Wave 1, Market Outlook and Roadmap with Q&A Mike Morton, General Manager, Dynamics Business Central, Microsoft
Jannik Bausager, Director, Microsoft
Dmitry Chadayev, Principal Program Manager, Microsoft
Recording 
Presentation 
9:50-10:00 Coffee break
10:00-10:30 Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement and Power Platform – what’s new? Ian Marr Westh, Partner Technical Architect, Business Applications at Microsoft Recording 
Presentation 
10:30-10:50 Get the latest news around License & Incentives Mathias Dam Ejlertsen, Partner Success Manager, QBS Group Recording
Presentation
10:50-11:20 Grow your business faster with 1ClickFactory Peter Echwald, Partner Development Manager, QBS Group/1ClickFactory Recording
Presentation
11:20-11:40 Demo of Marketplace & QBS Navigator Shehab Zenussi, Channel Development, QBS Group Recording
Presentation
11:40-12:00 QBSuperstars Ulrikka van Straten, Nordic Lead, QBS Group Recording
Presentation
12:00 Thank you for attending!

 

From Dynamics 365 Business Central to Business Applications

How do I move from Dynamics 365 Business Central into Business Applications?

When thinking about the next steps in the evolution of the Microsoft Business Applications platform, there are two, key things that need to be understood and recognized by partners currently proficient in Dynamics 365 Business Central.

They are, specifically, the Microsoft Power Platform and the Microsoft Dataverse.

The Power Platform and in particular, Power Apps bring huge potential for partners to expand their services portfolio and therefore, generate increased annuity revenue per customer around Dynamics 365 Business Central.

Knowing that the future of Dynamics 365 Business Central is linked to the Dataverse is only the start of the journey; Understanding what can be achieved through seamless integration with the Power Platform and Power Apps is crucial to being successful along the way.

What is the technology platform and why should I care?

The Power Platform consists of three component parts

  • Power BI
  • Power Automate
  • Power Apps

Power BI is all about creation of visual dashboards and making data-driven insights available to everyone.  Power Automate is all about enabling automation of business processes through workflow.

Power Apps is where it gets particularly interesting because partners can leverage Dynamics 365 Business Central virtual entities directly as if they were native Common Data Service entities meaning that Business Central data can be used outside of the application making this a genuine alternative to writing extensions in certain scenarios.

This new ability to build custom apps to solve common business challenges, with mobile device support by default is extremely powerful.  Consider a stock check app that a mobile device user can use to update data directly whilst only requiring lower cost Power Apps and Team Member licenses to enable this.

When we start to think outside of the traditional Business Central box, other scenarios also become apparent.  The possibility of creating deal and pipeline management capabilities for customers, based on the exact same account and contact set of data that is already within Business Central and surfaced through the common user interface, which is already familiar to all other flavors of Dynamics 365 Business Applications is an obvious example that springs to mind.

Of course, once these apps are created, they can be sold and deployed multiple times over, on an annuity revenue model, per user, per month, just like the Microsoft technologies they have been created to support, hence the increased revenue opportunities previously mentioned.

What are the challenges through this evolution?

Managing Dynamics 365 and Power Apps implementations are easy enough when you have a handful of clients but when they start to grow in number, there’s a need to be able to manage these at scale without incurring additional costs that would reduce profitability.

Keeping custom or vertical solutions built on the Dataverse up to date across multiple client tenants, ensuring consistency of versions whilst also protecting any intellectual property that is licensed to customers can also cause headaches.

However, many organizations today have found a better, more cost-effective way to build a scalable business model without increasing direct costs.

How can QBS Group help?

If you are looking for help in solving these common challenges and want a solution to manage all Dynamics 365 and PowerApps implementations in one place, the Cloud Partner Panel (CPP), available through QBS is perfectly placed to help.

The CPP is available for partners to use to manage their customer tenants and can enable:

  • More efficient management and monitoring of customers cloud environments
  • Easy deployment of and updates to custom or repeatable intellectual property (IP)
  • Protection for the monetization of cloud IP once it is deployed

There is also a range of architectural and development services available from QBS alongside technical training to really help partners go from concept to creation for their apps when evolving from Dynamics 365 Business Central to Business Applications.

Also interesting

Sign-up for Power Platform Special Interest Group – Final Friday Webcast

Training in Academy

QBShare Live 2021

Welcome to QBShare Live 2021
Join us for our one-day conference, dinner and networking
November 18th
09.00-16.00

Finally it is possible to meet in person, which is why we have arranged for QBShare to be held at the beautiful ‘Hindsgavl Castle’ in Middelfart on Fyn. Lots of space, fresh air and amazing surroundings for our guests to enjoy!

 Find out more about Hindsgavl Castle 

Find Hindsgavl Castle on Google Maps


This QBShare will take place at November 18  – with a conference during the day and a dinner in the evening.
You can also book hotel rooms for sleeping over if needed. 

 

QBShare Partner Conference from 9:00-16:00: 
– Mike Morton, General Manager, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
– Jannik Bausager, Principal Group Program Manager, Microsoft
– Ian Marr Westh, Sr. Cloud Solution Architect, Business Applications, Microsoft
– Peter Echwald, Partner Development Manager, 1Click Factory/QBS Group
– Michael Hartmann, VP Marketing, Portfolio & Business Development, QBS Group

And more to come….

 

9:00-9:30 Light breakfast and registration 
9:30-9:45 Welcome Bert Siekmann, Nordic Lead (interim), QBS Group
9:45-10:15 Get more done and success with Upgrade Services  Peter Echwald, Partner Account Manager, QBS Group/1Click Factory
10:15-10:30 Meet our ISV’s – Short introdution on stage
10:30-11:00 Take a break – Networking with the ISV’s and other partners 
11:00-12:00 Latest and greatest about Business Central, Future roadmap and Vision Mike Morton, General Manager, Business Central and Jannik Bausager, Principal Group Program Manager, Microsoft
12:00-13:00 Enjoy your lunch! Mike Morton, Jannik Bausager and Ian Marr Westh from Microsoft will join us
13:00-13:45 What is new and coming in Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement and Power Platform? Ian Marr Westh, Sr. Cloud Solution Architect, Business Applications, Microsoft
13:45-14:15 Organizational update from QBS Group Michael Hartmann, CEO, QBS Group
14:15-14:45 QBSuperstars – Who will win this time?
14:45-15:00 Key take aways and highlights from the day
15:00-16:00 Mingle and networking – Coffee, tea, cake/Drinks and snacks, what you prefer Stay with us, and have a chat with your fellow partners from your Nordic Dynamics Community

How do I sign up for the conference?

You sign up for the QBShare-conference November 18, by using the registration button at the right of this page, fill out the form and submit.
A confirmation e-mail will be sent to you, confirming your registration and link to a calendar file, which can be downloaded and saved to your calendar.

NB: Please notice, that there is a limited number of seats for the conference, so be sure to register soon!

Registration for the conference has closed!

Drinks, dinner and mingle from 18.30: 

Welcome drinks will be served in the bar from 18.30 and dinner at 19.00.
The dinner includes a 3-course meal, wine, coffee/tea and sweets.

Costs: DKK 995,-

 

Sleepover at the Castle from November 17-18 and/or November 18-19?  

The price for a hotel room at Hindsgavl Slot, by registration via QBS, is DKK 995,- for one night, including breakfast.
It is possible to book a hotel room from the day before the conference (17.-18.) and to the day after the conference (18.-19.).
You can check in at the hotel from 16.00.

The deadline for dinner registration and booking of a hotel room is October 15. 
After that date, your registration is binding!

How do I sign up for the dinner and/or hotel room? 

Sign up to the dinner and possibly sleepover at the castle, the day before the conference (17.-18.) and/or to the day after the conference (18.-19.) by sending an e-mail to:
cgrabowski@qbsgroup.com (Camilla Grabowski, Nordic Marketing Manager).

In the e-mail you should let us know if you want to:

1) Participate in the dinner and receive an invoice of DKK 995,- from QBS after the conference?
We will send the invoice to the e-mail address used for registration.

2) Book and buy hotel room for sleepover at the castle for 1 or 2 nights?
You will be paying DKK 995,- per night at the check out at Hindsgavl Castle before you leave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How to use the Dynamics 365 Business Central API with C# in Service-to-Service scenarios

A question that was raised more frequently than others lately is, how to use the Business Central API from C# in Service-to-Service scenarios?

Within the Business Central community, C# is the most frequently used language to code Azure Functions and Windows Services using DotNET core.

There are a few choices to make when deciding how to design your code and we’ll discuss the most important ones being security and structure of your classes.

Security

When you connect to Business Central using the API you have two choices. OAuth with tokens or Basic with a Web Service Access Key.

Using OAuth is the preferred solution which is promoted by Microsoft. The problem is that OAuth is only supported when the software calling into Business Central has the ability to provide a user interface.

This user interface is required to show a window to login and return the access token.

Business Central currently does not support OAuth in service-to-service scenarios except for the API that is handling the service tier itself.

That leaves you with the choice of going back to Basic authentication with a Web Service Access Key or to use Azure as the middle man.

Most examples that you can find online of authentication use the latter option and therefor this blog is about the other option that is hard to find information on.

Simplicity is the core value of Business Central and even though customers using Business Central have an Office 365 tenant, not everyone has their Azure tenant configured.

Using Azure as the middle man for security may be the easy way out for a developer, it requires each user of your solution to set this up in their Azure tenant.

The advice is to use Basic Authentication for Service-to-Service connections until Microsoft is finished with a final solution for OAuth in these scenarios.

Classes

There are two options when you design your solution to structure your classes. You can have them generated based on the metadata of the API endpoint or you can design your own classes.

Both options have pros and cons and the most important reason why the example repository creates its own classes is again simplicity and to explain clearly how the API works rather than working through a pile of generated code that will leave 95% unused.

In real life implementations, many developers will choose to generate the classes based on the endpoint, especially if the API has strong versioning like the one provided by Microsoft.

A strong exception would be if you only need a few API methods implemented or if the API is a custom API for a project and subject to change.

If changes to the API happen on a frequent basis, which is not recommended but happens often in real-life scenarios, you can be more flexible in your error handling if you define your classes yourself.

Rest Client

To send data back and forth your code needs a Rest Client and, in the example, we use the one from RestSharp. This is a very popular NuGet package. Another frequently used Rest Client is the Simple Client (Simple.OData.Client) which is also available as NuGet package.

Json Handling

Json is not native to C#. It was created for JavaScript and in order to use it in C# you can use either NewtonSoft or the new System.Text.Json from Microsoft. Both are created by the same person who works for Microsoft now.

You will most likely find out that both libraries have scenarios where they work and fail.

NewtonSoft Linq supports the use of JArray and JObject in a similar way as AL has the native JsonArray and JsonObject although you will find the NuGet libraries much more flexible and powerful.

Value

Each result that you get from Business Central has a wrapper with a tag called [Value]. In almost all cases you won’t need this in your code. The function ConvertToDataSet converts the result of an API call into a Json Array without the [Value] wrapper.

The API Endpoint

When Business Central is hosted by Microsoft the API endpoint has up to 6 variables that determine things like the Sandbox you are using (if any), the Tenant ID (obsoleted by OAuth) and the details about the API version, and group.

Learning more

To work effectively with the Business Central API it is important to have in-depth knowledge of Json and Rest. QBS Group offers a dedicated workshop to gain this knowledge.

Resources

Link to Github: https://github.com/qbsgroup/QBS.API.Example
https://www.kauffmann.nl/2021/01/07/deprecation-of-basic-auth-for-saas-has-been-postponed-to-2022/
https://www.kauffmann.nl/2020/09/14/service-to-service-authentication-for-automation-apis-in-business-central/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp_mzqzNvPA&t=1553s

Få indsigt i retningen for Business Central af Mike Morton fra Microsoft

Michael Hartmann, CEO i QBS Group, interviewede Mike Morton, General Manager Dynamics 365 Business Central hos Microsoft.

Hvad er næste skridt for Dynamics 365 Business Central On-Prem? Hvordan ser Microsoft det nuværende og fremtidige marked for Dynamics 365 Business Central og hvilke relaterede teknologier / løsninger vil blive de mest relevante for Business Central partnere? Disse er blot nogle af de spørgsmål, der blev besvaret i løbet af dette interview.

“The vast majority of innovation will be delivered on BC SaaS – but it’s a journey to get there.”

Hør de kritiske spørgsmål blive besvaret i denne video.

Mike Morton udtaler, at der vil være support at hente for individuelle releases og der er scenarier for at holde supporten kørende, samt at der ikke forventes nogen afslutning på livscykler for Business Central i den nærmeste fremtid. Ikke desto mindre er differentiatoren på markedet Cloud-udbuddet, og erkendelsen af at Dynamics-partnere skal levere digitalisering til deres kunder. Som et eksempel nævnte Morton Microsoft Teams-integrationen.

Microsoft tror på Cloud / SaaS som det bedste sted i det lange løb for kunder. Som et mellemliggende trin er det et stort skridt fremad i den rigtige retning at gå fra en On-Prem-løsning til et hostet miljø. Morton fjerner frygten for de for hyppige opdateringscyklusser med argumentet om, at der er et maksimum af innovation, der er tilpasset en traditionel opdateringscyklus, som samtidig fastholder stabilitet, tillid og fleksibilitet.

Hvad er positioneringsstrategien for Microsoft for Business Central versus Finance & Operations udover de respektive målgrupper? Hvordan ser konkurrencelandskabet ud og sidst, men ikke mindst, med henblik på at se ind i fremtiden – hvad er der planlagt inden for de næste 18-24 måneder, og hvad er Mike Mortons råd til partnerne? Se hele interviewet her.

 

 

ERP Migration – the Friendly Hill That One Day May Become a Hostile Mountain

Cloud computing is probably the most profound IT-innovation of this century so far. The software industry has rapidly embraced the paradigm shift and has introduced Software-as-a-Service solutions paid for as recurring subscriptions.

The market acceptance of the SaaS format has been equally impressive. Customers simply love it, and for good reasons.

They get rid of their IT-infrastructure and the hassle of keeping it up to date. Instead, they get access to a virtually unlimited capacity that can adapt quickly (CPU and storage) to their needs at little additional cost. They no longer have to worry about hardware and software operations, maintenance and updates. They move the bulk of their IT-expenses from the CAPEX to the OPEX section of their budgets. During the current Covid19-pandemic, that fiscal detail proved an advantage to many companies and organisations as they could increase or decrease their spending on the fly.

ERP Migration

According to industry analysts, cloud computing and SaaS have long surpassed the tipping point on the market acceptance curve and are becoming the mainstream delivery format for ERP solutions.

The hill that grows a little higher every day

Despite the attractiveness of the cloud delivery format, a few obstacles block the way to the promised land for a large group of companies.

The names of these obstacles are customisations and partner solutions, and the path around or over them is called migration.

In this context, the popular industry and customised ERP-solution delivered by the Microsoft Dynamics value-added resellers may now sound like an alliance with the devil. Still, they were done for very good reasons. Dynamics NAV Business Central (on-premises) was and is, in many cases, the perfect platform for the SME (small and medium enterprise) with industry-specific or unique individual needs. Not all organisations fit the plain vanilla standard that characterised the SaaS delivery format’s first ERP-solutions.

There will always be organisations with industry-specific or special individual needs to which ISVs and VARs must cater. To enjoy the benefits of the innovations and advances in the information technology and software industry, such companies must move to a cloud-based ERP-platform that supports their business processes.

ERP Migration

The first in line to offer such platforms are you, the Microsoft Dynamics partner that provided the on-premises solutions in the first place. You have the domain insight and are familiar with the customers’ requirements.

Making a replica of your on-premises solutions on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central SaaS requires investments. New skills must be acquired for the development work, and partners must convince the customers to migrate and pay for the customisations. It’s a complicated puzzle for which you need a business case.

Unfortunately, time is not on your side. The longer you wait to migrate your industry solutions and the longer the customers defer their customisation, the more difficult and expensive the jobs may become. The more significant the gap between the versions, the more expensive it is to upgrade. However, SaaS products evolve very fast and technical limitations to upgrades diminish over time as well.

What is a pleasant hill today may grow to become a hostile mountain in the future when Microsoft stops the support for your on-premises software.

Getting started today is much better than waiting.

Any journey consists of one step at a time

The first step you should take is joining the Cloud Solution Provider Program (CSP). It will allow you to offer your customers a series of services and benefits.

As a Cloud Solution Provider partner, you can create and deliver differentiated offers to customers, selling the Microsoft cloud portfolio and third-party solutions from the Microsoft commercial marketplace alongside your own value-added solutions and services. You can manage the entire customer engagement lifecycle and establish your credibility with customers as a trusted advisor.

With perpetual software licenses for on-premises use now available in the CSP program, partners can provide a simplified experience for customers who need licenses and managed services to support their hybrid environments and prefer to transact with a single partner.

[This video explains CSP well: ]

Perpetual software in CSP helps partners provide a one-stop-shop for their customers, selling software licenses and cloud services together. For example, you can offer customers to pay their Business Ready Enhancement Plan (BREP) monthly and give them free access to a Business Central SaaS tenant.

Develop your migration plan and the business case.

Taking time out of your busy schedule to take a helicopter perspective on your situation may seem daunting, especially when you lack experience with the details of what lies ahead of you. You have many questions for which you do not have the answers. What will it take in terms of money, time and skills to reimplement the software? Which type of people and training do you need? Will the new SaaS-solution be fully compatible with your current on-premises version? How soon will the customer buy-in to your new offering, and will they be prepared to co-sponsor the effort? Can you win new customers, and how do you do that?

Microsoft Dynamics value-added resellers are very fortunate because they can tap into the expertise of the QBS group and 1ClickFactory.

As a value-added distributor, the number one priority of the QBS group is to help the Microsoft Dynamics resellers map the road to the cloud. That is Microsoft’s key strategic objective, and QBS is the executive branch driving the effort with the partners.

QBS will help you put together the business case. 1ClickFactory, a specialist in upgrading and migrating NAV and Business Central solutions, can tell you precisely what is technically possible, what it will take, what it will cost, and how soon it can be done. If you lack the resources, they can even do the migration for you.

Time is running out

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central version 14 is the last version that supports the C/AL Add-ons AND can be hosted on Azure. Version 14 is only available to existing NAV customers, and that option ends on 31 October 2021.

If you cannot get your NAV customers to a more recent Business Central version now, you should get them to version 14 and offer them hosting on Azure.

However, Microsoft ISV’s ultimate goal is to migrate their industry solution based on C/AL to Extensions and make these available on AppSource. This is the way forward, and with time many of the individual customisations’ VARs have done over the years will be available as extensions on AppSource.

There may be technical issues around the current version of Business Central SaaS (such as database limitations) that prohibits a full migration now. But as support for old versions of NAV Business Central will eventually terminate, reimplementing C/AL code to Extensions becomes more urgent.

Each situation is different, but the end goal is the same. 1ClickFactory, a dedicated Microsoft Dynamics upgrade and migration company, has performed hundreds of such projects and can assist you. Give them a call.

The era of the dinosaur also came to an end

I guess that 80 per cent of NAV-based industry solutions and customisations have not yet been migrated to Extensions. That is a large number, but experience shows that the tipping point is around 20 per cent, which means that the remaining customers will now adapt much faster.

ERP Migration Cloud

In the not-so-distant future, all organisations will have migrated to the cloud, and most of them will be running on SaaS solutions. The open question is how many of these customers will stay with their current partner and how many will move to someone who can better cater to their needs?

Although the migration challenge indeed represents a heavy anchor to the past, the train of innovation will eventually overtake old software. The vendors, such as Microsoft and their partners, invest heavily in making their cloud offerings capable of also embracing industry and individual requirement and are scouting for new market opportunities. Someday someone will open a tunnel offering your customers a bypass through the stony mountain and getting to their destination even during a snowstorm. It will require a new vehicle, which they may accept.


QBS Bernhard migration cloud

Camilla Grabowski

Det er min opgave at støtte Microsoft Dynamics-partnere i marketing, herunder direkte administrerede Microsoft-partnere i markedsføringen af ​​deres Dynamics-løsninger og tjenester – også i samarbejde med Microsoft.

Siden slutningen af ​​2020 har jeg støttet QBS Group og QBS Nordics Partners med min know-how og engagement. Det er på den ene side vigtigt for mig at gøre kommunikationen mellem QBS og vores partnere så enkel og nyttig som muligt. På den anden side er det meget vigtigt for mig at hjælpe vores partnere med at opnå vellykkede marketinginitiativer på den bedst mulige måde.

Webinar med ERP-ekspert fra Microsoft: Få et forspring i digitaliseringen med Microsoft Business Central

Sidder du med ansvaret for jeres ERP-system, og er du interesseret i at vide, hvordan du driver og digitaliserer virksomheden med Microsoft Business Central?

Ønsker du at vide, hvordan systemet understøtter og forbedrer jeres forretningsprocesser?

Er du i tvivl om, hvordan man griber et ERP-projekt an?

Så læs med her.


Onsdag den 3. marts kl. 11.00-12.00
holder QBS Nordics webinar sammen med Peter Jakobsen fra Microsoft.

Peter Jakobsen er Partner Technical Architect, Business Applications hos Microsoft, Western Europe.

På webinaret vil Peter Jakobsen:

  • Se på digitalisering i øjenhøjde og hvordan Microsoft Business Central understøtter de essentielle forretningsprocesser.
  • Afmystificere ERP-projektet og give et bud på hvordan man med fordel kan opdele processen i mindre faser
  • Vise de store fordele ved at anvende Business Central og hvordan man som virksomhed kan vokse sammen med systemet, og herunder indblik i licenstyper.
  • Fremhæve hvorfor Business Central er en samarbejdsplatform, der sørger for information automatisk bliver delt og dermed effektiviserer organisationen.
  • Give dig indblik i Microsofts Road Map og hvad fremtidens ERP-system skal kunne.

Migrering til Business Central på en enkelt dag!

Blot én dag tog det for QBS partneren wisepeople.it, at migrere deres kunde iGlobe, fra Economics til Business Central (BC) med servicen BusinessGo. Så nu er iGlobe på Microsofts nye økonomisystem, og ledelsen i iGlobe kan nemt og hurtigt afrapportere til bestyrelsen, med konstant opdaterede og relevant data, ved hjælp af Power BI, og uden at skulle røre en finger.

De fleste virksomhedsledere kender til udfordringen ved at skulle fremskaffe og opdatere deres bestyrelse omkring virksomhedens nøgletal og aktuelle status. Typisk på tidspunkter, hvor der er dårlig tid. Sådan var det også for Alon Ekelund fra iGlobe, der er en Microsoft Cloud Partner (Office 365), hvis apps har vundet tre MS App Awards, og som bliver downloadet og anvendt i hele verden.

Ønsket var derfor, at migrere fra Economics til Business Central. En opgave der kan virke uoverskuelig og kompleks for mange virksomheder, og som Alon kun blev bekræftet i, når han undersøgte markedet for rådgivning omkring migrering til BC.

Det skulle dog vise sig, at wisepeople.it, en af de dybt specialiserede QBS Partnere, med deres ekspertise og viden om Business Central, skulle blive svaret på iGlobes udfordringer. Wisepeople.it er et dedikeret Microsoft Dynamics hus, specialiseret i Business Central og NAV, og opererer hovedsageligt i Danmark. De har tidligere været meget fokuseret på on-premises løsninger, men satser nu 100% på Business Central i skyen og på udvikling af apps til Business Central.

Se vores partnere her

Findes der en nem måde at migrere til Business Central?

Kort opsummeret stod iGlobe over for følgende udfordring. Et økonomisystem der gjorde det svært og tidskrævende, at rapportere til bestyrelsen, og hvor der ikke fandtes nogen nem måde, at lave et standardiseret format, som kunne anvendes af alle i bestyrelsen.

Derudover, så forekom det ofte ubelejligt, at der på tilfældige tidspunkter, skulle fremskaffes data på kort tid omkring virksomhedens aktuelle status til bestyrelsens forskellige medlemmer. Tilmed, var det omstændigt at dele med modtagerne, med mindre Alon brugte en masse tid på at eksportere og stille tallene op i Excel-ark eller PowerPoint. Alon Ekelund vidste, at en Business Central løsning, med integrering til alle deres systemer, og en rapportering der imødekom bestyrelsens behov for at få et aktuelt overblik, kunne opnås med MS Power BI.

Men for Alon, og for så mange andre virksomhedsejere, kan en migrering fra et system til et andet, virke meget uoverskuelig og besværlig. Derfor søgte Alon rådgivning fra en række aktører på markedet, men blev kun bekræftet i besværet og kompleksiteten. Samtidig var det svært at få et samlet overblik over omfanget og omkostningerne forbundet med migreringen.


Alon Ekelund, iGlobe: ”iGlobe har på kun ét døgn migreret til Business Central, opnået fuld integration, og hele løsningen fremstår nu, som én sammenhængende platform”


Plug and Play med
BusinessGo

En konvertering til Business Central virkede uoverkommelig, selvom man i iGlobe sagtens kunne se fordelene ved det. Årsagen til, at beslutningen endelig blev truffet og sat i værk, skyldtes at iGlobe søgte rådgivning hos wisepeople.it, der har gjort det til deres mission, at migrere kunder, enkelt og hurtigt, til Business Central. Den udslagsgivende og hemmelige ingrediens, er et migreringsværktøj, som wisepeople.it har udviklet, der betyder, at iGlobe blot skulle levere nogle filer, og så var konverteringen til Business Central gennemført på et enkelt døgn.

I tillæg til dette, kunne al kommunikation og projektstyring mellem de to parter fungere virtuelt via Teams og med anvendelse af Planner, som gjorde det nemt og overskueligt, at gennemføre hele processen fra indledende dialog til migrering og opfølgning, i en tid med Corona og krav til afstand og isolation. ”Teams er en vigtig del af migreringsprocessen med BusinessGo. Herved har kunden fuldt overblik over, hvad der skal leveres af datagrundlag, og kan på daglig basis følge med i de enkelte fremskridt.” udtaler Gorm Erich Jensen, fra wisepeople.it.

Den konkrete løsning, som wisepeople.it tilbyder, er en service de har udviklet, der hedder BusinessGo, som kan hjælpe kunder med at migrere til Business Central. Via hjemmesiden businessgo.dk, eller med en indledende dialog direkte med wisepeople.it, kan man hurtigt få udkrystalliseret migreringen i nogle individuelle behov og få en konkret pris på hele migreringen med det samme. Det er nemt, gennemskueligt og som kunde føler man sig i trygge hænder, da det tydeligt fremgår, at der er tænkt på det hele.

Udgangspunktet for tilbudsgivningen i BusinessGo er en standardkonvertering og dertil kan kunden så tilvælge specifikke moduler. Det kan eksempelvis være specifikt fakturalayout, konvertering af indkøbsbilag, salgsfakturaer inklusiv linjer, hjælp med opstart mv., og til sidst få én samlet pris, hvor alt er inkluderet og udspecificeret. Al fildeling, support, opdateringer mv. kører via Teams, der betyder, at kunden kan følge med i de enkelte fremskridt på daglig basis og uden at komme i konflikt med de restriktioner, som Corona medfører. Kun én dag tager selve migreringen til Business Central, når først wisepeople.it har modtaget selve datagrundlaget.


Migrering på ét døgn og fuld integration

Alon Ekelund fra iGlobe er nu en meget lettet mand. Han er nu på Microsofts helt nye økonomisystem, sparer en masse tid, og skal ikke længere tænke på, hvornår han næste gang skal forberede rapportering til bestyrelsen. Det er han sluppet fuldstændig for, da konverteringen til BC og hans skræddersyede rapportering opsat i Power BI, nu kan tilgås af samtlige bestyrelsesmedlemmer, – når det passer dem. Rapporteringen foregår i realtid med kun en times forsinkelse. Så i dag kan iGlobes ledelse bruge tiden på at sælge løsninger og lave værdiskabende aktiviteter frem for at rapportere.

Set i et større perspektiv, så er den største hurdle – nemlig migreringen til BC – overstået med kyndig og højt specialiseret rådgivning og bistand fra QBS-partneren wisepeople.it. Processen har kørt upåklageligt, og de har hele tiden følt sig godt hjulpet. Ydermere har iGlobe opnået en bedre integration til deres CRM-system og kan nemt oprette en kunde fra Business Central, se fakturaer mv. Hele vejen rundt, har iGlobe opnået fuld integration med Office 365, og føler ikke længere, at de er isoleret på en øde ø, men at hele løsningen nu fremstår, som en sammenhængende platform.

 

Om wisepeople.it og iGlobe:

Alon Ekelund fra iGlobe og Gorm Erich Jensen fra wisepeople.it kender hinanden fra det internationale Microsoft partnernetværk IAMCP, og har samarbejdet omkring en række kunder.

iGlobe er 100% Microsoft Cloud partner (Office 365). Deres apps bliver downloadet og brugt i hele verden og de har vundet tre MS App Awards som MS ISV for deres CRM 2006, 2018 for Planner Pro og senest for appen MIPA. iGlobe er i tillæg MS App Certified, hvilket er garanti for høj sikkerhed, herunder også 100 % GDPR compliant. Kun 6 virksomheder i hele verden har den certificering.

wisepeople.it er en dedikeret Microsoft Dynamics partner, medlem af QBS Group og specialiseret i Business Central og NAV, og de opererer hovedsageligt i Danmark. De har tidligere været meget fokuseret på on-premises løsninger, men satser nu 100% på Business Central i skyen og på udvikling af apps til Business Central.

QBShare Online 2020

THANK YOU for attending QBShare Online 2020!

 

Main theme of the event:

NOW IS THE TIME!

Now is the time, to migrate your customers to the Cloud.

Take the step and get ahead of your competitors. 

QBS is here to guide you and support you.

Migration to the Cloud will be the main theme for the QBShare this year, in addition to inspiration and knowledge about Microsoft Dynamics. Which is why, we have made an exciting agenda for you, packed with interesting topics and speakers, from both Microsoft, partners, and team members of QBS Nordics.

The event is scheduled for:

  • Thursday, November 19,
    8.30-11.30 CET (Part 1)
  • Friday, November 20,
    8.30-11.45 CET (Part 2)

    NB: The webinar will be held in English.

Agenda for QBShare, Part 1 & Part 2

 

Part 1, 8.30-11.30

8.45 Kick off QBShare 2020, day 1 

Ulrikka van Straten, Regional Lead QBS

Download recording (via Partner Portal) 
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
9.00 Microsoft Keynote | Product Portfolio and why this is key to success: Get to know the platform from CE and  a PowerPlatform perspective 
Ian Marr Westh, Senior Partner Technical Architect, Business Applications, Microsoft
Download recording (via Partner Portal) 
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
 9.30 Coffee break   
9.45 “Now is the time – the threat of not migrating your customers is here” 
Johan Lundkvist, Partner Development Manager QBS
Download recording (via Partner Portal) 
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
10.15 Digital Marketing is key to success – QBS Marketing Services is here to help
Camilla Grabowski, Nordic Marketing Manager QBS
Rolf Carlsen, Director, B2B Agency
Not recorded
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
10.45 Coffee break   
11.00 Partner case – How we succeeded with Cloud
Mats Gustafsson, BrightCom AB
Download recording (via Partner Portal)
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
11.20 Wrap up of Part 1   
11.30 End of day 1   

 

Part 2, 8.30-11.30

8.45 Kick off QBShare, day 2 
Ulrikka van Straten, Regional Lead QBS
No presentation. Recording; see the first 8 min. of Get fully updated on Licenses & Incentives  
9.00 Get fully updated on Licenses & Incentives 
Mathias Dam Ejlertsen, Operations Manager QBS
Download recording (via Partner Portal)
– 8 min. of Kick off presentation included in the beginning
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
9.45 How to make sure you succeed with customer migrations
Shehab Zenussi, Partner Development Manager QBS
Download recording (via Partner Portal)
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
10.00 Coffee break   
10.15 Competition!  
10.30 Microsoft R&D | Strategic Q&A 
Claus Busk Andersen, Director of Platform Program Management, Microsoft
Jannik Bausager, Principal Group Program Manager, Microsoft
Download recording (via Partner Portal)
No presentation, panel discussion 
11.15 What to expect in 2021 – see what is coming  Download recording (via Partner Portal)
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
11.30 QBSuperstars
– Most migrations 2020
– Top 3 sales: Subs, On prem, CSP
– Train your people
Download recording (via Partner Portal)
Download presentation (via Partner Portal) 
11.45 End of day 2   

 

Price: This event is offered to you for free!