Position NAV as stepping stone for more Dynamics 365 ‘Tenerife’ deals

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Since the introduction of the Dynamics 365 Business Edition in the US and Canada late 2016, the position of Dynamics NAV is under pressure! Competitors took the chance to position NAV as an old-fashioned solution and that’s a direct threat to your NAV business!

In this edition of QBS Talks you’ll learn the 7 strong reasons to keep on selling Dynamics NAV to new customers. And new ideas on how to leverage that position, making NAV a safe stepping stone today to Dynamics 365 ‘Tenerife’ in the near future.

This is a Must Attend webinar for business owners and all the people active in sales and marketing!

Entrevista exclusiva con Jeff Edwards Director de ERP Channel Strategy Microsoft

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En Inspire 2017, tuvimos una entrevista con Jeff Edwards. Jeff ha estado trabajando para Microsoft desde 2000 y es el director de ERP Channel Strategy and Programs desde 2007. Hablamos sobre el proceso de transformación de partners a lo largo de los años. Acerca de los cambios positivos y los desafíos actuales para ambos partners y Microsoft. Y, por supuesto, también le hemos pedido su mejor consejo para tí como partner de Dynamics en el futuro.

Jeff Edwards
Jeff Edwards – Director ERP Channel Strategy Microsoft

Jeff, ¿cuáles son sus observaciones sobre el proceso de transformación de partners en el mercado de las PYME’s?

“Bueno, permítanme comenzar con lo positivo y cubrir los desafíos después”. En primer lugar, nuestros mejores partners de PYME’s realmente se han adaptado a Microsoft. Ya no son partners ERP o CRM de una sola categoría ya que también implementan soluciones como Office 365 y CRM. Y ofrecen Power BI, creando paneles para sus clientes. La introducción de Dynamics 365 Business Edition aumentará aún más esa cantidad de partners debido a los precios atractivos y al empaque inteligente. Los partners de NAV que no están ampliando su cartera estarán bajo riesgo, tanto para nuevos negocios como para sus bases de clientes existentes. Dentro de un año, si usted es un partner de ERP que no vende CRM, no sé lo que está haciendo “.

Entonces, ¿puedes decirnos más sobre el segundo positivo?

“Mi segunda observación positiva en la transformación es el grado de especialización o verticalización. Los posibles clientes de hoy no están interesados ​​en las conversaciones con partners que comienzan con “así que dígame, ¿cómo se ve su empresa? ¿Cuáles son tus problemas? ¿Qué quieres lograr? “Y luego construir, apoyar y actualizar esa solución a medida. No creo que la gente esté dispuesta a pagar por eso nunca más. Además, a menudo es demasiado complicado, toma demasiado tiempo y los riesgos son demasiado altos. Y todo eso viene a un coste interminable de mantenerse al día con los nuevos lanzamientos. Compañías como Forrester y Gartner confirman que el mercado quiere la mayor cantidad posible de productos nuevos. Y si realmente quiere hacer una personalización, debería hacerlo solo debido a una ventaja competitiva específica. No porque “hagamos cosas diferentes”. La personalización debe tener un beneficio específico para el cliente.

¡Así que ese es un gran cambio para un partner! Básicamente, tienen que alejarse de costosos procesos de ventas y preventa y empleados. Aquellos con una larga RFI (Solicitud de información), varias demostraciones de productos y múltiples pruebas de conceptos para ganar un nuevo cliente al azar basado en habilidades de personalización con un premio con descuento. También deben alejarse de personalizaciones únicas y proyectos de consultoría intensivos para obtener productos verticales repetibles, una mejor generación de demanda digital y comercialización de productos para tener éxito en sus mercados seleccionados. Además, el propietario de este futuro partner necesita tener un conjunto de habilidades diferente.

He visto 12 años de nominaciones para nuestros premios de partners de Dynamics. Con el tiempo, estas nominaciones se han vuelto mucho mejores y más precisas verticalmente. Nuestros mejores partners han logrado un gran progreso en el conocimiento empresarial y en los resultados comerciales. Una gran mayoría de los partners que hacen el 80 por ciento de nuestro negocio está completamente verticalizado. El 20% superior de nuestro canal total ha logrado un progreso asombroso. El próximo 30 por ciento está bien. También vemos algunas diferencias en regiones y soluciones. En Europa, del 50 al 60 por ciento está completamente verticalizado. Pero a los partners en el norte de Europa les está yendo mejor que a los del sur. Y los partners estadounidenses aún son menos especializados que los partners en Europa. Los parnters de CRM en todo el mundo aún son menos especializados que sus colegas de ERP. ¡Pero se reforman rápido! Cuando se trata de IP, no tienes que construirlo solo. AppSource será muy útil en este proceso. Y los partners definitivamente deberían considerar combinar su propia IP con IP de los ISV “.

Y finalmente, su tercer aspecto positivo. ¿Cual es ese?

“Mi tercer y último punto positivo es la aceptación de la nube en todo el canal asociado. Veo una completa aceptación mental de la nube hoy. Sin embargo, la realidad es que en muchos países o regiones la infraestructura no siempre es suficiente. Vemos que el tiempo de entrega de la transformación de nuestro propio negocio a la nube se acorta cada vez más. Para ilustrarlo: creo que Microsoft anunció CRM Online en 2009. Nos tomó alrededor de 6 años antes de que los ingresos por licencias en la nube superaran los ingresos de licencia. Con Dynamics AX, el tiempo de transición fue de dos años. Espero que lleguemos a ese punto de inflexión con NAV en 24 meses “.

Entonces eso nos lleva a los desafíos. ¿Cuáles son los más importantes que ves?

“El desafío número uno es el cambio de proyectos personalizados a productos estandarizados. Los partners no están haciendo un gran trabajo en eso. La parte crítica probablemente es que necesita un conjunto diferente de habilidades en términos de administración de productos, ciclos de publicación, documentos y pruebas. Además de la disciplina que debe venir con eso. Muchos partners aún tienen que tomar medidas en esta área.

Mi segundo es el cambio de un movimiento de ventas a un movimiento de marketing. Creo que todos hemos aceptado la idea de este nuevo comportamiento de compra basado en investigaciones anónimas. Sin embargo, la mayoría de los partners aún son pobres en marketing. Muchos partners han estado contratando gente de marketing recientemente, pero raramente del nivel adecuado. La mayoría de estos nuevos empleados son jóvenes y tienen una experiencia limitada. Los partners deben centrarse en los marketers senior y deben darle a esta persona un asiento en sus equipos de liderazgo. Al igual que lo hacen con su gerente de ventas. Nuestros principales partners ya lo hacen, como Power Objects, Socius y LS Retail. Pero eso es solo como el 10 por ciento del canal. Entonces eso es una decepción. Los partners que no mejoran su comercialización seguirán siendo relativamente ineficaces por un coste de ventas demasiado alto.

El tercer desafío es la expansión de la huella de las soluciones de los partners. Como dije antes, nuestros principales partners se han adaptado a Microsoft. Pero para todo el canal, el progreso es a un ritmo demasiado lento. Y debido a eso, los partners perderán ofertas. Especialmente si planean tener éxito con Dynamics 365. Una solución como Office 365 no le dará mucho dinero a un partner, pero a cambio le brinda el control de su cuenta. ¿Desea ser la estrategia de IT y el proveedor de soluciones para sus clientes? Entonces simplemente necesitas ofrecer las partes más importantes. Ya sea directo o como un servicio con etiqueta blanca a través de partners. Veo una especie de punto final en este negocio de pequeñas y medianas empresas en la nube, donde los partners son proveedores de soluciones profundas en un entorno micro vertical que ofrece la nube completa de Microsoft a través de una especie de portal. No creo que estos partners necesiten necesariamente ser compañías de 100 millones de dólares con capitalistas de riesgo y necesidades de oferta pública inicial. Pueden ser compañías de 10 a 30 millones de dólares y serán muy rentables “.

To expand their solution footprint, partners can consider a merger or acquisition. What is the status of these M&A activities in the channel?

“The M&A market is here now! At almost all of our top-partners, everyone talks to everybody. Either as a potential buyer or as a potential seller. However, buyers are not prepared to pay premiums. And often the sellers end up being disappointed about the price that is offered. And mostly that is because the owners focus more on the money they need for their retirement, rather than what the value for the buyer is.

I see two important trends. First is that partners understand the need for critical mass, both geographically and skill wise, to be a more complete provider for the full Dynamics 365 solution. Or even for the full Microsoft stack. Secondly, ERP partners buy CRM practices. Clearly this gives them an easy sale at a low cost to upsell CRM to their existing ERP customer base. In general I see that recurring revenue is the game changer. So I expect prices in M&A for traditional project businesses will decrease, where the market value of subscription based businesses will further increase.”

Para ampliar su notoriedad, los partners pueden considerar una fusión o adquisición. ¿Cuál es el estado de estas actividades de M&A (fusiones y adquisiciones de empresas) en el canal?

“¡El mercado de fusiones y adquisiciones está aquí! En casi todos nuestros principales partners, todos hablan con todos. Ya sea como comprador potencial o como vendedor potencial. Sin embargo, los compradores no están dispuestos a pagar primas. Y a menudo los vendedores terminan decepcionados por el precio que se les ofrece. Y sobre todo es porque los propietarios se centran más en el dinero que necesitan para su jubilación, en lugar de lo que es el valor para el comprador.

Veo dos tendencias importantes. Primero, los partners entienden la necesidad de una masa crítica, tanto geográfica como de habilidades, para ser un proveedor más completo de la solución completa de Dynamics 365. O incluso para el pack completo de Microsoft. En segundo lugar, los partners de ERP compran las prácticas de CRM. Claramente, esto les da una venta fácil a un bajo costo para vender CRM a su base de clientes ERP existente. En general, veo que los ingresos recurrentes cambian el juego. Así que espero que disminuyan los precios en fusiones y adquisiciones para las empresas de proyectos tradicionales, donde el valor de mercado de las empresas basadas en suscripción aumentará aún más “.

Un escenario alternativo para fusiones y adquisiciones es la cooperación entre partners. ¿Por qué es eso relativamente impopular?

“Antes que nada, la cooperación P2P necesita confianza. Las inversiones que necesita hacer para construir eso son sustanciales. Como resultado, no hay mucho retorno de la inversión en el corto plazo, por ejemplo, los primeros 6 meses. Por lo tanto, el impulso inicial de la cooperación es intenso y debes mantener la disciplina y ser paciente después. En segundo lugar, la mayoría de los partners no tienen éxito en la cooperación a escala. Tal vez deberíamos empezar a pensar en hacer de la cooperación P2P una competencia oficial. En el pasado cercano, hemos tratado de estimular la cooperación de una manera análoga. Tal vez deberíamos probar esto de nuevo en nuestro mundo digital con AppSource y Partner Finder. Otra buena idea es que los partners de CRM y ERP salgan juntos en eventos como DIRECTIONS US y EMEA este otoño “.

En su opinión, ¿cuál es el tamaño ideal de un partner exitoso de Dynamics 365 hoy en día?

“¡Esa es una pregunta interesante! Hace unos años, el tamaño ideal de un negocio asociado de Dynamics se calculó en 80 o más empleados. Ese tamaño le permitió a un partner, por ejemplo, tener un departamento de marketing adecuado y alguien responsable de la metodología y la calidad. Pero eso se basó en el negocio de proyectos tradicionales. Ahora que el canal asociado cambia a productos paquetizados ​​y enfocados verticalmente, ¡esta pregunta de tamaño vuelve a ser relevante! Definitivamente debemos pensar en eso, pero estos son mis primeros pensamientos. Escala de marketing y gestión de productos. Donde las ventas, la consultoría y el desarrollo personalizado no lo hacen. Entonces, los partners que ya han hecho el cambio ahora pueden hacer que su negocio sea relativamente fácil sin contratar mucha gente adicional. Por otro lado, existe la necesidad de abarcar una mayor parte de las soluciones de Microsoft que llevará a la contratación de conjuntos de habilidades adicionales “.

Entonces, ¿cuál es el estado real de los requisitos del partner?

“Estamos reintroduciendo los requisitos de certificación para Dynamics 365 en el mercado de las pequeñas y medianas empresas. Esto vendrá en algún momento del próximo año. Esperamos que el canal CSP sea clave para este producto. Puede ver que hemos cambiado los requisitos de la edición Enterprise de Dynamics 365 donde ahora se requieren certificaciones para vender el producto en CSP. No queremos un canal no calificado para vender Dynamics 365, y no queremos partners no calificados para ofrecer la suscripción a un bajo coste solo porque no han invertido nada en marketing, ventas o experiencia técnica. Pueden esperar ver requisitos más altos para la Silver & Gold Competency, y el derecho a vender en CSP. Como siempre, queremos un líder calificado para ir a un partnerque tenga la mejor oportunidad de ganar el trato, Y la implementación exitosa del software y asegurar el éxito del cliente.

Finalmente, ¿cuáles son sus tareas pendientes para el canal asociado de Dynamics?

“¡Bien, hay muchas cosas que hacer si eres un partner de Dynamics! Entonces, algún tipo de enfoque estructurado será muy útil. Recomendaría a nuestros partners de Dynamics para PYME’s que se centren en estas cuatro áreas:

  1. Prepárese para Dynamics 365 Business Edition y el mundo de la nube en general
  2. Deje ir su enfoque de una sola categoría en ERP o CRM y acepte la solución completa de Microsoft
  3. Centrarse en los mercados verticales. Si se encuentra hoy en un mercado macro vertical, considere profundizar en el nicho o nivel micro-vertical
  4. ¡Mejora tu marketing! Contratar a un gerente de marketing de producto. Y piense en términos de duplicar su inversión en tiempo, dinero y dedicación “.

 

DIRECTIONS EMEA 2017 business report is available now!

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Never before it was so important for Dynamics partners to understand the directions that Microsoft takes with her Dynamics NAV and Dynamics 365 business applications in today’s fast changing cloud world!

At DIRECTIONS US in Florida and the EMEA edition in Madrid, Microsoft unfolded some bold ideas to disrupt the market and grow faster. QBS group was in Madrid with a 23 people to hear these plans from first-hand. After the event, we have once again written our unique and well known DIRECTIONS EMEA 2017 business report with a team of 8 authors.

At QBS group, we understand that informing Dynamics partners well is crucial 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 international Microsoft events since 2004. So we know what we’re doing. This report is part of our ‘around the year’ reporting service that spans all the major events for Dynamics partners: Inspire/WPC, eXtreme 365 and DIRECTIONS.

What you can expect?

This unique report features broad, insightful and independent business reporting on the happenings at DIRECTIONS EMEA 2017. The report, which consists of 51 pages of need-to-know information, is bought and used by leading Dynamics partners from all over the world.

These partners use the report among others to:

  • Inform all their colleagues who did not visit the event
  • Improve their marketing and sales pitches
  • Update the content on their websites

 

What do Dynamics partners say about these reports?

This is what some of your colleague partners say about our reports:

  • “We are a loyal purchaser of these business 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 the QBS reports 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.

Taste first?
To get a good idea of what you can expect from our DIRECTIONS EMEA 2017 Business Report, you can now download the 2016 edition for free.

Order your copy now!

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

Do you want to know all about Microsoft’s plans with Dynamics NAV and Dynamics 365 ‘Tenerife’ and the opportunities these solutions create for your business? Then order your copy today!

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

Business Edition ya no existe – ¡Larga vida a Tenerife!

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Nuestro equipo acaba de volver de Directions en Madrid. Fue un evento notable en muchos aspectos. Primero ha sido el décimo aniversario de Directions y en esta edición se han superado los 2.000 asistentes no es solo un testimonio del éxito de Directions, sino también del impulso que ha creado esta comunidad de partners. 

Al mismo tiempo, Directions este año marcó un paso significativo en la estrategia de producto para NAV y la agenda de SMB para Dynamics. Si bien Microsoft ha desistido en tener dos ediciones de Dynamics 365, al dejar de lanzar Dynamics 365 Business Edition, queda claro que la plataforma NAV sigue siendo un pilar importante en la estrategia de Dynamics 365. Esta declaración se ha puesto en dudas las semanas anteriores, después de algunos comunicados que podrían haber llevado a los partners a creer que NAV se convierte casi en un legado. Pero, en todo caso, nadie debería tener ninguna duda de que NAV se mantendrá como la plataforma elegida por los clientes que desean tener una suite de gestión empresarial, ya sea on-prem o a través de la nube.

Este es un anuncio importante, las funcionalidades y de hecho el código base es 100% idéntico, sin tener en cuenta si el desarrollo es on-prem o cloud. De manera que la promesa que tus clientes pueden migrar al cloud bajo unas mismas condiciones, no es solo una promesa. Y puedes ir añadiendo funcionalidades a lo largo del proceso, bien en la parte de ventas, marketing o servicios al cliente o incluso talento humano. Puesto que todas las aplicaciones, incluyendo la próxima versión de NAV, denominado Tenerife, utilizará Common Data Service, pueden complementarse perfectamente.

Como QBS group, os hacemos partícipes de esta nueva agenda, puesto que estamos enfocados a dartos servicio a vosotros y vuestros negocios sin tener en cuenta si quieres hacer si los desarrollos a tus clientes los haces on-prem o en cloud público o privado. Contamos con las formaciones y los programasadecuados para ayudarte a migrar tu solución a la plataforma Tenerife, también te podemos aportar nuevos clientes a través del programa Take-the-lead, así como aumentar la capacidad de tus recursos técnicos con los servicios de migraciones o ayudarte a construir una nueva estrategia para tu negocio o en el área de marketing con los workshops personalizados. En cualquier caso, te invitamos a debatir sobre tu futuro, en nuestros eventos QBShares con los equipos de QBS locales o contactando conmigo o alguien de nuestro equipo. Finalmente, si te interesa tener información de primera mano sobre los temas presentados en Directions este año, te recomendamos que revises este vídeo “HOT News from Directions EMEA” y estés atento al informe Directions business report para tener una perspectiva clara sobre los cambios más relevantes.

Directions EMEA 2017 in Madrid: Microsoft shares core beliefs that Dynamics SMB partners can embrace

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As a longtime Microsoft-observer with a perspective geared toward Microsoft Dynamics, I’d like to share some of my impressions of the important trends from this year’s Directions EMEA 2017 in Madrid.

The Microsoft Dynamics SMB partner community has never been awaited a Directions EMEA event as it did this year’s edition. There were two main reasons for that. First, they recognize the growing importance of the Dynamics 365 concept for both the Dynamics NAV and the Dynamics CRM channels. Second, they are facing confusion around the go-to-market models around Dynamics 365 that was created by Microsoft at the US edition a few weeks before.

Microsoft succeeded in clarifying the product strategies and go-to-market initiatives for Dynamics 365 in the SMB markets. Marko Perisic, general manager Dynamics 365 for SMB markets, explained to the audience why some of the initiatives as communicated at DIRECTIONS US were not that smart after all. And together with his team he delivered some fantastic product demonstrations.

So Microsoft’s overall performance at this event took away most of the confusion and was instrumental in building trust in the companies’ future product directions. Here are some of the core values and beliefs that Microsoft shared about their future direction.

  • Microsoft explained why they decided to no longer use the split between the SMB variant (Business Edition) and its bigger brother (Enterprise Edition) based on the somewhat artificial 250 employees border. The new approach will allow Microsoft and its partners to start the product discussion based on the customer’s needs. Of course this is a starting point that makes sense!
  • With the introduction of Dynamics 365 codename ‘Tenerife’, Microsoft will bring the Dynamics NAV brand under the overall Dynamics 365 umbrella. That’s good news for the partner community, since it helps NAV to leverage the large investments Microsoft is making in the Dynamics 365 brand.
  • Microsoft is going to make a big step forward by making Dynamics 365 ‘Tenerife’ available in Spring 2018 in 14 countries based on localised versions.
  • The event made clear that the cloud is here and it’s here to stay. The important message to the partner community is that cloud is not just an option anymore, but a ‘must have’ in the proposition of any successful Dynamics partner business!
  • Like in previous events, Microsoft repeated her messages around the importance of the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program. Many Dynamics partners have not prepared themselves for this program so far. But it will be the only way to order Dynamics 365 licenses going forward. Microsoft also announced new rules that makes it more difficult to become a CSP Direct partner.
  • Another important topic at this event was partner certification. The current competencies for ‘ERP’ and ‘cloud CRM’ will disappear shortly. They will be replaced by the new ‘Business Application cloud’ competency. After 3 years without exams, partners can expect the re-introduction of product-oriented exams on top of revenue thresholds.
  • Even the most traditional Dynamics NAV partner at the event had to admit: the days of the Dynamics NAV partner are over. All partners understand that their future is in the Microsoft stack, thus in being a Microsoft partner rather than a Microsoft Dynamics partner!
  • Standard ERP and standard CRM implementations have turned into commodities. Just like Office 365 implementations some years ago. This means that Dynamics partners must differentiate themselves even more than in the past to stay out of the pricing downward spiral. The real value is in specialisation/verticalisation and in adding new technologies like the ‘Power Suite’, artificial intelligence, and IoT.

The overall message to partners was the importance of change! The successful Dynamics partners of the future have an open mindset, have no fear of experimentation, and are willing to invest time, money and energy in new ideas, concepts and go-to-markets. The near future will tell us which partners are able and willing to do so.

The organizing committee of Directions EMEA had many reasons to be proud. They reported over 2,150 attendees representing 600 partners from 60 countries from all over the world. An all-time record! The 2018 edition of Directions EMEA will take place on October 31st to November 2nd in The Hague, The Netherlands.

Our Build or Buy Agenda

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When I joined QBS group a year back, it became clear, that we have to invest in 2 directions in order to stay competitive in the post Dynamics 365 environment.

One big change with Dynamics 365 proposition is to get from distinct products to an integrated experience, very much like Office did vs. single apps in productivity. As QBS group we have built expertise and IP around NAV. So we needed to quickly get access to CRM related knowledge and also get IP that can provide additional value not just to ERP related scenarios for our partners, but also to Sales and Marketing. While we could have chosen to start building these assets from scratch, it would have taken way too long. So we were looking out for a partnership.  We found a great fit of objectives with MindsUnited. They were coming from the exact opposite side, focusing on CRM related workloads only. Yet same approach as QBS group – target SMB market  and have clear focus on partners. So that drove our decision to invest in MindsUnited and eventually integrate them into our holding The IT Channel Company.

Also brought in talent and expertise on the CRM side, which we already made good use, in the interest of our partners.

As direct consequence, we were able to offer their CRM Online Jumpstart product to our partners. Jumpstart is a wizard based enabling tool, that let’s you configure and implement the relative complex CRM Online environment, even with little CRM expertise. So partners that wanted to also serve customers on CRM Online, but with a simplified implementation, were provided with that immediate opportunity. Also MindsUnited Cloud-Chain service was great addition to our partners portfolio, as it helps them to integrate data and process from different business application and productivity platforms. As intended, the acquisition also brought in talent and expertise on the CRM side, which we already made good use, in the interest of our partners. MindsUnited experts gave technical trainings and consultancy as well as direct support in customer negotiations. Their Jumpstart product is supporting D365 Sales Enterprise Edition right out of the gate and therefore keeps our partners connected to latest technology from Microsoft Dynamics.

They are very successful in providing outsourcing capacity on migrations for NAV solutions and other development workloads.

Next we knew that we need to differentiate ourselves through services we provide to partners. Doing license transaction will become a commodity in context of SaaS services like Dynamics 365 in long-term. Hence it will be harder for us to provide unique value to partners. While we already developed comprehensive service platform for lead generation (Take-the-Lead) or enablement (our D365 accelerate program), we saw one common challenge our partners had, that we could hardly address: Create more capacity by offloading IT work. On one hand side, we work very closely with Dynasource as a marketplace for our partners to offer and take in IT talent, yet when it comes to concrete outsourcing projects, we had to point to 3rd parties. That was decision point to have strategic alliance with 1ClickFactory and also invest in that partnership. They are very successful in providing outsourcing capacity on migrations for NAV solutions and other development workloads. In fact they are one of the few ISV development centers for Microsoft Dynamics. So we are confident that this partnership can help us to further deliver against our promise, to increase revenue of our partners and reduce costs.

We will continue to listen carefully to our partners in terms of their pain points and the market opportunities they want to pursue. We will continue to invest inside our company, but also through partnerships and acquisitions to make sure we provide the best value to our partners moving forward. But at same time, we are very clear that we do not want to compete with our partners at any time. We continue to be a partner led organization that has clear mission: Help our partners to increase revenue and decrease cost. So if you have any suggestions or comments, I am eager to hear it.

Directions EMEA 2017 Madrid

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Find here all the information you as Microsoft Reseller need to know from Directions EMEA 2017.

Hot News from Directions EMEA 2017 (48 Minutes)

More videos about Directions EMEA 2017, you can watch on our
QBS group Playlist – Directions EMEA 2017

Blogs

This year’s edition was delivered in Madrid from October 4th till 6th. This year Directions has many announcements and new strategies especially around Dynamics 365 and the local availability in the EMEA region.

Like every year, QBS group has attend this event with a large team.

Reflections on this weeks announcements from Microsoft

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One of our founders summarized this week plain and simple: Never a dull moment. Yes it was a roller coaster week for Dynamics partners, especially the ones that build their business on the NAV platform. Other than just summarizing the events, I wanted to write up my position. And I felt it might make sense to put myself into the product marketing shoes of Microsoft and start with a white board session. How I would structure the best possible go-to-market for Dynamics in SMB?

First consideration is that most, if not all SMB companies do not deploy Accounting, Finance, ERP, Sales and Marketing all in once. One because they might have an existing solution and complement that or because they prioritize one over the other. Second we would want to optimize for the 10-99 employee space. As we have seen in past through market research from AMI, this is space where we should expect the highest growth for SaaS Business Apps. If I would now optimize the go-to-market for prospects that are starting from Finance / ERP, I would always integrate the industry context of a given prospect. I don’t believe that you can attract majority of customers in that space with a “vanilla”, one size fits all ERP platform. (See also my blog earlier this year) As customer you at least want to use the business app within your industry environment. The more sophisticated you get, the more you then need processes and functions that are specific to your industry, which is hard to get from a “horizontal” business app solution. So I probably would not bet on a finished user experience coming from Microsoft, but rather a platform where partners provide their industry expertice. Well isn’t that what Tenerife is all about? I think we should be really excited about the platform Microsoft announced this week.

Then I think about the Sales and Marketing side. This is still relatively new business process to many of our SMB customers. Which would suggest that you start simple, with processes that are most common, like managing a pipeline and then as you grow into the CRM concepts, you add functionality. As far as I understand, that is path forward with Dynamics 365 Sales, one service to start and then pay as you go. If you need more functionality, you add and pay. Looks like a winning strategy in SMB to me as well.

My point being that, highlevel, the go-to-market that Microsoft presented early this week is good news for us and our partners to be successful in acquiring more SMB customers to cloud, at scale. Unfortunately, it came with 3 major issue :

  • We need to benefit from Microsoft’s branding. Taking Dynamics with its individual brands to Dynamics 365 was a very smart move. It associates Dynamics to the de facto standard for cloud productivity, Office 365. If the SMB go to market, that is based on Teneriffe can’t take full advantage of thatbrand proposition, it limits its potential success. Even worse, it could be misperceived as having NAV become a legacy platform. Many competitors would love to take advantage of such a misperception.
  • The way it was positioned, provided room to speculate how committed Microsoft is on the different ERP platforms. So far, Microsoft and especially Marko Perisic did great job to ensure that customers and partners place a safe bet with AX, NAV, GP and the SL platform. I am not a technical person, but I do understand that providing only one ERP platform from small business with 10 employees to enterprises with thousands of employees and international subsidiaries is simply bound to fail. All competitors equally struggle to do so, they all go with 2 platforms to serve the purpose. We all need to see that strong commitment from Microsoft to the different Business Application Platforms.
  • I am with Steve Mordue that it was odd to have announcements around branding, positioning and product portfolio go out completely untested. That is why there is an Inner Circle, why there is a Partner Advisory Council. It’s great to see that Microsoft is taking feedback. They reacted at Directions, they start to react on the feedback we and other partners gave as part of the Inner Circle event, but it could have saved a lot of unproductive discussion and sleepless nights for many of us, if it would have been done in a small forum first and positioned to a larger crowd.

So in closing, there is much to be excited about the Dynamics future in SMB. The strategy is sound and Microsoft, especially the Dynamics NAV team, has demonstrated that they can deliver. If they take feedback to heart and make sure we remain in the strong position as Dynamics SMB partners, we have the best ahead of us. As QBS we will continue to represent the interests of our partners best we can and provide feedback to Microsoft, to optimize our joined go-to-market. Also watch out for our Directions 2017 Business report. We will have exclusive interviews with Marko Perisic and other executives from Microsoft.

Best regards,

Michael Hartmann

CEO, QBS group

Slimstock and QBS group join forces to strengthen QBS partner capabilities

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Leusden, 21th of September 2017

Slimstock: market leader in inventory optimisation in Europe, announced a partnership with QBS to drive more business opportunities within the QBS partner base. With the complete software package Slim4, Slimstock helps customers to get the right inventory to the right place at the right time. Slimstock offers assistance to help reduce your inventory while at the same time increasing the service level. So turnover increases, while costs decrease and they offer a guarantee on these results. QBS will work with their partner community to explore opportunities for and with Slimstock which should result in service projects for the QBS partners.

The long-term strategic relationship will focus on enabling clients to implement the complete solution for the structural optimisation of their inventory with Slim4 and give our partners an upsell possibility at their customers and create more value add in the value chain of the customer.

Eric van Dijk, CEO, Slimstock: “Working with QBS will help us sharing our knowledge with more partners and customers. Thereby helping customers to take advantage of the new innovation in Dynamics NAV more efficiently.”

Michael Hartmann, CEO, QBS: “We are glad to offer another solution that helps partners adding more value add software on top of the existing NAV base”

For more information, visit www.slimstock.com

 

Important news from Directions US 2017

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QBS Partners are the best informed partners. As this is the mantra we live by, we are sharing the latest news on Dynamics NAV via this article. This week the first of the two Directions conferences is taking place in Florida. Some important news was shared which is crucial for your business planning for 2018. Although most of this news is very fresh, not fully detailed and will be repeated at Directions EMEA in Madrid, we would like to share what we know right now.

Dynamics  365 “TENERIFE” will offer full NAV functionality

The current versions of D365 Finance and Operations BE, avaliable in UK, US and CA offers limited functionality. This product was scheduled to become avaliable in other countries in Q4 2017. At Directions US it was announced that the new product, code name “TENERIFE” will have full functionality, giving customers the ultimate decision power to go for any configuration (OnPremise, Hybrid, SaaS or Multi Tenant hosting). For customers requiring less functionality, Office 365 Business Center will be the place to start. With this news it looks like the rigid division between Business Edition and Enterprise Edition is a blast from the past. This news proofs the full and continued focus of Microsoft on offering a great cloud product for the SMB with the same code base and functionality provided by Dynamics NAV. It is expexted that this product will launch in the spring of 2018

 

Extensions will be be optional

This new product “TENERIFE” will offer more possibilities to enhance the solution without the eminent need of extension. Although extensions will be by far the BEST option (in terms of upgradebilty, scalability and technical support), there will be options to leverage on the investment done in the current verticals build on older techniques

Although many more news was shared, these are the most important messages for now.  During the coming QBS Share Events we will share with you more details and indepth insights on these subjects. The connections we have with Microsoft via Inner Circle (amongs others) will be used to keep you updated and gives you early on the possibility to adapt to this news.

If you have any questions regarding this news or want to know more about our services around cloud readiness, please contact your PAM.

 

El modelo de CSP Directo es como un Iceberg

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En QBS creemos que nuestros partners merecen lo mejor. El mejor soporte, el mejor software y las mejores historias. Esta vez hemos pedido a uno de nuestros partners del Reino Unido, Creative Business Systems, que comparta sus pensamientos y experiencias con ustedes en su viaje a la nube.
Le preguntamos a Amit Wason si podría compartir su experiencia con vosotros en el asunto de un enfoque directo o indirecto.

La demanda del mercado para un enfoque basado en suscripción está creciendo

Nos dimos cuenta de que el mercado está cambiando, nuestros clientes están, cada vez más, solicitando un enfoque basado en suscripción. Esto les permite no tener sus propios servicios ni la molestia. En CBS siempre nos ha gustado hacer cosas nuevas tanto como en NAV, donde nos centramos más en una entrega orientada a servicios y no en una entrega de productos. Por ahora estamos trabajando en la creación de nuestras propias aplicaciones que trabajarán en Dynamics 365, lo que nos permitirá tener menos on-offs e ir al lado más repetible de la empresa. Vamos a participar con nuestros clientes para ver lo que es realmente importante para ellos y llenar los vacíos con nuestras aplicaciones para asegurarse de que la oferta estandarizada Dynamics 365 es un ajuste perfecto para ellos. Trabajando con QBS podemos deshacernos del reto técnico y enfocarnos en las soluciones.

Encuentra tu mercado; haz algunas investigaciones de mercado adecuado para ver donde está la vertical a la que debes ir. No sólo bucear, el mercado potencial para Dynamics 365 es diferente al mercado tradicional.

El enfoque directo o indirecto, esa es la cuestión

Hay dos opciones cuando se va a la nube. Hace unos 4-5 años, habíamos creado otra empresa que se centraría en dos cosas: la seguridad en la nube (Internet) y los servicios basados ​​en la nube. Tratamos de ofrecer: aprovisionamiento, creación de nuevos usuarios y portales, facturas automatizadas, etc. Al final fue una tarea gigantesca y al final conseguimos que todo funcionara, aunque no estuviéramos allí donde queríamos. La competencia de los grandes sin embargo es feroz, las inversiones son enormes y todas las otras cosas que necesitas pensar son sencillamente locas; apoyo, seguridad. A menos que realmente puedas ir al mercado con algunos números serios, no tiene sentido ir directo.

Nos dimos cuenta de lo difícil que es crear tu propio modelo directo. Así que cuando Andy De Rosa de QBS, él y yo fuimos atrás por unos 10 años, mencionó que podríamos usar QBS para todo esto que estábamos definitivamente interesados. Y sólo puedo decir que, al mirar el modelo indirecto, ofrecido por QBS, es simplemente brillante. Mi consejo a los demás … no tomes el enfoque directo, es como un iceberg; sólo se ve una pequeña porción, la mayoría del trabajo se lleva a cabo bajo el agua. QBS y su oferta CSP tienen el mejor margen. La configuración de la parte del hardware es en realidad la parte fácil, la parte difícil es el servicio. QBS ha hecho todo el trabajo duro y nos dan un lugar con toda la información que necesitamos. La adición de servicios adicionales es cuestión de segundos.

En el proceso, por supuesto, hemos encontrado muchas preguntas, como la seguridad, quién está hospedando qué, quién hace qué. Hacer que los clientes entiendan lo que va a donde. La seguridad ha sido el mayor obstáculo, especialmente más empresas corporativas quieren conocer todos los detalles y hacer la gobernanza técnica ellos mismos. Hubiera sido bueno tener un paquete con las respuestas a estas preguntas, explicando esto es lo que está comprando y esto es lo que sucede. Colaboramos con QBS para brindar las respuestas correctas a nuestros clientes en estos proyectos.

Resultados hasta ahora

Hemos estado utilizando QBS para nuestros servicios durante 2 años y tenemos varios clientes en la plataforma. Con QBS hemos encontrado un partner en el proceso y no solo un proveedor de la plataforma. Cuando se trata de Microsoft directamente, estás por tu cuenta para hacer que las cosas sucedan. También tenemos nuestro propio portal en Azure, pero nos damos cuenta de que es mucho más difícil y más trabajo si algo no está funcionando. Mientras que con QBS que acaba de cambiar su servidor. Simplemente hace que sea fácil de conseguir que funcione.

Así como el coste es mucho más fácil; no tenemos que preocuparnos de cuánta base de datos se utilizó ese mes, cuántas conexiones, etc. Tenemos más confianza como con QBS, obtenemos un precio fijo para nuestros costos de infraestructura, los costes del ancho de banda del usuario para que sepamos exactamente el precio y lo que podemos pasar como costes de reventa a nuestros clientes.

Lea más acerca de nuestro servicio QBS Azure.

Nuestros planes para el futuro

Estaremos ofreciendo la mitad de nuestros servicios en la nube y, por lo tanto, se puede repetir y la mitad de ellos todavía está en una base de proyecto. La masa de nuestros clientes trabajará de una manera más lisa. Esperamos que algunos de nuestros clientes más pequeños superen Dynamics 365 y avancen hacia proyectos. Podríamos incluso tener que crear una compañía separada para el negocio de la nube, con su propio marketing y ventas. Espero haber duplicado la mano de obra para entonces, mientras que habrá un cambio en la gente que atraeremos. Nos enfocaremos en crear aplicaciones que ayuden a nuestros clientes a sacar el máximo provecho de su software ERP. En el corto plazo, tendremos que prepararnos para NAV 365, ya que somos el primer país en Europa en lanzar. ¡Estos son tiempos emocionantes!

Start selling Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales now via special SMB SKU

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QBS group guarantees “future proof selling” to Dynamics 365 Sales when it becomes available

You want to get started selling D365 Sales but don’t want to wait to Dynamics 365 Sales to become available in your country…. We got you covered!

In combination with the Jumpstart add-on we can sell you D365 today and guarantee you the upgrade to future products.

The basis for this offering are the 2 promotional SKU’s from Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales or Dynamics 365 for Sales and Customer Service (for more information visit our Partner Portal).

These promotional SKUs basically allows you to sell the D365 Sales Enterprise Edition to with a “SMB” price, which means that you can start selling to customers and don’t have to tell them to wait.

More info on Jumpstart via: http://www.jumpstart365.com/ 

If you want to know more or order this solution, please contact QBS group via the Partner Service Desk.

Promotion of Anne D. Jakobsen to VP of Marketing for QBS group

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Customer lifetime value and customer adds have become the new currency in the business application space. So at QBS group we want to strengthen our ability to offer world class marketing to our partners in order to keep them competitive. Promoting our Global Marketing Lead to VP of Marketing, Anne D. Jakobsen, is a natural step in this direction.

Anne has been with QBS group since November 2015, when she joined as the OneBizz Marketing Lead in the Nordics. Before that, Anne had a 15+ year history with Microsoft/Navision, so she’s a long time veteran in the world of Dynamics. She brings in a wealth of marketing experience on numerous disciplines and experience on cross-European activities, latest from her role as Marketing Manager with Microsoft Western Europe team. We are sure that strengthening our marketing organization like this will benefit all partners in the QBS group community.

In her own words: “I’ve spent most of my adult life doing marketing on the Dynamics portfolio – and over the years it has become more and more evident that creating modern marketing activities is what can make or break a company in this industry. So the services of the QBS group marketing teams are vital to the success of the partners in our community”.

Partners with QBS group benefits from marketing services such as strategic consultancy, lead generation, online marketing and marketing automation. Want to know how to join the QBS community? Read here.

Siempre al día con tu negocio Dynamics

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A medida que Microsoft cambia y el mercado evoluciona: Sigue siempre al día con tu negocio Dynamics. Mientras nos preparamos para Directions 2017 en Madrid, estaba reflexionando sobre los últimos cambios en la organización de Microsoft.

Habiendo estado en Microsoft durante mucho tiempo, entiendo la intención de enfocar todos los recursos en el objetivo principal que tiene como empresa y que, sin duda, se convertirá en el proveedor líder de servicios en la nube. La nube de datos con Azure, la nube de productividad con Office 365 y, a continuación, la nube de negocios en la que Dynamics 365 Business Edition debería ser el foco para las PYME. De manera que se decidió alinear sus recursos de soporte a canal para facilitar la transición a la nube de forma escalable. Los roles que conocemos como Partner Account Manager o Partner Sales Executive, tal como los denominaban hasta ahora, sencillamente han dejado de existir. Entre otras funciones, ahora encontraremos los Partner Development Managers los que te ayudarán a transformarte en la nube, crear ofertas en la parte vinculadas a los servicios en la nube de Microsoft y cómo monetizar tu IP y servicios. Pero cuando se trata del negocio tradicional de NAV, puedes sentirte un poco como Kevin, ¡‘Solo en casa’!

¿A quién acudir si tienes alguna pregunta sobre el licenciamiento de NAV? ¿Y si quieres agregar clientes on-premise y con una licencia Perpetual? De momento, Microsoft todavía ofrece este soporte, pero ¿encontrarás la misma dedicación que tuviste hace pocos meses? Tu reacción puede ser similar a la mía, ver este cambio como un reto. Pero en tal caso, sugiero que te unas a la QBS Network. Si bien los partners de nuestra red son todos diferentes, muchos de vosotros os enfrentáis a los mismos retos empresariales. Como QBS, podemos poner en marcha múltiples acciones y programas que un partner de forma individual no puede permitirse.  Actualmente contamos con más de 400 partners en nuestra red en toda Europa y hacemos todo lo posible para garantizar que tus inversiones estén aseguradas y que se transformen y evolucionen a su ritmo, lo que no es necesariamente lo mismo que Microsoft tiene en mente. Ponemos en tus manos leads cualificados de clientes potenciales adaptados a tus soluciones y servicios, ofrecemos capacidad adicional para tu equipo sin la necesidad de incorporar nuevos recursos, integramos nuevas tecnologías como Dynamics 365 con profesionales especializados y te ayudamos a mantener tu negocio en marcha para que los partners podáis concentraros en aportar valor a vuestros clientes.

What Dynamics SMB partners can expect from Directions 2017

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For many years, Directions was the annual event for Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners. Driven by partners – organized for partners. This year however, the event makes a shift from ‘NAV only’ towards embracing the full Microsoft stack. DIRECTIONS is now open for all Dynamics SMB partners and focuses on attracting the Dynamics CRM partner community as well. Being a Dynamics SMB partner in todays’ market is like dancing on a volcano. And the various Microsoft announcements that partners can expect at these events will make the dancing effect even stronger!

The Directions conferences bring together developers, implementers, technical experts, marketeers, sales and executive/owner representatives from Dynamics SMB partners, ISV’s, service providers and Microsoft. At present, there are three editions of Directions. The 13th US edition will take place on September 17th till 20th in Orlando, Florida. According to the website, both the venue for the event and the Orlando international airport have survived hurricane Irma, so everything is good to go. The EMEA edition picked Madrid as the 2017 location for their tenth anniversary that will be organized from October 4th till 6th. And finally, in March 2017 the first edition ever of Directions ASIA was organized in Bangkok, Thailand.

The EMEA edition is expected to book another all-time high partner registration. Last years’ edition in Prague counted some 1.750 attendees, which by that time was a record. This year, the organization committee expects even (far) over 2.000 registrations, mainly due to the additional CRM attendees!

This article aims to give you an overview of what Dynamics NAV and Dynamics CRM partners can expect of these events. And where they should put their focus regarding the sessions.

  • The position of Dynamics NAV is under pressure. The announcement of the Dynamics 365 concept at WPC 2016, combined with today’s limited geographic availability of the D365 Finance and Operations Business edition (D365FOB) SMB solution has put Dynamics NAV in an uncomfortable position. Competitors have successfully sowed confusion in the market about NAV’s future determination. Microsoft now has the challenge, together with her partners, to recover the positioning of Dynamics NAV as her flagship ERP solution for SMBs. Partner can expect messages on this in the keynote presentations!
  • Many Dynamics SMB partners are eager to make a real start with Dynamics 365. However, this is of course directly related to the availability of the Dynamics 365 Business Edition. That includes both the ERP domain (‘Finance and Operations’) and the CRM domain (‘Sales’ and ‘Marketing’). In the interview we’ve had with Marko Perisic for our Inspire 2017 business report, he stated: “At DIRECTIONS, we will communicate our localization plans in detail. It means that every single Dynamics SMB partner in the world – be it NAV, GP, SL or Dynamics 365 – of every partner type in the channel – be it VAR, SI, or ISV – in all geographies of the world will get clear guidance on what they need to do to participate in Dynamics 365.” So every partner should look for news, guidance and a clear roadmap of their path to the Dynamics 365 platform.
  • Microsoft will officially launch Dynamics NAV 2018 – formerly known under the code name “Tenerife”. The agenda offers all kind of functional and technical sessions for this new version.
  • Over the past 12 months, Microsoft has managed to maintain the same code base between D365FOB and Dynamics NAV. Although this is a more technical statement, it is also a very important and strong strategic statement that should put partners at ease, since it means that any investment made in D365 Finance and Operations, Business Edition is a 100 percent investment in NAV, and vice-versa. At this season’s events, all Dynamics SMB partners should find further evidence for this statement, including the motivation and confidence for their ongoing investments.
  • All Dynamics NAV partners need to transform their businesses to stay relevant in a cloud-first world. However, many partners still have not started this process at all! Paul White, the former worldwide general manager for NAV, predicted during DIRECTIONS 2016 that only 20 percent of the NAV partner community will eventually make this transition. So partners who have not started yet should really focus on the sessions that can help them to transform as soon as possible. Partners can expect many sessions on this important topic.
  • To be successful with Dynamics 365, SMB partners must walk on two legs. For Dynamics NAV partners this means that they have to add the CRM domain to their solutions portfolio. And the Dynamics CRM partners have to find a way to expand their offering into the ERP domain. Failing to do so will, over time, limit their chances to win new deals and at the same time will put their customer bases at risk. Of course, there are several paths partners might follow to get there like building a new practice, cooperating with other partners, or acquiring the missing part. Partners should watch for sessions that give them guidance in this process.
  • The prospects for business success with “stand-alone” Dynamics NAV and/or CRM are expected to decrease over time. Separate from their attention to Dynamics 365, all partners should prepare to expand their current portfolio with solutions like Office 365, Power BI, Flow, Cortana Intelligence, and Azure. Most partners will probably not be able to take all at once, so they must make choices. What workloads are most important for your target markets? How much can you afford to invest? And what employee capacity do you have available? At the two events, there will be many functional and technical sessions that will give guidance on how to plan for these opportunities.
  • With the channel converging on Dynamics 365 solutions, the competition between partners will become much more intense. A Google search on ‘Dynamics 365’ results in tens of millions of results. So it’s far from easy to be found just based on the standard solution. More than ever before, Dynamics SMB partners need to differentiate their offerings by specializing on specific workloads and/or markets. Again, partners might want to select those sessions that help them prepare for this process.
  • Furthermore, success in the Dynamics 365 arena demands for modern marketing, sales, delivery and support processes. The reality is that most Dynamics SMB partners are still far away from that ideal situation. So it makes sense to attend the specific sessions on these topics as well. Digital transformation is the overall umbrella that Microsoft is using in her marketing and branding. Dynamics SMB partners should adapt the positioning and branding of their propositions to take advantage of this. And at the same time consider what digital transformation means for their internal IT processes.
  •  What business model do you need to make a financial success out of Dynamics 365? Probably even more important than all the product aspects – no matter how interesting they are – is the business side. Marketing, selling, implementing, and supporting Dynamics 365 demands a different approach compared with the traditional Dynamics projects. In order to be successful, most partners will need to see Dynamics 365 as a whole new chapter in their businesses – one that involves less license margin, smaller services revenues, and cheaper delivery people who work with a different mindset.
  • Partners much figure out Microsoft’s One Commercial Partner model. OCP is the biggest change in the Microsoft sales organisation of the last 10 years. It’s important for any Dynamics partner to understand this model and the impact it will have on their relationship with Microsoft. Are you still a managed partner in FY18? If so, will you be managed by a Microsoft Dynamics contact person or a more generic Microsoft contact person? And if you’re an unmanaged partner – where can you go for business support, especially for the more traditional NAV and CRM business issues?
  • What’s the future of Dynamics partner events? Now that Microsoft decided to finally integrate her different workloads into the new Dynamics 365 offering, the question arises of what this all means for events that were traditionally single-product focused but now are compelled to evolve, like DIRECTIONS (traditionally NAV-focused) and eXtreme365 (traditionally CRM-focused). Should they integrate as well? Partners can expect some indications on the future of these two events.

I will not be in Orlando, but I do hope to see you all in Madrid!

Guus Krabbenborg