This series of webinars is intended to share the latest information on Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both from a technical, functional and business perspective. Besides sharing information, we will also update on the services portfolio from QBS group to assist on the road to Dynamics 365.
Watch here the Webinar update of the 13th of June 2019.
This series of webinars is intended to share the latest information on Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both from a technical, functional and business perspective. Besides sharing information, we will also update on the services portfolio from QBS group to assist on the road to Dynamics 365.
Watch here the Webinar update of the 9th of May 2019.
The April 2019 Business Central Licensing Guide has recently been released, but are there differences from the previous ones? In short, yes. What we would like to do is highlight the important ones for you. In this blog, we have highlighted excerpts from 2 different Microsoft sources to which we have included the links below:
*Excerpts of information have been used from:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central Licensing Guide for April 2019 & https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/business-applications-release-notes/April19/dynamics365-business-central/
(Should you wish to have a copy of the latest licensing guide, please drop me an email and I will be more than happy to send it through to you.)
This has been a bone of contention for people looking at moving to Dynamics 365 Business Central. In the original Licensing Guide, which was released at the time that Dynamics 365 Business Central was released in MEA, it stated categorically that there were no Dual Use Rights. Microsoft had changed this with the release of Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premise release in October last year. However, there wasn’t all that much clarity around whether the versions were identical with all the same features and also, how do the Dynamics 365 Business Central licenses get deployed in a traditional On-Premise environment. In short, no the versions are not identical for Cloud and On-Premise. The on-premise version was made available to assist partners and their customers that are not ready to take the jump to the cloud just yet but to allow them to have a more seamless move to the cloud when they are ready. This is probably the best initiative yet, as the move from Dynamics 365 Business Central on-premise to Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud end up being almost seamless with the time to deployment dropped substantially with next to no snags (as long as the on-premise implementation has been completed according to Microsoft Best Practices). In some cases, partners may want to deploy both types of instances simultaneously for their customers at the same time. This might be done to help with running private Dev/Test deployments in Microsoft Azure. With the Dynamics 365 Business Central Dual Use Rights, users licensed with the required User SL do not need to purchase additional CALs to access Server instances.
Users or devices licensed with Dynamics 365 SLs have use rights equivalent to a CAL for the purpose of accessing equivalent on-premise workloads. With Dynamics 365 the server license is included with the SLs. Licenses for all supporting servers (e.g., Windows Server and CALs) must be obtained separately.
Users or devices licensed with the following SLs may access the on-premise Dynamics 365 Server software provided via dual use rights:
Once the Business Central cloud subscription has been activated via CSP, a customer account will be created in PartnerSource Business Center (PSBC) with the equivalent user SLs. The customer can access their on-premises / dual use rights license key (flf. format) by logging into Customer Source, selecting the ‘My Products and Services’ link from the dropdown menu, and then clicking on the ‘Registration Keys’ link beside the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central product.
*Note: The on-premises license file is valid as long as the cloud subscription is active.
When you update your online subscription (for example, reduce the user count), you and/or your customer are required to download a new on-premises license file from PartnerSource Business Centre (PSBC) to reflect the changes made on the cloud subscription.
Microsoft is pushing productivity to the next level by delivering a smooth and fresh experience to all customers of Dynamics 365 Business Central, whether using the web interface in the browser or the modern Windows App for desktop. Combining modern trends around web-based applications and the complex requirements of the Dynamics 365 Business Central customer led to multiple improvements addressing productivity of a busy user.
Among those many changes, Microsoft have enabled even more keyboard-centric scenarios (keyboard shortcuts) around the important features of the product, keeping in mind speed of data entry and analysis, such as quick entry usage and personalization, sorting lists using the keyboard, and navigating around data fields and groups. Microsoft have introduced several improvements to features related to the customer context, such as a contextual work date indicator. Microsoft have also added options enabling advanced users to be even more productive – such as the focus mode, improved search, and the new option of inspecting the table data behind a page (formerly About This Page). They have also addressed feedback related to filters in Excel export (adding an easy Open in Excel option), common auto-save experience (which includes a new autosave indicator), and modern interface elements, such as the refreshed action bar and all-product navigation.
Additionally, Dynamics 365 Business Central becomes more intuitive thanks to an advanced personalization experience and easing and more intuitive ways of discovering new features. This includes refreshed action menus and groups across the product but also the ability to personalize those to suit a user’s preference.
No matter which industry, nor the size of a small or medium-sized business (SMB), users demand a reliable service and platform on which to run their business, collaborate, and deliver on their responsibilities. Along with the wave of innovative new features, Microsoft invested massively in increasing the performance, reliability, and scalability of Business Central, across the platform and business application.
Business Central runs much faster with a focus on typical business scenarios and usage patterns. The experience in the browser is more responsive thanks to on-demand loading of page elements, server resources are optimized for fast user interaction, and the database has been tuned to handle more data and load it faster.
Users will experience a more stable service because upgrades are scheduled to suit the individual business, users will no longer be interrupted by maintenance during working hours, and they also matured service health practices to ensure maximum uptime for customer. Users requiring assistance now have a single screen through which to find self-help material, share ideas with the community, and request support that has also been streamlined to reduce response time.
The Business Central security team works tirelessly behind the scenes to safeguard the security of customers data. In addition to continual improvement of the security infrastructure and processes, Microsoft ensure Dynamics 365 Business Central continues to meet ISO27001, ISO27017, ISO27018, SOC 1 & 2 Type 2, HIPPA BAA, and FERPA industry security and privacy compliance standards. For more details and a list of all certificates, see https://aka.ms/d365-compliance-list.
Microsoft are making investments in the platform to make it easier for ISVs to get into the cloud. They will achieve this by splitting the big application that we have today into a system app and an app on top of that as an extension, compiled in AL using Visual Studio Code. The below image shows the move that will be happening as of October 2019. This means that partners will have to start making the necessary changes to enable current customisations to function with the next release of Dynamics 365 Business Central.
The last major investment for the April release is starting the course into the Data and AI future. The only platform that will matter in the next decade is the data platform and the only cloud that will matter is the AI cloud. We need to ensure that we have data sanity, which means that we need to make investments into storing the product data into Common Data Service (CDS) for Apps. The first will be to strengthen and prepare integration with Dynamics 365 for Sales through CDS for Apps, then ensure Business Central data contributes to intelligent insights (notes synching, late payment prediction) in AI for Sales apps, and finally that Business Central users get intelligent insights generated by Dynamics 365 Sales Insights (predictive opportunity scoring).
The only change to the Team Member license is that a Team Members application module may not be customized with more than 15 custom entities available to the Dynamics 365 Team license*
*Customization is only allowable if it does not result in a change to core purpose of the specified scenario
The only change in the subscription capacity is that the database storage has changed from being unlimited to a maximum of 80GB. Any additional storage is charged in addition to the subscription amount paid. Highlights of capacities below:
| Production Instance | 1 Included |
| Non-Production Instance | None |
| Database Storage | 80GB (Was unlimited) |
| External Accountant Licenses | 1 Included |
| Companies | Unlimited |
| Cortana Intelligence | 1800 seconds per month/tenant |
At QBS group we thrive on staying at the cutting edge of the Dynamics solutions so that we can best advise our partners. Go on, get in touch with us and take advantage of all the benefits of joining the QBS group family. With over 600 partners currently, it shows that QBS group are definitely Partner Fanatics!
Follow me on LinkedIn to keep up to date on what we do and visit the QBS group Info Center which is always updated with new training courses that we deliver to our partner network as well as loads of awesome information from our teams worldwide. If you feel we can add some extra value to your team, reach out to me at lolsen@qbsgroup.com.
Happy ERP’ing.
This series of webinars is intended to share the latest information on Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both from a technical, functional and business perspective. Besides sharing information, we will also update on the services portfolio from QBS group to assist on the road to Dynamics 365.
Watch here the Webinar update of the 11th of April 2019.
These days, IT innovation develops faster than ever before in history. While that opens great opportunities for organisations all over the world, it also creates a lot of stress since failure is not a realistic option (anymore).
Here are some of the dilemma’s for your prospects and customers:
In order to keep up with the competition, your projects must be successful in the first attempt. With a short Time-to-Value. Unfortunately, most of your existing and future SMB customers don’t have the knowledge, the persuasion nor the power to take the best decisions. Most of them select and implement for the first or second time in their lives. As a result, that creates big uncertainty. So it’s no wonder that ‘No Decision’ has developed into everybody’s biggest competitor these days!
Modern and innovative Microsoft Dynamics partners focus on educating their customers and help them prepare for Successful Projects. Rather than pushing their solutions. This attitude not only helps them to create more leads and win more deals. It also secures the right support from their customers’ top-management when implementing these solutions.
In this free, 40 minutes webinar, Guus Krabbenborg will share his observations and the results he has achieved by his extensive customer education activities. He will inspire you regarding the best way to approach customers and prospects. Next to that, he will also position three different education formats. And shares the options he sees for your company to start delivering one or more of these formats yourself shortly. Guus has been delivering ERP and CRM Masterclasses to potential buyers ever since 2005.
This is a webinar that you definitely don’t want to miss!
Watch the webinar how to inspire your end customers (video 40:00)
This series of webinars is intended to share the latest information on Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both from a technical, functional and business perspective. Besides sharing information, we will also update on the services portfolio from QBS group to assist on the road to Dynamics 365.
Watch here the Webinar updates of the 14th of March 2019.
At QBS group we’re all about Dynamics partners – to the extent that we call ourselves “Dynamics partner fanatics”. We constantly look for new innovative ways in which we can assist our partner community with ways to grow their business – no matter what their Dynamics strategy is. There’s no doubt in our minds that Dynamics 365 offers a lot of advantages both to new partners but especially to the existing Dynamics partner community – which the most recent white paper from us focuses on. Enjoy the reading!
Abstract of white paper:
“We are approaching one of the great infliction points in time where information technology-based solutions have matured to a level where they can deliver new and compelling value to meet recognized needs of mid-market companies.
The steadily falling prices on computer capacity, the accumulated investments in standard software products and the introduction of the cloud-based as-a-service delivery format have made advanced information technology available to the mid-market. Under the headline digital transformation these advanced technologies have the potential to dramatically increase the productivity of mid-market enterprises, while the steady expansion of the world wide web (51.5 per cent of the global population or 3.2 billion people) has enabled them to expand and grow beyond their domestic territories.
Despite the increased availability of advanced software tools, the declining prices and the improved user-friendliness, digital transformation remains an ongoing activity that requires support from specialists that the typical mid-market enterprise cannot attract and justify on her payroll. This whitepaper explains that exactly this intersection of technology and needs represents a yet untapped business potential for entrepreneurs that can translate software technologies into a tangible business advantage and that Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the perfect platform for executing such an ambition.”
You can download the full white paper here:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 – The perfect platform for digital transformation in the mid-market
Or if you would like to attend one of our upcoming QBShare events to learn more about how QBS can assist you in your future journey with Dynamics, find a local event here and register.
This series of webinars is intended to share the latest information on Dynamics 365 Business Central. Both from a technical, functional and business perspective. Besides sharing information, we will also update on the services portfolio from QBS group to assist on the road to Dynamics 365.
Watch here the Webinar update of the 7th of February 2019.
QBS group partners can download the presentation here
An active Account for Partner Portal is required.
At QBS group, we understand that well-informing our Dynamics partners 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, eXtreme 365 and DIRECTIONS. This unique report features a broad but insightful and independent business reporting on the happenings at DIRECTIONS EMEA 2018. The report, which consists of 46 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:
Taster first? To get a good idea of what you can expect from our DIRECTIONS EMEA 2017 Business Report, you can order the 2017 Business Report as a free download version here.
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.
Are you looking for expansion options for your current business? Or do you dream of starting (and running) your own business? Are you held back because you haven’t yet found out which product or service you should offer to which type of customers? Then here is my suggestion: Take a look at Microsoft Dynamics 365. Consider starting or expanding your business as a Value Added Reseller (VAR) or an Independent Software Vendor (ISV). The timing may be perfect just now. Here is why:
Reason 1
All types of companies all over the world are currently considering how they can take advantage of the digital transformation opportunities offered by cloud-based solutions. Their objectives are to reduce capital expenditure and improve productivity, profitability and competitiveness. This movement has been going on for a while and I believe that we are approaching the infliction point where the adoption enters the steep section of the S-curve.
Reason 2
Microsoft, the world’s biggest software company, is currently investing billions of dollars in extending its broad suite of cloud-based business applications for the SMB-market: Microsoft Dynamics 365. The objective of the investments is to serve the needs for digital transformation. Their go-to-market approach is to use VARs and ISVs to complement, implement, and support the solutions.
This shift in the market and the industry is offering opportunities for new insurgents. The “new kids on the block” are not tied to the legacy of the on-premise business model and the skill set it requires. The insurgents can build their business models from scratch and match the needs of those customers prepared to move to the cloud now.
The fewer “new” you have in your business model they less risky is your endeavour.
You can leverage your domain expertise and expand your services to customers with a preference for Microsoft Dynamics 365. Or you can grow into new areas of the Dynamics 365 application suite offering your current customers new services.
Starting a new business venture is a risky business. According to most sources on the subject, 90 per cent of all startups fail and I will claim that existing businesses launching new initiatives into new markets share the same characteristics.
Take the Apple Newton. Launched in 1993 and defining the new category Personal Digital Assistant it failed miserably and was removed from the market in 1998. Costing an investment of $100M even a company like Apple ran out of budget to support it and Steve Jobs killed it upon his return.
Startups and new business ventures fail for a combination of numerous reasons and recent research reveals what those reasons are.
No product/market fit
The primary reason (42 per cent) for failure is that there is currently no pressing need for the product (or service).
With thousands of customers already using Microsoft Dynamics, we can conclude that there is a compelling and recognised need in the market. From a product perspective, a VAR-initiative serving this market can jump the entire product/market-fit stage, and an ISV.startup can accelerate the proof-of-concept.
You will still need to develop a compelling value proposition for the services that you believe will attract customers and make them choose you, but with Microsoft Dynamics, you eliminate the risk that there is no market need for the product.
Out of cash
Close to 95 per cent of all ventures are funded by the owners.
The five per cent of startups that does receive funding from Business Angels and VCs are those that can potentially turn $1 million into $100 million. When such companies raise money, you can read about them in the newspapers, magazines, and on blogs. Because such deals are rare and thus, news!
So when 29 per cent of failing ventures claim that they ran out of cash, they are primarily referring to their own money and not somebody else’s.
When you don’t need to spend time developing a product from scratch and running through several iterations before you know whether there is a market or not willing to pay for it, then you will have more cash left for testing and fine-tuning your value proposition and your marketing, lead generation and sales approaches.
In a market where customers want standard products delivered from the cloud in a subscription-based format only companies that can figure out how to win new projects, with low customer acquisition cost and short sales cycles will proposer.
The design of a productive revenue generating formula becomes just as important as finding the compelling value proposition.
Most new business ventures that develop their product from scratch never get to that stage because they run out of budget.
A venture building a business on Microsoft Dynamics 365 can focus their limited cash resources on finding a revenue generation model that works.
Not the right team
When you don’t know exactly where you will end then it is hard to decide which skills are required to get there.
Starting a business venture with Microsoft Dynamics 365 as the core component simplifies the job of setting the team considerably.
First and foremost you need to understand your customers and how digital transformation can help them become more productive, profitable and competitive. Some customers expect you to have industry insight before the first meeting some do not. However, they all assume that your learning-curve on understanding their specific issues are very short. Thus is a major advantage and a substantial portion of business acumen will bring you ahead of the game.
Then customers expect you to be an expert on the products you offer and, that you can guide them in how they can use these products with as little customisation as possible and how they can standardise, simplify and optimise their business processes along the way. Thus you need people who understand the details of what Microsoft Dynamics 365 offers.
Finally, they expect that you can help them set up and integrate the various modules to form a coherent application suite with no need for data redundancy. Thus you need the technical skill set required to configure and integrate software systems.
Across these disciplines, you need to master business development, marketing, lead generation, sales, project management, training, documentation and support.
If you have ambitions of becoming an ISV, then you need additional skill sets covering product development, product management and product marketing. If you want other resellers to sell your solution, then you need to add resources for partner recruitment and management.
Being the only company in the world offering a specific value proposition (lex Newton) has shown to be a significant disadvantage. Building a business within the Microsoft Dynamics 365 ecosystem provides multitude sources of inspiration and offers opportunities for cooperation with other partners that can complement your skill set.
People around the world get the same ideas at the same time. Then they start the race for market leadership. 20 per cent of startups claim to be outcompeted.
If you are attracted to starting or extending your business helping SMBs with digital transformation, then you are facing a need for massive investments. Customers want off-the-shelf functionality supporting business processes across their organisation. They want analysis and visualisation tools that can help them better understand data and enhance all the building blocks in their business model. They want mobile apps for staff on the road and to better serving customers. And they do not want to manage a host of suppliers to
achieve these benefits.
Building your business on top of Microsoft Dynamics 365 allows you to surf one of the biggest waves in the world. You will have thousands of developers steadily improving the software platform and striving to keep you ahead of the competition. You will be supported by a marketing effort that hardly anyone in the industry can match.
The chances of being outcompeted with Microsoft Dynamics 365 as the core of your value proposition are minimal.
A subscription-based economy is a tough challenge for any startup. You have to fund product development from scratch and pay the Customer Acquisition Cost up front. Then you can enjoy the Customer Lifetime Value as time progresses. If you can get that relationship right fast enough.
According to the CBInsight research 18 per cent don’t get that relationship right and experience that the faster they run, the sooner they go broke.
New business ventures notoriously have high customer acquisition costs. Often because they have two marketing jobs to perform.
Most new ventures face “the law of diffusion of innovation”. The law divides the market into five segments.
Although you can demonstrate that your solution provides an attractive and fast return on investment, the mainstream market, which represents 85 per cent of the total are reluctant to do anything just because you are new and they prefer to wait until a market leader has materialised.
Most new ventures have to work their way through the technology enthusiasts, and the visionaries (15 per cent of the market) and many never manage to make the journey across the chasm to win mainstream market customers.
Let’s say that 20 per cent of the market is in buying mode at any point in time, but 85 per cent will not consider your new solution. That leaves you with 20 per cent of 15 per cent = 3 per cent. No wonder that customer acquisition cost is high for new ventures.Building your business around or on top of Microsoft Dynamics 365 will help you jump and maybe even eliminate the chasm. Microsoft is already a market leader. You remove a considerable chunk of risk for the mainstream market customer.
Microsoft has thousands of business partners. Is this market not the red ocean?
The reason that Microsoft can entertain thousands of business partners offering the same products is the opportunities for differentiation around and on top of their Dynamics platform. Dynamics 365 is not a hit and run type of business, where competition drives a race to the bottom. The value for the customers comes from close cooperation between the customer and the business partner. It’s the value-add that the business partners offer that determines the return on the investment in the new ERP-platform.
The opportunities for differentiation from consulting services and product extensions are infinite. And just now, with the shift from a prepaid and perpetual license model and to a cloud-based subscription economy, there are plenty of blue ocean opportunities.
Service businesses are usually considered harder to scale than product businesses. If that’s true, then your service business is better protected domestically than a product business.
However, the main reason that only a few Microsoft business partners cross national borders is that they don’t have the appetite for running an international business with the additional management complexity it demands.
There are plenty of examples of Dynamics partners that have thriving international businesses. They enjoy the work that Microsoft has done in localising and making the Dynamics products available in all major markets.
If you have ambitions of scaling your business globally, then Microsoft has already done the groundwork and matured the market for you.
Microsoft is changing the rules of the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) agreements with her partners as we speak. These changes will especially impact the businesses of partners that have selected the CSP Direct option. Some of them should even consider switching to the CSP Indirect scenario.
As most partners know, tracking and adapting to the latest updates to Microsoft’s partnership model requires significant time and effort. To help the wider partner community understand what’s going on and facilitate their decision-making process, Guus Krabbenborg interviewed Nelson Tavares da Silva, who is deeply involved in this domain. Nelson is VP Business Development at QBS group, one of the leading indirect Cloud Solution Providers (CSP) and the largest Microsoft Dynamics community worldwide. Within the QBS organisation, Nelson is business responsible for the CSP program. For more than two years he has been intensely involved in the CSP program and he has delivered presentations on CSP at international events for Microsoft Dynamics partners like Directions EMEA.
Nelson: The Cloud Solution Program (CSP) is a program that helps Microsoft partners to create their own bundle of cloud solutions and cloud services, combined with their own IP and IP-related services. Via the CSP program, those partners can manage, offer, order, deliver, invoice and support that unique bundle to their end-customers all over the world. The purpose of this program is to create additional partner value, to strengthen the partner-customer relationship, and as a result, improve the partner’s profitability.
CSP became relevant for some Microsoft Dynamics partners when Office 365 became available in the CSP contracts. Today, CSP is crucial for every Dynamics SMB partner since Dynamics 365 Business Central is only available via CSP. This means that every modern Dynamics partner on the globe must join the CSP program. And make a choice regarding the level of engagement.
Let me share a few observations. First and foremost, many partners focus on prices and margin levels only and tend to ignore the cost side of the story. To me it seems like most of them have missed the essence of the program, which is about creating additional customer value.
Secondly – there still is confusion about the two models. They are called Direct and Indirect (aka Tier 1 and Tier 2). The Direct CSP option seems to be perceived by many partners as superior to Indirect CSP due to the direct link with Microsoft. As if it is an acquired right.
The next observation is about CSP knowledge. There is still a lack of knowledge regarding the content of the CSP program. And I fully understand that. Microsoft has an ongoing job in positioning CSP and explaining the options. However, it’s fair to say that the amount of information is nothing less than huge! Often it feels like an information tsunami. I myself spend 20 to 30 percent of my time to stay up to date on all the ongoing changes, and that’s just high level knowledge! In our Partner Care team, we have several fulltime colleagues, active in all the CSP details and they spend even more time on this.
Being proactive in CSP in both knowledge and actions will cost the average Microsoft partner at least half the time to a fulltime staff member. This depends, of course, on the number of solutions and the transaction volume. I’m really wondering whether that aspect is sufficiently considered in the choice between CSP Direct and CSP Indirect.
Finally, many SMB partners have grown their businesses based on a ‘do it yourself’ mentality. But with the complexity of CSP, the current pace of change and the growing volumes, this becomes impossible. Which brings back the question: why not outsource this?
In my view, maximum 20 percent of the partners that we as QBS Group oversee do an effective job of bundling and adding additional value. The remaining 80 percent use CSP as a transactional system only. By doing so, they miss the opportunity to add value and leave money on the table. Maybe even worse – they open the door of their customer base for other partners.
The biggest change in my opinion is that Microsoft finally decided to start enforcing the known rules for CSP Direct. In the recent past, many partners have chosen the Direct option because of the higher margins and had little “burden” of this enforcement. But that is really changing now.
These are the requirements for CSP Direct that Microsoft will enforce:
CSP Direct partners are expected to demonstrate and prove that they offer at least one of these three categories.
Microsoft expects CSP Direct partners to have a billing and provisioning infrastructure in place to manage their cloud customers and scale.
According to Microsoft, ‘these new requirements strengthen our business and technical relationship with partners who provide their customers with cloud products, support and direct billing’. The new requirements will take effect August 31st, 2018.
I’d like to answer this question for three different groups of partners. First the partners that have selected the CSP Indirect option. For them, nothing changes at this moment. The second group are the CSP Direct partners. They will experience many changes! They have already made several investments and are now confronted with a dilemma: either change to the Indirect option and disinvest? Or making the additional investments. But how big is that investment?
In addition, these are not the latest changes since Microsoft claims that the model is not finished yet. Products are continually being added and Microsoft continues to optimize the rules. This means that this additional partner investment is certainly not the last one.
The third and last group are those Dynamics partners that have not made any decision yet. For them it’s important to know that Microsoft has decided to not accept any new CSP Direct partners until August 1st, 2018. These partners either must wait until that date (but still need to adhere to the new requirements) or select the Indirect option now. For them it’s important to remember that Dynamics 365 Business Central (the SaaS offering) will only be available via CSP.
More generally I expect that Microsoft will continue to raise the bar. For example, by introducing a certain revenue level for CSP Direct. This has been mentioned before but so far not communicated in public. So being accepted and keeping the CSP Direct status will become even more difficult over time.
So CSP Direct partners are confronted with higher costs. They must take all these additional costs out of their higher margins. Based on the current requirements, I see the turning point in CSP revenue is roughly around Euro 350K. Partners that have a structural revenue below this turning point do well anyway to choose for the indirect option.
It is crystal clear that Microsoft bets on a larger part of her Dynamics partners landing in the CSP Indirect model. Rumors say that Microsoft strives for 85 percent of all current CSP Direct partners to move to CSP Indirect, simply because that fits their business model. If they do not manage that result with this set of rules, there will undoubtedly be more tightened rules. Microsoft wants to get rid of all the administrative activities.
The key question that every Microsoft partner’s management team must ask themselves is whether license administration belongs to their core business. Think, for example, about the administration of the cars from your staff. Is that really something you would like to do yourself? And does that help you win more deals? Or do you prefer to outsource that to the lease company? It is a similar story with the licenses, since the need for knowledge will greatly increase due to the move from ‘stand-alone’ Dynamics NAV or Dynamics CRM to the Microsoft stack. The average Microsoft Dynamics partner has about 25 employees. Is it worthwhile to dedicate one of them for this specific CSP task? Knowing that you’re still vulnerable in case of absence due to holidays or sickness. Or departure. Wouldn’t it be much better and more profitable to partner with an Indirect CSP and dedicate that additional employee to your marketing or sales staff?
Need help in getting started with CSP? Read more on the QBS group offer here or contact us directly
MKB365 has set up a separate business model for the implementation of the Dynamics 365 portfolio.
The Ready to Start Microsoft Dynamics 365 Customer Engagement Program has provided us a fast way to get trained on product level and get important support during our implementations at our customers.
Watch this video blog (6 minutes) to get the most important highlights of the eXtreme 365 EMEA 2018 event in Dubrovnik.
This video was brought to you by:
Arjen Jansen – MindsUnited
Richard de Goederen – QBS group (Owner of the Dynamics 365 for Sales Acceleration program)
Guus Krabbenborg – QBS group
This Business Report covers more sessions than a single partner normally can do. We will not only cover the keynotes, but also various technical and functional sessions and of course also the business sessions. On top of that we will publish exclusive interviews that we will have in Dubrovnik with Microsoft executives.
Pre Order now or download the FREE Business Report eXtreme 2017
Healthy, profitable and successful is what companies strive to achieve, with our support your Dynamics business can get there. At QBS group, we help our Partners to achieve growth by supporting their endeavours through the delivery of specific services designed for business improvement. We provide marketing support to improve your go-to-market strategy, support with closing a deal, and even lead generation through our Take the Lead program. We also recognise the need for staff development and provide technical training on the latest releases to keep your team informed and your customers happy. Microsoft has recognised our added value and confirms that partnering with QBS group can help generate 40% more business.
Sign up webinar: Update on Dynamics 365 Business Central
eXtreme 365 is the annual event for Microsoft Dynamics CRM partners. This event started as ‘eXtreme CRM’ back in 2010. Due to the release of Dynamics 365, the organization decided to change the name into ‘eXtreme 365’. Today, there are two editions of eXtreme 365. The last US edition took place in November 2017 in Newport Beach where the EMEA edition picked Dubrovnik, Croatia as their 2018 location. The event will be organized in two parts. A partner event on March 19th till 21st and an end-user edition on March 22nd and 23rd.
This article aims to give you an overview on what Dynamics CRM partners can expect of the partner event. And where they should put their focus regarding the sessions.
See you in Dubrovnik!
Guus Krabbenborg
At QBS group we believe that our partners deserve the best. The best support, the best software and the best stories. A couple of months ago we have asked one of our UK partners, Creative Business Systems, to share their thoughts and experiences with you on their journey to the cloud. We asked Amit Wason if he could share his experience with you on the matter of a direct or indirect approach. We wrote a blog about his experience.
On the 19th of February Nelson Tavares da Silva hosted a webinar explaining what it all means when you are considering to collaborate with an Indirect Cloud Solution Provider for your Microsoft cloud offering. Amit Wason from Creative Business Systems will share during the webinar his findings with you becoming an Indirect CSP.
A smart choice, because selecting an Indirect CSP means that you can start reselling Dynamics 365 and Office 365 directly without big investments upfront. On top of that, selecting QBS group as your Microsoft Indirect CSP is the perfect match!
If you’re deciding to become a CSP partner, this is a session you don’t want to miss!
Alex Ferguson, former football Manager of Manchester United
In this fast-paced world of IT, change is a constant factor. History has shown us that companies that adapt to change and even in times of enormous success were not afraid to rebuild their company, survived. This mantra is exactly what Alex Ferguson made a great coach. Sir Alex wasn’t afraid to constantly rebuild his football team. He had a very strong instinct to assess where his team was in the lifecycle and when it was time to say goodbye to some of the star players of that moment. The rest is history. 13 English league titles and another 25 domestic and international trophies.
So how far are you in your change process? Can you hold on to your ERP or CRM or Office365 approach? Or is time to at least have an answer on changing demands of customers and prospects for a blended solution where ERP, CRM and O365 live together?
There are many roads which in the end lead to Rome, but for what I have seen in the past 18 months there are 2 crucial success factors for Dynamics partners:
Building up a CRM practice next to your existing business is not a decision you should make overnight. But whenever you decide to jump into this domain, make sure you give it a real chance. Allocating a half sales person, a half consultant and zero marketing budget is not going to bring you anywhere. Don’t even start with it!
Make sure you give your people the time, tools, budget and attention to really make it happen. In this context I like the story about a new Microsoft CRM partner called MKB365. They made the choice to set-up a new Dynamics CRM entity next to their existing ERP (Exact) and Office365 business. They joined the first Wave of the Dynamics 365 for Sales Acceleration Program in The Netherlands and now 8 months later, 7 new D365 for Sales customers further, a brand-new office and many new names in the pipeline, they are proving that change and focus can pay off.
Just a couple of weeks away from eXtreme365, I wish you all a very constructive time in Dubrovnik and whenever you would like to understand how we can accelerate your Dynamics 365 for Sales business in your region, don’t hesitate to contact me via rdegoederen@qbsgroup.com.
Happy to meet you face to face in Croatia!
Richard de Goederen
Dynamics 365 for Sales – Acceleration Program Director at QBS group.
As we close our books on 2017, we start to reflect on the numbers. There are a few key performance indicators that I found particularly interesting as they represent trends and momentum in the market that I would like to share.
First of all, we added 90 more partners to the QBS network and with almost 500 partners by the end of 2017, QBS continues to be the largest network of Dynamics Partners worldwide. The reason why I think this is significant is twofold: For one, it proves that our partners see value in being in that community and take advantage of the services we as QBS can provide. But equally it means partners in the QBS network will find their opinion and concerns being represented through QBS into the Microsoft organization – at executive level. Our continued inclusion in the Microsoft InnerCircle program also affirms our voice being recognized. In 2017 we saw great examples, where Microsoft executives not only listened to the feedback provided by the community, but they also reacted and took action. The positioning and release dates for NAV 2018 and the D365 context might be the most prominent examples where QBS and other members of the Dynamics community made a difference.
We also looked into Dynasource and how our partners are taking advantage of this marketplace for IT talent. We now have 415 partners that are profiled through this service. However, to some it might feel posting projects or asking for capabilities through a marketplace like Dynasource is a bit like booking through Airbnb for first time: there is a bit of a trust issue. Hence, I find the number of 23 projects that have been posted in the community of QBS partners in 2017 to be more encouraging. This demonstrates that our partners have started to see the advantage they get by expanding their capacity or capability through a trusted network.
Then I looked into customer adds our partners had contributed to in 2017. Collectively, QBS partners added 619 more customers to Microsoft Dynamics. I think this is quite an impressive number, not only in a sense of market potential, but also it is a strong argument against our partners competitors who argue that Microsoft has no strategic interest anymore in Business Applications or NAV in particular. Adding hundreds and hundreds of net new customers each year from a single network of partners is something any business application vendor would die for 😊. But what is even more interesting is to see that the share of new customers that are entering Microsoft Dynamics through a subscription model has grown from 38% in 2016 to 45% in 2017. By now, every second new customer is choosing to not go with a perpetual license, but to pay as a monthly fee. Not only are these customers more likely to jump on a SaaS type offering, it also reminds us that we have to change our business model. Moving into 2018 and 2019, I predict that only a minority of new customers will accept traditional, perpetual on-prem type offerings.
When talking about the cloud, I also find it remarkable that now, more than 60 QBS partners are transacting licenses for Microsoft cloud offerings through the Cloud Solution Provider Program. These partners can automatically provision and bill seats for Microsoft Office 365 or Dynamics 365 through our platform. They do not need to have upfront investment in their own systems. QBS partners even enjoy the fact that the revenue they do through CSP, is also credited to their NAV license discount thresholds. Moving into 2018 we are extending our offerings to Azure and NAV Tenerife, the NAV platform will finally become available under this modern licensing platform as well.
Which brings me to my last observation. Looking into our 2017 figures, QBS started with a very clear focus on Microsoft’s NAV platform. We along with our partners will continue with this focus and not stop offerings the NAV platform. Business applications also embrace the Customer Engagement side with Sales, Marketing, Field Service and Talent. We all will take advantage of new development platforms such as Power Apps, Power BI or Flow. We are lucky to already have more than 35 partners in our network that also have a Customer Engagement or CRM background. As part of The IT Channel Company, QBS has invested in Minds United an expert in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales and Marketing, so we can further enable our partners to extend their business application portfolio.
With this small look into our 2017 numbers, I want to thank all of our partners again for the trust that they gave QBS in 2017 and I am now looking forward to an even more exciting 2018.
If you want to be noticed and visible online (and this is not the time to go “nah – don’t think so”), then first of all you need an effective and optimized website – but let’s say you have that.
How do you then best go about attracting visitors and ultimately clients to your site? Well – the very best way is to have someone else point in your direction and say “they can help you” – as unbiased ambassadors will always beat direct commercials, but the next best thing is to establish yourself as being knowledgeable – so that people seek you out for advice. How to do that? Blogging is an excellent way to get your knowledge in eye-sight of your clients.
The added bonus is that, done correctly, publishing blog articles will earn you the title of “published author” on Google. Happy days! The more valuable articles you share through your blog, the higher you will be in the search results and that’s what you want.
With blogging you increase the chance of attracting attention – as you stand out among the many paid commercials. Blogging allows you to engage with like- minded people, build a relationship and in the world of business hopefully gain a future customer. Imagine the time (and therefore money) it would cost to share your knowledge one-to-one with prospects. Blogging is free advertising. A win-win.
How do you ensure that your blog is being read? Here are my 10 tips to ensure that your blog gets viewed and most importantly read.
1. Make titles as stimulating as possible (think of headlines, what attracts your eye first and what makes you want to read further?)
With the title of your article you draw the reader to you and you stimulate them to click through. The tantalizing title must of course fit in with the article otherwise the reader is disappointed. You can use the following tips when drawing up your blog title.
2. Make the article scannable
Make sure your reader can determine at a glance what your blog is about. You do that by choosing a clear structure
3. Use more than 300 words
Google likes longer articles and valuable information. The longer an article is, the sooner the search engine will return this article in the search results. With a long article, the chances are that there is a lot of valuable information in it.
4. Keep it simple, but do not make it simpler than it is (read: jargon is fun for colleagues but customers cannot always get that much)
As an expert, you know the terms that are often used within your field, but do not sprinkle with them all the time. Find a mode between expert and Jip and Janneke languages. Tip: Before you read it give your blog to your partner or a friend who is not in your field, and ask them to read to see if they understand everything.
5. Create conversation / interaction
Conversation / interaction is the most important thing you want to create on your blog. Do not just focus on sending your message but help and inform people with your blog. Start a conversation or substantive discussion by asking a question of your reader. Is this clear? Yet? Or do I say something weird now? Agree or disagree? What do you think? etc.
You may have written such a beautiful and interesting article but if no question is asked the only reactions you will get are thumbs and likes.
6. Ask intermediate questions in your blog
Your reader cannot answer questions that you ask. By asking questions in your article, the reader is already in the answer mode. These interim questions lower the threshold to answer the call to action (see point 10) at the end of your article. This increases the chance that your reader leaves a comment or takes action.
7. In addition to knowledge, interesting information and good news, share disappointments and less good news
That makes the image your reader has of you more real. Stories that provide recognition have the most impact. An experience does not necessarily have to be your experience, it can also be someone else’s experience, but you recognize the situation and you can empathize with it. Share your own story, your mistakes, learning moments and your successes. You also lower the threshold for people to respond and contact you. You connect faster with the other person. Just like in real life. What were the moments when you really had a connection with someone?
8. Work in your story from small to large
Start with a small example and work it out. Put it in a context. Make it funny, expand it. You can also divide your story across multiple blogs, but make sure you actually post it if you promise that to your readers. Follow up is important and you also run the risk of not appearing reliably if you do not comply with your agreements.
9. Move in your reader
There is no one type of reader, everyone uses information in a different way. Roughly you could divide them into four types:
(source: https://www.emerce.nl/cc?_r=/research/vier-typen-nieuwsconsumenten-aanpreekt)
10. Always use a ‘Call to action’ (CTA) at the bottom of your blog
With this you ask the reader to take action. For example:
Finally
I guess you are thinking ‘wow that is a lot of work’ Well yes that’s right it is! But what did you expect? If you want to get and keep the attention of your target audience, then you have to put in the time and effort. The advantage of blogging is (if you do it smartly) that your blog can last for years and thus can always be available and read by your target audience and attract them to you.
Even I find it difficult sometimesand that ‘divine inspiration’ is a myth for many people, so I have one last tip for you: Use the creativity and capacity of a pro and spend it.
This new version will contain a new set of functions and features that will be highlighted in this session, as understanding these new possibilities is crucial for your product and / or marketing plans.
This session will be presented by Sven Noomen (PTS at QBS group) and John Speulman (PTS at Microsoft).
The following topics will be addressed.
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