“With AppSource, partners can get a much greater return on their IP”

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Exclusive interview with Paul White.

Paul White is worldwide responsible for the Product Marketing of Dynamics CRM, NAV, GP, SL and Dynamics 365, the business applications with which Microsoft serves the SMB market. Guus Krabbenborg from QBS met Paul in Prague for an exclusive interview at DIRECTIONS EMEA 2016. This interview is part of QBS’s annual DIRECTIONS business report.

Main topics for this interview are of course the announcements around Dynamics NAV 2017 and Dynamics 365. And what this all means for the transformation of the Dynamics partner channel.

 

QUESTION: with all the recent announcements around Dynamics 365, what is your opinion on the status of the transformation process in Microsoft’s SMB channels?

ANSWER: “When we started this whole process some 4 years ago, I hoped that 30 percent of our partners would be able to transition to rapid cloud deployment, subscription pricing, product managed and packaged verticalization. But to be honest – I may have been over optimistic. In saying that I don’t mean to imply any criticism of our Partner Community. There’s no doubt that this shift is very significant and challenging. Microsoft has wrestled with similar challenges.

QUESTION: What’s the difference between the 30% who will make it and the 70% that may not?

ANSWER: I think it starts with understanding the nature of the shift that we are experiencing. This isn’t a Microsoft agenda – every other vendor has the same challenges. We’re in the middle of a fundamental change in the market. Buyer behavior is changing. Biz Apps are getting “commoditized”. That’s what creates the imperative for Partners to drive down their cost of sale, that’s what demands that Partners think lifetime value.

Those Partners who want to stay where they are have the opportunity to continue to serve the significant on premise market that will continue to exist for some time to come. Other Partners will see the launch of Dynamics 365 as a great moment to expand into the SaaS market which is growing much more quickly – and presents interesting new opportunities for ISV’s.”

QUESTION: You’ve been at the two DIRECTIONS events yourself, both in the US and in EMEA. What is your take on how well the NAV partner channel understands all the announcements around NAV 2017 and Dynamics 365?   

ANSWER: “First of all: it is fair to say there is a lot going on. Keeping up is a challenge for both our partners and our own employees. We’ll be repeating the story at every opportunity and work hard at being consistent. The Directions webinars we do are one opportunity for Partners to stay current. Your publication is also really helpful.

Beyond that general observation – I think that during the two events our On premise AND cloud – Dynamics NAV AND Dynamics 365 story really resonated with people.”

QUESTION: In your belief, what is the biggest challenge for partners in this transformation process?

ANSWER: “The biggest challenge for the average Dynamics NAV partner today is in marketing. Buyer behavior has changed. When a potential prospect is beginning to think about buying – you need to help them find you (SEO, SEM, Lead Nurture). That’s job #1 – digital marketing.

Once they have found you online – you need to make sure that your web site and/or trial experience is sufficient to persuade them that you must be on their short list. Even before they every get in touch with you. That’s job #2 – product marketing.

Product marketing is about understanding the market and the business issues that your anonymous prospect will want solved. Product marketing is about working with Developers to meet that functional requirement in a way that is really compelling. Not in terms of weight of functionality – but quality/elegance of the experience. Product Marketing is then about demonstrating that, unattended, online.

Both Job #1 and Job #2 are problematic because, most NAV partners today are either Sales led or Development led. Successful Partners will be those that invest more in marketing competencies – either in their own teams and/or in co-operation with strong marketing agencies.”

QUESTION: How should partners differentiate their offerings over time?

ANSWER: “Today, the Intellectual Property (IP) at most partner companies has two arms and two legs. The problem is that employees can get up and go – and are really quite difficult to scale. We believe Partners need to distill the wisdom that their consultants have developed and package this up, productize it – create Extensions – and publish them as App’s in AppSource. Working that way we believe that partners can secure their IP and get a much greater return on it.

AppSource is the destination that Microsoft will promote to customer and partners. It’s a key part of our strategy to amplify the ISV opportunity around Dynamics 365.”

QUESTION: You have announced an offering to migrate existing NAV, GP and SL customers to Dynamics 365. Can you clarify that offering?

ANSWER: “The majority of our existing customers chose to buy perpetual licenses. They made an up-front investment that – as and when they are ready to move to the cloud – we want to help them “trade in”. This “trade in” takes the form of a 40 percent discount on the first 3 years of their subscription to the Business Edition Plan. We want Dynamics 365 to be the most compelling option for any existing NAV, GP and SL customer. Some part of that story is about the product/service we offer. Some part is about the range of additional solutions that our Partners make available in AppSource. Some part of that story is commercial.”

QUESTION: What is today’s position of Dynamics NAV managed services?

ANSWER: “The IP that NAV partners have developed is key to the future of this community. We’re working hard to protect it. That’s why we’ve worked to re-engineer the NAV product for the cloud in as non-disruptive a way as possible. Last year we announced the Managed Service for partners. Today about around 20 NAV partners have onboarded their solutions to this NAV/Azure platform. This year we’ve announced Dynamics 365. Over the next 12 months we will be working with these 20 partners and a number of other key ISV’s to migrate them to Dynamics 365.”

QUESTION: What happens to Dynamics NAV, GP and SL?

ANSWER: “All products go forward. Our commitment to cloud and Dynamics 365 changes nothing about our commitment to Dynamics NAV, GP and SL. We respect the investment that customers and partners have made in these products. We are committed to helping them make the most of their investment.”

QUESTION: What is your advice to partners regarding the CSP program?

ANSWER: “The most important thing for Partners to do is to get familiar with CSP. It is the licensing model with which we want to serve the SMB segment. Partners will need to make a strategic decision about whether they want to be a Direct CSP partner – contracting directly with Microsoft – or buy through an Indirect CSP partner – a distributor. There are different roles and responsibilities associated with each option.”

QUESTION: A lot seems to be changed in the pricing strategies of Dynamics 365 compared with the current Dynamics pricing policies. Can you explain?

ANSWER: “The new Dynamics 365 pricing is designed to be clean, simple, transparent and compelling. The Business edition of Dynamics 365 will only be available on a subscription basis, through CSP.   Customers will be able to license each application (Finance, Sales or Marketing) on a per user per month basis. Alternatively, they will be able to license users with a “Plan”. The Plan enables users to mix and match functionality from across the Business edition – Financials, Sales and Marketing.  This flexibility is designed to reflect the fact that most real world jobs now cross departmental boundaries. The Plan also provides users with full use rights to PowerApps and Flow.

The pricing models for Dynamics 365 are also designed to be really compelling – both for new customers and, as and when they are ready, existing customers.”

QUESTION: Finally – what is your advice to the Dynamics NAV channel, Paul?

ANSWER: “First of all: take the pre–view from Dynamics 365 and learn more about this new cloud solution.  My number two advise: understand the CSP model. Since this will be the most important license model for Dynamics partners for the coming years. And last but not least, don’t forget to feel good about all the investments that Microsoft is making in Dynamics NAV!”

You can find much more Need-to-Know-Information in our Directions EMEA 2016 Business Report. Order now.

Phillip Vandervoort (Proximus) appointed as Chairman of the Supervisory Board TICC

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The IT Channel Company (TICC) appoints Phillip Vandervoort as the Chairman of the Supervisory Board. With the appointment of Vandervoort (55), TICC, value-added distributor of ICT solutions for the SME segment, expects to take the company to a new growth level.

In addition to his position as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of TICC, Vandervoort is the Chief Consumer Market Officer for Proximus (formerly Belgacom), one of the largest telecom and ICT providers in Belgium. He previously gained extensive experience as Microsoft’s General Manager. ‘Vandervoort’s international experience with Microsoft and his broad range of knowledge relating to cloud applications inspires our trust to have found an eminently suitable candidate as an independent and advisory Chairman,’ says Louis Rustenhoven, Chairman of the Executive Board of The IT Channel Company.

‘We see a clear trend emerging that companies are starting to use cloud services to anticipate quickly changing business models. The IT needs of SMEs in particular are expanding at a fast pace. Service providers need help to cash in on this development,’ says Vandervoort.

The new Chairman sees TICC as a powerful potential international player in this market evolution. ‘TICC proved to have sufficient in-house dynamics to achieve further short-term growth. I am looking forward to becoming a powerful sparring partner to TICC’s shareholders and management and help realise this ambition’.

Fantastic new opportunities for Dynamics partners why and how you can join the CSP program

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The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program offers Microsoft Dynamics partners fantastic new opportunities. These opportunities are even bigger for partners who target SMB’s.

To understand the opportunities CSP offers Microsoft Dynamics partners, it is good to look at its origin. It all started when Microsoft teamed up with Telco-Operators to work on a program called ‘Syndication’. This was when the predecessor of Office 365, Business Productivity Online Solution (BPOS, what a wonderful name) launched.

Microsoft wanted to make sure that operators, who sold internet access to end customers, could bundle that access with the online versions of Exchange and Sharepoint and sell it as one package. That way end customers didn’t know how much of their monthly fee was used for pure internet access, additional services and software solutions such as Exchange. It provided opportunity to “hide” margin within the various packages.

While Operators found it hard to sell BPOS in the first place, more and more companies got interested in the idea of selling Microsoft Online Services integrated in their own offering. Yet Microsoft needed to onboard each of the Syndication Partner manually, which was extremely resource intensive. So it became clear that in order let BPOS succeed, Microsoft needed to provide a scalable platform, which then led to the Cloud Solution Provider Program (or Project Artemis as it was called back then).

The biggest benefit of the Microsoft CSP program

At first glance, you might say that CSP is another licensing option, tailored for online services, which is true. But then it is also a transactional platform for resellers and wholesalers alike. Having a platform that enables partners to have automated provisioning and billing of Microsoft online services is a critical element of Microsoft’s cloud transformation agenda.

 

However, the biggest benefit of CSP as a platform comes from the opportunity to allow partners around the globe to integrate Microsoft cloud services in their own offerings. More and more, the line of business decides which IT solutions are being used and not the IT department. This means that more and more, decision makers want to get pay-as-you-go models that have one price for entire solutions in very predictable way. This can be achieved by creating your own products that consist of Microsoft online services, third party solutions, your own services – online or classical – which are offered in a by-user, by-month framework.

Cloud opportunities, especially for SMB

The opportunities CSP creates are especially true for SMB’s. In the traditional Business Application space, solutions were defined as being projects. Typically with high upfront costs and then maintenance. In the new cloud economy, these solutions should become easy to deploy packages that can be sold at scale to SMB’s. SMB’s typically accept standards more easily than enterprise customers, which is why market research predicts that SMB’s will consume public cloud services faster than their enterprise counterparts. This opens a fantastic opportunity for Dynamics partners, creating packages around industry expertise or business processes that can include Microsoft cloud services, other ISV solutions and their own IP and services. We are seeing great examples right now, like Tempero from Netherlands, Cloud2020 from United Kingdom or OneBizz which is actually part of QBS group.

How to become a CSP partner

Before you can actually create and transact CSP offerings, you need to become part of the CSP program with Microsoft. To do that you have two options: you can become a direct CSP or a CSP reseller. (Read also: What is the Microsoft CSP Program) As a direct CSP you have to make a large investment to set up the automated billing and provisioning platform. The full advantage of the CSP platform comes from the automation, for example you or customer can add or cancel seats of your cloud solution package directly and the billing and provisioning will be adjusted automatically. Microsoft estimates that this can cost you more than € 375.000,-. Arguably if you only have a handful of customers, you can continue to invoice manually on a monthly basis. But as soon as you have more than 20 customers, the cost of keeping up with changes will eat into your profitability big time, thus increasing your need for automation.

Become a CSP reseller

But you can also become a CSP reseller. In that scenario a cloud aggregator such as QBS group would provide the heavy lifting in terms of the automation platform, while you can focus on creating and selling your packaged offerings. There are some costs involved, the margins you receive on the Microsoft public cloud offerings are slightly smaller. But these costs are small compared to the all up margin you can make with cloud service packages you create. In fact Microsoft calculation suggest that only after two years and more than 500 customer you might be getting break even on your own CSP investment versus becoming a CSP reseller within the QBS network.

Getting started with CSP Program.

I strongly believe we are just getting started with packaged cloud services. At QBS group we have invested heavily in our platform to provide automated billing and provisioning for our partners. We also offer them a portfolio of third party solutions and cloud solutions (such as OneBizz) that they can integrate into your own cloud services packages.

The easiest way to benefit from the Cloud Solution Provider Program opportunity is to sell an anchor service to your installed base.

The easiest way to benefit from the Cloud Solution Provider Program opportunity is to sell an anchor service to your installed base. In most cases, that will be Office 365. If you combine it with OneBizz 365 and add your own services, you have made the first important step, creating your cloud service product. We at QBS are eager to support you in this step. If you think this is worth investigating, then please contact QBS group.

Want to get in touch with me personally?
Send an email to mhartmann@qbsgroup.com

The IT Channel Company modifies management structure to match rapid growth

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Leusden, 6 December 2016 – The IT Channel Company (TICC) has appointed Michael Hartmann as the new CEO of QBS group. In this role, Hartmann will lead QBS group in its next phase of growth. Before beginning at QBS group, he was responsible for Microsoft’s SMB business in EMEA, and he was the global leader of the Dynamics SMB Partners within Microsoft. Hartmann joined QBS as CCO earlier this year.

Simultaneously, Board member and former CEO Joop van Voorthuijsen becomes Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and will focus on the Dynamics 365 / OneBizz strategy and the Microsoft Indirect CSP (Cloud Services Provider) programme. Louis Rustenhoven, Chairman of the Board at The IT Channel Company: “We highly appreciate what Joop has done for The IT Channel Company. QBS group was launched under his leadership, and has grown rapidly to more than 375 partners in 15 countries. We are extremely pleased that in his new role as CSO with his experience and vision he will make an important contribution to our future plans.”

Hartmann will be responsible for the distribution of the Microsoft Dynamics portfolio. QBS group expects stable growth in the years ahead, both in terms of portfolio and footprint.“The IT Channel Company has grown over the past three years from 6 million Euros in sales to 55 million,” notes Louis Rusthoven. “We decided to adapt the company to match this growth, and to take the next step towards professionalising The IT Channel Company. This way we can continue the upward trend. The new augmentation to our management readies us for the future.”

Microsoft Dynamics 2017 is here!

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We’ve come a long way with Microsoft Dynamics NAV since the old Navigator days. On Thursday, November 24. the next version of Microsoft Dynamics NAV (2017) launches, with enhancements like.

At QBS group we’re committed to make you get up to speed with the latest version as fast as possible. That’s why we offer strategy sessions such as the QBS Talk Why you should care about Extensions in Dynamics NAV. and NAV update webinars NAV update webinar about NAV 2017. Giving you the information you need to get ready to deliver Dynamics NAV 2017.

See also

QBS group Service: Dynamics Upgrade Service

Why you should care about Extensions in Dynamics NAV

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The Extensions packages were introduced with Dynamics NAV 2016 and enhanced in NAV 2017. A new way to create and deploy customizations or add-ons.

According to Microsoft, it is the answer to any question you might have. Eventually it will become the only way to deliver your customizations.

In this session we will discuss what you can actually do with Extensions. We will also look at future plans. It will not be a deep technical dive, but rather a view from a business and architectural level.

“Over the next 6 to 12 months we will have parity between the Dynamics 365 Business Edition and Dynamics NAV”

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Exclusive interview with Marko Perisic.

Marko Perisic is the General Manager for Dynamics 365 Business Edition plus all Microsoft’s other ERP solutions for the SMB markets, including Dynamics NAV. This responsibility includes the product strategy and product development. Guus Krabbenborg from QBS met Marko for an exclusive interview for this report in Prague.

 

Main topic for this interview are of course the announcements around Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Dynamics NAV 2017.

QUESTION: As we speak we’re almost at the end of DIRECTIONS EMEA. Two weeks ago you were at the US edition of DIRECTIONS and earlier this week at the UG Summit in Tampa. What is your overall feeling about the launches of Dynamics 365 and Dynamics NAV 2017?

ANSWER: “I’ve experienced a lot of excitement around these launches and our plans for the near future. Both with partners, with analysts and the press. Of course we’ve also received lots of questions. And some partners are somewhat confused due to all the different announcements. So going forward we will focus even more on our communication in order to get everyone on the same page.”

QUESTION: Talking about communication – we’ve seen open discussions on LinkedIn lately. Is our observation right that Microsoft has changed the communication style?

ANSWER: “In what I now call the old days we used to have long release cycles and long disclosure periods before we officially announced a new product version. In today’s world we announce new versions so much faster that we had to adapt this. And for Dynamics 365, we ship an update every month, thereby the disclosure period is now only effectively 30 days and we try to avoid keeping news a secret. Instead, we focus on forward coming functionality and try to get everyone on the same page as soon as possible. The cost of delay is bigger than any potential risks of early disclosure.”

QUESTION: Many NAV partners seem to be surprised by the announcement that Dynamics 365 for Financials BE will be functional equal with Dynamics NAV in the next 6 to 12 months. Can you follow their reasoning?

ANSWER: “Yes, to some extent. In April 2016 where we’ve announced Project “Madeira”, and initially it was focused on companies from 10-99 employees. But soon after we realized that we can expand into a broader set of functionality to cover the entire SMB segment. Which is now Business Edition as part of Dynamics 365. Over the next 6 to 12 months we will have parity between the Dynamics 365 Business Edition and Dynamics NAV. The only choice for customers and partners will be, whether they want an on premise/hosted solution (Dynamics NAV) or a SaaS cloud solution (Dynamics 365).”

QUESTION: After the many discussions on LinkedIn and in other forums, we expected an extensive presentation on the new version of Extensions and its possibilities at the keynote. However, you spent less than 2 minutes in your presentation on this topic.

ANSWER: “The keynote was not the place for clarifications of detailed discussions. We covered the strategic direction and ambitions with Extensions. As a follow up to the keynote, there were many breakout sessions and Q&A to dig deeper into all questions about Extensions. Extensions are the way going forward to add functionality in both Dynamics 365 BE and Dynamics NAV. That could be both standard add-ons and customized functionality for a single customer. The good thing about Extensions is that they’re not touched in case of upgrades. In addition, the Apps that partners build for AppSource are also based on Extensions. So it makes sense for all partners to start to delve into the possibilities of Extensions. It is also a continued investment from Microsoft.”

QUESTION: Can you clarify on confusion about App’s, Extensions and Solutions?

ANSWER: “In short you could say an App is an Extension that has been published in AppSource. And a Solution is an App created by an ISV. I will also write a blog about it soon to take away the confusion.”

QUESTION: How should partners anticipate on new developments from Microsoft?

ANSWER: “Lots of information will be published on the public roadmap. On this public roadmap, partners can read about most of the developments to come. Because we will work with monthly releases, it makes less sense to be hiding information about relatively small changes. Microsoft wants to be more open about roadmap information and the Microsoft Dynamics team likes this change. Bigger changes might not be visible on the public roadmap, but we will ensure that if there are any, we disclose them in time and with information for partners to adapt easily. Extensions are one example of that. We did a lot of work on this prior to exposing them in NAV 2016.”

QUESTION: Are TAP programs obsolete with a public roadmap in place?

ANSWER: “TAP programs will still exist. The bigger changes will be shared in these programs and go-live customers are still an important part of it.”

QUESTION: Will Microsoft support multiple environments for Dynamics 365 development?

ANSWER: “Yes, Microsoft sees that partners and customers will need more than 1 tenant per domain to work with. We are currently working on a solution for that.”

QUESTION: What are the top Go Do’s for partners?

ANSWER: “If you have success with an on-premise business today, keep it successful. But in the meantime start exploring Dynamics 365. Embrace Extensions. And start building IP with Extensions. This technology will be pushed by Microsoft as the technology to build solutions for the coming years.”

QUESTION: Can you elaborate about the integration between Dynamics NAV and Dynamics CRM?

ANSWER: “We already have a nice integration today and we are still improving that integration. We will use Microsoft Flow to build further integrations with Dynamics CRM. Scenarios with Dynamics 365 Sales without Dynamics 365 Financials and vice versa will still be supported, depending where the partner starts – by selling a CRM solution or by selling a full business solution. You can expect that the boundaries between these products blur more and more over time.”

QUESTION: Will Apps be interchangeable between Dynamics NAV 2017, Dynamics 365 Business Edition and Dynamics Enterprise?

ANSWER: “PowerApps will be able to support several platforms and even combinations of different data sources. Apps will also be interchangeable for a great part between NAV and Dynamics 365, but there may be some differences by the nature of Dynamics 365 being a SaaS offering. Attention has to be paid to required dependencies.”

QUESTION: What are your ideas about localization of Dynamics 365 for Financials? From a roll-out perspective, the current plans look pretty slow.

ANSWER: “The launch of Dynamics 365 will be the first time ever that Microsoft brings fully localized “fit and finished” business solutions to the market. Traditionally it was the partner channel who delivered this last mile. Well, that’s a pretty big change in our model! So it’s not just development capacity that we need, but much more highly specialized localization knowledge and capabilities. And of course these resources will differ per country. This is top of my mind and we are working on some very creative ways of accelerating this.

We see multiple options to speed up this whole process. One of them is to put the partner made localization in an Extension and use that Extension on the core Dynamics 365 platform. In that option we will try to limit the number of localizations per country to just one!”

QUESTION: Final question – what is your advice to Dynamics partners going forward?

ANSWER: “Many of our partners are still in their comfort zones today and as a result they are not really motivated to start the business transformation process. My advice to these partners is to start researching the possibilities of Dynamics 365 and all the new technologies anyway, because only then business owners can make thought-out decisions about a healthy future. Of course partners have to continue their current on premise based activities as well. But I don’t think that there are many partners who can afford NOT to embrace all these new technologies!”

You can find much more Need-to-Know-Information in our Directions EMEA 2016 Business Report. Order now

Grupo Choice about Marketing Services

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Choice is a business group which has more than 20 years of experience in the sector and we always had the preoccupation to get in touch to our customers, have a good relationship with them and be close to them. This allows us to generate products and offers that connect to customers’ needs. Our relationship with QBS group allows us to improve our marketing strategy, optimise our sales and marketing and establish a formula of being close to our customer, basically via marketing. We couldn’t do that before, now we can and our customers appreciate it very much.

“Our alliance with QBS group has been very important in the development of our business strategy.”

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In Sofkia we know that there are not two business equals and the technology should help us to give solutions to specific necessities, we know that as developers or ISV inside the channel and we think that is the way to go. What we appreciate most of the alliance with QBS is the vertical solutions, the “Expertise” which is moved to the channel, in this case the distribution and training offered. We think this has been very important in the development of our business strategy.

SOFKIA

VS Sistemas “QBS group helps us build our road to success.”

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The strategy of VS Sistemas is to improve its services continuously. VS Sistemas is working with QBS group to generate a better collaboration within departments, monitor these improvements continuously and help build our road to success.

VS SISTEMAS

C2IT Business Solutions about QBS group

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C2IT Business Solutions is a part of C2IT A/S. C2IT Business Solutions has 18 employees who only work with Microsoft Dynamics NAV. C2IT Business Solutions has special skills in integration, distribution and time/sales control.

“We have been partners with QBS group since 2014 and are very satisfied”, says Berith Skov, CEO of C2IT Business Solutions, a woman who knows what is going on in the business. “Before QBS group we had needs for assistance and information regarding licences and campaigns that were not met. Now as a partner with QBS group we get the support we need. Besides that, QBS group is a connection to Microsoft and we get great benefit of the collaboration with other partners who have needs similar to ours.”

A quick and efficient access to Microsoft

Berith Skov is very pleased with the fact that the services of QBS group are focused on the needs of the partners, and that it is possible to get help and support that makes the daily work with costumers easier: “We can lean on QBS group because they have a close relationship with Microsoft, which is a big and complex organization. Our experience is that we can use QBS group as a way in to Microsoft when it comes to licenses and complex questions.”

Good prices on good training

Berith has a good and close connection with QBS group when it comes to training. “Through QBS group we get good prices on training, which is important in a market where knowledge is crucial. When we hired new employees a while ago, it made sense to send them on a course through a QBS business partner where they became well equipped.”

It has boosted our traffic on Social Media

Before C2IT often felt that they were ill informed about campaigns. Now they have the knowledge that makes the daily work easier. “Besides the specific knowledge on campaigns we are very pleased to have sent one of our employees on a course about social media. She came back with an in depth and focused knowledge that was easily enforceable. So that particular course has boosted our activities and visibility on our social media channels.”

The best prices

C2IT sees QBS as a good and daily partner. “We are very satisfied with the services provided by and through QBS group. They are relevant for our business and QBS negotiate good prices, which benefits us”, Berith Skov concludes.

We are once again part of a NAV community

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Herke ICT Group is a Dutch reseller of Microsoft Dynamics NAV and CRM. They are situated in the city of Alkmaar, The Netherlands and hold 50 employees. Besides being a reseller they have also developed their own solution for the construction business called BouwVision. They are not only a Microsoft Dynamics partner of Microsoft, but also an Office 365 partner. And they are a partner of Hewlett Packard for hardware.

“Before we joined we did have some doubts”, recalls Karin Buzing, when she talks about the decision of joining QBS group. She is a sales and marketing manager at Herke ICT Group and responsible for maintaining contact with QBS group. “It’s because we were afraid of losing the contacts we had at Microsoft. These contacts were good, because we are a large Microsoft partner since we also resell Office 365. But as far as NAV was concerned we weren’t big enough for becoming a managed partner of Microsoft. This means you have your own contact for support and questions.”

Becoming a QBS partner

It took a while until June 2015 before the organisation did decide to join. Karin Buzing: “It was quite a lengthy process. We first visited a couple of QBShare events and also made some financial considerations. What won us over, were the QBS services. QBSelect, the training courses, we could see the value in those. We were also drawn to the feeling of community. By joining QBS group we were part of the NAV community again and as far as we were concerned we had lost that feeling in recent years. For us, that played an important role in the decision to join QBS group eventually.”

Community

The feeling of community and the contacts Herke ICT Group has with other partners really pay off. Karin Buzing: “We already knew some other QBS group partners, but since we have joined ourselves the cooperation has intensified. We exchange leads with other partners. If we receive a lead which we can’t do much with, for example if it’s for a particular vertical, we pass it on to another partner who can. The same happens the other way around. ”

Cloud SureStep

Karin enrolled in the Cloud SureStep training which is offered by QBS group: “We have already come a long way with ‘the cloud’, we offer Office 365 products through the cloud and we are going to do the same with our BouwVision solution. Therefore the content of this training course was not entirely new to me, but it did confirm to me we are on the right track and it has provided me with some new insights which have accelerated the process.”

Pleasant contacts

Karin describes the contacts she has with QBS group as ‘pleasant’. Karin: “Once a month we have a meeting with our Partner Account Manager at QBS group. With her we discuss our business and business plan. The conversations we have with her are not just about the number of licenses we are planning to sell, she really helps us. It’s just great to have someone you can call, who calls you back and who sorts things out for you.”

Order Directions EMEA 2016 Business Report now

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Being a Dynamics NAV partner in todays market is like dancing on a volcano. The recent announcements around Dynamics 365 will make this effect even stronger! These days, Dynamics NAV partners face the biggest challenges ever in their companies history.

The combination of cloud, subscription pricing, new types of competitors, continuous innovation and the changing buying behavior invite business owners and their shareholders to explicitly step out of their comfort zones.

These trends call for new entrepreneurship, new business models and ongoing change. The question however is whether the current partner channel is ready, able, and willing to do so. If you want to read and learn more about this, order the Directions EMEA Busniess report now.

In this Business Report we have covered not only the keynotes at Directions EMEA 2016, but also various technical, functional and business sessions:

  • The business strategies around NAV 2017 and Dynamics 365
  • Dynamics 365 – Product, Positioning and Pre-sales
  • Dynamics NAV 2017 – core messages
  • Dynamics NAV 2017 – miscellaneous
  • Extensions

On top of that exclusive interviews with:

  • Paul White, worldwide Dynamics SMB Lead
  • Marko Perisic, R&D manager for NAV 2017 and Dynamics 365
  • Lotte Cordt Ihlemann and Jennifer Dorsey, Senior Marketing managers for Dynamics NAV

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

Can you afford to miss on this important business report?  Order now

10 TIPS to improve your website

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In today’s “new world”, Marketing is the new sales. Today, we all live in a disruptive world. Are you aware of all the relevant changes in the (international) markets for business solutions? And the impact this all has on your business, your proposition, your processes and your competencies? Many Microsoft Dynamics partners are working on ideas how to best setup a successful recurring app business in this fast evolving context.

On the vendor side we see an extremely tough competition, new cloud-based competitors and rapid changing business models. But there are also many changes on the buyer side! Your prospects prefer to stay anonymous during a big and still growing part of their customer journey. This has a huge impact on both your marketing and sales processes! Your name will not be on the longlist anymore without an impressive and easy to find website. And you definitely have to adjust your sales processes in order to stay competitive!

On top of this changing buyer’s behavior we also see that modern prospects have developed different preferences. So in order to stay successful, you need to be able to deliver your low(er) risk solutions faster, cheaper and subscription based.

At QBS group we’re happy to share some simple, yet effective tips to improve the effectiveness of your website. And most of these tip can be implemented per today.

After Directions EMEA 2016, Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners face crucial decisions on their future

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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 2016 in Prague.

This article is based on a more detailed analysis from in this year’s Directions 2016 Business Report for Dynamics partners.

For me these are among the most important stories and questions coming out of Directions EMEA 2016:

  • Being a Dynamics NAV partner in todays’ market is like dancing on a volcano. The recent announcements around Dynamics 365 will make this effect even stronger! These days, Dynamics NAV partners face the biggest challenges ever in their companies’ history. The combination of cloud, subscription pricing, new types of competitors, continuous innovation and the changing buying behavior force business owners and their shareholders to explicitly step out of their comfort zones. These trends call for new entrepreneurship, new business models and ongoing change. The question is of course if the current partner channel is ready, able, and willing to do so.
  • According to Microsoft, all Dynamics NAV partners need to transform their businesses in order to stay relevant. However, many partners still have not even started this process – not with action and sometimes not even in their minds! Paul White, who is worldwide responsible for Microsoft Dynamics in the SMB market, forecasts that only 20 percent of the current NAV partner community will eventually make this transition. So partners who have not started their transformation process yet should really hurry in order not to be left behind.
  • A relevant question is if today’s NAV channel is mentally prepared to make this change. After all, the majority of the current business owners started their companies in the early- to mid-nineties, when they were 35 to 40 years old. Well, if you add 20 to 25 years on top of that, you’ll understand that many owners today focus more on risk reduction and pre-retirement rather than on starting a whole new business line.

  • In Prague, Microsoft announced the so called ‘AND strategy’ for her partners. This basically is the advice to partners to continue their NAV projects business, while at the same time building a new, incremental cloud business, most likely in a separate unit with:
    • A separate team;
    • A business model based on less license margin and smaller services revenues;
    • A focus on winning new customers;
    • A lower cost profile;
    • And a different mindset.
  • The Dynamics NAV product has made a great revival! Only a few years ago the future of the product was openly questioned. In Prague, however, we all felt the excitement and saw that Dynamics NAV is back again! A few observations: the launch of the new NAV 2017 version, an impressive stream of additional innovations around NAV, 100 extra NAV developers in the R&D teams, a continuously growing number of NAV customers and finally NAV was selected as one of the cornerstones of Dynamics 365 via “Project Madeira”
  • Paul White presented the audience with Microsoft’s case for the attractiveness of the SaaS markets. Today, these SaaS markets are still smaller than the on-premise markets. However, the growth rates of SaaS solutions (up to 12 percent year over year) are much higher than the growth rates in the on-premise markets (only 1 percent YoY).
  • Microsoft explained her top four priorities for the NAV partner channel:
    • Helping partner to drive down the Cost of Sales by shifting from a sales oriented approach to a marketing oriented approach
    • Helping partners to improve the lifetime value of their customers by setting smart pricing and packaging and a limitation of the churn rates
    • Channel development for Dynamics 365. Microsoft expects to find new Dynamics 365 partners in the Office 365 channel, amongst Hosting Service Providers, BPO partners via accountants, traditional Dynamics ERP partners, and traditional ISVs
    • Exploring the ISV opportunity. Microsoft plans to make a bigger effort to help ISVs reach international scale.
  • In order to be successful in the “cloud first” world, NAV partners need to expand their ERP-only portfolio with solutions like Dynamics CRM, Office 365, Azure, Power BI, Flow, and Cortana Intelligence Suite. On top of that they need to differentiate their offerings more than ever before. And finally, they need to market, sell, deliver, and support digitally. Again, these are all huge changes for the majority of the partner channel!
  • Either via on-premise or via cloud, Microsoft is still focused on reaching the 200,000 NAV customer milestone in 2019. Achieving this goal would really be a piece of art! It means that the second 100.000 customers will be recruited in only 5 years’ time, where it took Navision and Microsoft over 20 years to win the first 100,000 customers.
  • Lots of oxygen was taken out of the room in the various sessions on Dynamics 365. On the one hand this was logical since that solution can be seen as the future successor of Dynamics NAV. On the other hand, it was not logical since the general impression is that only 20 percent of the current NAV channel will be able to transform their companies to a successful cloud business. But where else should Microsoft present her new solution?
  • Rather than just focusing on the functions and features of Dynamics 365, partners definitely need to pay attention to the business side of this new solution. What does it take to make a success out of Dynamics 365? And what changes must the average NAV partner make in order to become successful?
    Dynamics 365 will not be part of the Microsoft Dynamics pricelist. This new solution will only be sold via the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program. Partners can choose between CSP Direct (aka Tier 1) or work with a Value Added Distributor in CSP Indirect (Tier 2) arrangement. In the coming weeks and months every Dynamics NAV partner has to make a choice between these two options.
  • The pricing models for Dynamics 365 are quite different from the current NAV subscription pricing. For example, there will not be a tiered model anymore that provides higher margins at higher volumes. Nor there will be bottom-up pricing from Microsoft to the partner. In contrast, Microsoft will dictate a ‘street price’ on which partners get a margin. All these changes are due to the standards of the CSP program. The days of the Dynamics teams making her own rules and policies within the Microsoft organization are gone forever!
  • The organization committee of Directions EMEA had many reasons to be proud. They reported 1,772 attendees representing 588 partners from 52 countries from all over the world. That’s an all-time record!
  • The 2017 edition of DIRECTIONS EMEA will take place on October 4th – 6th in Madrid. It will be the 10th anniversary of the EMEA event, so probably reason enough for a small party.

QBS group helps you to really understand CSP!

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The new Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) program is going to play an important role in every Microsoft Dynamics partner business. This program is considered as the future of Microsoft licensing.

As from November 1st, 2016, Office 365, CRM Online and Azure will only be available via CSP! Also Dynamics 365 can only be sold over CSP. So reason enough for you to learn more about CSP, right?

Microsoft’s worldwide Dynamics SMB Lead Paul White even advised the many Dynamics NAV partners that will attend DIRECTIONS EMEA this week “not to leave Prague before you know everything about CSP.”

Basically, Dynamics partners have two options. Either you become a so called Direct CSP (aka Tier 1), or you select the Indirect CSP option (aka Tier 2) and cooperate with a Direct CSP. Just like QBS group. 😉

Interested to learn more about the requirements and benefits behind these two options? Want to understand which option works best for you? Read more about the option Direct or Indirect

Or if you directly want to start working together with an Indirect CSP start here.

Directions EMEA: it’s almost here!

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This year QBS group is a Gold Sponsor of Directions EMEA, the biggest event for the NAV Community, taking place in Prague from 12 to 14 October.

We are there with our QBS team to inform Dynamics NAV partners about our services and added value. Please visit our booth at G1.

We will also deliver a number of presentations on Directions EMEA, you can find more information here. Afterwards, Guus Krabbenborg will write a Directions EMEA report. We will inform you about that through our newsletter.
Are you going to Directions EMEA and do you want to know what to expect? Read Guus Krabbenborg’s preview blog for all the highlights.

To Guus Krabbenborg’s Directions EMEA 2016 preview blog

Which sales competencies do you need for success in a cloud world?

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Today’s buyers of business applications buy in a different way. During their online research, they try to avoid human interaction as long as they can. And in the meantime they prefer self-service and self-education. As a result, the quality and attractiveness of your website decides more and more your chance to get a position on the shortlist.

So in today’s online world, marketing is the new sales. But what does this mean for the sales role? And what should sales people focus on in order to stay business relevant?

In this edition of QBS Talks you’ll learn which competencies you need to master to be successful in the cloud world. We will give you an overview of seven competency levels for both sellers and their buyers. And discuss which levels are “under risk” and will be taken over by modern websites. We will also give you practical advice on how to develop your personal competencies so you will have even more added value for you customers.

At the end of this 30 minutes webinar you will walk away inspired, with new ideas and valuable action points that will help you become an even better sales professional!

What Dynamics NAV Partners Can Expect from Directions EMEA 2016

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DIRECTIONS is the annual event for Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners. This event is owned and organized by NAV partners for NAV partners. And that makes it pretty different from typical Microsoft events like WPC! Being a Dynamics NAV partner in todays’ market is like dancing on a volcano. And the recent announcement of the new Dynamics 365 solution will make this effect even stronger!

There are two editions of DIRECTIONS. The US edition took place on September 25th till 28th in Chandler, Arizona. The EMEA edition picked Prague as their 2016 location and will be organized from October 12th till 14th. Both editions will book an all-time high partner registration. The organization committee’s reported that they’ve registered over 700 partners for the US edition and no less than over 1,400 partners for Prague. This last number is expected to increase to over 1,700!
This article aims to give you an overview on what Dynamics NAV partners can expect of the EMEA events. And where they should put their focus on regarding the sessions.

  • To start with – Dynamics NAV is making a great revival these days. Only a few years ago there were questions regarding Microsoft’s commitment to NAV. In those days, many Microsoft people considered Dynamics AX as their favorite solution. This uncertainty of course had an impact on the atmosphere in the NAV channel. Over the last two years, however, this has completely changed. Dynamics NAV is back again! There is an impressive stream of innovations and new energy on the R&D front since Marko Perisic runs that important domain. The number of NAV customers keeps growing, and NAV is an important cornerstone of Dynamics 365 via “Project Madeira”. And Microsoft recently recruited about 100 extra NAV developers in Denmark.
  • Directions EMEA is the event where Microsoft will launch Dynamics NAV 2017. At the same event, Microsoft will also launch her brand new Dynamics 365 Business Edition Financials solution (formerly known as “Project Madeira”) for the first four European markets. The agenda offers all kind of functional and technical sessions for both solutions. So these two messages will create an interesting attention split.
  • According to Microsoft, all Dynamics NAV partners need to transform their businesses in order to stay relevant. However, many partners have not started this process at all! Paul White, worldwide general manager for NAV, predicted during WPC 2016 this summer 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!
  • In order to be successful in the Cloud First world, NAV partners have to expand their ERP-only based portfolio with solutions like Dynamics CRM, Office 365, Power BI, Flow and Cortana. On top of that they need to differentiate their offerings more than ever before. And finally, they need to market, sell, deliver and support digitally. These are all huge changes for the majority of the partner channel. So it makes sense to attend the specific sessions on these topics as well.
  • Rather than just focusing on the functions and features of Dynamics 365, partners should also pay attention to the business side of this new solution. What does it take to make a success out of Dynamics 365? Are NAV partners able to sell it? And if so, what changes must the average NAV partner make in order to become successful?
  • Marketing, selling, implementing and supporting Dynamics 365 demands for a different approach compared with traditional Dynamics NAV projects. In order to be successful, most partners will need to see Dynamics 365 as a whole new chapter in their businesses. With less license margin, smaller services revenues and cheaper delivery people with a different mindset. Partners should look at this event for guidance on how to organize and plan on these challenges.
  • Dynamics 365 will not be part of the Microsoft Dynamics pricelist. Instead, this new solution will only be sold via the CSP model – the Cloud Service Provider program. Partners have a choice between becoming CSP themselves (so called ‘Direct’ model) or work together with a Value Added Distributor (‘Indirect’). Dynamics NAV partners should definitely not leave the event before they have a good understanding of these programs and an idea for their best future choice.
  • Extensions are the way to go for both Dynamics NAV and Dynamics 365 partners. As an illustration, Marko Perisic stated at WPC 2016: “The answer is extensions – so what exactly is your question?” Microsoft announced that it will release a new and much better version of Extensions at Directions. Due to the crucial role that Extensions will play in the near future, it’s very important for any partner visiting Directions to pay special attention to this topic.
  • The focus on Dynamics 365 could also strike prospective buyer as having negative side effects. Especially with the announced phased introduction. It will be interesting to see what ideas Microsoft will introduce to avoid this.
  • Starting in FY17 we’ve seen lots of personnel changes and also new people in many local Microsoft teams. It is interesting to note that most of them don’t have Dynamics in their job titles anymore, but the new term BizApps. Is that a possible start of a re-branding?
  • For the first time the organization developed conference paths to make it easier for partners to find the right content. And to avoid content overlap. These paths have a role orientation for the US edition and more a product orientation for the EMEA edition. There is a reason for the careful organization: the EMEA edition contains of 145 sessions, roundtables and workshops. And the expo hall is completely sold out with 60 booths. The US edition tops that with 161 sessions!
  • Now that Microsoft has decided to finally integrate her different workloads into the new Dynamics 365 offering, the question comes up of what this all means for single product oriented events like DIRECTIONS and eXtreme (Dynamics CRM). Should they integrate as well? Partners can expect some indications on the future of these events.

See you in Prague!

Guus Krabbenborg

Important ERP lessons that CEO’s can learn from “naive” students

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I’ve delivered a guest lecture at the Haagsche Hogeschool for a group of 120 Business Economics students in the last year of their study. The topic was Risk Management in ERP projects.

My first questions in this lecture was to define the top-5 success factors of a given ERP implementation. For most CEO’s and Business Owners a really difficult question! To my surprise, the students came up with some great answers.

These were the outcomes of this exercise:

  1. “The organization should be motivated to achieve success! And this starts of course with the board and the senior management team.”
  2. “The board must explain in plain and simple language WHY the new system will be implemented in order to create enough urgency for the inevitable change process.”
  3. “The organization should allow the employees enough time to be trained and to get familiar with the new system.”
  4. “The organization must strive to find only one, well integrated system in order to prevent sub-systems and everlasting integrations, and to limit complexity.”
  5. “The system of choice needs to be implemented with limited or no customizations at all in order to stay agile and to survive in today’s disruptive world.”

Pretty good answers, right?

Wished your organization would have implemented your current systems this way? 😉

Now here’s some of the reasons why I couldn’t sleep last night.

Why do masses of CEO’s and Business Owners all over the world fail to answer this question correctly where students easily give me the right answers?

Are these students so naive? And is our day-to-day practice so complex? Or are they able to see things simple and clear because they don’t know (yet) what internal politics are. Because they don’t have to defend the interests of their departments (sub-optimization). And because there is no job-protection in play? Or is it simply because they understand that today’s companies can only survive with great IT while you are distracted and swallowed up by your daily activities?

The one lesson we all can learn from this experience is to prepare yourself well if you’re planning to select and implement any new system. And it may even be a good idea to invite some “naive students” to help you find the answers to the toughest questions.