Making winners out of users

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Do you want to bring more value to your customers? Do you want to have more arguments in place to justify an upgrade?

The traditional Microsoft Dynamics NAV partner channel has for many years focused on providing solutions for small and medium sized companies around the world. The focus for these implementations have in most cases been:

  • Customize the solution to fit the individual customer or organization
  • Define and create integration with external components or applications (i.e. webshop)
  • Deploy selected third party add-ons to enhance the solution (i.e. JetReports)
  • Test, training and implementation support

The majority of these implementations are centered around Microsoft Dynamics NAV and the features and functions coming from this.

What about the users?

The most valuable part of running a company is and have always been the employees and whatever tasks that they are handling in the business. Let me give you an example; We all know that it is important for a craftsman to have the most powerful and reliable tools available to perform his job. Power tools and screw drivers come in many forms and shapes – all designed to a specific purpose.

IT users have for many decades suffered from the lack of possibilities to adapt the user experience to their specific needs generating frustration and time consuming processes.

Today the modern IT user strives to get the most benefit out of the applications they are using. Yes, applications – not just Microsoft Dynamics NAV – they actually use other tools to perform their jobs. As a modern IT supplier, we need to take this into consideration as well.

In this Talk you will learn why we need to put users in front of their applications and provide the overview they need to obtain their business goals and help them perform their daily tasks. People are different and need different tools – one size doesn’t fit all.

QBS group appoints former Microsoft SMB global partner sales lead Michael Hartmann as CCO

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QBS group (“QBS”), part of The IT Channel Company (“TICC”), in Leusden appoints Michael Hartmann as Chief Commercial Officer per October 1st 2016.

For the coming years QBS expects a strong growth, both in footprint and services portfolio in which Michael’s experience and background will be of great value. Michael Hartmann (54) has extensive experience in the ICT sector and had several leading management positons at Microsoft. Prior to joining TICC Michael was the European Middle East and Africa Timezone Lead for Microsoft’s SMB business as well as the Global Lead for Dynamics SMB Partners within Microsoft, recently. In this role his objective was to double the channel sales capacity for CRM Online in SMB, activate the commercial distribution and indirect CSP channel for Business Applications and building the Dynamics SMB teams.

About The IT Channel Company

The IT Channel Company was founded in 2012 as the result from the merger between ICT service providers Conceptsales and Partner Master Class. Since the start in 2012 TICC has experienced a stormy development and will reach a revenue of € 55 million in 2016. Within TICC QBS takes care of the distribution of the Microsoft Dynamics product range in Western Europe. QBS operates in 15 countries in Western Europe, serving more than 350 partners. For the coming years a solid growth is expected. QBS supports its partners with services in areas such as marketing, lead generation, sales support and consultancy, partner and customer care, hosting solutions, training and coaching. Last year QBS introduced the OneBizz proposition; a modular cloud application for SMEs with amongst others Office365 (Outlook, SharePoint, Yammer, Skype for Business), Microsoft Dynamics CRM and ERP.

WPC 2016 Notebook: A look back at 11 big stories for Microsoft Dynamics partners

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As a longtime WPC-observer with a perspective geared toward Microsoft Dynamics, I’d like to share some of my initial impressions on this year’s WPC 2016 in Toronto and highlight some of the important trends you’ll find more detailed analysis of in this year’s WPC Business Report for Dynamics partners.

These are among the most important stories – and questions – coming out of WPC 2016:

  • The overall focus on this WPC event was on Digital Transformation.Important for both big and small companies. For companies both in mature countries as in emerging countries. And of course also important for both Microsoft and her partner organizations!
  • Every single partner should consider where they are today in this transformation process. The ones that haven’t started yet have no time to lose. And the ones that have already made a start should consider speeding up. Microsoft tends to support the more innovative and cloud-ready partners over the remaining partners. So make sure you’re don’t get left alone!
  • Microsoft is broadly perceived as being back at the top of the industry.During the event, we saw an impressive stream of innovations and new products. Over the last week, many people talked about Microsoft as “the world’s biggest start-up”. Or as Tim Campo, CIO of Facebook, explained about his company’s selection of Office 365 for their 13.000 employees worldwide: “Microsoft got cool again”.
  • The Dynamics products made a remarkable revival! Only 4 years ago during WPC 2011 in Los Angeles, CEO Steve Ballmer felt himself forced to state that “the Microsoft Dynamics products were strategically important” in order to exorcize rumors on a potential close. This year, the very first thing Satya Nadella mentioned in his keynote was Dynamics 365.
  • The announcement of Dynamics 365 was no coincidence. In all sessions and presentations you could see, hear and almost feel that many walls between the former silo’s within the Microsoft corporation are coming down. Or even have been demolished already. The One Microsoft ambition is no longer a dream – it’s right here!
  • Dynamics 365 is shaping up to be a modern end-to-end cloud business solution based on ERP, CRM, Office 365 and Azure. The solution architecture will introduce a new Common Data Model for integrated apps and incorporates Power BI, Cortana Intelligence and Internet of Things (IoT) technology. This new solution comes in two flavors: a Business/SMB edition for 10 to 250 employees and an Enterprise edition for 250+ employees.
  • So 13 years after the acquisitions of Great Plains and Navision Software the Dynamics Group is now finally incorporated in the Microsoft organization. Direct impact: less distinction between Dynamics CRM and Dynamics ERP, and Microsoft Dynamics as a whole integrates ever closer with the rest of the Cloud and Enterprise organization.
  • Independent Software Vendors (ISV’s) play a more important role in the Microsoft strategies than ever before. ISVs have always been extremely important in the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem. Microsoft continues to send the message that it believes that ISV’s are key for success in both industries and workloads.
  • Regarding the “stand-alone” ERP products, Microsoft confirmed that AX, GP, NAV and SL will continue to be further developed, updated and supported as ever before.
  • At WPC 2014 the Partner Account Manager (PAM) role expired and was replaced by the new Partner Sales Executive (PSE) role. This time Microsoft decided to replace the PSE role again by a new role called Partner Channel Development Manager – in short PCDM. Other than the PAM and PSE in the near past, the PCDM will have a focus on recruiting new partners. Interesting of course is to see what this means for you as a partner.
  • The Cloud Service Provider (CSP) program is the basis for all Microsoft Dynamics partners to do their business in the foreseeable future. The importance of understanding CSP was stressed in nearly every single session. So every partner should understand what CSP is and how they can benefit from it.

Guus Krabbenborg’s twelfth annual Business Report from WPC is available now! More information on how to get your copy can be found here.

What is the Microsoft CSP Program?

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In order to be successful in a Cloud first, Mobile first world, Microsoft and her partners needed not just other solutions and marketing policies, but also modernized licensing policies.

That’s why Microsoft came up with the so called Cloud Solution Provider program – in short CSP. This program helps Microsoft partner become their customers’ trusted advisors. By using CSP, partners are able to own and manage the end-to-end relationship with their customers.

Dynamics strategy officer Jeff Edwards named CSP “The license model of the future”. It’s also important for all of us to realize that CSP is a partner led model. As a matter of fact, Microsoft did some experiments with direct sales. This experiment was based on BPOS, the precursor of Office 365. However, the results of this try-out was that direct deals led to financial loss and poor customer satisfaction scores. For Microsoft another confirmation that the indirect model with partners is the best model for the company!

The main challenge for Microsoft cloud partners is to combine, package, sell, deliver and support all the value of the Microsoft stack into attractive and repeatable all-in solutions for the customers in their targeted markets. CSP heavily supports that process.

Microsoft works with two versions of CSP, called Tier 1 for the direct channel and Tier 2 for the indirect channel. This is shown in the slide below.

Dynamics partner have to choose at least one of the two models. For AX partners Tier 1 even roughly is the only recommended approach. Or partners can take both models.

Partners who select the indirect channel need to find themselves an Indirect Provider that can support them in their daily business. All the big international Microsoft distributors (“disti’s”) are offering indirect CSP to partners today. However, for Dynamics partners it’s pretty important to also look at the knowledge that these providers have from the Dynamics processes and products.

More and more Microsoft cloud solutions can only be sold through the CSP model. Dynamics 365 for example will not become part of the Dynamics pricelist, but will only be available via CSP. An extra reason for all Dynamics partners to learn more from CSP, make a choice and sign up!

Want to resell Microsoft Cloud solutions via a Indirect CSP? As a Microsoft Reseller you can start here

The Most Important Takeaways from WPC 2016

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Watch the recording of the webinar on 19 July 2016 by Guus Krabbenborg.

Want to learn more? Download our WPC 2016 Business Report.

The WPC 2016 Business Report

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From 10 to 14 July the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference was held in Toronto Canada. WPC is the most important annual Microsoft partner event. QBS group was there to hear from first hand about Microsoft’s plans for FY 17 and beyond and we have once again written our unique and well known WPC Business Report.

The report features broad, insightful, and independent business reporting on the happenings at WPC especially for Microsoft Dynamics partners. The report, which consists of 46 pages of need-to-know information, is bought by leading Dynamics partners from all over the world. It is available now.

About WPC 2016

Microsoft is cool again! Over the last 2,5 years under the new CEO Satya Nadella, the company made a remarkable transition to a modern and open vendor who improved both its vision, leadership and innovation. As a result, this 2016 edition will always be remembered as the event where Microsoft announced her first real One Microsoft solution: Dynamics 365. Over time, this new solution will have a big impact on the existing Dynamics partner channels, be it AX, CRM, GP, NAV or SL and its customers. This WPC 2016 Business Report covers not only the announcement, made at WPC in Toronto. But it also gives you a detailed impression of the impact this launch will have on the individual partner businesses. Now and in the near future.

Index of the report

  1. Management summary
  2. Justification
  3. General impressions
  4. What were the messages of Satya Nadella?
  5. Partner transformation to the cloud
  6. The Microsoft CSP Program
  7. Satya’s blog on Dynamics 365
  8. Dynamics 365, Microsofts’ new end-to-end cloud business solution
  9. Exclusive interview with Marko Perisic: “SaaS alert in the SMB Market!”
  10. Exclusive interview with Paul White: “It is time for a home match!”
  11. What does the Microsoft partner of the future looks like?
  12. Conclusions and recommendations
  13. Access to the presentations
  14. Partner Conference 2017
  15. About the author

Author

The WPC 2016 Business Report is written by Guus Krabbenborg, co-founder of QBS group. This year’s report will be his twelfth annual WPC publication.

What did Dynamics partners say about previous WPC reports?

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

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

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

Buy now

Partners of QBS group will receive the WPC 2016 Business Report at no additional cost, as it is part of their membership.

For non QBS Microsoft partners the report is available for only € 400,- exclusive of VAT per partner company.

Do you want to know all about Microsoft’s plans for FY 17 and the opportunities these create for your business? Then order this report now.

Yes, I’d like to buy the Business Report WPC 2016 (for non QBS partners only).

QBS group receives prestigious Microsoft 2016 Inner Circle Award

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For the 3rd year in a row QBS group is awarded Inner Circle for Microsoft Dynamics.

For the 3rd consecutive year, Microsoft has awarded QBS group with the prestigious membership of the Inner Circle for Microsoft Dynamics. The 2016 Microsoft Dynamics Inner Circle honours an elite group of 60 of the most strategic Microsoft partners across the globe, showing high commitment to customers reflected in their business performance and high level of sales achievement. Being a member of the Inner Circle illustrates a partner’s commitment to customer satisfaction and signifies the highest quality for delivery and support of Microsoft Dynamics products.

Frank Holland, Corporate Vice President, Microsoft Business Solutions Sales & Partners: “Each year we recognize and honor Microsoft Dynamics partners from around the world for exemplary business performance. These award-winning partners represent the top 1% of Microsoft Dynamics partners in terms of sales performance, but their critical impact on the success of our shared customers is what truly stands out. Microsoft is honored to recognize QBS group for their achievements this past year and for their dedication and support of Microsoft Dynamics solutions.”

Joop van Voorthuijsen, CEO QBS group says: “I am extremely proud that we have succeeded in receiving this prestigious award for the 3rd year in a row. This award means a lot to us and is the result of great achievements by both our partners and our team. It is a collective result that our group has reached during our journey as Microsoft Dynamics Master VAR. QBS group is growing rapidly, we now have over 350 Microsoft Dynamics partners in 15 countries. This award will give a boost to our organisation, and is a clear evidence that the strategy is showing success. It also is a great foundation for further success for both our partners and our own organisation.”

What can Microsoft Dynamics partners expect from WPC 2016?

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Microsoft expects more than 15,000 participants from over 150 countries at this year’s Worldwide Partner Conference. This event will be held from July 10th to 14th in Toronto. For the first time in the history of the event, the Worldwide Partner Conference is sold out. That is a pretty remarkable shift, since last years’ WPC in Orlando was visited moderately. The Dynamics eco-system is traditionally well represented in this event.

What can the Dynamics partner community expect from this new WPC edition? This year, it’s neither the various Dynamics products, nor the cloud delivery model that will take all the partner’s attention. No, it’s probably the direction and the speed in the business transformation, both for Microsoft and for the partner organizations themselves, that will be one of the central Dynamics themes.

First of all, we see some interesting changes on Corp level.

Many partners look forward to hear CEO Satya Nadella’s keynote presentation, most probably scheduled for day 1. Since the start in his new role some two years ago, Nadella changed Microsoft from a company that was perceived as “defensive, always too late and with a lack of vision” into a “sexy company that operates in the front line of the ICT industry”.

Nadella recently was successful with the acquisition of LinkedIn – the largest business network in the world. It was a strategy that was in line with the failed attempt to buy Salesforce.com last year. In the meantime, Nadella had to deal with the negative (financial!) consequences of Ballmer’s failed Nokia acquisition just before he resigned.

Second eye catcher is the upcoming departure Chief Operations Officer Kevin Turner, often named as an important candidate to succeed Steve Ballmer as CEO. His departure was indeed expected two years ago, since Turner was perceived as part of the Ballmer camp. However, he managed to survive. Interesting question is what the impact is of the foreseen decentralization of this COO task over 5 different people going further. Most partners will miss Turner’s provocative keynote speeches, that over the last 10 WPC’s often were perceived as one of the highlights.

Third Corp topic is the Microsoft Partner Network (MPN) partner program. Microsoft announced that it will present a completely new version of this program, that will be in line with today’s Cloud first, Mobile first world. Question here is how these changes will impact the Dynamics partner communities.

But of course there are some interesting issues specific for the Dynamics area.

The first one is the move from isolated solutions towards full stack solutions. This is a topic that has been discussed for many years, also under the Ballmer regime. However, over the last two years under Nadella we’ve seen more tangible progress in this domain than in the 10 years before.

This move has a huge impact on the Microsoft organization. On the development plans and attitude for example. But also on product plans and release policies, on the local teams in the subsidiaries and on the PSE role as point of contact to the partners. Just to name a few. Dynamics partners should expect to get answers on their many questions in this domain.

Another important topic is product positioning. As the ‘stand-alone’ ERP and CRM solutions are expected to disappear over time, there will be a need for a modernized positioning of the Microsoft solutions. We’ve already seen various initiatives around the domains ‘Customer Engagement’ (formal CRM) and ‘Intelligent Back-office (formal ERP). This all will have a great impact on Microsoft’s efforts in their marketing. Hence, it will of course also mean additional work for the partners. How will they position themselves and their solutions effectively? What is the impact on their marketing? And more specific on their websites?

Another important question is what the next phase of Microsoft’s Cloud first, Mobile first mantra will be. There have been rumors that, starting in FY17, Microsoft will exclusively support cloud partners over the ones that still offer on premise variants. Even despite the risk of losing the opportunity! It’s interesting to see if this idea will be confirmed during this WPC. If so, then many partners who are in the re-active mode today will feel themselves forced to transform their business as soon as possible.

In the last week Microsoft announced her new solution set called Dynamics365– a cloud service for business apps. Including a Microsoft AppSource app store to support it. Based on what we’ve heard and seen so far this is a combined solution based on O365, Dynamics CRM and Dynamics ERP combined with Azure. The ERP part even has two favors: “Business” for SMB customers and “Enterprise” for larger deployments. Does this fully cover the ‘project Madeira’ initiative that was launched earlier this year? What is the impact on the on premise solutions for CRM, AX, GP, NAV and SL? Where will Microsoft put her focus energy and R&D money moving forward? And which of the various options should partner companies dive into? These are just some of the questions partners will look forward to find answers on the WPC event.

Guus Krabbenborg’s twelfth annual Business Report from WPC is available now! More information on how to get your copy can be found here.

Microsoft Partner Network changes competencies (MPN Evolution)

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Microsoft is changing its program for a large number of competencies (MPN Evolution). For now, this doesn’t affect Microsoft Dynamics NAV partners having an active ERP competency, but it does have consequences for other competencies such as CRM.

8823701 – sunset over manhattan from top of the rock

You can read more about MPN Evolution on Microsoft Partner Network. There’s also a tool there with which you can see what the consequences are for your organisation and what steps to take to keep your competencies active.

More information about MPN Evolution

Microsoft WPC 2016: Webinar and Business report

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From 10 to 14 July the Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference is once again being held, this time in Toronto Canada. WPC is the most important annual Microsoft partner event. Of course, QBS group will be there to hear from first hand about Microsoft’s plans for FY 16 and beyond.

We will inform you about WPC in two ways. Firstly, in a webinar on Tuesday 19 July – only five days after the event. In it, Guus Krabbenborg will update you on the most important plans of Microsoft for Dynamics partners. Register for this webinar now.

Secondly, we will also be writing our well known WPC Business Report this year, which will be available in the midst of August. This valuable report will be available for you as a QBS partner for free as part of your partnership with us. Non-QBS partners can receive the report on payment of a charge. For his report, Guus Krabbenborg has planned to do interviews with Paul White (Lead for Dynamics NAV) and Marko Perisic (R&D manager Dynamics NAV).

The fact that we belong to a larger organisation gives our customers security.

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Verito delivers Microsoft Dynamics NAV to charity organisations and commercial trainers. For these sectors, they have also developed additional modules for NAV. The organisation was founded 20 years ago, is located in Apeldoorn and has 10 employees.

Support was decisive

Verito was one of the first partners who joined QBS Group. That was in the summer of 2013. According to Owe Loonstra, sales and marketing manager at Verito, the concept of QBS group appealed very much to them. Owe Loonstra: “We are a small organisation and we noticed that we received less and less support from Microsoft. We expected that QBS group could support us better. We thought that, by joining a larger organisation like QBS group we would have more control over what happens at Microsoft. Especially in the area of software and platform development.”

A lot of time saved

Verito calls the support from Partner Care ‘pleasant’. Owe Loonstra: ‘They help us quickly if we have any questions. They also inform us about Partner Promotions, so we know much sooner than before. One particular thing, which saved us a lot of time, was that they assisted us in the certification (CfMD) Microsoft program.’

Contacts with Microsoft

According to their own saying, Verito ‘gratefully’ uses the knowledge and experience available at QBS Group. Owe Loonstra: ‘QBS group supports us in complex sales processes. For example recently, we secured a major customer and QBS group supported us in the negotiations with Microsoft for that customer. In that three-way discussion we have reached a solution which was most beneficial to all parties. ”

More security for end customers

QBS group helped Verito win a new customer. Owe Loonstra: “For a potential customer, we organised a meeting at QBS group in Leusden. During that meeting QBS group told about their services. This really helped convincing the client to choose our services. The fact that we belong to a larger organisation gives them security. This gives us a stronger position as a small organisation.”

Informed of new developments

Owe Loonstra: “We see that as a partner of QBS group we are well informed of developments at Microsoft. For example, when it comes to product development and new releases of NAV. QBS group is very close to the fire and wants to share her knowledge. As as a partner we benefit from that.”

Start with automated testing in Dynamics NAV

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Nothing is holding you to get started with automated testing in Dynamics NAV

With NAV 2016 finally Microsoft has made their test toolset a standard part of the product. Given this fact nothing is holding you anymore from incorporating this tool in your product development, and even custom projects. It’s only up to you to decide to what extend you are going to do this. So get started and create a significant positive impact for your team’s efficiency and confidence.

Top 3 unutilized arguments to select Dynamics NAV

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Research learns us that Microsoft Dynamics partners show up on short lists more, than any other competitor. But have problems converting these leads into concrete deals. Sounds familiar to you?

Most Dynamics NAV partners focus their sales pitches on functions and features and target these pitches to the operative and tactical levels in the prospects organization. Unfortunately, by acting this way, they fail to utilize a series of powerful arguments that advocate for Microsoft Dynamics NAV over other competitors. And on top of that, fail to address one of the main concerns for the strategic level/the business owners.

In this video you’ll get an overview of the Top 3 most unutilized arguments to select Dynamics NAV. You will learn how to use them effectively in your marketing and sales processes. So that you will turn your Silver medals (second place) into Gold medals. If you’re interested in closing more deals, more easily – you definitely don’t want to miss this session!

QBS group has joined the Microsoft® Cloud Solution Provider (Indirect CSP) program

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Recently, QBS group has become a Microsoft Indirect CSP Distributor. Only a selected number of distributors have been granted this exclusive status by Microsoft and we are very proud that we are now one of them.

“Having QBS group as an Indirect CSP if of great value for the complete Microsoft Dynamics Partner community”.
Michael Hartmann SMB Partner lead at Microsoft

For you as Microsoft Dynamics partner means that you can now order Dynamics CRM Online and Office 365 licences through QBS group. Which is convenient for you, since you will receive one purchase order for all licenses and we offer you support for these products. And of course you can benefit of our successful partner program with exclusief sercives which help you to increas you revenue and lower your costs.

Four reasons why you should add Dynamics CRM to your Dynamics NAV offering today!

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We live in the era of the customer. Nowadays, the customer is in control. The internet has created an extremely transparent market. Which means that customers have an endless variety of options to choose from. And when the customer isn’t satisfied, it’s easy to just choose another provider. This means nowadays that every organization has to do everything it can to make its customers happy. And to keep them happy! So it makes sense that your customers need the best possible IT tools thinkable to please their customers.

The reality is different. The majority of your customers started their Dynamics NAV implementation with matters like bookkeeping, order processing and warehouse administration. Most of the time, it took a while before the marketing and sales processes were automated. And often, Dynamics NAV was used for this as well. There were of course some good reasons for this: easy to implement, good integration and the same user interface. However, many marketing and sales people considered this as a weak compromise. After all, ERP was designed around structured ordering and delivery processes. Where as in CRM, information is mostly unstructured and customer centric.

The Dynamics NAV CRM module

All over the world sales and marketing departments of large and small companies understand that settling a compromise regarding the use of customer focused IT is no longer an option. They know that their company only has the right to survive in this new world if they use the best tools for sales, marketing, service and social. And unfortunately that tool isn’t the CRM module in Dynamics NAV!

Why you should embrace Dynamics CRM

These are the four main reasons why you should add Dynamics CRM to your existing Dynamics NAV offering today:

  1. Protect your existing Dynamics NAV customers! I predict that in the next three to five years every Dynamics NAV customer will purchase a professional CRM system. If you’re lucky your customers will buy Dynamics CRM. If you’re not so lucky, they will buy another system. For example Salesforce.com. ‘So what?’, you might think. Well, Salesforce is known primarily for its CRM offerings. But did you know that through her Force1 platform it also offers an ERP solutions, called FinancialForce? What will happen when your customer, who still uses an antique Dynamics NAV 3.70 version with a lot of expensive customisation, sees a recent version of FinancialForce?
  2. Increase your Dynamics NAV new business opportunities by broadening and strengthening your offering! More and more customers are seeking integrated solutions. Solutions that go beyond ‘just’ ERP. By adding Dynamics CRM and Office 365 to your proposition you will immediately become a more attractive party to do business with. Which will increase your ability to win new customers.
  3. Use Dynamics CRM as a ‘trojan horse’ for Dynamics NAV! You, unlike any other, know how hard it is to convince an organization to replace their existing ERP system. Offering a professional CRM solution however is an easier door opener. Surprisingly few companies are already using a structured CRM system nowadays. So Dynamics CRM can function as a ‘trojan horse’. You will sneak inside fairly unnoticed. You deliver Dynamics CRM to everyone’s satisfaction. And then start the ERP discussion. At much lower costs than the traditional approach.
  4. CRM markets grow much faster than ERP markets! In most European countries, today’s ERP markets are replacement markets. With an average revenue growth between 0 and 3 percent. That’s completely different for the CRM market. Microsoft expects a double digit growth for the next 5 years. So if you want to grow your business, can you afford to ignore the CRM market?

How do I find CRM competences?

Of course you have your hands full on your existing Dynamics NAV business. And you wonder how you can obtain the necessary CRM competences. We understand! That’s why we offer you a very comfortable entrance into the Dynamics CRM world. QBS group has recently decided to make her OneBizz solution modular. Which means that every Dynamics NAV partner can get going with OneBizz CRM and/or OneBizz 365 quickly.

This is what makes our offer to you more attractive:

  • Short implementations so you can deliver affordable and competitive solutions.
  • A special training program for you and your employees, which you can pay for with Quattro’s if you’d like.
  • If needed we can even provide you with a OneBizz Young Professional who has been trained by us and who can sees opportunities for you immediately.

After all, speed is important to prevent someone else to ‘steal your lunch’.

Want to know more?

Would you like to know more about the opportunity to add Dynamics CRM and Office 365 to your offering quickly and easily? Then please talk to your QBS contact person. Or send an email to my colleague Herman van Leeuwen via hvleeuwen@onebizz.com. And remember – the longer you wait, the more money you leave on the table!

Guus Krabbenborg

What Dynamics NAV Partners must change NOW

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Nowadays, new market-distorting business models buzz around. The so-called ‘disruptive models’ have a significant impact on pricing, quality, competition and law and regulation. Everyone is aware of the news about Uber’s taxi services and Airbnb’s accommodation services. But, what is the role of disruption in the ERP world? Is your company ready to cope with disruption?

The global ERP market we’ve known for years is no more. Today’s market is facing fundamental changes. These changes are so radical that it shakes up the whole ERP market indeed. Companies that want to survive have to be willing and able to adjust to these changes rapidly. Change or get lost!

These are the main transformations that we’ve observed during in these two years:

  1. Modern ERP buyers are risk averse.
  2. The IT department has a diminishing influence on the decision-making process. On the other hand, business people have a bigger influence.
  3. Subscription pricing really is the starting point for more and more buyers.
  4. There is a fast growing need for standardized solutions! (Experimenting with) customized solutions is losing popularity.
  5. Ranking arguments for choosing an ERP solution: speed of implementation (time to value) is getting the most important.
  6. Simplicity is always chosen over complexity.

Adfocom “Partner Care saved us a lot of time.”

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Adfocom is an IT service provider based in Alphen aan de Rijn, The Netherlands. They provide not only Microsoft Dynamics NAV, but also other services such as telephony and infrastructure. Their customers are located in floriculture, trade and rental. For floriculture they offer a NAV add-on; Greenline.

According to Jeroen Kersten, Sales Manager at Adfocom, his organisation needed a better support than Microsoft could offer. Jeroen: “For questions we didn’t have a good entrance at Microsoft. Communication was difficult. Then we got the offer from QBS Group. All the conditions stayed the same, but they did offer us many advantages. So we joined them. It could only get better. ”

More information

Since then the information has improved. Jeroen Kersten: “We can now go to QBS group for questions, for example about licenses. We also receive newsletters, in which we are informed about issues that are important to us. And we can participate in events such as QBShare.”

Help with licenses

Jeroen is excited about Partner Care & Licensing, the support department of QBS Group. Jeroen: “It’s nice that you can contact someone who knows all the rules and any exceptions. And that you actually know what that person looks like. Partner Care has helped us with a licensing issue that we had. One of our customers had taken over a company that used Microsoft AX software and had their own AX licenses. Our client used Microsoft Dynamics NAV. That had to be one system and the two licensing structures had to be merged. It was quite a hassle, but QBS group helped us very well and it saved us a lot of time.”

Leads by Telebusiness

Adfocom also uses the Telebusiness service from QBS group. Jeroen: “It has already generated leads for us. We started using this service because we wanted to approach a new market. Besides using TeleBusiness have also updated our website and we are going to use Adwords.”

Targeted calls

Telebusiness is more than just calling. Jeroen: “When we started, we bought a mailing list. This mailing list is first ‘enriched’ by QBS group; appropriate contacts have been added to the directory. So, you can access more targeted customers. This mailing list will be called once a week and we will continue to do so.”

Renew and integrate your Marketing and Sales process

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In today’s world, the ‘old’ guidelines for sales don’t cut it any more. You need agility and adaption to align with the new buying behavior. Therefore we need a new approach, says Marketing Manager Harco van Polen. He created what he calls the Integrated Marketing and Sales process. Download the handy guide now.

There are actually two compelling reasons to update and integrate your Marketing and Sales process. Allow me to elaborate just a bit…

Changing buying behaviour

The first one is the changing buying behavior we are currently experiencing with new customers. It is no secret that by the time they contact you, they are already at about 60% of their buying cycle. And yes, I state Buying cycle, because the prospect holds all the power. The days of the Sales cycle, where we were in the lead, are long gone…

So… what can you do to influence the prospect in the first 60% of his buying journey? Well, to be honest, Marketing has to do the heavy lifting here. Marketing is the new Sales during this phase. If we want to influence buying behavior, we need to be relevant. And if we want to be relevant, we need to help the prospect in his journey, educate him/her if you like. We need to tailor the prospect with the right message at the right time, when he or she is ready for it, not when we are. In short we need to nurture a prospect until they contact us.

And with this nurturing, we need to redefine the current Marketing and sales processes and integrate them to create a seamless prospect journey or buying cycle.

Cloud based products

The second reason is the cloud; well your cloud based product to be more precise. More and more QBS partners are adding repeatable solutions next to their existing projects. So in essence, they sell projects AND products. This presents a difficult challenge for Sales and Marketing. You want to differentiate the approach and timing of a buying cycle, but also want to make use of the same systems and tools. Maybe even the same people, although this should be a temporary grace period.

Preferably, you need to have one approach for both businesses, be it with a different timing aspects and some exceptions. And there you have it… the second compelling reason why we need to change the way we sell to accommodate the way prospects are buying.

The ‘old’ guidelines for sales

For years, Microsoft has (rightfully so) been pounding us with the Microsoft Solution Selling Process (MSSP), a full blown 9-stages sales trajectory for project selling. Next to that they hammered the world famous BANT-criteria to ‘qualify’ a lead. Both are widely spread and used in our community. Although the model is… somewhat inflexible, in the project business it was a guideline for many.

But in today’s world where you need agility and adaption to align with the new buying behavior, MSSP just doesn’t cut it any more. So Microsoft released the Accelerated Sales Process (ASP) (and some odd differentiations to it). But moving away from MSSP to ASP proofed a challenge for Project centric partners.

Right, so if I’m a QBS partner selling NAV projects and OneBizz (or equivalents products), I’m stuck in the middle.

That’s why we need the Marketing and Sales chunks integrated and accelerated. We need to adapt to the customer journey (which is not linear!), educate, nurture and sell… You definitely picked the right challenging business to work in…
Nurturing is for marketing, closing is for Sales. Buying cycles can take up to 2 years or 30 days… And we need to transfer from marketing to sales seamlessly. No matter what deployment you use.

A new approach

QBS has asked me to developed a what you might call an Integrated Marketing and Sales process.

Be warned, it’s not the silver bullet. It could however be a solid foundation for you to use the same resources, tools and systems for all your business. With it you will get an integrated insight in your integrated funnel. You will be able to have the correct conversation with your marketing and sales people when defining weighted or unweighted pipelines. And, you can accommodate the wishes of your prospects and customers.

In this process, we have clearly stated WHY the respective stage is there, HOW you should achieve the stated goals and WHAT you need to do to get there. We also explained the desired outcome and when to walk away, NOT moving to the next phase or stage. It also helps you determine what minimal information you should register in you (CRM) system.

And last but not least, we have incorporated ample time and structure for a fantastic hand-off between Marketing and Sales.

Go ahead, take a look and make use of it the way you feel would fit you. You can find the process below.

If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me. I’d love to help where I can.

Enjoy!

Harco

Download

Download the handy guide for Integrated Marketing & Sales. Do you want the printed version? Please contact us.

Strategic Offer or Cash Cow – Is your ERP system in a Dead End Street?

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2016 Will be the year in which the software-as-a-service model – simply put: the cloud – achieves its worldwide breakthrough for business software. But how will your software vendor respond to that? In this blog we’ve analysed the offerings of the larger ERP vendors for you and also provide you with tips for your own investigation.

According to Panorama Consulting, cloud computing is now well beyond the hype phase. The consultancy considers the purchase of a cloud-based ERP system to be just as normal as buying a car with 4 wheels. But how will your software vendor respond to this? Does your vendor have any cloud strategy at all? And if so, what does this strategy mean for the support of your current system and software versions? Not just today, but in the future as well. An analysis.

A rosy future is universally predicted for the market for cloud-based ERP solutions. A future so rosy that no serious vendor can afford to ignore this trend. This means that solution providers must make strategic choices. And the impact of those choices can be huge for your organisation! That’s why it’s now more important than ever to follow your vendor – even if you’re not yet using any ERP software from the cloud. Or even if you’re not even thinking actively about it yet! The burning question is: can you continue into the future without problems using your current system? Or should you be preparing seriously for the transition to another system?

Comparison with Y2K

In essence, for vendors, the transition to the cloud is quite similar to the year 2000 issues. Remember that? Everyone doubted whether traditional systems could function technically in the new century. All the vendors felt obliged to review their portfolio and make strategic choices. And that led to a huge restructuring of product offerings. The result was that many customers felt forced to switch to other systems much earlier than they had planned. With all of the attending financial and organisational consequences.

Strategic issues

It would appear that we are standing on the brink of a similar operation. Those vendors offering multiple and varying ERP solutions these days, in particular, must feel almost forced to rationalise their range for commercial reasons.

In addition, the vendors themselves must also answer a few critical questions:

  • Which of the current ERP systems are technically suitable for functioning in the public cloud as so-called “multi-tenant solutions”?
  • How large are the investments in these adaptations? And can those investments still be made profitable?
  • What should be done with the support and development of the traditional on-premise variants of the various ERP systems and system versions? What will this cost? And can those costs be justified from a commercial standpoint?

 

The position of the large ERP vendors

If we have a look at the large international ERP vendors, we see several of them offering multiple, often partially overlapping solutions at this moment. For example, Infor and Oracle’s many acquisitions have left them with a patchwork collection of ERP and CRM systems. A situation in which each solution also has multiple versions in use. Both companies require an actual alphabetic index in order to present their portfolios on their websites!

Some solution providers also make their traditional systems suitable for use in the cloud, as Microsoft does, for example. Still others, such as Sage and SAP, have developed entirely new systems for the cloud. For this group of vendors, particularly, the question arises about what the future of the “older” systems looks like. In vendor-speak: is your ERP solution one of the strategic systemsfor the future or can it better be labelled a cash cow? Often, the vendor’s website provides a first indication of this distinction. If your solution is not on the homepage, you have a good reason to worry. But if your solution is not mentioned on their website at all, you probably have a big issue!

Rough market analysis of ERP vendors

With my best interpretation, a first rough analysis of the websites of several leading ERP vendors reveals the following picture:

  • Infor provides and/or supports an impressive array of solutions. The Solutions page on their website boasts no less than 68 (!) different solutions in the domains of ERP, CRM, HCM, PLM, SCM and EFM. In several cases, it’s unclear exactly which of the solutions is being presented here. In any case, these include Infor LN (previously Baan), Infor LX, Infor M3 (previously Movex), Infor System21, Infor Pegasus, Infor Evolution and Infor SunSystems. From the website, it’s not immediately clear which solutions comprises the most strategic offering(s). But would really all 68 be of strategic value for Infor?
  • Microsoft supplies and/or supports four different ERP solutions: Dynamics AX, Dynamics NAV, Dynamics GP and Dynamics SOL. The two last are in use in the English speaking countries only; the first two worldwide. Dynamics AX is offered to larger (international) companies. Dynamics NAV, GP and SOL are the solutions for the small and medium sized companies. Dynamics AX, NAV and GP are cloud ready and appear to be strategically important for Microsoft.
  • Oracle provides and/or supports the Oracle E-Business Suite, Oracle JD Edwards, Oracle Peoplesoft and Oracle Fusion Applications, among others. For Oracle JD Edwards there are even two solutions: World and EnterpriseOne. Here, Oracle Fusion Applications would appear to be the main strategic platform for the future. Although the company seems to be struggling for many years in bringing this solution to the market.
  • Sage supplies and/or supports an impressive series of ERP solutions. It starts with Sage Line 50, Line 100, Line 200 and Line 300. These are their traditional product lines. On top of that there is a series of cloud offerings called Sage One, Sage Live, Sage Impact and Sage X3. The last one seems to be the strategic Sage offering. But is X3 the cloud solution that really has a fit with all their existing customers?
  • SAP provides and/or supports SAP S/4HANA, SAP Business All-in-One, SAP Business ByDesign, SAP Business One, SAP ERP and SAP R/3. SAP positions Business One as a solution for small businesess. All-in-One and Business ByDesign for medium-size companies and S/4HANA for enterprise companies. Business ByDesign seemed to be their strategic cloud offering. However, after various attempts in bringing Business ByDesign to the market, last year it was ‘moved’ to their partner channel. It’s unclear what the impact of that move is.

 

What’s your situation?

For many customer companies, their ERP system is the business’s beating heart. And that makes sense. Because in our rapidly changing market, the availability of the right information at the right time is strategically important. So you probably can’t afford to settle for less than the very best. If you want to avoid surprises, it’s a good idea to keep a close eye on your vendor. And to gain a clear view in the short term of what your system’s future looks like. More specifically: the future of the system version you’re currently using. So that you know whether you need to take action. Organisations that have larded their systems with a significant dose of customisation, particularly, would appear to be treading on thin ice.

The implementation partners of these ERP vendors should raise similar questions. Are your investments in capabilities and knowledge of your solution still well spend? And if unfortunately your not on the right track – does your vendor offer a partner business model for their new cloud solution anyway?

Practical suggestions

Here are a few practical suggestions for your own investigation:

  • Follow your vendor’s website closely. Is your system still being actively promoted to new buyers? Or is it no longer mentioned at all?
  • Be sure to visit the next annual customer day and ask pointed questions there.
  • Ask your vendor for the most recent version of his company’s product roadmap in order to see the concrete future plans for your system and version.
  • Investigate whether your system is already available in the cloud. Or whether that will soon be available. But also determine how long your system will continue to be supported as a traditional on-premise version.
  • Ask your vendor for a written statement about the strategic value of (the version of) your solution in his portfolio.
  • Get acquainted with your vendor’s user group. They often have a better overview of the developments. And you can also spar there with comparable customers.

 

Support versus continued development

In your investigation, it’s a good idea to pay attention to the distinction betweensupport on the one hand and continued development on the other. Naturally, every vendor will want to support his existing systems for a certain amount of time. With such services as a help desk, training and consultancy. It’s also perfectly reasonable to expect that a given period will occur for all current systems during which new, error-resolving versions appear – so-called “bug fixing”. However, the question of whether your vendor will continue to develop (the version of) your solution is crucial. Development which not only resolves bugs in new versions, but in which new functionality also becomes available. In which new versions of the surrounding systems are supported, such as the Microsoft Office tools. And in which modern technologies, such as new devices, continue to be made accessible. Including near-future things like speech recognition and handwriting recognition. Development that closely follows rapidly changing trends in Social, Mobile, Big Data and the Internet of Things. And in which legal and regulatory changes that are relevant to you still are implemented in your system pro-actively and in a timely manner. If your ERP system is strategically important to your enterprise, then this last variant is the only one that will satisfy you (in the future), right?

The importance of transparency

For an ERP vendor, it’s not exactly simple to offer perfect transparency, of course. After all, huge numbers of customers are involved. Along with considerable financial interests. But considering the strategic importance of this issue as your enterprise faces the future, it’s only fair to expect complete transparency from your vendor! So that you know exactly where you stand. And where you’ll be in the coming years. This is also a perfect occasion for vendors to demonstrate how transparent and mature they actually are.

I’d love to hear your findings!

Partner Master Class presents at eXtremeCRM EMEA event in Warsaw!

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The majority of the Dynamics CRM partner community in the EMEA region will travel east next week to visit Warsaw and attend their annual partner event called eXtreme CRM2016. Dutch training and consultancy firm Partner Master Class will be in Warsaw as well. First of all to be the co-trainer in the Cloud SureStep workshop for Dynamics CRM business leaders. Secondly to play a role in various round tables. And lastly to deliver a series of three presentations.

Cloud SureStep for Dynamics CRM

At this event Microsoft introduces the successful Cloud SureStep program (aka Road2Repeatability) to the European Dynamics CRM partner channel. This program helps partners prepare to build a repeatable business around Dynamics CRM Online. Over the last 4 years this program has been delivered to the Microsoft Dynamics NAV and GP (ERP) partner channel. Partner Master Class was an important delivery partner in that process to hundreds of Dynamics ERP partners in over 25 countries worldwide.

Guus Krabbenborg will co-deliver the 1,5 day Leadership track in Warsaw on Sunday afternoon and Monday – just before the official start of the conference. Over 100 attendees have already registered for this interesting workshop and many other partners are waitlisted.

Check here for details.

After this conference Partner Master Class will follow-up with the delivery of the full Cloud SureStep program including the Sales and Marketing tracks in many subsidiaries across Europe, Middle-East and Africa.

Round Tables

Like last year eXtreme facilitates a so called Executive Exchange. That is a separate track purely focused on Dynamics CRM partner executives. On Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning two round tables are scheduled to discuss the impact of Cloud First, Mobile First for Dynamics CRM partners. Partner Master Class will contribute to these discussions.

Presentations

Guus Krabbenborg will deliver three different provoking business presentations at this conference.

This is how you implement Organizational Change successfully!

Good organizational change management is crucial for project success. Especially when you want to deliver Dynamics CRM OL solutions! This process starts at the strategic level of your customer’s organization. This session is all about implementing this organizational change in your projects.

Repeatability in Practice – Win more deals and grow faster in a Cloud First, Mobile First world!

This session gives you an overview of the Microsoft Cloud SureStep program that helps Dynamics CRM partners become more repeatable and successful. You’ll also hear first-handed experiences from a German CRM partner who already went down this road 2 years ago.

This is a co-session together with Dr. Manuela Schwarze, head of sales and business development of German KK IT Systems.

Which sales competencies bring success in a Cloud First, Mobile First world?

In today’s world customers buy in a different way. So we all need to adapt our sales strategies in order to stay relevant! But what does this mean for your current sales force? And what are the sales competencies you need to focus on to stay successful in today’s fast changing world?

Are you visiting eXtreme CRM EMEA yourself? Then do feel free to attend one of these sessions.