DIRECTIONS EMEA 2017 business report is available now!

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

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

At QBS group, we understand that informing Dynamics partners well is crucial for making the right strategic decisions. That’s why we strive every single day to make “QBS Partners the best-informed Microsoft partners.”

We have been writing business reports on the international Microsoft events since 2004. So we know what we’re doing. This report is part of our ‘around the year’ reporting service that spans all the major events for Dynamics partners: Inspire/WPC, eXtreme 365 and DIRECTIONS.

What you can expect?

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

These partners use the report among others to:

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

 

What do Dynamics partners say about these reports?

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

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

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

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

Order your copy now!

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

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

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

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) – a Microsoft perspective

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most important change in data privacy regulation in 20 years – make sure you’re prepared.

On May 25, 2018 the new regulations around how we treat personal data in all EU countries* will come into effect. The key changes of the new regulations is much about introducing consequences to previously established rules from former directive, so if you’re not living up to these – this is the time to get your house in order. You may not think that these new regulations will have any effect on your business – simply because you don’t process personal information.

Well – you would be surprised what is considered “processing personal information”. Very few companies do not in some shape or form. E.g. if you support your custo- mers via remote help – that’s a case of a situation that require rules and processes to be described for cases of breaches.

On this session, the National Technology Officer of Microsoft Denmark, Ole Kjeldsen, gave an introduction into how Microsoft views the GDPR – what their advice to the industry is and also touch upon some of the things happening on the R&D front of Microsoft to comply with GDPR.

*The GDPR not only applies to organizations located within the EU but it will also apply to orga-nizations located outside of the EU if they offer goods or services to, or monitor the behavior of, EU data subjects. It applies to all companies processing and holding the personal data of data subjects residing in the European Union, regardless of the company’s location. That means that Brexit won’t exclude UK companies if they do business abroad.

General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) – a Microsoft perspective

The EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) is the most important change in data privacy regulation in 20 years – make sure you’re prepared.

On May 25, 2018 the new regulations around how we treat personal data in all EU countries* will come into effect. The key changes of the new regulations is much about introducing consequences to previously established rules from former directive, so if you’re not living up to these – this is the time to get your house in order. You may not think that these new regulations will have any effect on your business – simply because you don’t process personal information. Well – you would be surprised what is considered “processing personal information”. Very few companies do not in some shape or form. E.g. if you support your customers via remote help – that’s a case of a situation that require rules and processes to be described for cases of breaches.

On this session, the National Technology Officer of Microsoft Denmark, Ole Kjeldsen, gave an introduction into how Microsoft views the GDPR – what their advice to the industry is and also touch upon some of the things happening on the R&D front of Microsoft to comply with GDPR.

*The GDPR not only applies to organizations located within the EU but it will also apply to organizations located outside of the EU if they offer goods or services to, or monitor the behavior of, EU data subjects. It applies to all companies processing and holding the personal data of data subjects residing in the European Union, regardless of the companys location. That means that Brexit wont exclude UK companies if they do business abroad.

7 Strong arguments to sell Dynamics NAV today

Dynamics NAV finds itself in an interesting position today! On the one hand, it is the most successful ERP system in the worldwide mid-market by far. On the other hand, the recent announcements around Dynamics 365 created questions and even some confusion around its future. Sounds familiar to you?

In this edition of QBS Talks we give you ‘7 strong arguments to continue selling Dynamics NAV’ as the safest choice in the market today, combined with the brightest future available. We’ll teach you three smart scenarios to take your prospective customer by the hand. Step 1: let them make a safe start with Dynamics NAV or CRM. And step 2: guide them into a great Dynamics 365 future whenever the product is completely localized and the transition moment is there for them.

After watching this valuable 52 minutes’ video, you’ll walk away with a good understanding of how to position your Dynamics NAV solution even better and more effectively in the ever-changing Microsoft world. Honestly, for you as a Dynamics NAV partner, missing this session is not really an option!

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

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.