1ClickFactory and QBS Group Merge to Form Companial, an International Network of Microsoft Dynamics Partners

1ClickFactory and QBS Group merge to provide additional service offerings to customers as it becomes Companial, the largest and fastest-growing international network of Microsoft Dynamics Partners.

Leusden, The Netherlands, Vilinus, Lithuania, Feb. 2, 2022 –  1ClickFactory, based in Vilnius, Lithuania and QBS Group, headquartered in Leusden, the Netherlands, announced today, February 2nd, 2022, that the companies are merging to form a new company named Companial.

1ClickFacory and QBS Group are well known in the Microsoft Business Application area, providing services and licenses to Microsoft Dynamics Partners. When 1ClickFactory and QBS Group began its strategic partnership in 2017, it quickly became obvious that both companies’ offerings around technical services, enablement, license operation, support for Independent software vendors (ISV), marketing services and Dynamics Partner engagement were very complementary, all focused on Microsoft Dynamics and Power Platform. Companial comes to market with a clear vision to become the preferred community for every Dynamics professional.

1ClickFactory is a Microsoft ISV Development Center and Gold Certified in Enterprise Resource Planning, Application Development and Cloud Platform. As a global business, it delivers services to 300+ Dynamics Partners in 40+ countries. 1ClickFactory’s high-quality Microsoft Dynamics 365 upgrade, development, and training services, together with its leading Microsoft Azure managed hosting service, help Microsoft Partners offer better business value to customers, delivering solutions on-premises and/or in the cloud.

“I am very excited to join forces and offer a One-Stop-Shop for every Dynamics Professional with Companial. Our clear mission is to exceed expectations by putting our Microsoft Partners at the center of all our efforts, offering outstanding services, developing and supporting Dynamics Partners on their (cloud) journey, and empowering them in all aspects of their business. The central word in our vision is “community”. We do everything to make the community work and to inspire those in it.

Companial promises that it’s easy to do business with us, that we offer a high-quality portfolio of services supporting all Dynamics workloads, and that we provide our Dynamics Partners with appealing offers!

We are dedicated to the success of our Dynamics Partners, and above all we prioritize personal relationships and a personal touch for the good of our community,”
Louis Rustenhoven, Chief Executive Officer, Companial.

QBS Group is the largest Dynamics ecosystem, second only to Microsoft itself. Situated in over 25 countries worldwide, with over 800 Partners that manage more than 40,000 customers, QBS Group was one of the only Dynamics-focused indirect Cloud Solution Providers. With its expertise and personal contact, QBS Group has helped Dynamics Partners transition to the cloud and supported them in driving the digital transformation. Microsoft has recently recognized QBS Group with the Inner Circle Award for Microsoft Business Applications 2021/22, the 8th year in a row QBS Group has received this honor.

“Seeing Dynamics Partners in our ecosystem scale is the number one thing for growth. We recognize that our Microsoft Partners are the wakeboard, and we want Microsoft Partners to be as efficient, capable, and notable as possible. We have had such great experiences with QBS and 1ClickFactory in the past and we are confident that this combination is really going to enable Companial to bring on more customers, do a better job, have a higher level of customer satisfaction, and have a great relationship with Microsoft. A win-win-win situation for everyone!”
Mike Morton, General Manager Business Central, Microsoft.

While the launch of Companial will have no impact on existing relationships and contracts that Dynamics Partners have with 1ClickFactory or QBS Group, Dynamics Partners can expect additional services and offerings that will help them to either establish a Microsoft Dynamics practice or evolve an existing business to enable digital transformation and better satisfy customers. One example is the newly announced partnership with Plataan, one of the leading training providers for Microsoft Dynamics and Power Platform. This partnership will result in a full set of trainings and enablement tools that will be offered under the Companial brand to Dynamics Partners worldwide.

“I am happy to share my thoughts about the integration that is now happening between QBS and 1ClickFactory. We are excited and we think it’s a great move. Collectively, as a community, we have an enormous amount of work to do to take Dynamics customers forward to a bright Dynamics 365 cloud future. And only collectively do we have the resources to make that happen in any kind of sensitive timeframe. We are already enjoying working with your team to move our customers forward and we hope to do much more of that in the future and having a single throat to choke. We look forward to working with you”
Paul White, Chief Executive Officer at The NAV | 365 People

About Companial

Companial is the largest and fastest-growing international network of Microsoft Dynamics

Partners. Companial supports its Dynamics Partners – Resellers, System Integrators, Service Providers, and ISVs – with business and technical services aimed at growing revenue, lowering costs, and improving customer satisfaction. Companial is an official SMB ERP Distributor; Indirect CSP Provider for Microsoft; a Microsoft ISV Development Center; and Gold Certified in Enterprise Resource Planning, Application Development and Cloud Platform. Companial’s high-quality Microsoft Dynamics 365 upgrade, development, and migration services, together with its leading Microsoft Azure managed hosting service, helps Microsoft Partners offer better business value to their customers when delivering solutions on-premises and/or in the cloud. Companial is currently delivering and supporting over 1000 Dynamics Partners in more than 40 countries worldwide.

For more information reach out to: Ursula Koller, ukoller@qbsgroup.com

Visit our website: www.companial.com

Strategic Partnership QBS Group and 1Clickfactory with Plataan

Plataan, based in Hasselt, Belgium and QBS Group, headquartered in Leusden, The Netherlands announced today that they will join forces moving forward. As of January 2022, QBS Group has acquired a shareholder majority of Plataan.

This transaction is an important step in the strategy of QBS Group to enhance the portfolio of partner growth services delivered to the worldwide Dynamics partner channel. It perfectly fits in the vision of the group to be the most preferred community and center of expertise for every Dynamics professional in the world.

In 2021 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central (BC) SaaS growth figures showed that it is now imperative that Dynamics partners become proficient in the relevant Dynamics 365 Business Central competencies, skills and knowledge. The tremendous growth of Business Central SaaS is also reflected in the accelerated intake and number of certifications of new Business Central professionals in the “Business Central Booster” Training Program delivered by Plataan. This program is a virtual online program designed to learn through practical, hands-on exercises whilst being guided by an experienced certified trainer. Apart from the Booster programs for Dynamics Business Central, Plataan is offering training courses for Microsoft’s Power Platform, Office 365 and the Customer Engagement workloads.

With this important strategic announcement, QBS Group and Plataan move into a league of their own when it comes to training capabilities, capacity and coverage to serve the Dynamics partner channel:

We consider Plataan as a leading strategic training partner for our community of current and future Dynamics partners. The ambition of Plataan to build all-inclusive online competency programs for Dynamics partners perfectly fits with our unique set of technical services covering Business Central, F&O, PowerApps and Customer Engagement and our expertise in Traditional and CSP (Cloud) licensing. We’re all looking forward to a great collaboration with multiple benefits for our partner community!
Louis Rustenhoven, CEO QBS Group & 1ClickFactory

 

Both companies are true partner focused organisations. Both have a ‘Microsoft Dynamics only’ strategy. No other Value-Added Distributor in the worldwide Microsoft channel can claim this. Our (digital) training offerings and capabilities combined with the sales & marketing and deep technical skills of QBS Group & 1ClickFactory together plus their wide international distribution network create a great fit! The Dynamics partner community can expect from us more attractive training offerings, including offerings around the domain of D365 Finance & Supply Chain and Power Platform.
Vincent Bellefroid, Partner Plataan

 

Directions EMEA in Milan and we as QBS Group will be there!

It was a tough year without meeting each other in person, having the network possibilities at events and not seeing each other in the conference of Directions. But the focus at this event will be on the fall release of Dynamics 365 Business Central, efficient use of the new development environment, cloud infrastructure and Power Platform.
Gain first-hand knowledge about Dynamics 365 Business Central and the Power Platform.

Innovate your business to successfully deal with technological requirements, and new pricing and sales policies. Offer customers outstanding extensions, innovative solutions, and apps in AppSource using Business Central, Azure Services, Microsoft Power Platform, AI and Machine Learning Collaborate with Microsoft and other Dynamics partners worldwide to enhance your offerings and SMB market presence.

Join Directions EMEA 2021 in Milan on October 27-29, 2021 and get inspired by the QBS presentations during our expertise sessions.

See you in Milan!

 


How to rapidly sell Business Central as a 100% fit, and let your customers recognize the value immediately.

William van Voorthuijsen
William van Voorthuijsen

Target audience: Sales & Marketing, Leadership, Consulting

In this session, you will learn the tips and tricks on how to sell Business Central SaaS to customers in the lower end of the SMB space. We all know that those customers don’t expect high implementation costs. They would rather love to recognize the value of Business Central immediately at low costs and as a great fit with their business. Learn how to complete standard Business Central with some great AppSource offerings and rapid implementations making use of wizards so that your end customers are up and running very quickly as well as recognizing the value of using Business Central in their business.

Session Info – Thursday, October 28, 2021 – 11.00 a.m. – Room Amber 5+6


There is a solution for almost every business challenge, but where can you find it?

Herman van Leeuwen QBS group
Herman van Leeuwen

Target audience: Sales & Marketing

The cloud transformation offers the opportunity to use a dedicated ISV solution rather than developing customizations. Today there are over 1,500 Business Central solutions published on AppSource. Herman will explain how you can find the right solution.

Session Info – Wednesday, October 27, 2021 – 11.00 a.m. – Room Amber 5+6


Go to Market with Power Platform

Chris Parkes
Chris Parkes

Target audience: Sales & Marketing, Leadership

Power Platform is just that, a Platform. It’s difficult to go to market with a platform proposition to your customers so how can you start to make money from Power Platform and associated technologies?  If you would like to think about how you can go from Dynamics 365 or Business Central to broader Business Applications, you need to think outside of the product box and broadly consider what can be delivered.  Attend this session to learn about how you can begin to commercialise power platforms, what scenarios may fit the market, what has worked well for partners already and what you will need to consider to get ready to start a successful Power Platform practice.

Session Info – Wednesday, October 27, 2021 – 11.00 a.m. – Room Coral 3


Have a look at the sessions of 1Click Factory at Directions

Pass by at our booth S09 – a nice surprise is waiting for you!

We are looking forward to seeing you at Directions EMEA in Milan.

If you have any questions, please reach out to us!

Hot News from Microsoft Inspire 2019

At QBS group we feel it is necessary to participate in all of the main Microsoft events: Microsoft Inspire, eXtreme and Directions, to ensure we can pass the relevant information on to you our partners, and also that we are the forefront of hot news! We participate not only as QBS people – but also as representatives of the entire QBS partner community. Speaking our case – and bringing back the news and information that we all need to keep on the forefront with our business.

Hot News From Inspire 2019
Watch the webinar Hot News from Inspire 2019 (video 30:00)

In this vlog we will present in 30 minutes the most important updates from Microsoft Inspire 2019.

  • Microsoft mission and innovations
  • PowerApps
  • Microsoft Field FY20 Priorities
  • Dynamics 365 Business Central Updates
  • Channel Incentives  and Channel Program
  • ISV and Marketplace

QBS goup YouTube channel

Watch our vlogs in our special Microsoft Inspire 2019 Playlist on our QBS group Youtube channel

Demo highlights at Microsoft Inspire 2019:

Demo: Empowering citizen developers with AI Builder at Microsoft Inspire 2019
Demo: Minecraft Earth at Microsoft Inspire 2019

PowerPoint

QBS group partners can download the presentation slides in the: QBS group partner portal.

White Paper – Microsoft Dynamics 365 the perfect platform for digital transformation in the mid-market

At QBS group we’re all about Dynamics partners – to the extent that we call ourselves “Dynamics partner fanatics”. We constantly look for new innovative ways in which we can assist our partner community with ways to grow their business – no matter what their Dynamics strategy is. There’s no doubt in our minds that Dynamics 365 offers a lot of advantages both to new partners but especially to the existing Dynamics partner community – which the most recent white paper from us focuses on. Enjoy the reading!

Abstract of white paper:

“We are approaching one of the great infliction points in time where information technology-based solutions  have matured to a level where they can deliver new and compelling value to meet recognized needs of mid-market companies.

The steadily falling prices on computer capacity, the accumulated investments in standard software products and the introduction of the cloud-based as-a-service delivery format have made advanced information technology available to the mid-market. Under the headline digital transformation these advanced technologies have the potential to dramatically increase the productivity of mid-market enterprises, while the steady expansion of the world wide web (51.5 per cent of the global population or 3.2 billion people) has enabled them to expand and grow beyond their domestic territories.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 The Perfect Platform For Digital Transformation In The Mid Market

Despite the increased availability of advanced software tools, the declining prices and the improved user-friendliness, digital transformation remains an ongoing activity that requires support from specialists that the typical mid-market enterprise cannot attract and justify on her payroll.  This whitepaper explains that exactly this intersection of technology and needs represents a yet untapped business potential for entrepreneurs that can translate software technologies into a tangible business advantage and that Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the perfect platform for executing such an ambition.”

You can download the full white paper here:
Microsoft Dynamics 365 – The perfect platform for digital transformation in the mid-market

Or if you would like to attend one of our upcoming QBShare events to learn more about how QBS can assist you in your future journey with Dynamics, find a local event here and register.

More from the same author.

Directions EMEA 2018 Business Report

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

We have been writing business reports on the international Microsoft events since 2004. So we know what we’re doing. This report is part of our ‘around the year’ reporting service that spans all the major events for Dynamics partners: Inspire, eXtreme 365 and DIRECTIONS. This unique report features a broad but insightful and independent business reporting on the happenings at DIRECTIONS EMEA 2018. The report, which consists of 46 pages of need-to-know information, is bought and used by leading Dynamics partners from all over the world.

These partners use the report among others to:

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

Directions EMEA 2018 Business Report QBS Group

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

Taster first? To get a good idea of what you can expect from our DIRECTIONS EMEA 2017 Business Report, you can order the 2017 Business Report as a free download version here.

Order your copy now!

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

The evolution of Dynamics 365 opens the door for new opportunities

The 2018 edition of eXtreme365 EMEA is expected to be an interesting edition.
Today, the world of a Dynamics CRM partner is changing faster than ever before. Being a Dynamics CRM partner today is like dancing on a volcano – far from boring! And the recent announcements around the Dynamics 365 solution makes this effect even stronger!

The EMEA edition picked Dubrovnik, Croatia as their 2018 location. It will be organized from March 19th till 21st for the partner event and on March 21st and 22nd for end-users. This last part is organised for the second time and anticipates to fill the gap that has emerged after Microsoft stopped with Convergence.

Due to the release of Dynamics 365 last year, the eXtreme organization decided to change the name of the event from ‘eXtreme CRM’ into ‘eXtreme365’

Attending partners
The expectation is that around 600-800 people from Dynamics 365 partners will attend eXtreme365 EMEA in Dubrovnik. If you’re a visitor yourself, an interesting question is how you will bring all these messages back home. Because it’s crucial that all your team members understand what’s going on. And more important – what that all means to them!

Read as well the blogs from Christly Spokely why NAV partners and CRM Partners attending eXtreme365 Dubrovnik

Business Report of eXtreme 365 EMEA
Here’s where QBS group can help you out. We will write a business report on eXtreme 365. With 3 authors we will cover more sessions than a single partner normally can do. The sessions that we will cover go ‘cross content’. This means that we will not only cover the keynotes, but also various technical and functional sessions and of course also the business sessions.

On top of that we will publish exclusive interviews that we will have in Dubrovnik with Microsoft executives.

The report will be published in the English language and will be available mid April 2018.

“QBS partners are the best informed Microsoft partners”

At QBS group we’ve been writing business reports for Microsoft Dynamics partners on Microsoft’s WPC and DIRECTIONS since 2004. Later this year we’ll be writing Business Reports about Inspire 2018 and Directions EMEA 2018.

QBS group partners
QBS group partners will receive this report for free as part of their membership. Partners who sign up as a QBS group partner before April 1st, 2018 will get a FREE copy as their welcome present. Non-QBS partners pay only € 350,- exclusive VAT to receive a copy.

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? Reserve your copy now!

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?

Slimstock and QBS group join forces to strengthen QBS partner capabilities

Leusden, 21th of September 2017

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

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

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

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

For more information, visit www.slimstock.com

 

Important news from Directions US 2017

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

Dynamics  365 “TENERIFE” will offer full NAV functionality

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

 

Extensions will be be optional

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

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

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

 

Start selling Microsoft Dynamics 365 Sales now via special SMB SKU

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Strategic alliance with 1ClickFactory

1ClickFactory and QBS group are delighted to announce a strategic relationship between the two companies. The synergies in such a relationship are apparent: both organisations are partner centric and dedicated to the Microsoft Dynamics products with very different yet complementary services.

Since 2009 1ClickFactory provided partners worldwide with extended development capabilities around Dynamics and packaged services aimed at specific tasks, such as Upgrade Services, code transformation, provisioning on Microsoft Azure, Certification for Microsoft Dynamics and much more.  Today 1ClickFactory does business every year with more than 300 Dynamics partners.

Since its creation 4 years ago, the QBS group network of partners in the Dynamics channel has grown to encompass 400+ partners. The services that QBS group provide partners range from strategic partner advice and management, staff readiness, sales and marketing support through to being the distributor of Microsoft licenses and enhancement plans and a CSP platform for partners.

Søren Fink-Jensen, CEO, 1ClickFactory:
“This will be a great partnership, where both 1ClickFactory and QBS partners, will benefit increasingly from an end-to-end experience, provided by 1ClickFactory and QBS”.

Michael Hartmann – CEO, QBS group:
“We want to be the best provider of services to Dynamics partners, and this alliance is a big step on the way”

Inspire 2017 Business Report available

From 9 to 13 July the Microsoft partner conference Inspire was held in Washington DC. Inspire (aka WPC) is the most important annual Microsoft partner event. QBS group was there with a team of 8 people to hear from firsthand about Microsoft’s plans for FY 18 and beyond. And with that same team we have once again written our unique and well known Inspire/WPC business report.

Microsoft and her Dynamics partners live in exciting times! The switch from the traditional long-lasting, heavily services oriented on-premise projects to a more product oriented, vertical-specific approach based on subscription pricing is a big challenge!

At QBS Group, we understand that informing Dynamics partners well is crucial in that journey 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 Microsoft WPC/Inspire events since 2004. This year’s report will be our thirteenth annual publication. So we know what we’re doing.

What you can expect
This unique report features broad, insightful and independent business reporting on the happenings at Inspire 2017, especially for Microsoft Dynamics partners. The report, which consists of 54 pages of need-to-know information, is bought by leading Dynamics partners from all over the world.

The report contains no less than 16 pages about everything you need to know about Dynamics 365. It also features exclusive interviews with Marko Perisic(General manager for Microsoft Dynamics SMB) and Jeff Edwards (Director ERP Channel Strategy and Programs).

Index of the report 

What do Dynamics partners say about these reports?

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

  • “We are a loyal purchaser of these WPC/Inspire 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 this 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 satisfaction score for this report over the last 5 years was 8,6 on a 1 to 10 scale.

First taste?
To get a good idea of what you can expect from our Inspire 2017 Business Report, you can now download the 2016 edition of our WPC Business report for free. 

Order your copy now!

Partners of QBS group receive this Inspire 2017 report at no additional cost, as it is part of their QBS 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 18 and the opportunities these create for your business? Then order your copy today!

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

Inspire 2017 – daily business updates

From 9-12 July in Washington D.C. QBS group attended the Inspire 2017 edition.

Are you ready to be Inspired? Watch here the daily business updates back from Guus Krabbenborg during Inspire 2017.

Day 1

Day 2 

Day 3

Exclusive interview with Joe Longo – SBS Group

Day 4

Day 5

QBS group receives prestigious Microsoft 2017/2018 Inner Circle Award

For the fourth year in a row QBS group is awarded Inner Circle for Microsoft Dynamics

For the fourth consecutive year, Microsoft has awarded QBS group with the prestigious membership of the Inner Circle for Microsoft Dynamics. The 2017/2018 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.

Membership in this elite group is based on sales achievements that rank QBS group in the top echelon of the Microsoft global network of partners. Inner Circle members have performed to a high standard of excellence by delivering valuable solutions that help organizations achieve increased success.

This recognition of Inner Circle for Microsoft Dynamics came during Microsoft Inspire (formerly Microsoft WPC), the annual premier partner event, which took place July 9-13, 2017 in Washington, D.C.

Maria Garaña, Vicepresident EMEA, Microsoft Business Solutions: “QBS group continues to be a strategic partner for Microsoft across Europe. Not only do they serve more than 400 partners with sales, marketing and technical services, they will also one of our key partners to launch  Dynamics 365 Business Edition. QBS will further grow their impact in Microsoft’s partner ecosystem by enabling partners new to Dynamics to build solutions and serve SMB customers across Europe.”

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.”

Michael Hartmann, CEO QBS group says“I am extremely proud that we have succeeded in receiving this prestigious award for the fourth 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 also a constant reminder to provide services that will help our partners take full advantage of the opportunities that come with Dynamics 365.  Our community counts now more than 400 partners and we will continue to invest heavily to make QBS the most attractive service provider for partners.”

Optimizing your resources as QBS partner with ForNAV

Leusden, 5th May, 2017 – ForNAV, a relatively new company with decades of NAV experience, announced on April 18th a partnership with QBS, to drive more business opportunities within the QBS partner base. With the combined power of the tools of ForNAV and the experience of industry veterans such as Michael Nielsen, Jan Sillemann, Jacob Reinholdt Rasmussen and Mark Brummel, partners can easily overcome obstacles when creating and upgrading reports for Dynamics NAV.

The Reports ForNAV Converter makes going from classic reports to RDLC fast and easy. It enables reports developed for Microsoft Dynamics NAV 5.0 and NAV 2009 (also known as “classic” or C/SIDE reports) to run on newer versions that require the RDLC format.

For creating and modifying reports for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, the Reports ForNAV Designer is an easy-to-use tool. If you are familiar with the C/SIDE reporting tool, you can start working with the Reports ForNAV Designer instantly.

For the partners of QBS, this is another way to focus on delivering high-value services to customers, letting smart tools improve efficiency by automating some of the day-to-day work. This partnership is also another example of the services to help partners with the optimization of their resources. And this is why QBS has negotiated a 50% introduction discount for QBS partners, when combined with the use of the Dynamics Upgrade Services.

The long-term strategic relationship between ForNAV and QBS will focus on driving the use of ForNAV tools by new partners and end-users.

Jan Sillemann – ForNAV
“Working with QBS will help us reach more partners. Faster. And thereby help customers take advantage of the new innovation in Dynamics NAV more efficiently.”

Michael Hartmann – CEO QBS group
“We are glad to offer another solution that helps partners focus on delivering high-level services and support the transition to a repeatable business model.”

For more information, visit www.fornav.com/ and www.qbsgroup.com/marketplace/ForNAV

What is the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program (Microsoft CSP)

Microsoft wants partners to take full advantage of their opportunity in the cloud, so they introduced the Cloud Solution Provider Program (CSP).

The Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program (CSP) enables partners to directly manage their entire Microsoft cloud customer lifecycle. Partners in this program utilize dedicated in-product tools to directly provision, manage, and support their customer subscriptions. Partners can easily package their own tools, products and services, and combine them into one monthly or annual customer bill.

Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider Program

This program helps Microsoft partners become their customers’ trusted advisors. Because by using CSP, partners are able to own and manage the end-to-end relationship with their customers.

CSP versions; Direct and Indirect

There are two versions of CSP, the Direct (Tier 1) model and the Indirect (Tier 2) model. Partners have to choose at least one model. They can also choose both.

Microsoft Cloud solution provider

The difference between the Direct CSP model and the Indirect CSP model is that the Direct model requires a robust infrastructure to enable end-to-end ownership of the customer relationship. There are a lot of requirements to be met and for most partners this isn’t feasible. The Indirect model however, offers partners (resellers) the opportunity to work with an Indirect CSP partner who can provide the tools and resources necessary to manage their customer relationship. And for most of them, this is the best option.

You need to decide

More and more Microsoft cloud solutions can only be sold through the CSP model, so partners need to decide. Dynamics 365 for example will not become part of the Dynamics pricelist, but will only be available via CSP.

eXtreme 365 EMEA 2017 Business Report

The 2017 edition of eXtreme 365 EMEA is expected to be an interesting edition. Today, the world of a Dynamics CRM partner is changing faster than ever before. Being a Dynamics CRM partner today is like dancing on a volcano – far from boring! And the recent announcements around the Dynamics 365 solution makes this effect even stronger!

The EMEA edition picked Lisbon as their 2017 location. It will be organized from March 13th till 15th for the partner event and on March 16th and 17th for end-users. This last part is new and anticipates to fill the gap that has emerged after Microsoft stopped with Convergence.

Due to the release of Dynamics 365 last year, the eXtreme organization decided to change the name of the event from ‘eXtreme CRM’ into ‘eXtreme 365’

Over 600 partners will attend eXtreme 365 EMEA in Lisbon. That’s an all-time high score! If you’re a visitor yourself, an interesting question is how you will bring all these messages back home. Because it’s crucial that all your team members understand what’s going on. And more important – what that all means to them!

Here’s where QBS group can help you out. We will write a business report on eXtreme 365. With 3 authors we will cover more sessions than a single partner normally can do. The sessions that we will cover go ‘cross content’. This means that we will not only cover the keynotes, but also various technical and functional sessions and of course also the business sessions.

On top of that we will publish exclusive interviews that we will have in Lisbon with these Microsoft executives:

  • Tony de Freitas – Director Dynamics Partner Strategy
  • Param Kahlon – General Manager of Program Management, Dynamics 365
  • Satish Thomas – Group Program Manager, Microsoft Appsource

The report will be published in the English language and will be available by the beginning of April 2017.

At QBS group we’ve been writing business reports for Microsoft Dynamics partners on Microsoft’s WPC and DIRECTIONS since 2004.

QBS group partners will receive this report for free as part of their membership. Partners who sign up as a QBS group partner before April 1st, 2017 will get a FREE copy as their welcome present. Non-QBS partners pay only € 350,- exclusive VAT to receive a copy.

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?

Meet QBS group at eXtreme 365 EMEA 2017!

It’s only a few weeks until the start of the most important Dynamics CRM/Dynamics 365 Sales & Marketing partner event in the EMEA region: eXtreme 365 2017. The event will be organized in beautiful Lisbon from March 13th-15th (partner event) and March 16th-17th (end-user event).

Value Add Distributor QBS group is silver sponsor at this event. With over 375 Dynamics NAV partners in 17 countries, QBS group is the biggest partner eco-system in the Dynamics world. In Lisbon, we will present ourselves for the first time to the Dynamics CRM channel where we aim to play this Value Add role as well. We will do this together with our strategic partners Dynasource and MindsUnited. The three of us share a booth on the information market and deliver a series of sessions that might be interesting for you.

Here’s an overview:

We will start with a side-kick role in the session of Microsoft’s WE lead Ingmar Boon on Tuesday afternoon at 2:15 pm, called Building your SMB practice leveraging CSP.

The second presentation will be delivered by Guus Krabbenborg on Wednesday morning at 8:30 am and is about the partner business side of the new Dynamics 365 solution. The title of his session is ‘This is what Dynamics CRM partners need to change to become successful with Dynamics 365!’.

The third session is one delivered by Peter Vach from Dynasource. The title of this session is Why Have 2500 Microsoft Partners Already Signed Up to Collaborate?’.

And the fourth presentation on Wednesday afternoon at 4:45 pm is again a side-kick role in another session of Ingmar Boon, called ‘Dynamics 365 Sales in SMB – Partner Roundtable’.

Lastly, Guus Krabbenborg will lead a session in the Executive Exchange track on Wednesday, named ‘Build your Business Models’

We also have a booth, number 9, where we can answer all your questions about the new CSP program and how we can support the growth of your Dynamics 365 business. We are more than happy to explain why QBS partners perform substantially better than non-QBS partners.

Curious what you can expect from this conference? Same here! That’s why we wrote this pre-view article for you: ‘What Dynamics CRM partners can expect from eXtreme 365 EMEA 2017’.

Finally, we will publish a business report on this event. After publishing these reports on Microsoft’s WPC for the past 12 years, and on DIRECTIONS EMEA last year, this will be the first year that we will write such a document on the eXtreme event. With a team of expert authors, we will cover most of the sessions – both commercial, technical and functional. The result is a great read for you as visitor. But maybe even more important – a fantastic document to inform your colleagues back home! Our mantra is ‘QBS partners are the best-informed Microsoft Partners!’

This report is available for free for all the QBS partners as part of their membership. Non-QBS partners can buy a copy for only EURO 350 excluding VAT. More details at the QBS booth.

See you all in Lisbon in March!

Guus Krabbenborg