ISV Development Centers: Microsoft’s new approach to accelerating channel R&D
By: Dann Anthony Maurno Microsoft has new a way to push cloud-first R&D into the channel. The Microsoft ISV Development Center program, announced at Inspire 2017, opens a conduit between Microsoft development teams and channel partners, with seven ISV Development Centers in between. The ISV Development Center program emerged, in a way, from the Global […]
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Talent reaches General Availability
By: Linda Rosencrance Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Talent is now generally available to help organizations worldwide to, in the company’s words, “strategically attract, retain and optimize their talent so they thrive and achieve high-impact, sustainable results.” Microsoft announced the technical preview version of the product at the beginning of June. At that time, Microsoft stated […]
Partner-to-Partner (P2P) success, Part 2: The York Group on revenue objectives, identifying Dynamics partners and selection criteria
By: Dann Anthony Maurno In Part 1 of this series, The York Group President Harald Horgen described the risks of ISV-channel partner relationships, on both sides. The rewards are there for strategic partners – but, they must do the math. Horgen suggests that the technology-oriented ISVs must put themselves in the partner’s place and ask, […]
Deployment methodologies, Part 4: Why Microsoft Dynamics partners go vertical
By: Alan Earls Following is the conclusion of a four-part exploration of deployment methodologies used by Microsoft Dynamics partners. Part 1 explores the promise of proprietary methodologies, Part 2 classic and modern project management, and Part 3, signs of project success. Not every VAR or reseller offers a methodology purposed for a specific vertical, but there’s broad agreement […]
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Integrates D&B Data for CRM
By: Sue Smith A new strategic agreement between Microsoft and Dun & Bradstreet will give Microsoft Dynamics 365 users easy, integrated access to D&B’s global database of company information. Their massive database includes details on more than 265 million businesses worldwide, which makes it particularly useful for B2B sales teams and customer relationship management (CRM). […]
Partner-to-Partner (P2P) success, Part 1: The York Group on managing expectations
By: Dann Anthony Maurno Microsoft vigorously encouraged partner-to-partner (P2P) relationships at Inspire 2017 as a mechanism for building the Dynamics footprint worldwide. But in two sessions at Inspire, Harald Horgen made the startling claim that just 10 percent of ISV/reseller partnerships work, and asked “What other industry accepts a 90 percent failure rate?” Horgen is […]
Microsoft partner foresees tech roadmap for IoT with Dynamics 365
By: Dann Anthony Maurno The Internet of Things (IoT) has had fits and starts since the term was coined around 1999 to describe how machines in the supply chain, without human support, can capture data about things moving around the world. Even at that time, the concept was nothing new. But increased attention and accessibility […]
Deployment methodologies, Part 2: Is agile, waterfall, or another best for Microsoft Dynamics projects?
By: Alan Earls Whether project management is driven by proprietary or generic methodologies, Microsoft Dynamics implementers rely on a host of approaches and tools to focus and manage each engagement and ultimately to deliver a working solution. “I suspect almost every company I have ever talked to wants to implement a vanilla phase one, at […]
Deployment methodologies, Part 1: The promise of a proprietary approach to your Microsoft Dynamics project
By: Alan Earls The idea of “out of the box” enterprise software can be a double-edged sword for firms that sell and deploy it. Customers are drawn to the promise of low-risk and low-cost implementations, but the reality of deploying software like ERP or CRM means that implementation projects remain complex and carry risk. Consultants offer […]
eXtreme365 returns to US in November 2017
The eXtreme365 team has announced plans for their next event, November 6 to 9 in Long Beach, California. The conference will feature three Microsoft executives as keynote speakers, spanning the entire Intelligent Business Cloud. Keynote speakers over the four day event will include Microsoft corporate vice president Ron Huddleston, leader of the One Commercial Partner […]