In my last post, I wrote about Evaluating Dynamics 365. In that post I glossed over the part about demos, because it felt like a bigger topic, that deserved a post of its own. I will start writing now, and we’ll both see if that is case shortly. A product …
A big part of the job for a Dynamics 365 Partner, is talking to customers about their business problems. They heard about Dynamics 365 somewhere, and are hoping that it is “the” Silver Bullet that will solve all of their issues. Maybe it is… and maybe it isn’t… how can …
The other day I wrote a post about Account Based Marketing “ABM”. This was prompted by a short blog post I read on ABM, and it resonated with me as a pretty cool idea. I received a lot of responses from people “in the know”, and I quickly realized that …
When you have been around as long as I have, you will have seen “The Next Big Thing”, many times. An article caught my eye they other day about “Account Based Marketing”. Now, I don’t know if this is the next big thing or not, but it seemed interesting, and …
I got a call the other day from a customer who said that another partner told them that they should not use a solution like ours because “It can cause issues”. I thought, what a vague and crappy thing to say. I assume this partner was not a reseller of …
You cannot go to a Microsoft partner event today without hearing about AppSource. It’s not that third-parties haven’t extended Microsoft products, like Dynamics 365, in the past, but those extension/solutions haven’t driven product sales, at least not in the way Microsoft knows they could. Other companies, like Salesforce.com, have proven …
I don’t know about you, but these feel like the most “disruptive” of times that I can recall, and I can guarantee that I am older than most people who read my posts. Companies like Uber are disrupting century-old, facility, asset and people heavy industries, like the Taxi business… with …
When we designed our RapidStart CRM solution for Dynamics 365, we had a pretty specific idea of how it would be used. It turns out, that when you eliminate the complexity of customizing Dynamics 365, customers get pretty creative.
I first heard Microsoft floating the “Industry Focus” concept to partners shortly after Office 365 launched. It seemed pretty clear that this cloud shift was going to eliminate a lot of existing revenue for partners. I felt back then, that the “Industry Focus” concept was something that Microsoft cooked up …
In Microsoft’s continuing quest to make Business Solutions easier, “Configuration over Code” is where they are making the most investment. “Coding” requires skills that most customers, and frankly most partners, do not have, which leads to additional costs for the customer. How is Microsoft doing on lowering this barrier?
My flight home to Tampa from Seattle, following the Worldwide Dynamics Partner Advisory Council meeting, is a relatively short hop compared to that of many of the other partners in the group, but nevertheless, it feels long to me. But it is a perfect time to write up what little …
The most read post of mine was, and still is, this one that I wrote in 2013. It has been viewed more than 100,000 times even though it is so far out-of-date, it is probably completely wrong information today. While I understand that “technical” articles will always draw more views …
This is a continuation of my post “Dynamics 365 – A Partner’s Journey from Salesforce“, if you did not like that one, then you probably won’t like this one either. When we last left off, Microsoft had requested that we consider turning ourselves inside-out
Most of the Microsoft Partners that focus on SMBs, are themselves SMBs. No SMB, whether Customer or Partner, can afford to pay for skilled people who mostly sit on the bench. The new, nimble SMB partner is more like a football coach, calling in Special Teams, or free agents as …
So it’s Christmas morning, gifts have been opened, and family won’t be arriving for several hours yet, so I go to write. As I think about the great year wrapping up for us, and look forward to the even more promising year to come, I find myself reflecting on our …
A couple of technologies floating out in my peripheral vision are going to require a greater focus. I think that both IOT and Bots are going to have a profound impact on more than just Dynamics 365 partners and users, but possibly the world as we know it. I realize …
Microsoft likes to use the term “Hero Offer” for a particular subscription. It’s like the Sears Good, Better, Best approach. Usually the “Hero” offer, means that you are a hero to Microsoft if you sell it, not that is is the best solution for every customer. So, what is the …
Hey, what do you think about that cool new Insights feature in Dynamics 365? Which one? Yes, it seems that the Microsoft cloud team has a new favorite word. On its own, or in conjunction with another word, “Insights” is all the rage, and well on its way to being …
I am returning from a small Dynamics partner conference in Newport Beach. One of the recurring themes at this conference, particularly when a Microsoft representative stood before us, was pelting them with questions similar to: “When will Dynamics 365 be finished?”. I was not one of those asking that question, …
As a traditional Microsoft partner, you can probably remember the good ol’ days. Steady, predictable, the kinds of things you could build a nice business on, in your own time. For customers, you were more like the utility company. Necessary, but unseen. But then the cloud crashed into everything.
