Over the last three weeks, I have spent two of those weeks attending two major conferences in the Microsoft Dynamics Channel.
First up was Directions North America in San Diego. Directions NA is a partner-driven event which was historically the go-to conference for Microsoft Dynamics NAV Partners but now has morphed into the Microsoft Dynamics Partner event serving the SMB market.
This year Directions NA had its largest ever attendance of nearly 900 attendees and we were excited to be part of that and return for our second year in a row.
For me personally, it was an honor to be selected to be part of three (3) different sessions. The first session I delivered was on Leveraging Microsoft to reduce your sales cycle with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.
Next up was a panel session with Errol Schoenfish Director Product Marketing of Microsoft where we discussed how to add a Microsoft Dynamics 365 practice to your on-premise practice. This was an enjoyable session where I could share with other Microsoft Dynamics Partners our journey of taking our successful Microsoft Dynamics GP practice and add a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central cloud practice.
My final session of the Directions NA event was another panel session where I shared my experiences as a VAR (Value Added Reseller) with other panelists George Brown, Jonathan Cooper and Peter Zenter about AppSource on how to utilize it from a pricing, recurring revenue, and service offering strategies standpoint.
When I wasn’t busy with my sessions I spent my time learning about all the new features, functions and announcements around Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central. And when there were no sessions happening and the expo was open I spent my time identifying new ISV’s that would be beneficial to our clients and future clients around Dynamics 365 BC.
After Directions NA I came home only to unpack, throw my clothes in the washer, catch up on work, pack a bag, then turn around and head back out the door for Phoenix to attend the User Group Summit Conference.
The User Group Summit conference is an end user focused event which covers multiple Microsoft Dynamics products including Dynamics 365 Finance & Operations (AX), NAV/Dynamics 365 BC, Dynamics Sales (CRM), GP, as well as PowerBI. This year saw over 6,000 end users and partners in attendance at the Phoenix Conference Center. That conference center is huge!
Prior to the User Group Summit kicking off the Partners got together for the Partner Exchange event which I was part of because of my role within the CMA (Channel Marketing Alliance).
To top it off it was an honor to be able to award the first Brooke Webb Smith Memorial Award at the Volunteer Award Ceremony on Sunday and be part of helping to raise money for #PenniesforTaylor.
Wow, and my brain is full of all the new things I learned.
What does this mean to you, our customer?
Well, I and the rest of BCS (Bond Consulting Services) team learned TONS and we are ready to share!
Here are some of the highlights:
- We got to see and learn about the new features and functions available. So, we are ready to help you take the next steps to take advantage of them by helping you upgrade.
- We dived into how Intelligent Insights is going to provide an additional cloud value to Microsoft Dynamics GP on-premise customers. Call us and we can set up a demo to show you.
Microsoft Dynamics GP
- Two ISV’s we felt would be very beneficial and would be a lot of value to our clients are ActivReporter and SanaCommerce
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central
- Chargelogic, Pacejet, and NAV Payroll were three ISV’s that we will be recommending to our D365 BC Customers or Prospects
Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales
- From a Marketing Automation solution for Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Sales, we found a great add-on with Emfluence
As you see it’s been a busy three weeks for myself and the BCS team, but we are ready to share with you now, so call us or contact us on our website to setup time to learn more.
Lastly look out for more blogs where we go deeper on products, features, and functions.
Thanks for reading
David
David Gersten
Vice President, Sales & Marketing
