When I first saw the name MBS Podcast I became excited that there was a podcast for the traditional Microsoft Business Solutions partner (aka Dynamics) but then quickly realized it was also the belongings of three amazing MVPs in the Microsoft channel.  Mark Polino, Belinda Allen and Shawn Dorward make up this fantastic trio contributing to this content.

I recently listened to their podcast “Presenting Convergence… Yeah, you’ll understand…” and thought it was very good.  I dropped a note to Mark about my concern that it may not be as accurate as possible, but as they mention in the podcast, they know they aren’t always right and also timing plays tricks on us all sometimes too.  It was suggested I just write down a few thoughts about the Microsoft Business Application Summit (MBAS) coming up in July that had some inaccuracies in the podcast.

• I do not believe it is the replacement to Convergence. Convergence was so much about the customer and marketing new and exciting items about Dynamics solutions.  It was not a very strong learning event nor technical event.  The new MBAS is designed to be technical.  At first I thought it would be level 200 to 400 from earlier conversations I had, but based on the website it is 100 to 400 and this is how Microsoft is describing it:

“Whether you’re a new user or a knowledgeable expert, you’ll feel right at home in the conference’s 100- to 400-level workshops and breakout sessions….At this event, designed for analysts, power users, solution architects, and knowledgeable users, you’ll learn how Microsoft’s end-to-end solutions can work for you.”

• This is definitely not an event for the Dynamics GP partner. I say that cautiously because many Dynamics GP partners are adding the Microsoft Business Applications to their practices.  If they are doing that, then yes, send the right person to this event.  Microsoft Business Applications are defined as: Dynamics 365 (Business Central, Finance and Operations, Retail, Talent, Sales, Customer Service, Field Service, Project Service), PowerApps, Flow and PowerBI.  Based on the event site this is the product set Microsoft is guiding this event to:

“Attend the Microsoft Business Applications Summit to learn how Microsoft spans the breadth of business process applications powered by the Business Application Platform, built atop a common data model, on Azure and connected to Office 365….Connecting the Microsoft cloud with Dynamics 365, Power BI, and PowerApps creates an unmatched opportunity for digital transformation.”

With this said, we will be sending a few people to this conference.  Most likely they will be our VP of Operations and perhaps a Senior Consultant working with these products.  This is just another conference in the ecosystem of way too many events already to attend.  Although if a practice or company wants to stay current with the speed of technology changes and really experience Digital Transformation, attending these types of events are important.  I will be addressing this in the next few weeks with another article I will call “Conference Confusion”.  Keep an eye out for that.

In the meantime, make sure you continue to tune in to the MBS Podcast and appreciate everything these MVPs do for our community!