Sunrise Over Convergence 2011

Well we are officially less than one week away from Convergence 2011 (CONV11). I have heard it's a totally sold out event, and this year is going to be packed with all kinds of information.

To kick off the pre-convergence events, I like to pick the brain of Sunrise President and Owner, John Pence. (He happens to be my boss as well!)

Below is the result of me, virtually, sitting down with John to talk about Convergence 2011.:



Q1: What topics do you think will be most covered at this years Convergence in Atlanta?

"I think the hot topics at this year’s Convergence will be the evolution of the Cloud into ERP and CRM, Dynamics AX2012, and Microsoft’s approach to mobile computing. I think SAAS will get the most attention this year by far. It is the dominant platform in CRM, and the ERP businesses will be seeing much more of an impact than in the past. AX2012 is a major new product that deserves to get a lot of attention this year, and mobility continues to be a huge topic."

Q2: What will Sunrise being talking about at it's booth this year?


"First, we are making a significant investment in making sure all of our applications are upgraded and ready on the day AX2012 is launched. We want to make sure our customers know that we will be ready with products that support Microsoft’s investment in this great new product, and that our applications will be tuned to take full advantage of the new features. Second, we have added new capabilities around BI to our offerings for Dynamics AX that will be showing at Convergence."

Q3: What topics do you think are worth noting, that might not get headline coverage while at Convergence this year?


"I think that Microsoft’s BI for Everyone strategy is being lost in the attention of Cloud Computing. This is a fantastic value, with rich functionality, and it is being drowned out in the discussions around Cloud and mobility computing."

Q4: What are you most excited, or eager to hear about while at Convergence?


"Like every year, the chance to network with our Dynamics ecosystem of customers and partners is the number one draw of Convergence. I always learn a great deal from all the interaction and it is of tremendous benefit to myself and Sunrise. In addition, I am looking forward to learning more about Microsoft’s specific product direction, and the hosting strategy for ERP in the Cloud."

I would like to thank John for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer a few questions about Convergence 2011. For sure this is going to be a year with information overload about AX 2012, the Cloud, Device or Mobile Computing, and much more.

Make sure to stop by the Sunrise Booth 406! I will be working the booth at different times Sunday-Tues myself.

Also, I will be covering the event, through my twitter account.: www.twitter.com/DynamicsERP So make sure to follow me, and look for others covering #CONV11.

For reference, here is John's Bio:
John has spent the last 29 years tackling large scale IT and supply chain projects for a wide range of corporations. John spent the first 15 years of his career working his way up from programmer trainee to CIO at Sara Lee Corporation. Along the way he held numerous IT and non-IT jobs, including Director of Planning and Distribution for Sara Lee’s 400+ retail stores, serving as the logistics partner to Wal-Mart, and CIO of Champion Products. In 1994 John left Sara Lee to found Sunrise Technologies, a company focused on bringing advanced supply chain solutions to the apparel and textile industries. Sunrise Technologies has grown into a Gold Certified Microsoft partner specializing in the Dynamics AX ERP solution. Sunrise is headquartered in Winston-Salem, NC, with offices in Dallas, TX, Los Angeles, CA, and Xi’an China.

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