Blog 2.0 - A New Design

Well, I'm sure if your reading this, then you have noticed that I have a new design for my blog. This is an attempt to make my blog content more easily read, with the white space design.

This also, opens new doors, with the creationg of inDynaBuzz.com, in which my blog is now apart of. For now, it's still just this blog, but that will be changing soon, as inDynaBuzz.com covers more and more of the entire spectrum that is the Dynamics Ecosystem.

This also brings new possibilities for sponsoring my blog. I have three area's, in which sponsorship ads can live. The top, right top, and then right vertical ad spaces. If your a company that is interested in this, please contact me, by clicking on the new ad information request button to the right.

I hope you enjoy the new design, as it's meant to be an improvement, and usher in a new era of more and more great topics, coverage, and information all about Microsoft Dynamics.

That's all for now, but do please tell me your thoughts. If you like it, if you don't like it, all comments are welcomed, and thanks for stopping by!

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

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.

"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

MSDW: The AX User Group Sees Big Benefits in Year Ahead

Over at MSDynamicsWorld.com, a new article has been posted about the upcoming year and AXUG.

Here is the direct link to that article.: MSDW - The AX User Group Sees Big Benefits in Year Ahead from New Web Site, Use of Dynamics CRM

From the article.:
"[The upcoming year] will bring significant expansions for the Dynamics user communities," said Dynamic Communities CEO Andy Hafer in a later interview. "The key leadership among the members has expanded to have a great cross-section of each community, including users from companies across industries, sizes, geographies, etc. This has allowed us to really hone the programming for each constituent. You will see expanded training courses, deeper content, more special interest groups and stronger collaboration with other communities, including Microsoft's Online Dynamics Community."

And...
"One of the biggest surprises within the membership was the interest and adoption of AX 2009," he said. "The AX 2009 Upgrade and Data Migration special interest groups were filled by webinar attendees with lots of good stories to share. Compared to the launch of AX 4.0, there seems to be a greater push from the membership to move to AX 2009."

Its a really good article. It also highlights that AXUG has implemented Dynamics CRM to manage the behind the scenes LOB needs for AXUG, inlcuding membership that will allow users to make use of their windows live id for login.

Also there will be plenty of focus on webinars this year, getting ready ofr AX 6.0, aka Dynamics AX 2011.

That's all for now, but check back soon, as next week brings a how host of new post, including my review of a recently released Dynamics AX development book from PackT publishing! See you then!




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Microsoft Opens Windows Marketplace for Mobile Apps (WinMo)

Recently, Mary Jo from ZDNet, posted on her 'All About Microsoft Blog' about MIcrosoft starting a new online Marketplace for WinMo Appes. (For those that don't know, WinMo = Windows Mobile.)

When questioned about the number of Apps the store is starting with, 246 at the time of the start, Robbie Bach, the President of Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Unit, said the following.:
"“Apple had less than 100 applications when it first launched its marketplace,” Bach said."

And...
"Bach also claimed it was “kind of goofy” to focus on the absolute numbers of applications in Microsoft’s Windows Mobile store, since the real measure of success is how many of those applications get used."

This is an interesting move by Microsoft, and one that will focus, mostly on the Consumer End of the application spectrum. Though I see a chance for windows mobile application to be developed, and sold that can tie into Dynamics AX or CRM.



A direct link to the Marketplace can be found here.: Windows® Marketplace for Mobile has launched!

I can tell you this, more and more of the clients I see are wanting to hook into their ERP / Backend systems for many different types of Application. So this will have an impact, possibly even direct, for the mobile focus with Dynamics AX.

I plan on keeping track of this, as I want to see how this compares to Apples AppStore, and also what can make this different and stand out.

That's all for now, check back soon as more great post are coming, including a focus on the cloud and Dynamics AX.




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Dynamics AX in the Cloud. When & why?

Recently over at MSDynamicsWorld.com an article was posted by one of my peers, Jeff Onesto. The article is: What Is the Future of Microsoft Dynamics AX in the Cloud? Being Upfront About the Obstacles

He brings up good points, of how this is looked at from an OpEx point of view, for controllers and also risk that are involved with this, that are not being addressed, including security.

I think the following two sentences sum up the article well, though I recommend a full read of it.:

"Unfortunately, when it comes to mission critical business applications such as ERP, the model appears to be bit immature for many customers, and with too many questions left unanswered regarding security, control, regulation and speed."


And...

"Until many of the other issues I have discussed are resolved, though, I don't forecast the demand for enterprise business applications in the cloud will change and without demand I don't anticipate Microsoft offering Dynamics AX on-demand."


And to Jeff's points in the article I agree that total AX in the cloud is not something that will be in demand, and actually just does not make sense really at this point. May in the very distant future, or to some level like ERPLive.com will possibly offer to smaller instances.

I have wrote a good bit actually about the Cloud, and Microsoft's platform, Azure. The following are some of those post.:

• The Hybrid Cloud - Enterprise 2.1? (2007 Post)


• Microsoft's Cloud Computing Platform (2008 Post)


• Microsoft Azure Cloud Computing Platform (2008 Post)


• Arch. Journal: Mapping Applications to the Cloud (2009 Post)


• ZDNet: Microsoft to integrate Twitter into its Dynamics CRM (2009 Post)

There are more post, but these post actually show and talk about what Jeff points out. We see already AX consuming services and can consume cloud based services. We also CRM / XRM already in action with the same thing, and offering up as being hosted in the cloud if desired.

What must be stressed, just with anything else, is common sense. The post I did in 2007, the very first post was my vision for what I thought the cloud would mean for AX and the enterprise. It would be a Hybrid approach, to where some services and possible LOB applications will / would exist in the cloud while others remain on-premise.

What functionality makes sense to live in the cloud? This is determined by a lot of factors at times, and technology is actually most of the time least, unless the technology is limiting.

Functional ends should drive the means for what exist in the cloud. So it makes sense to have restful data stores in the cloud, that is common shared data among partners and customers. Like Jeff points out EDI for example, and credit card applications / consumptions and processing.

Look at MRP though for example... Master Scheduling. That does not make sense to live in the cloud. When would it make sense? Maybe never. Could be that feeds come into MRP that are cloud based services, but the actual execution, and processing of the outputs from MRP would live on-premise.

Plus adding the cloud, adds actually extra layer of abstraction, and though in cases that makes great sense, sometimes the extra complexity does not.

In the end, Jeff did a great write up, and I think that it's a timely one. It helps bring together what we have been talking about here, over the past two years. The cloud is for sure here, and here to stay. However, like other utilities and toolsets, when and how it is used for ERP should always be driven by the functional ends desired.

Don't get me wrong, being a technically focused consultant I love working with the latest technology. That however does not mean that the latest technology or possibly offering of technology makes sense to address problems at hand.

Thanks Jeff for the great write up, and check back soon here. More Lean coming with two interviews, one from Andrew Rummey the Org. Architect of the Microsoft Lean AX module, from eBECS and also from Dr. Scott Hamilton about is new Lean and AX book.

See you soon!




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Microsoft Talks xRM on PartnerSource

[* PartnerSource Access Required *]
xRM - One Platform : Many Applications

Recently on May 6th, Microsoft did a news post on PartnerSource talking about xRM. I went over xRM in the previous blog post.:

-Convergence 2009 - Wrap up
-What is xRM?

The ParterSource post, provides around the same level of information and knowledge that I posted about in the 'What is xRM?' blog entry.

As you can see, here is from the Microsoft PartnerSource entry on xRM.:
"XRM is the official positioning of the platform components underlying Microsoft Dynamics CRM (which Steve Ballmer talked about as the ‘Titan’ platform at WPC 2008). While the C is equal to customer in CRM, X is equal to ANY relationship that needs to be managed, such as vendors, employees, prospects, dealers, as well as other types of business relationships including properties, assets, projects, grants, legislation, etc. The flexibility of the XRM platform components enables it to be leveraged in a wide variety of ways by many different organizations.

XRM enables organizations to rapidly create and deploy MANY relational LOB applications ON a single platform WITH shared resources & technologies."

and..
"XRM is a business application platform layer that sits on top of – and leverages the power of – the Microsoft Application Platform technology building blocks (Windows, SQL Server, .NET, and Office) and is designed to significantly accelerate the creation of enterprise-class relational business applications by providing IT professionals with reusable ‘application services’ that can be rapidly adapted to fit the unique needs of users and businesses through point & click."

So lets revisit now, why it's important to understand what xRM can do for a Dynamics AX customer. xRM is the use of the Dynamics CRM platform, resources, modules and code to quickly create other LOB, or Line of Business Applications for management of relationships.

xRM is not meant to offer ERP or SCM funcationality. That is best suited for Dynamics AX platform. xRM is not meant for developing high end, custom applications, web based interfaces, or front end's to custom, deep funcationality applications.

xRM is meant, at least in my on thoughts on the matter, to offer a compliment to Dynamics AX, similar to the way Dynamics CRM itself does. To get to the actual bottom of this, xRM makes sense for a Dynamics AX customer that will already be *Also* implementing Dynamics CRM. In making use of xRM in these case as a rapid LOB platform for that company, that can take advantage of the technology stack, platform and license that already have purchased as part of CRM purchase.

This is also not to say that xRM by itself is not a value added possbility for a company, it is. However, my focus is from the Dynamics AX vantage, and in keeping to that vantage xRM is a great extra that companies can get when they choose to implement Dynamics AX along with Dynamics CRM.

Well check back soon, more great post. See you then!





"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Interview with Microsoft's Doug Kennedy, including comments from Crispin Read

Recently, I virtually met with Doug Kennedy, vice president of the Microsoft Dynamics Partners team.

This is the second year in a row I spoke with Doug about the state of the Microsoft Dynamics community and partner ecosystem. (Link to: Interview with Microsoft Dynamics Executives - 2008)

The focus of this interview was to revisit some of the points and goals from last year as well as to get Doug’s thoughts on the current economic climate and his advice to partners in the year ahead.

The following is that interview:

Brandon George: "Last year you stated that your 12-18 month goal was to expand on the work that was in progress for aligning verticals by country and region. You also wanted to make sure that ISVs and VARs were making it to market with Certified for Microsoft Dynamics Solutions. How do you feel that goal is doing? What are the next steps for focusing partners in on specific verticals and regions?"

Doug Kennedy: "A lot of good progress has been made on the vertical focus by geography. Not just for VARs, but also for those partners listed as ISVs.

Microsoft started a new role called 'Industry Market Development Manager' (IMDM) that has people within Microsoft focusing on creating cross-border vertical reach. Beginning in FY10, you’ll see this role being used to help bridge the gaps of existing expertise, and make use of the expertise where needed.

The focus here was the 'white space'. We took inventory of the types of vertically focused partners we have in different states, countries and regions across the world. Now that we have this inventory, and are actively building it, we can fill in the white space as needed.

For example, say you have an ISV based in northern Italy that has a great vertical focus in retail, and there comes a need for that specific retail expertise in Switzerland. This should now show up quickly, and the IMDM roles should step in and help 'import' that good partner from northern Italy to Switzerland to address the need.

As for Certified for Microsoft Dynamics (CFMD), those solutions that are certified will get top choice and priority ranking for doing such things as helping to move across borders (importing) into other geographies. As I stated before, this will become an even heavier focus in the coming fiscal year.

In addition, those solutions that are, or will soon be CFMD, will get the focus in this new approach for direct and indirect marketing support in FY10. This way, those that are certified and ranked highest by vertical, country, or region will be at the top of the list, and first looked at for being recommended for inclusion for go to market activities.

As you can see, Certified for Microsoft Dynamics, along with the new Industry Market Development Manager role have come together and will be an important part of our business and execution model."

Brandon George: "Last year it was mentioned that one of the biggest problems partners face is hiring and training Dynamics Professionals. Has the efforts of the last year helped to address this issue? Has the economic downturn changed Microsoft's game plan for helping partners with this area?"

Doug Kennedy: "The economic downturn has actually helped solve this, because partners have had to sub-contract out due to the downturn. This is not the solution everyone wanted, but it did help relieve pressure there.

What we are seeing now is more 'talent on demand'. Contracting and sub-contracting out, per project and need has really been the focus. As companies turn from full-time employees that they have let go, they land projects and hire these same employees back on a contract-by-contract basis."

Brandon George: "This could be a negative thing, because nothing would stop that employee from going to another partner, which could be directly competing with the company that wants to contract them back."

Doug Kennedy: "There is nothing stopping partner employees from doing this today but it is a small enough community that this will be self policed. Once the economy picks up we will see most of this on demand consulting capacity be pulled back into the partners as full time employees.

Brandon George: "The VAR I am a part of, Sunrise Technologies, Inc. We focus solely on Dynamics AX, and the rest of the Microsoft stack that comes with that. We strive to keep our consultants, as that is what makes up our company."

Doug Kennedy: "Yes, so the VARs that have Microsoft Dynamics AX as a second or third choice in their lineup of offerings or those that say only 15-20% of their profit coming from Microsoft Dynamics AX. These are the ones that are making use of the talent on demand approach, and would even make use of a company like yours who’s primary focus is Dynamics AX."

Brandon George: "Doug, if you were told you could only tell partners three things, what would be those three things during these rough times?"

Doug Kennedy: "First, I would tell them to commit to marketing. Do not back down from marketing and sales during this downturn. Now is the time to be larger than life. Backing down at this point, is for sure a quick death to your business.

Changing out an ERP system for a company is like having the choice to get heart surgery. It's not if, but when, the change will take place. Because of the economic downturn the change is being delayed, but it still needs to take place, and still will take place. Unlike some nice-to-have system, ERP is a have-to-have, especially in tough economic times like we are facing today. Worse case it’s delayed, but it's still coming. Therefore, the partners should continue to focus on finding ERP AX opportunities and working these through the sales cycle.

The last thing I would point out to partners would be to have open, honest communication with Microsoft. Ask the hard questions; talk with your PAM’s. Communication is now, more than ever, the key to how Microsoft can help partners. We are asking partners to do their part in asking us the questions that can get them the help needed.

Finally, I would like to close with the statement that Microsoft believes that our Dynamics partners, will come out of this downturn in a very strong position."

Brandon George: "Thanks Doug for taking the time, to do this interview."

Also there was another question I had, focused around the feedback Microsoft is seeing, since its release of Dynamics AX 2009, SP1 and also what are some of the highlights they are looking forward to for AX 6.0. Microsoft's new General Manager of Microsoft Dynamics ERP Crispin Read sent me the following statement:

"We are receiving excellent feedback from customers experiencing benefits from the new capabilities presented in Microsoft Dynamics AX 2009. We recently released new capabilities for our customers around Project Time and environmental sustainability, and are looking forward to expanding the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics AX to help customer be more efficient, improve productivity, and lower total cost of ownership. You’ll see that the next version of Microsoft Dynamics AX will continue to build on RoleTailored user experience, expand Microsoft Dynamics AX functionalities across key industries, and deliver enhanced support for multinational customers.” - Crispin Read, General Manager, Microsoft Dynamics ERP

I would like to thank everyone involved that help put this together, Doug, Crispin and also Katie and Beret! Thanks you so much.

I look forward to doing a follow up with Doug next year, and also look for more discussion with Mr. Crispin Read in the near future.

Check back soon!

Doug Kennedy
Vice President, Microsoft Dynamics Partners
Microsoft Corp.


Doug Kennedy joined Microsoft Corp. in March 2008 as vice president of the Microsoft Dynamics Partners team. In this role, Kennedy is responsible for managing the overall business relationship between Microsoft and Microsoft Dynamics partners.

Before joining Microsoft, Kennedy worked for Oracle Corp. for 17 years, holding various positions within Alliances and Channels, Field Sales, On Demand, and Enterprise Support. Most recently, Kennedy was Oracle’s senior vice president of Worldwide Alliances and Channels. In this role, he reported to Oracle’s president, Charles Phillips, and led the organization that was responsible for the ongoing development and execution of Oracle’s Alliances and Channel strategies and programs, partner revenue-generating initiatives, Oracle’s PartnerNetwork program, and the models for managing all of Oracle’s 20,000-plus Alliance and Channel partners. Kennedy also held technical and sales positions at IBM Corp., where he worked before joining Oracle.

Kennedy graduated with a bachelor of science degree in computing science and business administration from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia. He also holds a diploma of technology in broadcast communications from the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

Crispin Read
General Manager, Microsoft Dynamics ERP
Microsoft Corp.

Crispin Read leads product management and marketing for Microsoft Corp.’s portfolio of enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications. In this role he is responsible for ERP strategy and execution worldwide.

Read has over 20 years of experience in the software industry in engineering, sales and marketing positions. Before joining Microsoft, he was chief marketing officer at Cartesis SA, a venture-backed financial applications company that is now part of SAP AG. Previous positions include vice president of product management and product marketing at Business Objects, and senior positions in systems integrators and software companies.

He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from King’s College, University of London.






"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

Convergence 2009 - Wrap up

Well Convergence 2009 has come and gone. After talking with a bunch of different people from Partners, Microsoft and Customer levels, it seems this years Convergence was a good one. Less people attending, less than 7,000, which is down from more than 10,000 last year. However I have heard the sessions where attended at a better rate, and people were really in tune to what Microsoft and the Partners were having to say.

MSDynamicsWorld.com has a great list of a bunch of different Convergence post, including their overall wrap up, which can be found here: MSDynamicsWorld.com Coverage of Convergence 2009

One thing that I took a big notice too that is not directly AX related is xRM platform, and the Virtual xRM user's group. www.xRMVirtual.com. This is a group focused on the promition of the xRM platform, and it's built on top of Azure while being connected to Dynamics CRM online.

This is something for sure I will be keeping and eye on and posting about, as the xRM platform and Azure start to become tools Partners and customers can use to develop with. So this is going to be very, very interesting to see what direction this goes.

As for Dynamics AX itself, there was plenty of great go lives that we highlighted, and Customers are now in full swing using Dynamics AX 2009. There were some great sessions on Dynamics AX from functional and technical.

Another thing, Convergence 2010 is suppose to be held in Atlanta, GA. So I might actually go to that one, since it will be so close to home. Lets see if that happens!

Well check back soon, and I hope all of those that went to Convergence got a lot out of it. If there are any specific remaining questions by anyone from any level, feel free to leave me a comment and I will do my best to get you the best asnwer possible.

There are some great post coming up soon, this week along, so check back and see you then!

Update:
I wanted to make sure and give the offical home page for xRM: www.xRM.com. More soon on this, and how this can be used along with Dynamics AX.




"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"

MSDW: Microsoft Moves Aggressively to Ease Recession's Effects on Dynamics Products, Via 0 Percent Financing

Well this write up over at MSDynamicsWorld.com, fits exactly into what I have been posting about for the past several post. That's Microsoft Dynamics AX in a recession.

Well this week Microsoft launched a new financing option, 0% financing! This, I think speaks very loudly to the tone in which the market is echoing. Times are tough for companies, but they still need the ability to grow, lower cost, offer value, and do all that from one platform.

Check out the full write up from MSDynamicsWorld.com: Microsoft Moves Aggressively to Ease Recession's Effects on Dynamics Products, Via 0 Percent Financing

From the write up:
"We are working closely with our customers and partners to proactively enable them to preserve their capital resources to ride out the current economic situation, while making an important strategic investment in their future," said Kirill Tatarinov, corporate vice president of Microsoft Business Solutions. "Microsoft Dynamics ERP and CRM solutions are business assets that pay off in the near term and over the long haul by helping companies drive productivity, maximize efficiency, and adapt and grow their business in today's fast-changing market."

Notice what I bolded. It exactly what I was pointing out in my previous post, and plan to contiue to dive deeper and deeper of into. Dynamics AX is the business platform that customers need to grow their business, while lower cost and bringing tons and tons of value to their company and their customers.

Check back soon for more!





"Visit the Dynamics AX Community Page today!"