Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

DYNAMICS 365Microsoft

- July 2017 -

A Whitepaper

Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

With the release of Microsoft Dynamics 365, Nigel Frank International set out to capture the technology industry’s immediate reaction, reviews, concerns, questions, and comments.

This special report highlights those sentiments and offers feedback and analysis from industry experts and influencers.

The information contained in this research analysis was compiled and analyzed by Nigel Frank International as part of their commitment to provide thought leadership on Microsoft Dynamics 365, its technologies, trends, and the impact it will have on the digital technology ecosystem.

Nigel Frank International encourages clients, candidates, partners, end users, media, analysts, and other readers to share the information found herein and to quote liberally from the whitepaper with appropriate credit provided to Nigel Frank International. However, this report cannot be publicly posted in its entirety without explicit permission from Nigel Frank International.

Please credit all quotes and references from this publication as “Nigel Frank International – Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem.”

To participate in future research projects, and to receive an early copy of our upcoming whitepapers, please contact us at enq@nigelfrank.com.

To request a media interview, please contact Nicola Wright at n.wright@frankgroup.com.

For more information about Nigel Frank International, please visit www.nigelfrank.com.

01 Nigel Frank International page 04

02 Introduction page 05

03 About Dynamics 365 page 06

04 Survey Demographics page 07

05 Meet the Experts page 08

06 Migration and Adoption page 11

07 Microsoft and Adobe page 15

08 Functionality of the Cloud page 16

09 Challenges and Concerns page 18

10 Licensing Options page 20

11 Training and Skills page 23

12 An Expert’s Outlook page 26

13 Conclusions and Takeaways page 28

CONTENTS

Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

The Global Leader in Microsoft Recruitment

NIGEL FRANK INTERNATIONAL

Nigel Frank International is the recognized global leader in Microsoft technology recruitment. Since our inception in 2006, we have built excellent relationships with Microsoft, top-tier Microsoft Partners, ISVs and End Users. This has enabled us to place over 19,000 Microsoft technology professionals in 45 countries, across diverse industry sectors such as Banking, Professional Services, Manufacturing and Retail on a permanent and freelance basis.

Microsoft TechnologiesWe Recruit For:

• Microsoft Dynamics 365

• Microsoft Dynamics

• Microsoft Dynamics CRM

• Office 365

• Microsoft SharePoint

• Microsoft Power Bi

• Microsoft SQL Server

• Skype for Business

04Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

Delivering Candidates On Time and On Budget

With over 700 Microsoft Recruitment Consultants spread across eleven offices on four continents, we are uniquely positioned to find you the perfect job or employee, whatever your requirements are.

With the launch of Microsoft Dynamics 365, the Microsoft community has been discussing what impact this new product would have on the Microsoft Dynamics market, as well as the wider Microsoft ecosystem.

When Microsoft launched Dynamics 365, excitement, questions and some concerns arose – what would Dynamics 365 mean for Dynamics overall? How would existing customers and partners respond? What would be the need for training and readiness? Would this open Dynamics up to new markets and customers? It’s clear that the industry has shared many opinions and questions about the new cloud offering from Microsoft.

To help answer the community’s questions and interests about Dynamics 365, we surveyed over 1,300 Microsoft Partners, End Users, experts, influencers, and business-driven professionals to find out their sentiments toward the new platform.

This report will help to answer many of your initial questions about Dynamics 365 and help you make decisions about the platform and your next steps.

With Dynamics 365, what training will your team need? Will your business ultimately benefit from migrating or upgrading to the cloud-only platform? Will you need to upgrade your skills as a Dynamics professional? These

questions, along with many others, are discussed within this report in an effort to help inform your business decision as to whether you should adopt Dynamics 365, or remain on your current platform. This report will also help you determine what the possible career impact may be for a Dynamics professional.

Thank you to everyone who took part in our survey. Your participation has allowed us to collate a comprehensive look into opinions of Dynamics 365 so far. Thank you also to all of the Microsoft influencers and experts that provided their incredible insight for us to help offer a supporting view throughout this report.

Thank you for reading, and good luck on your Dynamics 365 adventure!

Where is the Dynamics industry headed?

This report will help to answer many of your initial questions about Dynamics 365 and help you make decisions about the platform and your next steps.

INTRODUCTION05Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

Craig AllenExecutive Vice President, Nigel Frank International

Microsoft Dynamics 365 is the latest product that is joining the Microsoft family. Dynamics 365 bundles together Microsoft’s ERP and CRM platforms with PowerBI, analytics and reporting, and IoT in a packaged cloud product on Microsoft Azure. Dynamics 365 was designed so that you and your business can start with what you need and grow at your own pace, increase productivity, and offer you tools in the context of your own business environment.

ABOUT DYNAMICS 365

The Future of Business Intelligence

06Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

Dynamics 365 is purpose-built and will not be a replacement to Dynamics AX, NAV or CRM – but simply an adequate addition to the family.

Dynamics 365 is delivered via six applications:

Sales | Customer Service | Marketing

Field Service | Project Service Automation | Operations

This new platform embraces the past while taking you into the future. You will continue to work the way you have in the past, but with Dynamics 365, you will be able to do more things, more seamlessly, all while being ushered into the next generation of software at your own pace.

Additional Reading:

Microsoft Dynamics 365: What Can It Do for Your Business

Top 3 Most Anticipated Dynamics 365 Applications (End Users)

73%Sales

64%Customer Service

51%Operations

Top 5 Job Titles

SURVEY DEMOGRAPHICS07Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

End Users Partners

IT Manager 35%IT Director/CIO 12%Project Manager 8%Systems Administrator 7%Director 4%

757End UsersSurveyed

Geographical Split (Top 5 Countries)

United States United Kingdom Australia

Canada Singapore

35% 12% 8%

7% 4%

Top 5 Job Titles

Consultant: Tech/Functional 17%Functional Consultant 14%Developer/Programmer 9%CEO 6%Solution Architect 6%

564Partners

Surveyed

Geographical Split (Top 5 Countries)

United States Canada United Kingdom

Australia Singapore

20% 7% 7%

7% 6%

MEET THE EXPERTS

Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem 08

Nigel Frank International is very fortunate to work with thousands of Microsoft professionals, influencers and experts. To add further clarity to our survey data, we spoke with some Microsoft industry experts to gain more insight into their views on Dynamics 365 and to offer their views on the collected results of the public survey, adding yet another important layer of analysis to this report. These experts live and breathe Microsoft technology, so getting their insight was important to us.

Introduction

MEET THE EXPERTS09Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

Jon RiversSocial Media Disruption ExpertMarketing Monarchs

Jon is Social Media Disruption Expert who is the founder of Marketing Monarchs, a marketing company that specializes in helping organizations within the Microsoft community with their channel marketing.

@jon_rivers

Jukka NiiranenMicrosoft Business Solutions MVPDigital Illustrated

Jukka is a Microsoft Business Solutions MVP (Dynamics CRM) who works at Digital Illustrated, a consulting company that designs and implements consumer-grade enterprise solutions using Microsoft technologies.

@jukkan

Mark PolinoDirector of Client ServicesFastpath Inc

Mark is a Microsoft MVP and Dynamics GP Consultant and is a published author who has been a special guest speaker at many conferences, including the GPUG Summit.

@mpolino

Grant WilsonChairmanAXUG Board of Advisors

Grant is an ERP Solutions Architect, a Dynamics AX Ninja, and the Chairman of the AXUG Board of Advisors.

@grantericwilson

Sam DharmasiriSales DirectoreBECS

Sam is the Sales Director of eBECS, an award winning Microsoft Gold Partner delivering Total Microsoft Business Solutions and Managed Services globally.

You will find these experts’ insight throughout the report, adding additional insight into the given topic.

Bob SullivanPresidentInfoGrow Corporation

Bob Sullivan is the President of InfoGrow Corporation, a US national sales and marketing consultant and applications provider, that enables clients to leverage information and technology for making better sales and marketing decisions.

@BobSullivan13

Chris MooreConsulting PartnerArmanino, LLP

Chris is the Consulting Partner of Armanino, LLP, one of the top public accounting firms in California and one of the premiere national Dynamics AX resellers.

Warren ButlerMarketing DirectorPreact Ltd

Warren is the Marketing Director of Preact CRM, a specialized consultancy that helps businesses implement and maximize the value of their CRM strategy.

@PreactCRM

EXPERT THOUGHTS - Dynamics 36510Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

Is Microsoft Dynamics 365 a popular choice?

Given that Dynamics 365 has been a part of practically each and every product marketing message from Microsoft since the announcement in July, most people involved with Microsoft business software should have been exposed to it several times by now. If, on the other hand, you would ask their explanation on what exactly Dynamics 365 is and how it differs from the previous offering, that would surely result in some quite varied answers. I’m sure the brand name connection to Office 365 is helping the audience in positioning this new product in their minds, though.

Jukka Niiranen

I think it is a good sign that Microsoft has succeeded in getting the message out there. It would be interesting to see how this played to a greater audience. We are finding that awareness in organizations that are not Microsoft business-centric is a lot lower. However, within existing customers, we are seeing a great deal of interest in the platform and every single session that we have run on the platform to our customers has been oversubscribed.

Sami Dharmasiri

79% of those surveyed have heard of Dynamics 365,

while 21% have not

79%

Quotes taken from interviews held in March 2017

MIGRATION AND ADOPTION11Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

AXDynamics AX

36%

NAVDynamics NAV

27%

CRMDynamics CRM

42%

GPDynamics GP

18%

Top 5 most commonly used Dynamics products

End Users Partners

AXDynamics AX

51%

CRMDynamics CRM

67%

NAVDynamics NAV

43%

Dynamics GP

16%GP

27%of End Users state that their current employer plans on adopting Dynamics 365 at some point.

17%of End Users state that their current employer plans on adopting Dynamics 365 within six months.

58%of End Users feel the best route to adopting Dynamics 365 at their place of employment is through a Microsoft Partner.

A DYNAMIC FACT: Microsoft Dynamics is so widely used around the globe that only 5% of

the survey respondents don’t utilize a Dynamics product at their business

MIGRATION AND ADOPTION - WHY ADOPT?12Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

We asked End Users their reasons for wanting to adopt Microsoft Dynamics 365.Here’s what a few of them had to say:

It is cloud-based and therefore doesn’t require onsite IT maintenance, plus the fact that it would be available to me if I were to want to access it while travelling. Also, cost would be a primary motivator.

The overall goal is to adopt cloud-based services to reduce the reliance on in-house expertise and management of servers and storage. The main barrier is security and data protection balanced with the ability for ease of access. The development of UK onshore data centers from Microsoft is welcome and addresses some of the issues around jurisdiction over data held. There is a natural inertia in organizations that deal with sensitive data around ceding control of these assets to third parties.

It has been suggested that it would be able to handle a housing management rents systems. It is a more coherent solution which will give us more options to deploy solutions with Dynamics. Much nicer user interfaces, more functionality. We would like to use as few a selection of systems as possible; if Dynamics 356 is as cohesive as suggested, it would be of great interest to us.

Our company is seeking new technologies and features within Dynamics 365 that can increase the level of productivity within our organization. In addition, our company is seeking new financial applications and the combination of NAV/AX on Dynamics 365, deemed tobe a fit-for-purpose replacement for Microsoft GP.

We are already invested in Office 365 and CRM online, so it seems like a logical progression if we can get it to work

MIGRATION AND ADOPTION - THE FUTURE13Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

What does the future hold for current CRM/ERP products?

Do you think existing instances of GP, NAV, AX, SL and CRM will continue to be supported by Microsoft?

Yes, in the next 18 months 15%

Yes, in the next 3 years 28%

Yes, in the next 5 years 41%

No 3%

Not sure 13%

43%of End Users believe that these products will continue to be supported by Microsoft through the next five years.

38%of Partners believe that these products will continue to be supported by Microsoft through the next five years.

67% of Partners surveyed plan on expanding their Microsoft practice because of Dynamics 365

EXPERT THOUGHTS - Migration & Adoption14Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

Do you see a lot of companies converting/migrating to Dynamics 365 over the next year or so?

Potentially yes, we see a few scenarios here, the most common being: where customers may go all in and upgrade their business applications to the Dynamics 365 platform in one go; or get into Dynamics 365 for certain processes e.g. time and expense, or HR and then gradually migrate all business processes to Dynamics 365 over time.

Sami Dharmasiri

I think initial adoption was a little slow, as the product was focused first on new customers. Existing Dynamics customers are anxious to learn more about it and how it would work in their environment. There is still significant scepticism about the cloud for many, but the product offering is compelling enough that everyone I have talked to is at least looking into it.

Grant WIlson

AX7 and CRM Online users can migrate with almost no effort, so for companies, yes. For other platforms, the traditional replacement cycle for ERP solutions has been ten years, so a lot may depend on where companies are at in this cycle.

Mark Polino

Quotes taken from interviews held in March 2017

A MATCH MADE IN HEAVEN - Microsoft & Adobe15Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

In late 2016, the Microsoft developer community jumped for joy when it was announced that Microsoft would be partnering with Adobe, a match that many feel was essential to the growth of Microsoft’s development program. This new joint venture could essentially bring customer engagement into a new, unseen world.

How This Affects Dynamics 365

Dynamics Marketing was phased out in late 2016. This move opened up the door for new marketing programs that offer options for both small businesses and large organizations.

As noted earlier in this whitepaper, Dynamics 365 will offer two versions: Enterprise, for organizations with 250 or more employees, and Business, for those with as few as 10 employees. The new Dynamics 365 for Marketing app will apply to the Business edition only, while the Enterprise edition will use Adobe’s Marketing Cloud suite for its marketing capabilities.

In addition, the integration will let customers:

• “Align sales and marketing activities by tightly integrating audiences and their behaviors, which can help guide sales or service calls, identify sales opportunities or inform lead scoring.

• “Find high-value audience segments and provide them with real-time offers on the website or enable targeted display ads.

• “Combine Web behavior data with order history, return history, loyalty status and call center history to not only identify where in the sales life-cycle stage a customer is, but then also deliver the right content at the right time, whether that content resides on a landing page, in a service follow-up email or as an alert in a mobile app.”

According to Microsoft, the new Adobe partnership will let the firms’ customers work across both Adobe Marketing Cloud and Dynamics 365 business applications and leverage AI (artificial intelligence), machine learning and advanced analytics capabilities.

“Customers will be able to use these integrations across Adobe and Microsoft solutions to create new data-driven sales and marketing capabilities,” a Microsoft statement explains. “The underlying data models will be extensible to enterprise customers, as well as third-party developers and partners, which will foster innovation and development across a shared ecosystem.”

FUNCTIONALITY OF THE CLOUD16Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

“The nature of the cloud solution would presumably have an impact on the server side implementation of plug-ins on CRM, however, as I have only on-premise experience, the direct impact is unknown at this time. Our present development approach is to minimize the use of plug-ins wherever possible. This does not mean that we won’t leverage the SDK for external applications.”

“I am concerned about speed performance. CRM Online is slow to render and I worry AX Online will be too. I am also concerned whether Dynamics 365 is really ready and whether we can gain its advantages right away or not.”

“Being on the cloud is an amazing feature, especially if you can have full viability of your stock, revenue through simple BI charts which are set on Power BI. Users would be able to open the system using a smart device which facilitates the work being completed on time regardless of where you are, as long as you have internet access. As an end user, I don’t need to consider firewalls/servers or security access on my data or backups being maintained since you got the service all in one. The major important point is the costing method per user per month which shows massive scalability, and was very complicated on-premise version.”

With cloud technology being one of the main focuses of Dynamics 365, we asked Partners and End Users whether they expect any limitations on functional capabilities or customization with this platform.Here’s what they had to say:

End Users Partners

“The only limitation that I’ve ever run into is the availability of the SQL DB and having access to better reporting capabilities. I’m curious to see the direction that this takes.”

“I assume we don’t have access to IO, so no more writing text files. Also, if it works like the current CRM online, we also can’t use direct SQL queries, but time will tell.”

“Microsoft works hard to eliminate the limitations we currently have. I’m sure they will figure out how to preserve the flexibility and they will come up with a sustainable solution.”

EXPERT THOUGHTS - From on-premise to cloud17Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

A lot of the survey respondents expressed hesitancy in upgrading to Dynamics 365 because they’d be moving from on-premise to a cloud-based platform. What would you say to those people?

In our experience, many businesses have already made the switch from on-premise to cloud and more than 90% of our implementations during the last 12 months have been in the cloud. Some organizations do remain hesitant about moving from an on-premise system to the cloud and here in the UK a frequently cited reason is where Dynamics 365 data will be stored. At the time of writing, UK data centers for Dynamics 365 have yet to come online but once UK storage is offered as standard this will likely drive even more cloud-based deployments.

By remaining on an on-premise platform, Dynamics 365 customers are missing out on some of the significant investments that Microsoft has made in the application in recent years. Several of the major releases that extend its capability are only available with the cloud version and a significant features gap has emerged between the two editions. Specifically, solutions including gamification, voice of the customer surveys, learning paths and relevance search are only available in the Cloud. Also, the capability to deploy an integrated self-service web portal is an entitlement with Dynamics 365 in the cloud while this is an additional cost for on-premise deployments. With the recent release of Customer Insights, Relationship Insights and other embedded instances of Azure AI machine learning for Dynamics 365 cloud only, this trend will continue.

Then don’t move. There are three main reasons to move from on-premise to online. First, you want out of the infrastructure business. The cloud investment provides a better ROI than upgrading and maintaining servers and the staff to support. Second, there are online features of Dynamics that you need sooner than they will come to on premise, if at all. For example, Social Engagement, Voice of the Customer, Power BI and the AI future. Third, leveraging the Azure platform for big data, system integrations and security provides you with a competitive advantage over what you could achieve, cost effectively, in-house. If these elements do not apply to your direction then there is no reason to rush to the cloud. There may also be performance, reporting and system integration items that are still providing you with the benefits of an on-premise approach.Bob Sullivan

Warren Butler

Quotes taken from interviews held in March 2017

CHALLENGES AND CONCERNS18Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

We asked End Users if they had any concerns about Dynamics 365 as a product and its impact on the ecosystem. Here’s what they had to say, along with some feedback from Oliver Norton, Frank Recruitment Group’s Microsoft Dynamics expert:

This is the future, so we need to start learning a new system again and find a new way of working. Currently, although a consultant, I very often find myself reading the code with the developers. This will not be that easy any longer.

Quite a few. I am lead to understand that Dynamics 365 is a different product altogether from Dynamics NAV and if this is the case, we would not be considering migrating to this new platform, preferring to remain with NAV.

Oliver Norton: You are correct, this is the situation. I suggest you that you speak with your CRM developers about what level of source code is visible for you both to read.

Oliver Norton: You are correct. Dynamics 365 Business Edition is a new cloud version of NAV (Codename Medeira). It is not the same as the old version of NAV 2016.

CHALLENGES AND CONCERNS19Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

I was disappointed that Dynamics 365 did not streamline the architecture behind different products in the Dynamics 365 umbrella. It still seems like it’s separate products, just integrated together and with a common UI. How and where you configure, customize and extend these products still seems to be based on what product “behind the scenes” is really handling the work.

Yes. A lot of companies in the UK still don’t have good internet connectivity. Even those located on business parks. Concerned that all products are being “brought together” too quickly. And concerned that it is difficult to ‘control’ and monitor hot fixes and patches.

Oliver Norton: Dynamics 365 has been bundled up and is now sold as modules, so it provides some good flexibility. But yes, it is essentially CRM and ERP integrated together. Over time, we will see tighter integrations and more work done under the covers.

Oliver Norton: This may be related to all of Cloud technology, not just Dynamics 365. Hot fixes and patches are pushed out to keep the product up-to-date and secure. So yes, there is less control for the end user in that regard, but this is the way Cloud IT has gone in general. On the plus side, it is often just taken care of by the vendor, so the customer has nothing to test and update etc.

LICENSING OPTIONS20Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

The Two Editions

On the Dynamics 365 platform, there are two different versions that can be purchased: the Business Edition and the Enterprise Edition. In both of these plans, you have the option to purchase the apps via the two options listed above. The Business Edition was built for small-to-medium-sized businesses. Then you have the Enterprise Edition, which was built for much larger businesses and corporations.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Enterprise EditionLet’s break this down even further. The Microsoft Dynamics 365 Enterprise Edition has two versions of its own – Plan 1 and Plan 2.

With Plan 1, you have the ability to use four different apps within the platform:

Sales / Field Service / Customer Service / Project Services Automation

With Plan 2, you have the ability to use everything we mentioned in Plan 1, along with Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations.

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business EditionIf you are looking to purchase using a Plan for the Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Edition, it will cost you $50 per user per month. With this plan, you will have access to every app on the Dynamics 365 platform. These apps are:

• Dynamics 365 for Financials• Dynamics 365 for Sales• Dynamics 365 for Marketing• Dynamics 365 for Customer Service

Additional Reading:

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Licensing and Pricing: What You Need To Know

Do the new Dynamics 365 licensing changes make the product more cost effective and appealing? (Partners)

Yes 39%

No 22%

Indifferent 11%

Not Sure 28%

LICENSING OPTIONS21Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

“I would rather pay per user, not caring about what number of devices they choose to use.”

“It’s a good step, but I do have concerns about Enterprise being oversold to smaller companies.”

“Licensing models always change over time, so change is inevitable. The two models allow for some degree of flexibility depending on the needs of the organization.”

We asked Partners and End Users about the new licensing options for Microsoft Dynamics 365.Here’s what they had to say:

End UsersPartners

“These models will have to prove themselves. I suspect Microsoft will closely monitor the customers’ response to these models and come up with different models if required. The current offerings are too limited and do not reflect all possible scenarios possible for the use of Dynamics 365.”

“I think that it gives the customer a clear indication around which licenses are needed. They will be able to make the decision to budget correctly.”

“Too restrictive, but natural competition and demand will change the landscape over time. The “light user” concept is too light, probably to sell more full licenses, but the full license is too heavy. A middle-ground is needed, where Dynamics 365 functionality can be accessed and used seamlessly from 3rd party software and apps with a lower license cost.”

EXPERT THOUGHTS - Licensing Options22Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

I think it is pretty compelling, pretty simple – it includes a lot for one price.

Chris Moore

Somewhat of an improvement except that not releasing the Business Edition licensing at the same time has created confusion.

Bob Sullivan

To date our focus has been on the Enterprise Edition of Dynamics 365, as Business Edition has yet to be launched in the UK. In many respects the new model reduces much of the complexity associated with the various licensing tiers for Dynamics 365 Online. The flexibility to choose between a single role-based app and a plan that covers multiple apps, as well as light touch ‘team’ license is a narrative we’ve found easier to articulate.

Warren Butler

Quotes taken from interviews held in March 2017

TRAINING AND SKILLS23Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

According to the Partners we surveyed, who would need cross-training now that Dynamics 365 combines CRM and ERP?

Functional Consultants

74%

67%

63%

63%

62%47% of End Users have no concerns about any extra skills needed to manage the deployment of Dynamics 365.

Top 5 Skills In-Demand with the Introduction of Dynamics 365

AX &CRM

Dynamics AX & CRM

41%

Cloud Knowledge

52%

CRM

Dynamics CRM

26%

Security

45%

Report Writing

33%

End Users

Partners

AX &CRM

Dynamics AX & CRM

57%

Cloud Knowledge

63%

CRM

Dynamics CRM

37%

Security

39%

Report Writing

25%

Technical Consultants

Business Analysts

Sales

Developers

TRAINING & SKILLS - Concerns about required skills24Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

“As a new product on the market, there will be very few Microsoft Gold Partners available. There has also been a significant growth in demand for Dynamics in general, and I don’t see this dropping off. Quality skills and Dynamics resource shortages could impact the speed of delivery and deployment.”

“This is not just about moving to another version of AX/CRM, this is also about moving from on-premise to cloud. We are also concerned with the maturity of the product, since the Common Data Model that is supposed to take care of integration of the various parts of Dynamics 365 will not be available before the fall release of 2017.”

“Migration from previous versions, considering customizations and adjusting to the new user interface for functions and the skillset required for technical (administration and development).”

“The interface and design are totally different from the previous AX. In terms of troubleshooting and knowledge on web based Dynamics 365, consultants require more skills on web-based support and knowledge.”

We asked End Users and Partners if they were concerned about any extra skills needed to manage the deployment of Dynamics 365. Here’s what they had to say:

End Users Partners“Understanding the potential that PaaS brings, both as a concept and as a whole new way of thinking for IT services. Most of what we do on-premises today will need to be re-thought and re-implemented, but the world will be better for it and customers will be happier.”

“CRM and ERP are different worlds, different user types and different work habits. Unstructured vs. structured, I decide what’s best vs. Best Practice, or Accounting decides free information flow vs. Financial transaction based, etc.”

“Primarily it comes down to one thing. The potential abilities of the thing – primarily relating to the integration. Sales need to sell that. Analysts need to factor it into their designs. For the techies, the under-the-bonnet hasn’t changed that much as IFD is quite similar.”

“Overall understanding of the changes it implies, to full technical training of the other involved products, as knowledge of the other products is essential to bring the right functionalities into place.”

TRAINING & SKILLS - Concerns about required skills25Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

• The world partners need to reorganize the actual structures, because the new version works in standard platforms as opposed to the older versions where the performance always included difficult developments. That is the main reason to reorganize the actual structures of partners, as they have to include functional consultants with a strong knowledge of business processes and Dynamics 365 for Operations functionalities. In other cases, the partner won’t be ready to implement Dynamics 365 for Operations.

• Microsoft keeps telling us that the GP ecosystem is strong and our revenue model is built around that offering. Dynamics 365 is a high volume, low margin offering. We would require a complete re-tooling of our current business structure to move in that direction. Lower paid consultants with less depth.

• We are finally reorganizing the business around products, thanks to the addition of Dynamics 365. So we’ll have a team for GP, and SL, and Dynamics 365, each with their own project manager, operations/scheduling support, functional lead, technical lead, developer, and sales/marketing team! It’s so exciting!

End Users

Stay the same 44%

Grow 41%

Not sure 13%

Shrink 2%

Partners

Grow 45%

Stay the same 30%

Not sure 20%

Shrink 5%

How will adopting Dynamics 365 affect the size of your teams?

Why do you expect to reorganize the structure of your Dynamics team around Dynamics 365?

AN EXPERT’S OUTLOOK ON DYNAMICS 36526Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

Warren Butler

Bob Sullivan

Chris Moore

We haven’t seen this yet as Dynamics 365 Financials has yet to be released in the UK. However, clearly the significant change will be in simplifying the process to connect sales and finance processes. Although this has been a long-standing capability it involved the need to configure additional integration solutions which created greater complexity and cost. With Dynamics Financial, sales processes and flow through to finance using native functions on the same platform will democratize this capability.

Positive; at InfoGrow we have been encouraging the CRM/ERP ecosystem for years. Everyone in the organization needs to have one view of the customer engagement with sales, marketing and service all on the same page.

I think it is a game changer – the common data model will make the CRM/ERP experience 10x better than the competition.

What are your parting thoughts on Microsoft Dynamics 365’s effect on the CRM/ERP ecosystem?

Quotes taken from interviews held in March 2017

AN EXPERT’S OUTLOOK ON DYNAMICS 36527Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

Jukka Niiranen

Jon Rivers

Mark Polino

There are some pretty bold promises and visions that Microsoft has set out for Dynamics 365 as the fabric that ties pretty much all their business cloud services together. A lot of work remains in trying to make the product functionality catch up with these, let alone trying to support the customers in adopting the technologies into their business processes. However, I think it’s exactly the direction that Microsoft should be heading towards, to both surpass their competition as well as push their existing client base into taking advantage of this new technology, in ways that go far beyond the traditional CRM & ERP territory.

Going forward, I am a believer that Dynamics 365 is going to be a strong product, but currently, some of the functionality isn’t fully there. There will be some bumps in the road as we go forward. But isn’t that what software is all about?

Dynamics 365 is still pretty early in its lifecycle, and companies are still figuring out where the various parts of Dynamics 365 might fit in their organization.

What are your parting thoughts on Microsoft Dynamics 365’s effect on the CRM/ERP ecosystem?

Quotes taken from interviews held in March 2017

CONCLUSIONS AND TAKEAWAYS28Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

While some believe that this is simply a change in how Microsoft products are bundled and branded, it has become clear that it is far more than that.

This platform was designed to ease data communications, simplify the user interface, and offer more opportunities for businesses to succeed.

Ever since Microsoft Dynamics 365 was announced in early-2016, people around the globe knew that this was going to change everything we knew about the CRM and ERP eco-systems.

What’s Next?

Microsoft has been committed to taking Dynamics into the cloud for many years. Dynamics 365 represents another huge leap on this journey and is further proof they are delivering on Satya Nadella’s vision of becoming a “cloud-first, mobile-first” company.

With the launch of Dynamics 365, Microsoft has left no doubt on which direction they are headed, and millions of End Users and Partners all over the world will join them for the ride. Will you be one of them?

Additional Reading

Microsoft Events: The Ultimate Guide to the Technology Conferences You Need in Your Calendar

Microsoft Dynamics: 4 Big Predictions for 2017

Dynamics 365: What You Need to Know About Microsoft’s Latest Dynamics Product

HOW NIGEL FRANK CAN HELP YOU29Microsoft Dynamics 365: A Whitepaper - Reactions and Sentiments from Across the Dynamics Ecosystem

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