DIRECTIONS EMEA 2018 DIARY AND LESSONS LEARNED

Directions EMEA 2018 WIP DIARY, October 28-31 2018

THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLAND

WHY THIS DIARY?

Since I was present, I thought to write a diary of the event (actually some follower had already asked me ..), obviously there is not everything, just some things that I think\I thought interesting to show and to talk about .
The parts were written in WIP mode … but now consolidated in a single post.

WHAT’S NEW for Dynamics 365 BC

At the end of the diary you will find the “WHAT’S NEW” on Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central presented at the event.

Thanks for reading.

 

DIARY – PART 1: Day 1

Directions EMEA has started, 3 days with keynotes, Sessions, Workshops, Partner’s corners, eating, drinking and Day II Party! Many people! More than 2200!

 

KEYNOTE #1

Great acrobatic intro!! …applause! …and welcome to digital transformation!

Focus on some topics: Business Central October’s release and “wow effects”: copy\paste, advanced filters, improved Search etc., Communities and Ideas, Cloud First and “How to” sell in first in SaaS, after On-premise.

 

SOME NUMBER!

 

SESSIONS TOPICS

Great sessions oriented to: (I mention only a few)

Top considerations for Dynamics 365 Business Central Cloud vs. On-premises (differences between On-premise Hybrid and Cloud .. very interesting battle card! …I will write a post in a very short time on the subject! STAY TUNED!)

The SaaS marketing Strategy, ready to sell in Cloud?

The future of Business Central desktop and mobile client apps: any ideas to improve them?

Intelligent Cloud (move from On-premise to OnCloud through Intelligence Cloud)

How to develop in the cloud, Workshop to develop extensions 2.0 and Mastering Dockers!

Mixed Integrations.. BC and Azure Services, What’s New in AL and Waldo tools!

…

THE NEW “MANTRA” FOR PARTNERS

Get Involved!, Microsoft listens to you… and helps you and sell central business!

And Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central “IS”:

• Modern, Unified, Intelligent, Adaptable

 

Business Central “Ideas”: Get involved! WE LISTEN!!

With a lot of surprise, I saw my name appears in the keynote! My request is in third place (world bronze medal)!

https://experience.dynamics.com/ideas/list/?forum=e288ef32-82ed-e611-8101-5065f38b21f1

 

GREAT SESSION! (My opinion)

“Top considerations for Dynamics 365 Business Central cloud vs Dynamics on-premises”

 

Waldo Tools

How to use the Waldo tools (essential for each developer) … with a great session by Waldo “as always” with many people.

https://github.com/search?q=waldo

https://github.com/waldo1001/Cloud.Ready.Software.PowerShell/tree/master/PSScripts

Stay tuned for Part II!

 

DIARY – PART 2: Day 2

KEYNOTE #2

Focus on some topics: Ready to Go, Partner Skills, CSP Portal for BC administration (ALL in one), Telemetry, Sandbox for customers, New Channels, DLP Education free for everyone, how-to engage new customers.

MANTRA OF THE DAY 2

• Ready with Microsoft
• Ready to go
• Ready for Customer

 

4 PILLARS TO ENGAGE NEW CUSTOMERS

 

NEW CERTIFICATIONS FOR DYNAMICS 365 BUSINESS CENTRAL!  (CONSULTING PATH FOR NOW) 

Microsoft will have to write the books\courses as for Dynamics NAV 2013! great for us!

 

ACCELERATE TO CLOUD!

 

WHAT’S NEW IN BUSINESS CENTRAL

Reviewed all the new features in Business Central October’s release

• From CSP Business Central Admin Portal > Sandbox creation with copy of Production Data (Snapshot)
• Telemetry!  .. useful for monitoring partner activity!
• Dubugging in Sandbox
• Shortcuts
• Copy\Paste
• Advanced Filters\Totals

• What’s New in Application and Clients

MICROSOFT REBRANDING!  On-premise to BC, Mabile APP Updated, DVD rebranded

 

HIGHLY ACCESSIBLE WEB CLIENT!

For Low vision mobility users

• Assistive screen
• Full Keyboard Access
• UI element contrast

Q&A SESSION – MICROSOFT

• FAQ in Develop Apps, FAQ in Sell Apps, FAQ general on BC On line

 

Q&A SESSION: Meet Your MVP Session

Great Q&A session with ALL MVPs present @Directions, some Microsoft people were present at session. great!

 

ITALY REGIONAL SESSION

Interesting session with questions to Microsoft R&D people, questions about Business Central Online and bringing everything into extension. Questions on Intelligence Cloud.

 

..AND THE PARTY !

Oh my god!… incredible party, great location, great people!

 

DIARY – PART 3: Day 3

KEYNOTE #3

Focus on some topics: Artificial Intelligence, Web Client is better and 2020 is not so far!, How to upgrade to SaaS or stay On-premise, Partner experiences & FAQs, Licensing Model FAQs.

 

MANTRA OF THE DAY 3:  AI (Artificial Intelligence) anywhere!

• Trust
• Cognition
• Insights
• Actions

 

WELCOME TO “ERP” NEW ERA!

 

GREAT “PANEL DISCUSSION”

 

What’s New in Upgrade! Great session by Nikola Kukrika

MAIN OBJECTIVES:

• Upgrade Strategies and Processes (SaaS and OnPrem)
• New Capabilities
• Extensions 2.0 Upgrade
• Technical Upgrade (Deprecated!)

Data Upgrade BC to SaaS – Intelligent Cloud Insights

“and .. The Best Upgrade is: NO UPGRADE”  …SURE!

 

“BUSINESS CENTRAL ROADMAP” AND 2020 IS NOT SO FAR!

 

WHAT’S NEW for Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central

I had already illustrated the major new features existing in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central in a previous post (search on my blog), i report in this case some interesting ones shown in the presentations, that seem interesting in my opinion.

• Per Tenant Customizations (great)
• Create Company Wizard with new features
• Business Central Full New Administration Portal (from CSP Portal, is complete set of management tools ready to use)
• Creation of Sandboxes with Production Data and Isolation (also from CSP Portal)
• Telemetry for all Customer\Tenants (from CSP Portal), you can monitor everything (Events fired, GDPR activities, etc. etc,, for each customer\tenants)
• Refreshed and Rebranded apps (On-premise to BC, Mobile APP Updated, DVD is rebranded)
• High accessible Web Client (For Low vision mobility users, Assistive screen, Full Keyboard Access, UI element contrast)
• … and Debugging in Sandbox ! oh YES!!

 

BEST LESSONS LEARNED @DIRECTIONS EMEA 2018 (MY OPINION)

• Cloud First and after On-premise….
• Move solutions to AL, use repeatable IP when possible, create LEAN apps.
• Forget Windows Client, Demo only with Web Client, Web Client is better!
• Integrate Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning when possibile
• Vs Code and Microsoft AL Language Extension are good and modern solutions with continuous improvements
• Intelligent Cloud is the solution to move Up your customers (transition from On-premise to Online)
• Collaboration and Suggestions are the keys: Use Microsoft Ideas for suggestions, AL Issue page on Github for bug\improvements, Collaborate Portal to test insider releases (Mark and Stanislaw listen to all requests and try to implement them if they are valid), all these portals are useful to create a valuable product that reflects the real needs of the customers and partners.
• MVPs are a great opportunity for collecting ideas and sharing knowledge (opinion of most people)
• 2020 it’s not far …Get Ready and compliance!

 

TAKEAWAYS FROM DIRECTIONS EMEA 2018!

 

…AND I REMEMBER THE FINAL TIP: “2020 IS NOT SO FAR!” …START WORKING FOR THE CLOUD TODAY!

THANK YOU FOR WATCHING THIS DIARY!  …and the next DIRECTIONS EMEA will be in VIENNA 2019!

#DIRECTIONSEMEA2018 #BUSINESSCENTRAL #MSDYN365BC #MSDYNDEV #BC #DYNAMICS365BC #VIENNA2019